So, tumblr hivemind, now that I’m seeing this gorgeous Cosmos fanart on my dash right there, could you help me with my headcannon here again? It worked so nicely last time xD
So… Sailor Cosmos…
I absolutely get she’s MEANT to be ambiguous, even to Naoko, but I still wanna ask your opinion! @lynleighmeadphotography has already been so nice to send me the links to these two very nice articles discussing who (or when) Sailor Cosmos is, and the essence of them are basically these 4 theories that I’m just gonna quote:
// #1, She is Usagi, and an incarnation of Sailor Moon that she achieves *after* becoming Neo-Queen Serenity (which contradicts the fact that Neo-Queen Serenity lost her Senshi powers after ascending to the throne)
#2, She is Usagi, and an incarnation of Sailor Moon that she achieves *instead* of becoming Neo-Queen Serenity (so Cosmos comes from an alternate dark future)
#3, She is Usagi, but a reincarnation of her rather than the future form of the Usagi we know.
#4, She is a descendant of Usagi who now bears the Sailor Moon title – not Chibiusa though, because as mentioned before, she feels no connection to her. Some evidence for this is that the Silver Crystal extends the current owner’s life a maximum of 1000 years, and Sailor Cosmos clearly comes from an era long after that. \
Now, because there’s this whole thing where she talks about her old self and remembering the battle here and stuff:
…it’s kinda safe to rule out #4, I think. And well, there IS the fact that NQS kinda has less powers in the future (which I never did get - I know, it’s explained through her heart not believing as strongly anymore and stuff like that, still… why wouldn’t she be powerful as Neo Queen Serenity?? Any ideas on that too, everyone?), so #1 seems to be a bit far-fetched as well, ESPECIALLY because even though the lifespan of Serenity is long, it is not said to actually be eternal - she’s not immortal, at least not in cannon that I know of?
So, personally, I tend towards #3: Cosmos being Usagi reincarnated. Which still would make sense for her to remember this battle; after all Usagi has memories of her past life as well. (And also, ever since I read Marronett’s amazing Senshi Cosmos fan fic, where she KINDA uses that approach, I’ve been hooked on that idea.)
BUT anyway, what are your thoughts on that? Do you guys have thoughts on that?
I believe @luna-whiskers had a long analysis of this very issue not too long ago! (Or was it someone else??) Personally, I subscribe to #1, but I can see the other interpretations as well.
Yes hello! I did indeed write an analysis that leads towards theory #2: she comes from an alternate future: http://luna-whiskers.tumblr.com/post/142039665767/if-sailor-cosmos-is-usagi-she-cant-be-from-the
But there is also a great analysis of #4, that she is not Usagi, but another future form of Sailor Moon, courtesy of Sailor Failures: http://sailorfailures.tumblr.com/post/42424740909/why-cosmos-probably-isnt-usagi
Even though I’ve obviously got a preference, I do enjoy that there’s a solid argument to be made for these other theories as well. The mystery of Cosmos is exactly what makes her so fascinating.
Hey there! I’ve also written a post on the identity of Sailor Cosmos, based mainly on Chibi-Chibi’s “interference” in the Stars timeline. My interpretation is a mix of theories #2 and #3, seeing Cosmos as a reincarnation of Usagi before she even gets to become Neo Queen Serenity. You can read it here: Headcanon: Who is Sailor Cosmos?.
There was also a short fancomic floating around which goes with theory #1 and shows the moment when Neo Queen Serenity becomes Sailor Cosmos!
Honestly, now that I think of it, I could certainly argue against my own theory, but I feel quite emotionally connected to it! It’s such an interesting way that Naoko chose to end the series: it really allows us as readers to take what we feel connected to in Sailor Moon and create an interpretation of our own.
Here’s the moment Usagi first introduces herself as Sailor Moon. In Crystal, this moment works on so many levels, and here’s why.
First, on the story level. When Usagi goes to Osa-P to save Naru, Jadeite’s first monster asks, “Who are you?” But Usagi doesn’t even know what her superhero identity is called! Luna meows, looking up at the moon, and guess who Usagi thinks of? That sailor-suited ally of justice, Sailor V! Usagi’s only heard of Sailor V from Umino today, but once she does she sees Sailor V everywhere. Sailor V’s even a video game at Usagi’s favourite Crown Arcade! So she plays the Sailor V arcade game, and beats an enemy with some help from Motoki. Usagi is seriously connecting with this Sailor V person, whom she now idolises and thinks doesn’t have to study at all (if only she knew). When she gets home, she imitates Sailor V by aiming a kick at her little brother Shingo, and even dreams of being Sailor V. After she transforms for the first time, her first comment is, “I look like Sailor V!” And so, when she thinks of a name for her superhero identity, Usagi bases her decision on this ally of justice she has only just heard of today: she calls herself “Sailor Moon”!
Next, also on the story level, but for people who already know the later part of the story. We know that in her past life, Usagi was never Sailor Moon, only Princess Serenity. In fact, I’m of the belief that Sailor Moon exists on Earth mainly because of the plan to use Minako as the decoy princess. Which means that in the story at this point, the name “Sailor Moon” does not exist in the world, and that this is the very moment that the “Sailor Moon” identity is born. It also has so much foreshadowing power for those of us who are so familiar with Usagi’s story over the five arcs. Sailor Moon begins as a weak crybaby who needs to be protected and saved, and ends as the all-encompassing, ever-loving goddess who saves the entire universe. This is the moment where it all begins.
Finally, on the level of Sailor Moon Crystal. Sailor Moon is back, and Kotono Mitsuishi is back as Usagi Tsukino, reprising her role from the 90s anime. While on the story level this is all new to Usagi, for those of us who grew up with the series and the 90s anime, this is familiar. Sailor Moon is back! On this level, Usagi’s smile is a knowing one. It’s saying, “Are you ready to go on this ride again?”, before Usagi breaks out into her signature phrase:
“愛と正義のセーラー服美少女戦士セーラームーン！月に代わっておしおきよ！”
“For love and justice, I am the sailor-suited pretty guardian Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I’ll punish you!”
Some screenshots from Crystal Puzzle, the official Pretty Guardians fanclub game! These are from the Sailor Box, which is kinda like a “gashapon” machine where you pay 10,000 diamonds (the in-game currency) and get a random Sailor Guardian each time. After countless doubles (which level up the respective girl’s skills), I finally got the full team!
It’s almost the end of June, and there’s only 1 episode of Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3 left. To commemorate this season, I’ve created an ultimate mix of “New Moon ni Koishite,” the season’s opening theme! The Otome Mix combines the vocals of all 3 artistes of the song, Etsuko Yakushimaru, Mitsuko Horie, and Momoiro Clover Z, over the instrumental of Etsuko Yakushimaru’s version.
Back when we heard there would be 3 versions of the song, I theorised that the arrangements would be vastly different and would suit their respective singers. But this hasn’t quite been the case; arrangement-wise, each successive version has simply switched out a few instruments here and there. While Momoiro Clover Z’s version has an exciting beat, the synthesisers make the song feel a little “noisy.” So I’ve stuck to the simplest instrumental, and tried to make the vocal arrangement feel fresh and exciting!
Of course, this is by no means a professional-grade mix. There are a few stray instrument sounds from the vocal tracks I used, vocals might not match one another, and some of them might sound a little over-processed. But I hope it’s a fun listen, and a good way to remember the magic of Season 3.
I thought I’d make a timeline post for all of the arcs (based on the manga), since it is very confusing!
Arcs 1 and 2: Dark Kingdom and Black Moon
The Dark Kingdom and Black Moon arcs comprise manga vol. 1–5/anime seasons 1 and 2 and begins with our five main girls in 2nd year of middle school (8th grade US). Usagi establishes at the very beginning of the manga that she is 14 years old. Since Japanese students typically begin 2nd year middle school at 14 and turn 15 during the school year, we can assume this is the beginning of the school year. Mamoru is in his 2nd year of high school (11th grade US). We know that Japanese students typically graduate at 19, and since his birthday is in August, we can establish that at the beginning of arc 1 he is 17. This is supported by Luna speculating that his age is either 17 or 18, not yet knowing his birthday (see vol 1 pg 124). In the last act of arc 1/first act of arc 2, Ikuko says, “I guess you’re almost a 3rd-year student, huh, Usagi?” so we know that it is still winter of their 2nd year of middle school; arc 2 continues through the rest of this school year.
Years:
Usagi, Ami, Makoto, Minako, and Rei are in 2nd year of middle school
I was asked why Rei is younger than everyone else. Essentially, it comes down to where everyone’s birthdays fall, and the start of the Japanese school year (April):
Rei’s birthday is April 17
Usagi’s birthday is June 30
Ami’s birthday is Sept 10
Minako’s birthday is Oct 22
Makoto’s birthday is Dec 5
Rei’s birthday is at the VERY beginning of the school year. She’s like that one kid whose birthday was later than everyone else’s. (Think 17-year-old college freshman.) So, while Usagi, Ami, Minako, and Makoto all start off their 2nd year of middle school at 14 and turn 15 through the year, Rei is 13 and turns 14 right away in the same month school starts. (Kinda funny to realize that Usagi is the oldest, isn’t it??)
Not sure what to tell you, aside from to take it up with Naoko. All I did was take what was in the manga and lay it out, and everything matched up this way.
Oh completely agreed. This is the timeline as presented in the manga. Just wanted to note, for those thinking this is how Japanese school years work, that this is not how Japanese school years work, and basically the girl’s ages are all a giant continuity error. (Aside from Rei’s, which is fine, though if you were ever to fix the continuity of the series by putting all the girls in a grade that aligned with their age, and keeping them all in the same grade, Rei would become the oldest instead of the youngest, as the cut off date for school is April 1.)
Essentially there’s a grade/age continuity error that has plagued the series since its inception, and your timeline is 100% correct to how it is presented in the manga, but if you ever wanted to make a timeline that corrected the continuity error you’d have to fudge something to make it contradict canon.
So, your timeline is wonderful and thank you so much for putting it together.
Yeah it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Naoko was just straight-up didn’t account for birthdays because SHE DIDN’T HAVE TIME. Like, “OK, 2nd year middle school, everyone’s 14!” Then having Usagi introduce herself as being 14, not accounting for the fact that her birthday is in June, which would mean she’d turn 15 partway through the arc. Ditto for literally every other character; she just gave them the oldest age for every school year starting from the beginning of the year, which doesn’t work out so well when you try to map it out and try to account for birthdays. T_T
I’d have to agree with @timemachineyeah that Rei is probably the oldest out of the Inners plus Usagi. The oldest student in a cohort would have been born on 2 April, while the youngest would have been born on 1 April the following year. Since we know that the girls are in the same grade, this would make Rei, who was born on 17 April, the oldest, and Makoto, born on 5 December, the youngest.
I wonder if people in Japan might say “I’m 14” when they’re still 13 and actually mean “I’m 14 (this year).” If so, perhaps that might explain away the contradiction where Usagi says she’s 14 at the beginning of the manga.
But when I was looking up the Japanese school system, I also realised something very interesting: Haruka and Michiru are actually born in the same calendar year as Usagi and the Inners. Both of them are born in the months before 1 April: Haruka on 27 January, Michiru on 6 March. Because everyone is 15 on their 1st day of high school, this means that Michiru has just turned 15 a month before she starts high school, and that she is actually only about a month older than Rei!
One minor discrepancy with your timeline for the Sailor Stars arc: the manga shows that Usagi’s still in 1st grade of high school. When the Three Lights first transfer over and join Usagi’s class, there’s a frame showing her class sign, which says “1-1.” To be honest I think that it would have made so much more sense if, like you say in your timeline, Usagi and the Inners enter their 2nd year of high school in this arc, but for some reason Naoko decided not to age them up!
The new Sailor Moon Crystal speeches for the Inner Guardians are a mix of the old speeches from the previous seasons and speeches Naoko wrote in the Death Busters arc of the manga. I just wish they changed Usagi’s too, where Usagi introduces herself as the Guardian of Mystery, but I guess they didn’t want to mess with her iconic speech.
IF Sailor Cosmos is Usagi, she CAN’T be from the future we know
So there’s this persistent myth that I often see floating around the Sailor Moon fandom. The idea that Sailor Cosmos is Usagi’s ultimate form after she rules over Crystal Tokyo for a while.
Let’s break down what this would look like, if it were so.
The events of Stars occur.
In the year 2000, Usagi becomes Neo Queen Serenity, Crystal Tokyo is formed, and Chibi Usa is born soon after.
900-odd years later, Nemesis attacks, Chibi Usa is sent to our present.
Some time after that, Chaos returns, and Neo Queen Serenity becomes Sailor Cosmos in order to fight this threat.
Now, let’s look at each of those points more closely.
THE EVENTS OF STARS OCCUR
And everybody dies.
But everbody comes ba– no. Not in Sailor Cosmos’ timeline. That is not possible.
Everybody dies in Stars. The senshi die. The cats die. Mamoru dies, and Chibi Usa fades from existence.
Then Usagi goes to the Galaxy Cauldron, the birthplace of all star seeds, and finds their star seeds have already been merged with the Cauldron, along with Chaos itself.
So let’s be clear, here: the star seeds are gone. There is no known way to bring any of them back to life. And even if she does retrieve them from the Galaxy Cauldron, they are already tainted by Chaos.
Here Usagi is given a choice. Destroy the Cauldron, and end Chaos for good, while stopping all life in the galaxy from ever being born again. Or allow the Cauldron to remain as it is, corrupted but still alive, and hope to defeat Chaos in the inevitable war. Neither choice would allow her to save the people she lost.
Future-Cosmos-Usagi chose the second option. She chose to let the Cauldron exist, and therefore to fight an endless war forever.
What does the Galaxy Cauldron tainted by Chaos mean? Does it mean all that will ever be born from it are monsters? Does it mean that every new life will now be altered by Chaos, that every baby ever born is now tainted by evil?
Regardless, that is how Cosmos’ existence begins. With the death of everyone she knows and the galaxy pretty much screwed as of the year 1998.
USAGI BECOMES NEO QUEEN SERENITY
DOES SHE? Let’s go back to point one.
Theoretically, Usagi could return to Earth, live peacefully for two years, save the world from catastrophe again, and rise to power, alone, as Neo Queen Serenity.
She could. But would she? Usagi’s dream is to be together with everybody she loves. Would she choose to build a world with herself as the solitary ruler, knowing she will live 1000 years without her friends, without Mamoru, without Chibi Usa?
And then there is the fact that Neo Queen Serenity loses the ability to fight. She specifically says that by becoming queen, she gave up being a sailor soldier. Now, aside from the fact that it makes it improbable that she would later completely break that rule and become Cosmos anyway, it also seems unlikely that she would make this choice knowing that another war is coming.
Crystal Tokyo symbolizes peace and an end to war, and Neo Queen Serenity laying down her arms is a reflection of that. If there is no peace, not even hope of peace, then there should not be a Neo Queen Serenity at all. Sailor Moon continues fighting as Sailor Moon before her eventual rise as Cosmos.
NEMESIS ATTACKS
So in the unlikely event that Usagi still goes ahead and founds Crystal Tokyo and makes herself queen, here is another problem. If Neo Queen Serenity had the ability all along to become Sailor Cosmos, or a sailor soldier by any name, then why did she not do it when Wiseman nearly destroyed Earth?
And if she doesn’t have that ability, as canon says, then she’s screwed here. She can’t fight herself. There is no Chibi Usa to steal the ginzuishou and make her vulnerable, but there is also no Chibi Usa to go back in time and get help.
SO HERE’S WHAT HAPPENS
Note that this all of this is the case regardless of whether Sailor Cosmos is Usagi of the future or Usagi’s descendant or some other future sailor senshi. The only explanation that makes sense is if Sailor Cosmos is from an alternate future. And it all goes back to that one choice that Usagi made over the Galaxy Cauldron.
Destroy the Cauldron, or let the Cauldron remain tainted? This is the choice that splinters the future off into two horrific possibilities. A future of war, or no future at all?
Sailor Cosmos went back in time because she thought she made the wrong choice. That an end to birth is better than endless suffering.
Usagi chooses a third option. She chooses to throw herself into the Cauldron instead, uniting the star seeds and purifying it of Chaos.
That is what brings everybody back to life. That unknown third option. That is the future that brings Neo Queen Serenity and Crystal Tokyo. The return of peace, and balance, and life.
Thus, the only future that we know in Sailor Moon, the only one that can possibly exist with canon as we know it, is the future in which there is no reason for Sailor Cosmos to exist. Chaos was defeated before Crystal Tokyo ever began.
That’s an interesting theory, but I don’t think that’s what happened. Sailor Cosmos returns to that point because she knows that Usagi will sacrifice herself and go into the cauldron, restoring everyone and keeping the cauldron intact. This is the path that Sailor Cosmos took, as well. She knows that path. She knows that she will become NQS, and eventually Sailor Cosmos, at which point she will battle Chaos with such devastating consequences that she feels that to have destroyed Chaos with the cauldron, including the star seeds of her comrades, would have been better than the war she was currently fighting. Sailor Moon debates with Sailor Cosmos, deciding that it’s better to have balance and the potential for new heavenly bodies than to destroy Chaos utterly. Sailor Cosmos decides that Sailor Moon’s decision was correct after all, and decides to return to the future to continue her battle with Chaos. If, as you say, Usagi chose an unknown option, Sailor Cosmos would have an unknown future to return to. But she didn’t. She merely observed Sailor Moon making the same choice once more, only Cosmos no longer questions the decision. She has reaffirmed that she made the correct decision all those millennia ago.
I can see the argument for parts of this (see my last reblog) but I can’t get past the part where it’s canon that NQS loses the ability to fight. She CAN’T become a sailor senshi again.
And I also can’t get past the idea that if Sailor Cosmos comes after NQS, what happens to everyone else? What happens to her DAUGHTER? What is the point of Crystal Tokyo if it’s ultimately destroyed, the people she loves killed all over again, and she has to take up fighting again?
And I think it quashes any potential for Chibi Usa to have her own future as a senshi in her own right, if she’s doomed to either continue fighting under her mother’s banner, or die in battle before her mother.
See, in my head, this is where Chibi-Usa’s Pink Moon Crystal comes into play. Usagi/NQS has the Silver Crystal; she uses it first to fight and protect and then to rule and protect. Once it’s Chibi-Usa’s time to ascend to the throne, there’s a situation that has never happened before: an extraneous crystal. I see no reason why NQS can’t evolve to fight once more once her duty to the throne is complete. Chibi-Usa’s crystal is what allows Usagi to leave queenship behind and evolve into her most powerful form ever: Sailor Cosmos. So while Chibi-Usa rules her kingdom, Sailor Cosmos is able to fulfill a greater mission.
That *does* actually fix that particular problem.
I’m still not personally in love with the idea of Usagi never getting the peaceful ending that she wants, but it does work!
I’ve been thinking a lot about Sailor Cosmos and who she really is, and seeing this discussion finally got me to finish my headcanon piece. I didn’t want to post the entire text here in the reblog, because the whole thing is 2000 words long!
I’m closer to luna-whiskers’s interpretation of who Cosmos is, but my theory is that Cosmos was reborn in an alternate timeline, right after the battle with Galaxia at the Sagittarius Zero Star. The two major clues I used to formulate my theory are: Chibi Chibi and how Usagi approaches her powers.
I’d appreciate it if you could take a look at my headcanon piece and let me know what you think! Headcanon: Who is Sailor Cosmos?
So I’ve been working on this for quite a while, but after looking at luna-whiskers’s post here, I thought I should really try and finish it up to add to the conversation that’s been going on. Naturally, there are major spoilers, so if you haven’t read the Stars arc of the manga you shouldn’t read this! Super long post too!
For me, the most important thing to remember when reading Sailor Cosmos’s narrative is to think of how it works as a part of Usagi’s narrative; I don’t believe that Naoko would introduce a new and important character only to keep her story completely apart from Usagi’s story. Then I started piecing together the two biggest in-text clues to Sailor Cosmos’s identity: Chibi Chibi and the way Usagi approaches her powers.
I’ll start off with Chibi Chibi. We know that she’s actually Cosmos, coming to Usagi from the future in order to convince her to destroy the Galaxy Cauldron. After she refers her true identity, Cosmos refers to Usagi as “the ‘me’ of the past,” which suggests to me that she is Usagi from the future. There’s discussion as to whether Cosmos is just a Sailor Moon from the future, not the Sailor Moon we know, but I think that when she talks about loneliness it comes from having experienced it herself.
We’ve seen from the Black Moon arc that past and future forms of the same person cannot co-exist for long periods of time. And yet we see that Chibi Chibi is always by Usagi’s side, often touching, and their mutual presence doesn’t create any rifts that we see in the Black Moon arc when Usagi and Neo Queen Serenity are in close proximity. This suggests that Usagi and Cosmos are two distinct entities, but because of my above point, it leads me to believe the theory that Cosmos is Usagi reincarnated. More importantly, I believe that Cosmos is a reincarnation of Usagi who was reborn at the Galaxy Cauldron after the battle with Galaxia.
At the end of the series, Usagi and the others are in the Galaxy Cauldron, and Guardian Cosmos offers them a choice: either to be reincarnated to form new Sailor Crystals, or to return to their previous lives as they are. Guardian Cosmos comments that it is their immense power that allows them to keep their physical forms in the Galaxy Cauldron. Of course, they choose to return to their previous lives on Earth. But what if the battle was different?
Throughout the Stars arc of the manga, Sailor Chibi Chibi plays an integral role in how the battle plays out. She is the one who finds Princess Kakyu and helps to recuperate the princess’s injured body. She uses her power to protect Usagi, and also helps to activate Usagi’s powers when Usagi is unable to. Chibi Chibi even teleports Chibi-Usa and the Sailor Quartetto to the Sagittarius Zero Star from Earth, and she convinces Chibi-Usa to let Usagi fight her own battles against the evil Sailor Guardians. I believe Chibi Chibi does this so that Usagi does not “show weakness,” in her opinion, and is able to gain the resolve needed to destroy the Galaxy Cauldron.
But even more importantly, Chibi Chibi’s presence in this timeline helps Usagi through her loneliness. Cosmos mentions her memories of being extremely lonely after the Sailor Guardians have been killed, and this is one of the reasons why she returned to this particular point in time: to provide Usagi some solace, keeping her will and spirits up.
If we want to think of Cosmos’s past as Usagi, we need to think of it as one without the presence of Chibi Chibi, since Chibi Chibi has significantly changed the past by returning to this time period. Let’s refer to this version of Usagi as Cosmos-Usagi.
Without her future self’s help, we can assume that Cosmos-Usagi suffers a much more devastating battle. Princess Kakyu may not have recovered as quickly without Chibi Chibi’s help, and she may not even have found the Sailor Starlights. Without Chibi Chibi to help protect Cosmos-Usagi and activate her powers, Cosmos-Usagi would probably have been heavily weakened in powers and in spirit before she even travelled to the Sagittarius Zero Star to face Galaxia. It is even possible that Cosmos-Usagi goes alone if the Sailor Starlights do not find Princess Kakyu in time.
In the 30th-century Crystal Tokyo, Chibi-Usa decides to return to the past with the Sailor Quartetto to investigate the warping of space-time. They return to the present Earth, but without Chibi Chibi’s help, they may not be able to arrive at the Sagittarius Zero Star in time to help Cosmos-Usagi. Perhaps it is even possible that Galaxia can detect the presence of more Sailor Crystals on Earth, intercepting Chibi-Usa and the Sailor Quartetto and abducting them to further torture Usagi.
Whatever the case, Cosmos-Usagi is truly alone when she fights the Galactica versions of her fellow Sailor Guardians and Mamoru. Given Cosmos-Usagi’s emotional state, I don’t think she would even be able to fight the Sailor Guardians. They torture her physically and emotionally, before Galaxia delivers the final blow, ripping the Sailor Guardians’ star seeds out of their bodies and melting them into the Cauldron. As in Stars, Galaxia probably sends Mamoru into the Galaxy Cauldron whole, taunting Cosmos-Usagi with Chibi-Usa’s erasure from existence.
At this stage, it is possible that Cosmos-Usagi might not save Galaxia from Chaos’s blast, because she has been completely defeated by all the emotional torture she has been subjected to. She is left alone facing Chaos and the Galaxy Cauldron. By this point, Cosmos-Usagi would have been alone for the entire Stars arc, and her loneliness and despair drive her to make one final decision.
She will send herself into the Galaxy Cauldron, wishing to join her loved ones in death. But because she is still one of the most powerful Sailor Guardians in the universe, her wish to be reunited with Mamoru and her Sailor Guardians is transformed. To explain this, I’ll turn to the other clue that helped me figure out Cosmos’s identity: how Usagi gains her powers.
Throughout the Sailor Moon manga, Usagi has always been shown to borrow the power of Mamoru and her Sailor Guardians. This is never shown to be a sign of weakness; in fact it’s the reason why all of them are so powerful, powerful enough to be renown through the universe. In the Dark Kingdom and Black Moon arcs she mainly borrows Mamoru’s power, but it is when she starts to borrow the powers of the other Sailor Guardians in the Death Busters arc that she actually changes into her Super form. Similarly, she turns into her Eternal form at the end of the Dead Moon arc when she collects all their power into the Holy Grail. In Stars, it is even shown that Usagi uses the Holy Grail to transform into Eternal Sailor Moon, suggesting that the Holy Grail stores power from all the Sailor Guardians, which she borrows each time she transforms.
I believe that Sailor Cosmos is an extreme version of this: she is born when Cosmos-Usagi jumps into the Galaxy Cauldron with a wish never to be separated from her loved ones again. Because of her powerful wish, Cosmos-Usagi becomes a kind of black hole, consuming all the Sailor Crystals in the Galaxy Cauldron in a bid to be reunited with her loved ones. This is an act that ironically mirrors what Galaxia sets out to do: to steal all the powers of the Sailor Crystals. But while for Galaxia it is primarily to gain power, for Cosmos-Usagi it stems from a deep loneliness that she has experienced for the entire arc. Cosmos-Usagi’s wish is so great that she even seems to absorb Guardian Cosmos, who represents order in the universe, turning her into Sailor Cosmos. The combination of all the Sailor Crystals unleashes the Lambda Power in a blast that reduces Chaos to a tiny fragment.
For a time, there is peace. Cosmos is reborn somewhere in the universe, and she slowly begins to manifest the powers of all the Sailor Guardians that once existed in the entire universe. She hears of the Sailor Guardians, who are protectors of the universe, but by now these are only legends. There are no other Sailor Guardians besides her. When she transforms into Sailor Cosmos, her skirt is a mirror of Usagi’s transformation items, representing all the colours of the Sailor Guardians of the Sol star system, who were most important to Cosmos-Usagi as she was reincarnated.
As Chaos slowly manifests again, Cosmos is compelled to save and protect the victims of Chaos’s attacks across the entire universe. But over time this takes a toll on her, because she is the only Sailor Guardian around, and there is basically no one to accompany her on her journeys across the universe. Ironically, Cosmos-Usagi’s wish to never be alone again leaves Cosmos feeling lonely and desolate.
At some point, Cosmos taps into Sailor Mnemosyne’s power and regains all the memories of her past lives as Princess Serenity and Usagi Tsukino. It is then that she realises what her wish in the Galaxy Cauldron has created. With the memories of Mamoru and her companions from her life as Usagi, Cosmos is even more alone, regretting the moment that she chose to be reborn in the Cauldron. As her battles against Chaos, who has now gained in power and become Sailor Chaos, become more relentless and arduous, Cosmos keeps thinking back to her past life, and the idea slowly forms in her head.
She will return to the past and convince Usagi to destroy the Galaxy Cauldron. She tells herself that destroying the Galaxy Cauldron will ensure that Chaos is destroyed along with it, and war will be over once and for all. But secretly Cosmos also wants Usagi to destroy the Cauldron because she does not wish to face the fate of being the lone Sailor Guardian of the universe. Remembering how lonely Usagi was at this point in her life, Cosmos wants to provide Usagi some form of companionship. For this purpose she chooses the form of a child: she knows how Chibi-Usa’s presence helped Usagi through her sadness when Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter were kidnapped by the Black Moon. When she comes to the present, Cosmos even borrows the “Chibi” in Chibi-Usa’s name, using it as her own.
As I’ve mentioned above, Cosmos’s presence in this timeline as Chibi Chibi appears vital to the events that take place in the Stars arc. Most importantly, I believe that Cosmos provides Usagi with companionship, not only her own. She finds and helps reunite Princess Kakyu with the Sailor Starlights, and brings Chibi-Usa and the Sailor Quartetto to the Sagittarius Zero Star. All these moments, as well as the ones Cosmos shares with Usagi while she is Chibi Chibi, help Usagi find the strength and belief Cosmos-Usagi could not have.
Cosmos tries to convince Usagi to destroy the Cauldron. She believes that this is Usagi’s only option, because she thinks that her friends’ Sailor Crystals have all been destroyed in the Cauldron. But Usagi recognises that destroying the Cauldron won’t solve anything, and that war will not simply end; it will merely begin elsewhere. She tells Cosmos (as Chibi Chibi) not to discard her hope for the future, and that it is this hope that will help them create a better future. I think that Usagi’s optimism here actually comes from being with Chibi Chibi all this time; it is Chibi Chibi’s companionship that helps keep Usagi from despair.
When Cosmos speaks to the Sailor Quartetto, she says that she has been a coward, and that Usagi’s bravery in sacrificing herself in the Cauldron is more deserving of the Sailor Cosmos title. But perhaps Cosmos doesn’t realise the major changes she has made to this timeline just by being around Usagi. It is because of her presence in the Stars arc and the emotional support she gives Usagi that I think Usagi is able to gain the strength and resolve to carry on in the face of great loss.
It is the cornerstone of the Sailor Moon manga that the characters, especially Usagi, gain strength when they support one another; their unity gives them the willpower to fight the toughest battles of their lives. After Cosmos has witnessed Usagi’s strength (which she has helped to keep alive even if she does not realise this), she herself gains the confidence to return to her present and face Sailor Chaos once and for all.
So by now loads of people have heard the new OP for Sailor Moon Crystal Season 3, “New Moon ni Koishite,” performed by Etsuko Yakushimaru. It’s super “otome” and has an innocent feel, and the response to that has been mixed. Some love it, some not so much. Those that don’t really like it have complained that it doesn’t sound as powerful as “Moon Pride.”
But it looks like Toei has something up its sleeve. There are 2 other versions of “New Moon ni Koishite,” performed by 2 other artists: Mitsuko Horie (who played Sailor Galaxia in the 90s version of the anime), and Momoiro Clover Z. The 3 versions of the OP accompany 3 new EDs (we’ve heard the Haruka/Michiru duet, and the other 2 are songs by Chibi-Usa and Mamoru), so it’s possible that we’ll only hear Etsuko Yakushimaru’s version of the OP in the TV series, or that the music arrangements for the 3 versions will be the same, but there’s some evidence that hints otherwise.
On the official Sailor Moon website, there will be 3 CD singles, released a month apart beginning late April. This fits the duration of the entire Season 3, which has been announced to consist 13 episodes.
According to the website, each CD single has 1 version of the OP, 1 ED, instrumental tracks for both. If there’s an instrumental version of the OP on each single, this suggests that the 3 versions of the OP will have different music arrangements, making them sound different! Each single also comes with a DVD, which has creditless versions of each OP and ED. That probably means that each version of the OP will be used in Season 3 itself!
If the 3 versions have different music arrangements, I’m going to guess that the arrangement for “New Moon ni Koishite” will be tailored specifically for the singer performing it. Mitsuko Horie sang “Sailor Star Song” on the 20th anniversary tribute album, so my guess is that her version of “New Moon ni Koishite” will be mature and classy. We’re all familiar with Momoiro Clover Z’s sound by now, and I’m thinking that their version will sound super energetic and similar to “Moon Pride”!
If this is all true, it will be super exciting, and fans can then pick their favourite versions of the new OP!
