Sailor Moon is full of fascinating stories, locations, and lore. Every place Usagi visits is filled with terrifying monsters, wondrous magical objects, and other strange things. But one of Sailor Moon's overlooked adventures raises many fascinating questions about the Sailor Moon universe and leaves viewers wondering how hard life must be for the world's regular inhabitants.
Chibiusa's Picture Diary was a series of short manga stories that were published in RunRun magazine before being included in various volumes of the manga. These short stories were also bundled together in the Sailor Moon Short Stories collection. However, the second entry in the Chibiusa's Picture Diary series, Beware of Tanabata, is utterly fascinating.
Beware of Tanabata starts on Chibiusa's 902nd birthday. The scouts celebrate this by showering her with gifts. But the strangest gift comes from Mamoru. Mamoru, displaying his legendary common sense and talent for pattern recognition, gives Chibiusa a locket watch with Sailor Moon on it. Rather than buying this watch from a store, he says he brought it from a street vendor wearing an identity-obscuring hooded cloak. The other scouts criticize Mamorou for buying from such a shady vendor while overlooking how odd it is to buy your future daughter a gift featuring her Mom's secret identity.
However, things start to change when Chibiusa learns that all the other girls at her school have the same watch. They all talk about their crushes until Sailors Uranus and Neptune turn up, preparing for the real-world festival of Tanabata. However, as they start talking, the hooded figure turns up and explains the Tanabata myth to the group. Star-crossed lovers, Shokujo and Kengyū, angered the gods and now can only meet up once a year, on Tanabata day.
When Tanabata day rolls around on July 7th, the watches take control of all the local children and force them together at Ichinohashi park. There, the cloaked woman and two other ladies are present. The cloaked woman encourages the assembled girls to throw off the shackles of men, saying they don't need them. Chibiusa, freed from the control via Luna's bite, transforms and argues with the woman. The woman says she is Sailor Moon, but Chibiusa sees through the disguise. The woman drops the deception and reveals she is Shokujo. Soon it is revealed that the other two women are Zeta and Epsilon. The pair have been using Shokujo's insecurities to manipulate her, hoping to steal the energy of all the young girls in the city. Of course, Chibiusa saves the day and destroys Zeta and Epsilon, freeing the children.
This story raises many fascinating questions about the Sailor Moon universe. The existence of Sailor Moon-themed jewelry is interesting in and of itself. During the series, it is shown that Sailor V is a massive and popular figure with her own manga and video games. The first Chibiusa's Picture Diary even touches on this, as Sailor V and Sailor Moon team up to save a Sailor V fan. While Sailor Moon is less of a public figure, the fact that she has merchandise and that Shokujo disguises herself as Sailor Moon suggests that she is well known and trusted by the local residents.
Of course, this also means that all the events linked to Sailor Moon, including the rampaging monster attacks and the city being flooded with energy-draining and mind-controlling trinkets, are also public knowledge. This means that the people of Tokyo are some of the most relaxed people on Earth or utterly desensitized to the whole thing.
On top of this, the story is further proof that in the world of Sailor Moon, most myths are actually true, and the mythical figures involved in them are real people who are just as easily tricked and corrupted as mortal men. This means that any festival no matter how innocent it is on the surface could take a dark turn if a villain gets their claws into the festival's figurehead, meaning that the residents of Tokyo shouldn't let their guard down for a second. As any tradition or event could become a dangerous, cataclysmic event.
The Chibiusa's Picture Diary series is a fun addition to the Sailor Moon canon, and it's a shame they get overlooked so often. These short stories feature some unique setups and some very fun character moments. However, the more you think about them, the more you realize just how weird the Sailor Moon universe is, especially for the normal people who exist within it.