Thanks to the early seasons of the Sailor Moon anime being one of the most well known adaptations of the story, Queen Beryl is the villain most fans are still familiar with today. However, an even more powerful woman took on Sailor Moon in the original manga, the anime, and the Sera Myu musicals: Sailor Galaxia.
Unlike most of the villains Sailor Moon faced throughout the Magical Girl series, Galaxia was also a Sailor Senshi. The power she had came from within, and that made her a serious threat to Sailor Moon and her team. Because her part of the story didn’t get as much focus during Sailor Moon’s most popular time, however, there is plenty of information fans don’t know about her - or missed out on in her story.
10 Galaxia’s Base Was Inspired By A Real Location
Sailor Galaxia built her home base in the “birthplace of all stars.” The Galaxy Cauldron, as it’s called in the franchise, was situated at Sagittarius Zero Star. While that location wasn’t named in the anime, it was in the manga.
That star is at the center of Sagittarius Alpha, a real place. That is the name for a point near the center of the Milky Way galaxy that is a source for radio waves. There happens to be a supermassive black hole there. Fans have speculated that the Galaxy Cauldron is inspired by the black hole, though creator Naoko Takeuchi has never officially confirmed it.
9 She Conquered 80% Of The Galaxy
Galaxia was a formidable opponent for Sailor Moon’s team of senshi, though it’s never made completely clear just how many worlds she’s ended or civilizations she’s conquered. The only Sailor Moon adaptation that puts a number on her work is Sera Myu.
In Japan, a series of musicals were created inspired by the Sailor Moon story. Galaxia’s first appearance in the musicals was accompanied by the fact that she’d conquered a whopping 80% of the Milky Way before she even made her way to Earth. The senshi were right to be alarmed.
8 Her Manga Story Was Very Different From The Anime
Across the different Sailor Moon adaptations, there are a lot of differences in the story. The live action series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon never featured the Outer Senshi, for example, or Galaxia. Galaxia’s treatment in the original manga is even very different from the anime.
In the manga, Galaxia was a power hungry person once she discovered her senshi abilities. She made the decision to try to become more powerful than Chaos and steal star seeds from other senshi. In the anime, however, Galaxia was actually the most powerful of the senshi in their first battle with Chaos. She chose to seal Chaos within herself to keep the entity trapped, and it eventually took over her body.
7 Galaxia Was Specifically Created To Rival Sailor Moon
When the Sailor Moon manga was initially written, Naoko Takeuchi planned out the story arcs one at a time. The “Stars” arc was the one to feature Galaxia, and it was also the last arc of the series.
By that point, Takeuchi had already had Sailor Moon dispatch Queen Beryl, get a glimpse at her future, and meet new sailor senshi. Galaxia, however, was conceived as her true hurdle. In the fifth volume of the Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Original Picture collections, Takeuchi revealed how difficult Galaxia’s clothing was to draw, but also that she designed Galaxia with the idea of her as Sailor Moon’s “true rival” in mind. It’s no coincidence that the Moon Kingdom leaders favor silver while Galaxia favors gold.
6 She Could Make Her Castle Disappear
All of the sailor senshi had special abilities unique to themselves. Those who weren’t part of Sailor Moon’s group are no exception.
While fans don’t know all of Sailor Galaxia’s powers, there was one in particular that Sailor Moon’s Sailor Senshi never seemed to have. In the manga, Galaxia could make her castle disappear at will. The other senshi were able to combine their energies to create a force field, but not make something vanish completely from everyone’s sight.
5 Galaxia’s Jewelry Featured Alexandrite
Each senshi’s color scheme and jewelry was carefully selected by Takeuchi to reflect the celestial body they were associated with - and their personality. In the case of Galaxia, her jewelry featured a particular mineral.
Alexandrite is a gemstone that appears to be emerald in certain lights and ruby in others. It’s named for Tsar Alexander II of Russia. Though it’s never stated outright in the manga or anime, a notation confirming alexandrite appears in the Sailor Moon Materials Collection. It’s not clear if it was meant to symbolize her evolution from senshi to villain, or simply the dual nature of power.
4 Tuxedo Mask Was The First Human Whose Star Seed She Took
Galaxia traveled from star system to star system recruiting new senshi into her ranks, stealing star seeds, and conquering worlds by force. Because she spent so much of her time traveling across the galaxy, she stole star seeds from a variety of beings.
Every living being had a star seed. The more powerful the being, the better the star seed, according to Galaxia. She thought Sailor Moon’s was the purest of all. When she journeyed to Earth’s star system, Galaxia didn’t just go after ordinary humans. She wanted the special star seeds, which is why she targeted Mamoru Chiba, or Tuxedo Mask, first. He was the first human being whose star seed she took. Afterward, she created a composite of his body to act as her slave, but his apparent death also removed Chibiusa from the timeline as she ceased to exist.
3 Versions Of Galaxia’s Story Featured An Alliance With Queen Beryl
Queen Beryl was the very first big bad to go after Sailor Moon. It’s fitting then that the very last big bad would take her full circle. That doesn’t happen in every version of the story.
Instead, it happened most often in the musicals. In a few of the Sera Myu stories to feature Galaxia, she would resurrect previous villains in her Galaxy Cauldron. The villains would then work together to go up against the sailor senshi. Of course, the senshi always prevailed, but it’s always nice for fans to go back to the beginning.
2 Her Sword Is Implied To Be The Sword Of Sealing
In the anime, there were heavy hints that Galaxia wasn’t the real villain and that Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon held a serious connection to her. Those hints were given to the audience thanks to a sword.
The Sword of Sealing appeared to Sailor Moon to help her defeat Galaxia. Sailor Moon, however, refused to use the sword against her, wanting to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict. When she refused, the sword transformed into Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon, which was eventually revealed to be Galaxia’s star seed in sentient form.
When the anime revealed Galaxia originally sealing the Chaos entity inside herself, however, she used what looked like the exact same word, implying that the Sword of Sealing was a part of her.
1 The Meaning Behind Her Name
All of the civilian names of Sailor Moon’s team had special meanings. Sailor Moon herself was Usagi Tsukino, and her civilian name was a pun meaning “rabbit on the moon.”
Galaxia, on the other hand, had no “civilian” name. She was only referenced as Sailor Galaxia. That name, however, had a larger implication. Galaxias, the ancient Greek word for galaxy, actually means “milky white,” and came to reference the Milky Way specifically before astronomers knew other galaxies existed. Galaxia’s name acted as a reference to her presence at the center of the Milky Way, and her desire to be the most powerful being in it.