Kinmoku
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| Kinmoku in the anime |
The planet Kinmoku (キンモク) was the homeworld of Sailor Star Fighter, Sailor Star Healer, Sailor Star Maker, and Princess Kakyuu/Sailor Kakyuu in Sailor Moon Sailor Stars.
Not much was known about the planet, aside from the fact that it was situated somewhere in the galaxy, and that it was destroyed by Sailor Galaxia. At the time of the destruction, the injured Kakyuu fled, eventually landing on Earth, and in the care of Chibi Chibi. To find her, the Starlights disguised themselves as men.
Very little information was given about Kinmoku prior to its destruction by Galaxia in the anime, manga, or Crystal. In the manga and Crystal, Kakyuu was said to have been the princess of the Tankei (丹桂; orange osmanthus) Kingdom on Kinmoku, but it was unknown if this was a worldwide kingdom (similar to Elysion or the Silver Millennium) or one kingdom out of several. The anime, on the other hand, seemed to imply that Kakyuu was the princess of the entire planet. The anime also showed Kinmoku flanked by three tiny satellites, possibly the Starlights' home planets, or moons of Kinmoku that they represented.
The phrase "Kinmokusei" (キンモク星; Kinmoku star) is an elaborate pun on the plant that is known as "金木犀 kinmokusei," which refers to Osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus, a fragrant shrub in the olive family that is native to Asia. The plant is known in English by several names: golden osmanthus, sweet osmanthus, tea olive, or sweet olive. Golden osmanthus is known in Chinese as "dānguì" (丹桂; orange osmanthus); these kanji are pronounced "tankei" (たんけい) in Japanese and make up the name of her dynasty. Naoko Takeuchi might have chosen this because there is a variation of the Rabbit on the Moon myth which involves an osmanthus tree.
The fragrant flowers are edible and are used in jams, tea infusions, wine infusions, and perfumes. Princess Kakyuu's costume mimics the small orange-yellow flowers of the plant, and the Sailor Starlights searched for her by her distinctive fragrance.
Trivia
- The planetary symbol for Kinmoku may have been a stylized osmanthus blossom, which appeared as a motif on the clothing of Princess Kakyuu and Sailor Kakyuu, as well as on her forehead.
- In the anime, the Sailor Starlights never called Kinmoku by its name, only referring to it as "our home planet" or "our world."
- In Sailor Kakyuu's introductory speech in Act 57 of the manga, the furigana accompanying the kanji "sei" (星) in "Kinmokusei" (キンモク星) indicated that it should be read as the English word "star" (スター), leading some fans to speculate that Kinmoku was an actual star in the astronomical sense, because these furigana never accompany the "sei" part in the Japanese names of the planets of the Solar System; the only other celestial bodies in the series to do this were Lethe and Mnemosyne. In the corresponding scene in Sailor Moon Cosmos, Kakyuu also said "Kinmoku Star" (キンモク・スター) spoken in English.
- In the English Eternal Edition of the manga and the English dub of Sailor Moon Cosmos, she called her homeworld "Planet Kinmoku," even though in a translator's note of the manga, translating the "sei" part of Lethe and Mnemosyne as "Star" was justified with the same furigana that also accompanied Kinmoku's name.
- In the German dub of the anime, the planet was named "Euphe."
