Luna

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Character Information
lunaab.jpg
Name: Luna
Name (kanji/kana): ルナ
Alignment: Moon Kingdom
Species: Intelligent domestic cat from the planet Mau
Gender: Female
Lives: Azabu-Juuban, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Occupation: Advisor to Sailor Moon
Family: Artemis (future husband), Diana (future daughter)
Associates: Sailor Moon, Artemis, Queen Serenity
Aliases: "Black" (anime only); Luna Tsukino, Sailor Luna (PGSM only)
First Anime Appearance: Crybaby Usagi's Magnificent Transformation
First Manga Appearance: Act 1 Usagi SAILORMOON
First PGSM Appearance: Act 1 - I am Sailor Moon!
English Name: Luna
Actors: Keiko Han (anime, PGSM), Ryo Hirohashi (Crystal), Rina Koike (PGSM; human form), Jill Frappier (dub), Michelle Ruff (Viz dub)

Luna was a talking cat and advisor to Usagi Tsukino. It was she who first detected Usagi's power, but at the time did not realize that she was the Moon Princess. Luna and her partner Artemis were advisors to Queen Serenity in the Silver Millennium, and when the kingdom was ruined Serenity used the power of her Silver Crystal to send the two cats to Earth's future in order to awaken the Sailor Senshi.

Luna awakened Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino, and Makoto Kino to their identities as Sailor Senshi as well as awakening Usagi as Sailor Moon.

She and Artemis one day married and had a daughter named Diana who became the advisor to Chibiusa. Chibiusa's toy Luna P was also modelled on Luna.

Anime[edit]

In the anime, Luna only took human form once, in the Sailor Moon S movie, and Mau was never mentioned.

In the first English dub, Jill Frappier's take on Luna was a focal point of some of the dub's controversy due to the fact that the voice made her out to be an "English nanny"-type character as opposed to her original implied age (in the Materials Collection, Luna's human form is said to appear a year younger than Usagi[1]). She came across as an aloof mentor/guardian old enough to be Serena's mother, rather than an older-sister character like her Japanese counterpart. Her choice of voice in turn caused a fair bit of problems in the dubbing of the Sailor Moon S movie (which corresponds to the manga storyline "Kaguya-hime no Koibito"), in which her human form was revealed.

Manga[edit]

humanluna.jpg
Luna in human form
in the manga

In the manga, Luna and Artemis were originally from the planet Mau and in times of crisis could take on human form (as could Diana) briefly.

In her human form, she had long black hair with two odango style buns on the side of her head and blue eyes.

Crystal[edit]

Luna's human form appeared in Act 14, Sailor Moon Eternal, and Sailor Moon Cosmos. The character design used in Act 14 seemed to match the more elaborate one seen in the "Kaguya-hime no Koibito" side story, as she wore a long black skirt underneath her yellow dress. In the two movies, however, the rather simple one from the Dream and Stars arcs of the manga's main storyline was used instead, which had a much shorter black skirt.

In the first three seasons of Crystal, Luna's eyes were also red like in the anime, but from Sailor Moon Eternal on, they were blue like in the manga.

In Sailor Moon Cosmos, it was revealed that Luna and Artemis were from Mau.

Live Action[edit]

In the live-action series, Luna was a talking and moving plush cat (not a real one). As a side effect of being bathed in the light of the Silver Crystal, she could become a human girl and transform into Sailor Luna to train and help the Senshi, but she turned back if she sneezed or was shocked. Her powers employed the use of candy, and she wielded a large folding fan at times. Fans viewed her as the replacement of Chibiusa for the sake of keeping Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon a largely one-series story. As a plush cat, Luna was dark blue instead of black, and her eyes were blue.

Musicals[edit]

luna.jpg
Tomoko Ishimura
as Luna

Luna appeared in the first two musicals, Sailor Moon - Gaiden Dark Kingdom Fukkatsu Hen and its revision. Although they remained cats in the story, she and Artemis were played by adult actors in cat-like costumes. They were never referenced again in any other musical in the first run. Luna was played by Tomoko Ishimura.

In Nogizaka46 Version Musical, Luna appeared as a puppet manipulated by an operator on stage, and was played by Misato Matsumoto and Hiroko Wakasa.

In Kaguya-hime no Koibito and 30th Anniversary Musical Festival -Chronicle-, Luna was played in cat form by Yune Sakurai and in human form by Marisa.

Trivia[edit]

  • Luna's name means "moon" in Latin and many languages derived from it.

References[edit]

  1. Alex Glover's Materials Collection translation (archived)