In the Japanese versions, her name is Tsukino Usagi, which translates to “Rabbit of the Moon.” This is an homage to the Japanese folk tale of a rabbit you can see on the moon, much like the Man in the Moon to Americans. Her hair style—two buns atop her head with pigtails streaming down—even resembles a rabbit (though not as much as her future daughter Chibi Usa). In the American anime, her name is given is Serena Tsukino. This correlates well with her former name of Serenity (sometimes translated as Selenity, closer to Selene—the goddess of the moon). For the English translations of the Sailor Moon manga, our heroine is known as “Bunny,” closer to her Japanese name. For ease, I’ll use “Serena” when referencing the anime and “Usagi” when referencing the live-action show.
APPEARANCE
Anime: Serena’s distinctive hairstyle is all blonde and she has blue eyes. She usually wears her school uniform—white shirt, red bow and blue skirt. When she’s in regular clothes, she can usually be spotted in pink (listed as her favorite color). Her mode of transformation is a broach Luna gives her that she wears on her school uniform or clothes. When she becomes Sailor Moon, her outfit resembles her school uniform—only with a much smaller skirt. She wears red boots that come up to her knees and a gold tiara on her head. Red jewels decorate the buns atop her head. Over time, her uniform grew more elaborate as more pink was incorporated into the uniform.
Live-action: Usagi in civilian form retains her Japanese looks. She has long dark hair that she often wears in a style that mimics her anime counterpart’s, but not quite. She wears pigtails with hair wrapped around the top. Her school uniform is a replica of the anime and she too prefers pink when in regular clothes. She also prefers skirts as well as shirts with English sayings on them. These will generally always have a rabbit on them. Her mode of transformation in this incarnation is a locket she always wears around her neck. In the anime, Serena doesn’t need to access her broach to transform. In the live-action, it would seem the opposite is true. In one episode, Ami and Usagi sneak into a costume party. She wears a bear costume and when a youma comes, cannot transform as she cannot get to her locket. As Sailor Moon, her costume is almost a replica of the anime. Rather than red, her bow and boots are pink.
POWERS
Anime: Serena’s first attack is to turn her tiara into a boomerang, called Moon Tiara Magic. Over time, she gains a scepter to fight the bad guys. Her main attack is “Moon Scepter Elimination” and eventually gains “Mooning Healing Escalation” when warranted. She gains more attacks (and more elaborate scepters) as the series progresses and her powers grow.
Live-action: Like the anime, Usagi can use her tiara as a boomerang, using the same attack name. She also has a scepter but her attacks change—she still has Moon Healing Escalation, though. Her main attack is “Moon Twilight Flash” and she gains a few others that she uses throughout the series.
PERSONALITY
Anime: I’ll be honest—Serena makes me want to slap her. Repeatedly. When we first meet Serena, she has overslept—again. That means she arrives late at school—again. And she learns she has failed a test—again. She then whines about it. Loudly. Within the first minutes of meeting our heroine, she is portrayed as lazy and a cry-baby. She is also shown constantly stuffing her face with various foods. Even Luna is surprised she is Sailor Moon. But, we also quickly learn Serena’s good traits. She’s a kind, caring person who wears her heart on her sleeve. She’s bubbly and carefree. She’s extremely loyal to her friends and it is the fact that her friend Molly is in danger that convinces Serena to become Sailor Moon.
As Sailor Moon, Serena isn’t much of a fighter. She spends most the fights either whining or hiding. But when it comes down to the wire, she takes a stand and fights back. As the fighting progresses and Serena learns her true past as the Moon Princess, she starts to mature a bit. She starts as lazy, eats a lot and still whines and would rather stare at guys than fight. As Sailor Moon, she is also the leader of the Sailor Scouts. And…she’s a rather poor leader. She’s often late to meetings and is easily distracted. But as the fights increase, she manages to pull it together and steps as a leader. But she is still distracted easily.
Live-action: Usagi…doesn’t make me want to slap her. Repeatedly. In fact, I actually like her. Reports say that the creator of Sailor Moon was more involved in this series rather than the anime, so Usagi is probably truer to her vision than Serena. Like the anime, we first meet Usagi after she overslept—again. She rushes to school and is late—again. We also quickly learn she also likes karaoke and the pop singer Aino Minako. She is overly friendly and welcoming—such as her declarations of friendship immediately to Ami, Rei and Makoto. In Japan, it is common to address one’s classmates formally but she usually refers to them in an informal, friendly manner. She likes to impose her likes on others—such as insisting that Rei sing karaoke no matter how many times the other girl protests. She usually uses food as a means to bridge gaps and build friendships, but she isn’t seen constantly eating like her animated counterpart.
As the series progresses, Usagi matures as the situation grows more serious. She tries to remain upbeat, but the fate of the world rests on her shoulders. She worries about her friends, her love, her family and the fate of the world while trying to remain cheerful.
As Sailor Moon, she is much more willing than Serena. She accepts her powers readily and is even excited to be Sailor Moon. By becoming Sailor Moon, she automatically gains the skills to fight the monster—though she needs some prompting from Luna. She is more interested in guys, singing and Minako than in the mission to find the Moon Princess and the Mystical Silver Crystal. Sailor Venus is surprised to learn Usagi is Sailor Moon and doesn’t consider her serious enough. She is also surprised to find that Usagi cannot detect the presence of a Youma in the hospital even though both Minako and Makoto can. But once a youma is detected, she stands and fights no matter what.
When she is revealed to be the Moon Princess, she also reveals the location of the Mystical Silver Crystal. As the Crystal is inside her, it is controlled by her emotions. When Usagi feels a powerful emotion, usually sadness or concern, the crystal activates and displays incredible amounts of power. However, its power is tied to the enemy. Sailor Moon must try to suppress it and not use it to save the world.
RELATIONSHIPS
Anime: For the most part, Serena and Usagi have the same relationships—but these tend to play out differently. Serena has two parents, both who are slightly exasperated with their daughter but who love her. Her brother Sammy has the usual younger brother rivalry with Serena and often pulls jokes at her expense.
At the start of the show, Serena’s best friend is Molly—who is as bright and bubbly as her friend. For the most part, Molly remains separate from the Sailor Scouts and doesn’t question Serena’s activities too much. The only major plotline Molly gets involved with is her (probably illegal) affair with Maxwell Stanton AKA Negaverse general Nephrite. Her affection for him slowly becomes his redemption…only for him to die a noble death as Molly weeps over his body, comforted by the Sailor Scouts. Molly becomes withdrawn for a few episodes, but starts to recover when she and Melvin fall in love. Up to this point, Melvin had pursued Serena but she kept rejecting him for being too dorky.
While Melvin pursues Serena, she has her eyes on Andrew. He works at the arcade she and her friends like to frequent while studying to be a doctor. He reveals this to her when she goes on a crash diet and faints. He makes her an energy shake and treats her to a meal, lecturing her on the merits of a healthy diet. But Andrew has a fiancée named Rita. When Serena learns of this—and meets Rita—she loses her crush on Andrew and starts focusing on Tuxedo Mask, who keeps rescuing her during battles. In her civilian life, Serena keeps running into Darien Shields, who teases her for everything ranging from her grades to her eating habits. He calls her “meatball” head due to the buns on top of her head. Slowly, though, Serena forms a friendship with him and then learns his true identity as Tuxedo Mask. They also learn of their past as lovers Endymion and Princess Serenity and fall in love themselves.
Amongst the Sailor Scouts, Serena is warm and welcoming to all. She considers Raye her best friend but Serena’s personality does tend to grate her. I was quite surprised when I read that Raye is her best friend as for the most part, the two constantly fight. Raye is constantly lecturing her friend and the two have entered into epic tongue pointing sessions. In fact, early on as a Sailor Scout, Raye tries to overthrow Serena’s authority and become leader. But as time goes on, Raye calms down and accepts Serena as leader. But the lectures continue. Serena is also the first to embrace Lita, which forms a special bond with the two. Not much is seen between her and Mina, but the two seem to have a close relationship.
Live action: Like her anime counterpart, Usagi lives with her parents and her brother. Her father is never seen, though it is stated that he works as reporter. Her mother is as energetic as her daughter and appears to be a stay-at-home mother. Usagi and her mother have a good relationship, though they have the usual mother-daughter fights. It is important to note that Usagi appears to be the only one with such an active mother in her life. Even if that mother tends to act a bit more immaturely than her daughter. Usagi’s brother, Shingo, is clearly the most serious person in the house. He accepts the craziness of his mother and sister with an eye roll and doesn’t seem to blink an eye. The only time he is surprised is when he overhears Luna the cat talking, but decides to pretend it didn’t happen.
At school, Usagi’s best friend is Naru. Like the anime, she is similar to Usagi except with slightly better grades. Naru disappears for sometime in the show, though she does suspect something when Usagi spends more time with class loner Ami. But soon Naru accepts Ami and spends more time with Usagi. When newcomer Mio turns the entire class against Usagi, Naru and Ami stay by her side. Toward the end, Naru learns her friend’s secret and agrees to keep it. Even though her confidence wanes, Naru believes in Usagi. There is no equivalent to Melvin in the live-action series and Naru never interacts with Nephrite. Usagi believes Motoki, who runs the Crown Karaoke, may be Tuxedo Kamen and goes on a date with him.
Usagi soon learns that Tuxedo Kamen is really Chiba Mamoru. The two have a contemptuous relationship that went from trading insults to a friendship. Slowly, that friendship grows into love—which is revealed to be destiny. It is their relationship that defines the latter half of the show and the fate of the world.
Within the Sailor Senshi, Usagi embraces the main three—Mercury, Mars and Jupiter. She grows particularly close to Ami and Makoto as the three attend the same school and Rei initially rebuffs Usagi’s attempts to befriend her. Rei begrudgingly gives in. Even when the girls drift apart, Usagi considers them all friends and delights when they all reunite again. As she is a big fan of Minako’s, she tends to act like the ultimate fan girl around the singer. She squeals, babbles and generally acts giddy around Minako. When they spend a good amount of time together, Usagi and Minako end up chatting like good friends and eventually become so.
PLOT CHANGES
There is very little that changes between Serena and Usagi’s plot. The only main difference is their appetites—while Usagi is shown to enjoy food, she doesn’t do so to the extent her counterpart does. Serena spends an entire episode trying to lose weight; Usagi goes on a diet for approximately thirty seconds.
The main plot difference is the power of the Mystical Silver Crystal. In the anime, it is shown to be something that can be used for either good or evil. It is also shown that Sailor Moon can control its power and easily focus it for her purposes—whether to destroy an enemy or heal someone. In the live-action sequence, the Mystical Silver Crystal shows that it doesn’t matter who has it—it has the potential to destroy the world. Sailor Moon cannot control its power. The Mystical Silver Crystal is tied to the power of the enemy, hindering Sailor Moon’s use of it. Her struggles to control its power helps mature Usagi.
Serena: 
Sailor Moon: 
Sailor Moon (Live): 
No comments:
Post a Comment