Sailor Moon arrived on the manga scene in 1991 and was quickly adapted into an anime series in 1992. Its popularity has spanned the globe with spinoffs, films, video games, and even musicals! Though it follows a group of teenage girls, this magical girl series has a broad appeal for men and women alike. However, with its focus on friendship and girl power, it has consistently struck a chord with young girls, and it definitely made an impact on budding girl nerds in the 90s for whom Sailor Moon was a gateway to anime and to other fandoms.
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The main character, Usagi Tsukino, is the hero of this series, but she can be a bit ridiculous at times. She’s constantly crying, over-excited, or talking about how hungry she is. She’s basically every teenage girl. Add to this some good friends, a crush on a mysterious guy, and a talking cat, and you’ve got all of the things you could ever want in life (plus a sweet wardrobe change montage). All of this combined makes Usagi, and the series itself, ripe for funny memes. Join us as we take a look at some of the funniest Sailor Moon memes we’ve “scouted” from the interwebs!
15 MEAN (SAILOR) GIRLS
Black Lady was aptly named thanks to her all black attire, but it’s also appropriate since she’s pretty evil. This is the middle of the evolution of Chibiusa, who later goes back to good as Sailor Chibi Moon. Black Lady doesn’t stick around for long, but it’s great fodder for Mean Girls jokes.
In the Mean Girls film, Karen Smith, played by Amanda Seyfried, is the dumb blonde friend who doesn’t understand how people from Africa can be white. While we know Usagi isn’t a star pupil, we would hope that our Sailor Moon would know that much. Either way, Karen has a power Usagi doesn’t have. In Karen’s words: “It’s like I have ESPN or something. My breasts can always tell when it’s raining.”
14 BYE PLUTO
In a revelation that stunned the nerd community, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, prominent astrophysicist and pop culture icon, said that Pluto should no longer be considered a planet. Pluto has seen been deemed a “dwarf planet” because of its small icy nature and the fact that its orbit crosses another planet’s orbit (which is, apparently, inappropriate planetary behavior).
As one of the four Outer Senshi, this news probably struck Sailor Pluto hard. She’s not a part of the original crew already, and hearing that her namesake planet has been demoted likely didn’t make her feel too great. Look at her eyes! Those are the eyes of sadness. When Dr. Tyson told the masses that Pluto didn’t belong anymore, he probably didn’t know it’d affect an already lonely Sailor.
13 THE WAIT
The man who waits for his lady to finish getting ready is a pervasive stereotype. We see this in films and TV shows, and sometimes, we see this firsthand in the real world with patient men waiting outside department store fitting rooms, holding their lady’s purse and trying to maintain as much dignity as they can.
In the Sailor Moon universe, we would imagine that Tuxedo Mask would have to bring a book with him everywhere for when the Senshis start transforming. If they actually do take turns and go one at a time, he may even have time to nip out for a quick snack while they’re transforming. This makes us appreciate Tuxedo Mask even more (although in retrospect, Usagi was a little too young for him which is kind of creepy).
12 ROSES
Logan, the Wolverine, has a complicated history. He was injected with adamantium, which explains his claws and regenerative abilities, but it doesn’t explain his inability to be in a romantic relationship. In the original X-Men trilogy films, he even crushes on a clearly already taken lady, Jean Grey. Logan does end up accepting that Jean will be with Scott, but after some weird chemistry moments (and her almost killing everyone by turning into the Phoenix).
You know who clearly has better game with the ladies? Tuxedo Mask. Usagi is constantly swooning over him whenever he appears. He’s dressed to the nines, and he even has a cane. His special fighting power is throwing a rose. Let’s face it: roses are a lot more inviting than claws.
11 ALL THE SINGLE LADIES
In Roman mythology, Venus is the goddess of love, beauty, and sexuality. Her Greek counterpart was Aphrodite, whom you may remember from the Disney Hercules movie (she was the very pink blonde one) or from the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys TV show (again, she was the very pink blonde one).
Our girl Sailor Venus shares the blonde hair of her namesake but not the pinkness nor the romantic prowess. She remains single despite her doling out romantic advice to her friends, and her crushes don’t work out in her favor. However, she’s got something called the “Venus Love-Me Chain,” which sounds like a desperate plea for affection but is actually a powerful attack. So, who needs guys when you’ve got a career and self-defense skills.
10 WE SHIP IT!
Shipping is no longer just a nautical or online shopping term: these days, if you’re in a fandom, you hear a lot about people shipping two characters together. This means that they want them to be in a relationship. So, we’ve essentially turned the noun “relationship” into a handy verb to use when we’re excited to see Bucky and Captain America in Avengers: Infinity War.
If anyone’s face is perfect to describe how we feel when our ship is having a moment, it’s Usagi’s. Yes, anime features are bigger to more easily express emotion in general, but combined with Usagi’s easily excitable personality, we have an easy go-to gif for when we’re talking about Kara and Mon-El (we may be rewatching Supergirl season two at the moment).
9 HORRIBLE BOSSES
Queen Beryl was the first villain in the Sailor Moon anime series. The mineral that shares her name is sometimes found in a greenish blue color, which now that we’re older and have taken geology courses, we notice she wears. Queen Beryl possesses powerful magic, which she often used to manipulate others. Girls who grew up with Sailor Moon may remember the turmoil when Beryl tried to come between Usagi and Mamoru.
While she was the queen, literally, of manipulating others, her pep talks towards her minions weren’t the best, and it reminds us of all the terrible bosses we’ve had. Some us still get Black Friday retail flashbacks where our bosses just threw us out on the sales floor to survive. Headcanon: Beryl has a Walmart manager backstory.
8 HIPSTER MOON
Sailor Moon had a lot of firsts. It was the first successful shōjo manga and anime in the United States in terms of popularity and sales. The popularity of Usagi/Sailor Moon as a character often makes Top 100 lists. Another thing the series did was feature a talking cat before some witch named Sabrina had one on a '90s TV show.
Sabrina the Teenage Witch was part of the TGIF ABC lineup in the late '90s. Like Sailor Moon, it was enormously successful. Also like Sailor Moon, one of the characters was a sassy talking cat who would give out advice but wasn’t always listened to. The Sabrina TV show came out in 1996, while the Sailor Moon series hit TV screens in 1992. So, Hipster Sailor Moon has got a point.
7 SQUAD GOALS
The original Sailor squad consisted of Ami Mizuno (Sailor Mercury), Rei Hino (Sailor Mars), Makoto Kino (Sailor Jupiter), and Minako Aino (Sailor Venus). Like all proper squads, they had different skills and personalities to balance the group out: for example, Ami is super smart, while Rei has a fiery personality to match her powers. Makoto is a big physical threat because of her height, but she loves baking, while Minako is actually a famous singer.
If you imagine going to junior high or high school with these girls, you may feel a little intimidated. Granted, you wouldn’t know about their superpowers, but a squad at their level, especially with their strong bow game (so cute) would be the one you’d be the most envious of.
6 MY LIFE
Usagi had her (many) crybaby moments, but she was still relatable. Case in point: she would sleep in and be late for school, so she’d run with toast in her mouth. Story of our lives, right? School was definitely not her favorite place to be either. To be fair, most of us would rather not revisit those junior high and high school years.
As we get older, we realize just how much we’d rather be sleeping or taking a nap than literally anything else. When we finally get out of bed, especially on a day off, it’s quite amazing how much time we can spend on a computer too. Memes in particular have a tendency to distract us from everything else that is going on.
5 APPROVE TAGS
These days, it’s become a lot easier to manipulate photos to make us look like the best possible versions of ourselves. We’ve got filters on Instagram, Facebook, and Snapchat, and as you jump around these apps, you can add more of these filters to the same picture. In the end, you may end up looking like an alien creature or as beautiful as a Sailor Scout.
When we’re tagged in pictures, our friends may not have been as diligent with filters, and sometimes can catch us at inopportune moments, such as mid-sneeze. In this case, it is important to turn on the “approve tags” function. Though it’s a concern of vanity, it is comforting to know that celebrities, including Sailor Moon, don’t look perfect all the time.
4 BEFORE HER TIME
We’ve said already how the Sailor Moon series ushered in a lot of firsts, including having a talking cat before Sabrina did. Magical girl manga exploded in the United States after Sailor Moon as well. What we may not have realized is that Usagi’s transformation scene in the show included another element that was ahead of her time: the dab.
Whenever Usagi says “Moon prism power, make-up,” little girls (and the grown ones as well, to be honest) lose their minds. If only we could magically get ready in such an elegant and sparkly way. Unfortunately, we lack the talking cat to awaken these powers. Additionally, Sailor Moon consistently hit the dab during her transformation sequence and looks pretty cool doing it. What an innovator.
3 WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR
Friends are important in our formative junior high and high school years. This is the period of time where we’re figuring out who we are, and as such, we try on many different hats (sometimes literally). Friends share in all the embarrassing stuff you do as a result of crazy hormones, like how you freak out over a masked man in a tuxedo.
Our friends are also there to support us, and sometimes this means financially. Usagi’s family wasn’t incredibly wealthy -- no celebrity singers like Sailor Venus -- so there had to be times when Usagi couldn’t go out because of money issues. We’ve all been there, and we’ve had that friend step up and say, “I got you.” When this happens, we put on our moon tiaras in a hurry because we’re going out!
2 GROUP PROJECTS
Some of us nerds prefer to work alone, so group projects were always the bane of our academic existence. It’s not a matter of being introverted or extroverted; we just tend to trust ourselves to do work on time more than we trust others. However, the group project is standard in classrooms from junior high to college, and therefore, we all had to learn to deal with it.
Unfortunately, there’s always that one person in the group that is there the day the assignment is given and then isn’t seen until the deadline. While the other members try to cobble together the project without that person, they wonder why that group member hasn’t shown up. We like to imagine he’s still being productive and helping Sailor Moon.
1 MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY
Mornings can get busy. Sometimes there isn’t a breakfast that’s fast enough for our needs, no matter how hard the McDonald’s drive-thru workers are working. In a pinch, we can grab a granola bar, but there are only so many varieties of Nature Valley bars we can have before completely giving up on oats in its entirety.
This is what separates the strong from the weak: who can skip breakfast and still be a functioning human being. One of the Sailor Senshi tests should really be how long she can go without eating before feeling like death warmed over. Sailor Mercury actually died in the series a couple of times, and while our memory is a little hazy, we are pretty sure that breakfast wasn’t involved.
What are your favorite Sailor Moon memes? Let us know in the comments!