Title card

Title card refers to a visual image or animation that appeared in episodes of the Sailor Moon anime and Crystal to display the title of that episode. They were usually displayed immediately after the end of the opening sequence, but sometimes there would be an introductory scene before the title card appeared.

In the original anime each season had its own unique animated sequence serving as the title card, with the title read aloud by Usagi, but in the first three seasons of Crystal it was the same still image with no voiceover; only the four title cards for Sailor Moon Eternal and Sailor Moon Cosmos had some slight animation.

Anime

First Season

In the title card of the first season, a golden crescent moon appeared against a plain black backdrop that faded into a multicolored background covered with white sparkles and bubbles. The view zoomed out so that the crescent moon moved to the top left corner of the screen as golden five-pointed shooting stars flew past from right to left. The background then turned blue before the episode title was displayed.

Sailor Moon R

The title card of the second season was very similar to the previous one, although the shade of blue behind the title was a little darker.

Sailor Moon S

In the title card of the third season, a pink heart with a golden crescent moon inside appeared against a plain black backdrop. Sparkling light traced around the outside heart as the view zoomed out and the background turned into a green lacy design. The crescent moon then grew larger as the heart split into nine smaller versions, five of them forming a row at the top of the screen and four forming one at the bottom, the background becoming shades of blue with white sparkles. As the heart at the center of the top row spun, the episode title was displayed against a darker blue horizontal stripe overlaying the background.

Sailor Moon SuperS

In the title card of the fourth season, a golden glowing crescent moon appeared over a multicolored backdrop with white and golden sparkles rushing vertically over it. The crescent moon was then enclosed by a heart shape that moved to the lower left of the screen and filled with a dark pink color, partially overlaying a full moon in front of a multicolored aurora. Pegasus appeared over the heart in a flash of golden light before the episode title was displayed.

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars

In the title card of the fifth season, a golden glowing five-pointed star appeared, spinning counter-clockwise against a plain black backdrop; two smaller stars joined it as the background quickly turned dark blue with white and golden sparkles and a rainbow flowed past. The three stars rushed off to the left, trailing a tail of white light that briefly hid the background from view before revealing a new one that showed a galaxy and the episode title.

Crystal

In the first three seasons of Sailor Moon Crystal, the title card showed a silhouetted Princess Serenity surrounded by roses, crystals, and stars, with the title appearing on the right half of the screen.

Trivia

• When the German dub of Sailor Stars aired on television and was first released on DVD using separate video tracks for the German and Japanese episodes, it continued to use the SuperS title card. In the Blu-ray and second DVD release, the German audio was instead placed over the Japanese footage. Therefore, in these box sets the dub now also used the Sailor Stars title card, with Usagi's voiceover reading the episode titles out loud spoken in Japanese and subtitled in German.