Sailor Pluto is one of the Outer Senshi in Sailor Moon, so viewers of the anime spend a lot less time with her than with the members of the Inner Senshi, who are the main characters and have a lot of space for character development. This makes Sailor Pluto seem mysterious and cool, especially since she’s the oldest member of the Sailor Scouts.
But there are also things about her that are somewhat uncool and make her seem a little bit lame by comparison to the rest of the Sailor Scouts. Here are five ways that Sailor Pluto was an overrated member of the Sailor Senshi and five reasons she’s actually underrated.
10 Overrated: Super Powerful
Sailor Pluto is probably the most powerful of the Sailor Scouts, with maybe the exception of Sailor Saturn, since her whole ability revolves around her destiny to destroy the world. But viewers rarely see Sailor Pluto do much with this power. She doesn’t appear a lot in the series, even when things are really bad for the rest of the Scouts, and it feels a little like she’s too strong to make sense for the anime, where she can overpower the rest of the main characters.
9 Underrated: Transformation Sequence
The Outer Senshi, and Sailor Pluto in particular, aren’t seen doing their transformation sequences nearly as often as the Inner Senshi are. But Pluto’s is one of the coolest sequences in the series. It’s understated and pretty short compared to the other Scouts, but it still manages to be amazing and dramatic, with a crash of color and a lot of cool movements.
8 Overrated: Chibi-Usa’s Friend
Chibi-Usa is likely no one’s favorite character. She hops in to remind viewers that Usagi is someday going to be a mom, which isn’t particularly interesting when everyone’s having fun watching teenagers be teenagers.
So the fact that Sailor Pluto is responsible for bringing Chibi-Usa to the past in order to introduce her to Sailor Moon is definitely enough to sour someone on her.
7 Underrated: Cool To The Inner Senshi
The Outer Senshi are not exactly friendly when Usagi and her friends first meet them in the series. Neptune and Uranus are actively hostile, believing that the Inner Senshi are too young and inexperienced and that they’re just going to get in the way of their goal, which is to kill Sailor Saturn before she can destroy the world. But Pluto doesn’t really agree with her friends on this one, though she shares the same goal, and she often tries to be helpful to the Inner Senshi, giving them information and advice where she can.
6 Overrated: Wants To Be A Fashion Designer
Naoko Takeuchi is very interested in fashion, and many of the Sailor Scouts wear amazing outfits all the time. Setsuna is the only one, however, who wants to be a fashion designer. While this isn’t a bad desire on its own, it does seem a little trite and shallow considering all that she’s capable of doing and all of the knowledge at her disposal.
5 Underrated: Keeper Of Space And Time
This is part of the reason that her desire to be a fashion designer seems so silly: her current job is already so cool. Sailor Pluto is literally the keeper of the keys to the doors of space and time. She makes sure that the entire universe keeps moving along, in balance, so that nothing gets out of sorts.
Of course, it’s a lonely post, and she can’t ever leave it, but it’s so cool, and of so much consequence that it’s hard not to think of her as the best Senshi.
4 Overrated: Breaks All The Rules
Usually, rule-breaking wouldn’t make someone less awesome, since rule-breakers are by and large the coolest people. But Sailor Pluto is given very specific instructions by Neo Queen Serenity (Usagi from the future) to not break three rules regarding space and time: Don’t let anyone through the Time Door, don’t abandon her post, and don’t stop time. She breaks all of these rules, usually to help the Sailor Scouts, but also puts the entire world in danger at the same time.
3 Underrated: Sacrifices Herself
The third rule listed above, about never stopping time, is actually punishable on pain of death if she breaks it, which, as stated, she does. But she does so knowing that she’s going to die for doing it, and she does it to save the lives of Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus, her best friends, who are almost killed in a helicopter crash. Stopping time allows her to get them to safety.
2 Overrated: No Personality
Setsuna is pretty much the only member of the Sailor Scouts who doesn’t really have that much going on when it comes to her personality. Any time viewers spend time with her, she’s pretty quiet, and she doesn’t participate in social gatherings like the other Sailor Scouts do. Sure, she hasn’t had a lot of time to be social with people, since she’s been guarding the door of space and time all by herself for a long time, but it still makes her less interesting than the other Scouts.
1 Underrated: Dead Scream
On the other hand, Sailor Pluto has one of the coolest powers of any of the Sailor Scouts. Dead Scream first of all has the coolest name of any move that any Sailor Scout can do. It’s dramatic and powerful and makes Sailor Pluto seem totally cool. Plus, it’s the only ability that doesn’t get activated by the Sailor Scout screaming it. Instead, Pluto just says the words in a soft, calm voice, still doing massive amounts of damage regardless.