Sailor Moon is a classic anime series that helped define the 1990s. Children from around the world, whether they knew the main character as Usagi or Serena, or even Bunny, fell in love with its cast of characters. It helps when picking your favorite is as easy as picking your favorite planet. When it comes to such a long-running series with 200 episodes (not to mention a few movies, musicals, a live-action show...), there's bound to be characters who fell by the wayside.
Today, however, we're shedding a light on characters that fans might have forgotten about, whether they were anime-exclusive or never appeared outside of the manga. And be warned, spoilers abound.
10 Sailor V
Technically, she's more of forgotten alter-ego than an actual character, but when even the Nostalgia Critic gets confused about the original Sailor Scout, she deserves a special mention. That's right, before Usagi, Minako was defending Japan from the villainous Dark Agency as a solo hero.
By the time Sailor Moon kicked off as a series, Sailor V has already become a media icon by the time the other girls join in, with movies and cartoons. And Minako's alternate identity comes in handy in the manga: she spends some time convincing the villains that she is the long-lost moon princess before it comes to light that she's Sailor Venus.
9 Endou
Back when Mamoru was brainwashed into serving the Dark Kingdom, he needed to gather information on Usagi and her friends. In order to get close to their friend Motoki, who works at the local arcade, he impersonates his real friend, Endou, whose name is suspiciously reminiscent of "Endymion," Mamoru's alter-ego, after making the real one "disappear."
The anime changed Mamoru and Motoki to actually be friends, so Endou was made redundant. He appeared in Sailor Moon Crystal, where fate was kinder to him: Mamoru only brainwashed him into leaving Motoki alone.
8 Sailor Power Guardians
Usagi and Minako have Luna and Artemis, and Rei has those crows, but what about the other girls? Where are their magical helpers? Eventually, in the manga, we finally meet the Sailor Power Guardians, tiny sprites who look like tiny versions of the Sailor Senshi, live in their respective princesses' palaces, and are always on hand for a power-boost.
Unfortunately, even fans who remember that the Senshi were the princesses of their respective planets, at least in the manga, tend to forget about them.
7 Asanuma Ittou
Asanuma Ittou is a high school student and a friend of Mamoru Chiba. He has a key interest in the supernatural and is one of the few characters who notices the connection between the strange happenings all over Tokyo and Usagi and her friends, like seeing Mamoru heal himself or overhearing Luna talk to Usagi. He eventually became something of a love interest for Makoto, Sailor Jupiter herself, even getting a kiss, and became one of the few civilian characters to know the identities of the Senshi.
Unfortunately, the 90's anime all but cut his character from the story, except for a brief appearance in Sailor Stars, when he tries to visit Mamoru at his apartment. That said, he did come back for Sailor Moon Crystal. Still, some fans just mixed him up with Motoki, another character sometimes paired with Makoto.
6 Princess Kakyuu
In the final story arc, there is a search for a mysterious princess who can help in the fight against Galaxia and the Shadow Galactica empire. The lovely Princess Kakyuu is the ruler of the planet Kinmoku and fled to Earth, hidden inside an incense burner.
In the manga, she even turns out to be a Sailor Scout! She even has two attacks: Starlight Royal Straight Flush, a card-based attack, and Kinmoku Fusion Tempest, in which she attacks with a flurry of blossoms. Breaking naming tradition, for some reason, she's "Sailor Kakyuu" instead of "Sailor Kinmoku."
5 Gurio Umino
In the first season, Usagi spent some time as a solo superhero, so we got to see quite a few people in her everyday life that eventually got phased out, most notably Naru Osaka and the class outcast, Gurio Umino. You can tell he's not exactly popular by the fact that even Usagi, who seems to be on a first-name basis with everyone, calls him by his family name, "Umino." He originally had a crush on Usagi, but eventually found the love of his life in her best friend, Naru (who seems to avoid the fate of being forgotten thanks to a lot of fanfics where she's the long-lost Sailor Earth).
A running gag in both the manga and anime is that we encounter a lot of characters that look like Umino: Chibiusa's classmate Sorano, Minako's old friend Amano, and even a foreign princess all wear his trademark glasses. Speaking of his glasses, series creator Naoko Takeuchi infamously confirmed that Umino is actually quite handsome without them.
4 Moonlight Knight
During the start of the second season, Mamoru has lost his memory, meaning Tuxedo Mask isn't going to help save the day when things get tough. But another man of mystery arrives to help out Sailor Moon, the Moonlight Knight. And you can tell he's not Mamoru because he uses white roses instead of red. Also, he and Mamoru occasionally show up at the same place.
Eventually, we learn his real identity: he's the personification of Mamoru's subconscious desire to protect his princess. Basically a psychic projection, he ends up fusing back with Mamoru.
3 Ryo Urawa
Ryo Urawa, also known as Greg in the English dub, was one of the show's few "victims of the day" who made a second appearance. A psychic, Ryo is probably best known for being a love interest for Ami Mizuno, Sailor Mercury herself. During his second appearance on the show, we even see the two on a date together. In the first season's finale, Ami is even tortured by a vision of him by the DD Girls.
Unfortunately, he seemed to be forgotten towards the end of the first season. Things got especially complicated when the anime adapted the manga story, "Ami's First Love," into a special, forgetting that the anime already gave Ami a "first love." At least, someone eventually remembered him...he briefly appears in the Sailor Moon: Another Story video game.
2 Hikaru Sorano
Back when she was Sailor V, Minako's best friend was Hikaru Sorano, a kindhearted, hardworking student who is the vice president of a volunteer school. She even gets Sailor V (and Minako) to help out with her volunteer work, like promoting a blood drive. Unfortunately, she is often targeted by the Dark Agency, often needing Sailor V to rescue her.
You might have noticed that Hikaru looks a lot like Ami. Originally, when Sailor Moon was in development, Hikaru was originally going to become a Sailor Senshi herself, only for a new, identical character to take her place. Officially, she and Ami are not the same character: Hikaru eventually appeared in Another Story.
1 Queen Serenity
Princess Serenity's mother arguably started the whole Sailor Moon franchise when she sent her daughter, her court, and Prince Endymion to Earth, at the cost of her own life. Eventually, her hologram reveals the Senshi's origins when they return to the Moon.
Being a posthumous character, the original Sailor Moon manga seems to relegate her to backstories, but she has a surprising past: it's even implied that she wasn't originally from the moon. The Sailor V manga also had a mysterious "boss" who gave orders to Artemis and Minako who might have been meant to be Queen Serenity, but this was never confirmed.