Problems Sailor Moon Never Addressed, Ranked

The anime Sailor Moon is a fan-favorite franchise, but the series concluded without resolving a few issues. Here are some of those problems.

Sailor Moon is a generation-defining anime that fans still love decades after the final episode. Its colorful aesthetic and female friendship empowering message still hold up to this day. Unfortunately, there are many things about the show that make even the most avid fans recoil.

For all of its beauty, Sailor Moon has a lot of faults. Many relationships and storylines remain outdated, even in the new Netflix Original, Sailor Moon Crystal. Although there have been some changes along the way, viewers are still baffled as to why these problems remain in the franchise.

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When Usagi Tsukino becomes Sailor Moon, no one seems to question her identity. Even though only four Senshi are ever mentioned or remembered, somehow no one puts together that this fifth Scout is actually Princess Serenity.

Not only could her identity be discovered using the process of elimination, but Usagi’s striking hairstyle and appearance are a dead giveaway to her true identity. It makes no sense that everyone - especially Luna - is surprised to learn that Usagi is Princess Serenity. Their bafflement only shows that the cast is purposefully ignorant when Usagi is so clearly Princess Serenity reincarnate.

Although Sailor Pluto is one of the Outer Scouts, she is relegated to guarding the Door of SpaceTime. She is never allowed to leave and is cursed to remain on guard all alone. Sailor Pluto is eventually visited by Chibiusa and becomes her friend, but other than that, Sailor Pluto is condemned to forever be the gate’s guard.

While fans are told to believe that her job is an honor, it sounds more like torture, leading many viewers to wonder what Sailor Pluto could have done to deserve such punishment. Guarding the Door of Space-Time is an endless task that could have easily been shared among all three of the equally responsible Outer Senshi.

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Some of the most iconic aspects of Sailor Moon are the dynamic transformation sequences. The gorgeous animation and sweeping music have inspired many young fans to create their own transformation sequence dances. However, the amount of time each transformation takes seems implausible when villains are actively attacking people.

Fans are still unsure if the sequences occur in the blink of an eye or if they are true to time. If they're the latter, viewers are left to wonder why the villains don’t attack while the Scouts are transforming. There is no question that the transformation sequences are a beloved part of the show, but they seem utterly impractical when there is a brawl occurring.

Tuxedo Mask is the debonair collaborator of the Sailor Scouts. Whenever the Scouts are in a bind, Tuxedo Mask always finds his way into the fray. Sadly, he is never one to stick around.

As soon as Tuxedo Mask throws a single rose to distract the villain, he says one semi-encouraging line before bounding off somewhere else. It is never explained why he doesn’t stay until the villains are defeated. He just disappears as soon as he arrives. For someone who is supposed to be the champion of Earth and a close companion of the Sailor Senshi, Tuxedo Mask never seems to do much.

Sailor Moon may be the leader of the Sailor Senshi, but she rarely enters a fight until it is almost over. Even when she does transform at the top of a battle, Sailor Moon waits until almost all hope is lost before she begins her ultimate move.

Nowhere in the show does it say that Sailor Moon can only use her power one time before she has to recharge it, yet she consistently waits until all of her friends are in danger before she releases even one power move. Understandably, the show wanted to highlight the others’ powers as well, but it could have been done without making Sailor Moon look callous for being stingy with her Moon Tiara Action.

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Usagi Tsukino is the protagonist and the eponymous Sailor Moon. She is supposed to be a heroic champion who fights for love and justice, yet Usagi doesn’t act very heroic in her day-to-day life.

Usagi is a kind person who loves making friends, but she is also a vain teenager who cries at the drop of a hat. She regularly dismisses people she thinks are ugly, and she complains so much that even Luna and Sailor Mars comment on her unhappiness. Usagi also holds a lot of cowardice when it comes to facing villains. For someone who champions love and bravery above all else, Usagi doesn’t seem to practice what she preaches.

Like a lot of anime, Sailor Moon has anime-original content to pad some of the story. There are also anime-only movies that allow the cast to go on more adventures. However, with all the non-canon content and eventual time travel, storylines and continuity start to become blurred.

Some characters look similar, but are unrelated, and Usagi and Chibiusa’s relationship muddles what could be an interesting look into a mother-daughter relationship. Enemies, love interests, and characters tend to get lost in the murky timeline of Sailor Moon. Although some fans have worked hard to explain everything, Sailor Moon still has one of the most unnecessarily complicated timelines in anime.

Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon are written to make audiences believe that they are the most romantic, most in-love couple in all anime. Their relationship is at the core of Sailor Moon’s plot, and their connection is often the thing that brings the enemies down and restores life and humanity to the world.

However, Mamoru and Usagi seem more like enemies throughout most of the show. They constantly belittle each other and treat one another with as little respect as possible. Mamoru is particularly mean toward Usagi and insults anything he can find wrong with her - especially her appearance. Part of their behavior is because they do not know each other’s secret identities, but anyone who treats someone the way Usagi and Mamoru treat each other is a walking red flag.

Although there is a lot of action in Sailor Moon, there are also plenty of romantic escapades for the Sailor Scouts. Apart from Usagi and Mamoru, several of the Scouts and side characters (and even Luna) find love at some point in the show. Unfortunately, Sailor Moon has a habit of showcasing uncomfortable age gaps between the girls and their love interests.

Age-gap romances can be endearing when they involve adults, but many of the relationships in Sailor Moon toe the line of inappropriate. All the girls are in middle school, yet their love interests are consistently high school boys (and in Mamoru’s case, a college freshman). Even in the Sailor Moon Crystal reboot, Mamoru is still in high school while Usagi is in middle school. However, the most egregious relationship in the ‘90s anime was the romance between fourteen-year-old Naru and the adult Nephrite. Though his age is never confirmed, he is clearly much too old to be romantically involved with a middle schooler.

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Time travel is a regular occurrence - especially in the later seasons of Sailor Moon. One byproduct of this phenomenon is the appearance of Chibiusa in the “present day” world. Chibiusa is the adorably pink future daughter of Queen Serenity and King Endymion. Chibiusa is affectionate even toward the younger version of her parents, but her love for Mamoru Chiba goes much too far.

Chibiusa is consistently seen as a romantic rival to Usagi - despite Chibiusa’s familial relationship with them. Chibiusa talks ad nauseam about her darling Mamoru and even fantasizes about being in a romantic relationship with him. Her wish comes true eventually when she is transformed into Dark Lady and Mamoru is mind controlled to kiss her. The whole plotline is unnecessary and uncomfortable, yet still came back in the Sailor Moon Crystal reboot.

Hi! I am Alexandra Locke. I write for CBR Anime List page.