Sailor Moonwas the quintessential girl power manga series of the '90s, and it's no surprise that it's been adapted into countless television series and movies in the years that followed.
Its popularity is felt around the world as the anime series has been dubbed into English, French, Portuguese and many other languages, with new episodes still arriving quickly on Hulu after the titular character and the Sailor Scouts defending the world. .
but that wouldn't happenSailor Moonwithout the characters Luna and Artemis, the black and white cat guardians, with crescent symbols, as popular as the Boy Scouts. The cats were advisorsqueen serenityin the Silver Millennium, but sent to earth with his powersilver crystal, after the kingdom fell into ruins, to awaken the Sailor Senshi.
Here it is15 things you didn't know about Luna and Artemis
VIDEO FROM THE VIEWING DAY
15. Luna and Artemis are aliens
They may look like cats, but Luna and Artemis are actually aliens from the planet Mau. Luna is the guardian and mentor of our titular character and Artemis is the same for Sailor Venus.
There isn't much backstory to the planet other than being the home of this species of cat with the ability to transform into humanoid figures, although it is hinted during Sailor Galaxia's Siege of the Galaxy that Sailor Tin Nyamko is also from there.
In the anime series, the planet is never mentioned. Only in the manga series do we learn that it was destroyed during Sailor Galaxia's siege.
In fact, creator Naoko Takeuchi rewired their original past to make them aliens because he liked Luna's human form in the film, and he also created human forms for Artemis and Diana - more on that later.
14. The planet Mau has a feline origin
There's a reason Luna and Artemis' home planet is called Mau. The name means "cat" in Egyptian, and there's even a breed of cat called the Egyptian Mau that's known for its small to medium sized short coat and natural spots.
Egyptian Mouse are the fastest domestic cat breeds and have anatomical, metabolic and behavioral differences from other breeds that make them unique - traits Luna and Artemis definitely share.
Egypt is famous for celebrating cats, so it's no wonder Naoko Takeuchi named the home planet of our shelter cats Mau. who killed or injured cats.
13. Only Luna takes human form in the anime
EmSailor Moon S: Die Filme- adapted from a manga side story"Princess Kaguya's lover" -eCristal von Sailor Moon,Luna appears as a human (who is a year younger than Usagi), but Artemis and Diana do not.
This compares to the manga where the three cat aliens are often thought of as humans. The human Luna has long black hair with two Odango-style buns on the side of her head and blue eyes, while Artemis has straight white hair with green eyes.
Luna also appears in live-action human form in Act 27 of the live-action series, but as a young human girl named Luna Tsukino, who becomes a Sailor Soldier herself. Rina Koike played this live-action version of the black cat.
12. Luna's first English voiceover caused controversy
Keiko Han voiced Luna in the original TV anime (as well asQueen Beryl) and the live-action series, but in the 2014 reboot,Sailor Moon Kristall,Ryō Hirohashi took over, but for the English adaptation, Jill Frappier provided the voice.
However, her version was an older English nanny like Angela Lansbury, which did not exactly correlate with the Japanese version or her characterization. She was replaced by Michelle Ruff for the Viz Media series and a Ford commercial starring Luna and Sailor Moon.
11.Artemis has the same voice as L fromdeath noticeand Hurley outLost
No originalSailor Moonseries, Artemis is voiced by Yasuhiro Takato (who also wrote the Japanese dub for Hurley inLost), while Yōhei Ōbayashi provides the voiceSailor MoonCrystal.
In the live-action series, he is voiced by Kappei Yamaguchi, who voiced L in 2006.death noticeTV series. Ron Rubin voiced Artemis in the DIC/Cloverway English adaptation and Johnny Yong Bosch in the Viz Media version.
10. Diana is her daughter
Although Luna and Artemis were believed to be romantically involved, Diana's arrival from the future proved it. The gray kitten is Chibiusa's (aka Mini Moon) companion and like Luna and Usage, as well as Artemis and Minako, she shares a special bond with her sailor.
Diana's first appearance was in season four,Lua SuperS,but originally it was thought to be Artemis' lovechild from an affair he believed he was having with another woman. She appears much earlier in the manga in the Black Moon arc, which corresponds to the second story arc of the R season.
Like her parents, Diana has the ability to appear in human form, but unlike them, she retains her history and she is the first of her kind to be born on Earth, not her home planet Mau.
9. The names of Artemis and Luna are linked
It seems like Artemis and Luna should always be together because of their names. Luna is the Latin word for "moon" and Artemis is the name of the Greek goddess of the hunt, forests and hills, archery and the moon. Very fitting for two cat guardian companions in a series calledSailor Moon, hm?
Their daughter, the cat named Diana, also has a connection to them through her own name. "Diana" is the Roman name for Artemis, who actually replaced Luna as the moon goddess in Roman mythology, making this family of three even more connected.
Interestingly, the names of Artemis, Luna, and Diana remain largely the same, unlike most of the Sailor Scout characters whose names were changed from Japanese names to English names in the English-dubbed anime.
8. Luna once loved a human
Artemis and Luna may be each other's true love, but Lina briefly fell in love with a human in "Kaguya-hime no Koibito (The Lover of Princess Kaguya)", a short story that appeared in Volume 11 of the original manga. . and later adapted to theSailor MoonSFilm.
Luna falls in love with Kakeru Ozora, a human astronomer who saves her when she is nearly hit by a car. She develops romantic feelings for him, but they are not reciprocated because he has a girlfriend, an astronaut named Himeko Nayotake, who is about to go to space.
Thanks to Usagi's wish, Luna transforms into Princess Kaguya and rescues Kakeru after he runs away in a snowstorm. After kissing, Luna advises him to make up with Himeko. She then reverts to her cat form and reunites with Artemis.
She also develops a crush on another human, Yaten inSailorStars, but does not turn into a human.
7. They changed gender
IfSailor Moonwas dubbed into Portuguese, Artemis became female and her name was changed to Artemisa to match gender, while Luna became male.
In the French dub, Artemis was voiced by both male and female voice actors, starting out as a female for the first few episodes before turning male again for the remainder of the series.
In fact, in the original proposal for a, Artemis was supposed to be the name of another female characterMatrose VAnime, but that never came to fruition.
6. Luna's password was changed in the English dub
In the first row ofSailor Moon, Luna used a slot machine in the Crown Arcade where she received instructions before regaining her memory.
Your password was "The moon rabbit makes mochi', which is a reference to traditional Chinese folklore about a rabbit on the moon crushing the elixir of life with a mortar and pestle. The Japanese version of this story sees the contents of the mortar being turned into rice to make mochi. It also shows a connection to Usagi as his name means "rabbit" in Japanese.
However, in the English dubbed version, the password is changed to "I love tuna and wild mouse pudding." - more of a cat joke than a complex innuendo and pun.
5. Artemis is a gaming machine
In the anime, when Luna starts communicating with the game machine, she is initially unaware that she is receiving information from Artemis. Even when the rest of the Sailor Senshi join him and Sailor Venus, he continues to advise Luna in this devious way.
This Game Machine "character" only appeared in anime as a disembodied voice by theMatrose VGame on the Game Center Crown - although the game appeared in the manga andKodinom: Matrose Vto deliver items and train the Senshi.
It is only when Artemis damages the transmission equipment that Luna discovers her identity after accidentally transmitting her image on the game screen. And so began a love story of kittens forever.
4. In the live-action series, Luna and Artemis are toys
in live usePretty Sailor Moon girlThe Luna and Artemis series are depicted as stuffed animals carried by their sailors. Luna's fur is dark blue rather than black, but she still has the crescent moon emblem on her forehead. Artemis is still white with a gold crescent emblem on her forehead. Both also wear collars.
In the series, when Luna becomes human after being bathed in the Mystic Silver Crystal, she can transform into a human girl, but her hair is light blue and worn in two ponytails, unlike how it is portrayed in the anime/manga. She wears a yellow costume, albeit slightly different in style from her pictured counterpart, with the addition of cat ears and a tail.
3. They were all killed
NOSailor MoonManga series, Tankubon 17, Sailor Lethe came to Sailor Galaxia after the disappearance of her home planet (also called Lethe) and after a confrontation with Sailor Moon she actually kills Luna, Artemis and Diana.
Sailor Leth did this because she wanted to show how pointless Sailor Moon's life is - just for that she murdered our poor family of kittens. Sure, this series is known for being aimed at little girls, but there's definitely something spooky about watching your favorite magical cats die. Surprisingly dark!
Luckily, everyone who died was reborn, so Luna, Artemis, and Diana returned to get revenge. But after watching these cute kittens die, you just can't help but watch them. Sailor Lethe really is the worst.
2.Luna was almost white
BeforeSailor Moonwas licensed in America, Toon Maker created a very different pilot for Bandai to make an American series inspired by the show. This pilot saw Luna as a white cat instead of a black one. She wasn't the only character to receive a redesign, as the Scouts were multiracial and one of them was in a wheelchair.
This version featured live-action footage, CG, and new cel animation in a two-minute trailer shown at Anime Expo 1995.
You can find the trailer online under the name "Saban Moon" as fans thought the Saban company had something to do with it. Thank goodness this show was never made into a series and instead we got the English dubbed version of the original anime!
1. Luna and Artemis hardly appear in musicals
ÖPretty Sailor Moon girlThe TV series isn't the only live-action adaptation of theSailor MoonSeries. First, the manga was adapted into a series of musicals in Japan between 1993 and 2005, using plots from anime and manga. CalledSera MyuIn summary, stage shows were revived in 2013 and continue to this day in Japan.
Luna and Artemis were introduced by Tomoko Ishimura and Kenji Himeno in the first Sera Myu, Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon - Uma lenda alternativa - Dark Kingdom Revival Story,and your rebirth and that's it. Since then, musicals have given these guardian roles to other characters.
Presumably that's because translating a human into a cat costume felt pretty weird and didn't really work.
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