The Sailor Moon franchise is gargantuan, to say the very least. In the west, the original dub of the animated adaptation nearly single-handedly started the anime obsession across the hemisphere, cementing the cultural significance of the series, and the rest of Japan’s animated exports for the foreseeable future.

The movement that started with Sailor Moon was brought to the finish line by Dragon Ball Z, and the combined one-two animated punches of both series made sure that their footprints in the minds of children of all ages would last forever.

Like all shows with significant fan populations, Sailor Moon has a dedicated fanbase that continues to reminisce, speculate and feverishly discuss their beloved franchise daily.

Also like all shows with significant fan populations, there’s an enormous and varied amount of fan art created in honor of the manga and show.

Series creator Naoko Takeuchi’s original designs are beautiful to behold. The maintain a unique style in the sometimes-homogenous anime aesthetic market, while also providing genuine sensations of ethereal, dreamlike romanticism with her fantastic concepts.

Of course, when exposing one’s art to the world at wide, you’ll always have a few devotees that might just one-up your original concepts.

This is exactly what we’re going to be discussing today with the 20 Sailor Moon Fan Designs Better Than What We Got!

Turbo-Charged Sailor Jupiter

Sailor Jupiter is one of the most unique Sailor Scouts. Her tough exterior, love of fighting, and even greater love of cooking makes her an endearing and lovable character.

It’s just really cool to see her fry bad guys with lightning bolts that she summons directly from her forehead and then wields with her mind.

Lucky for us, artist Eko999 perfectly captures all of these elements with flair. Well, not the cooking one, but definitely the fighting prowess and lightning wielding, but with a touch of kindness represented by Jupiter’s rather calm expression (though her smirk suggests her love of fighting might win out over that caring look).

This style is a major departure from the anime and manga’s aesthetics, and it also strays from the inclination to be photo-realistic.

Instead, the artist opts for an awesome watercolor look that gives Jupiter a dynamic sense of fluidity and motion, and we love how her iconic bolts of “Jupiter Thunder” were incorporated into her rumble-ready fists.

It’s easy to compare this look to a fighting game character, specifically one from any of the countless Street Fighter IV editions, but she also has an aesthetic that looks like it could be a take on the thick outline style of American cartoons.

While Sailor Moon is inherently Japanese, and there was already one, strange attempt and making an animated American adaptation, we can’t help but curious as to what a series with this particular style would look like in motion.

Retro Scouts

Sailor Moon’s original design aesthetic is so unique, and that’s thanks to the brilliant and distinct vision of franchise mother Naoko Takeuchi.

While the designs of the Sailor Scouts (or Senshi) are generally simple, they’re iconic. Despite this, artist Hyamei wanted to alter a few aspects of the costumes to give the characters just a little bit more flavor.

In the pictured art, we say that Hyamei opted for a retro-styled look for all of the Scouts, and it’s hard to find anything to fault with the additions and alterations.

First and foremost, Hyamei’s aesthetic is adorable and attractive, remaining simple, stylized, and appealing.

Of course, the big takeaway is the concept of the work itself: giving the Sailor Scouts a retro-future look, including era-appropriate gadgets and sensibilities.

Many of the Scouts are armed with retro ray-guns in order to deliver their signature attacks, while others like Sailor Jupiter have a Jetsons-like take on their unique aspects, such as her antenna or Mercury’s scan-visor.

If Sailor Moon were to go through another reboot or reimagining, or perhaps even a brief short, we’d love to see the designs be based on or inspired by Hyamei’s fantastic piece of art.

It’s just really hard to say no to those floating ankle and wrist bracelets.

Realistic Serenity

There’s no arguing that Naoko Tekeuchi’s art falls into the tropes of anime standards, and there is nothing wrong with that.

Even though that is the case, she managed to put a truly gorgeous and unique spin on said-tropes, creating an awesomely distinct style that separates her work from many of her peers.

However, no matter how beautiful and distinct her designs are, no one would ever say they are truly accurate to real-life humanity, and that’s exactly what our next entry strives to emulate.

This jaw-droppingly gorgeous rendition of Serenity is incredible on a technical level, as you could very easily picture this woman in real-life.

However, what makes this piece truly unique is that it still incorporates elements of the original design that have a decidedly anime feel, such as Serenity’s larger than usual (but still gorgeous) eyes. It’s also great to see the amount of detail and texture that artist Serafleur put into Serenity’s outfit, with the subtle yet distinct sparkles in the dress and ribbon.

Despite her more human and realistic appearance, it’s marvelous just how much character was and elements were retained from the original work, and the artist deserves major credit for blending the two so seamlessly.

Post-Apocalyptic Sailor Moon - AsuRocks

Although we have already covered one “dark and gritty” piece, its general aesthetics remained close to the source material, with only a smattering of battle-damage and grit to differentiate it from both visually and tonally from the original works.

Then we have this take on a dark and gritty post-apocalytpic Sailor Moon that maintains much of what defines Takeuchi’s works, but with an added dose of realism and unique departures that create a genuinely stand-alone work of art.

The first thing we’d like to point out is the awesome world-building on display. Tokyo has clearly been ravaged by whatever threat this universe’s Sailors are up against, and Tokyo Tower, surrounded by ruins, leans to the right.

Graffiti adorns the walls of nearby ruins, emblazoned with an image of Sailor Moon’s locket. Perhaps she is the leader of a resistance movement in this world?

Next, we should take a quick look at Rini (or Chibiusa). Tattooed on her body is her beloved Luna P plus Pegasus, which is a great callback.

Critically, though, we want to point how detailed Sailor Moon’s costume is.

At first glance, she’s merely wearing a leather jumpsuit, with a her blue vest and red ribbon merely being references to the original design, but upon closer inspection you can see the outlines of nearly every other iconic element of her original costume as patterns on the jumpsuit.

This really is a great piece that’d be a cool basis for a what-if episode or comic.

A Sailor Moon RPG

RPGs, or role-playing games (not rocket-propelled grenade launchers), are hugely popular types of video games, with juggernauts like Final Fantasy representing the Japanese take on the genre and the Elder Scrolls series being perfect examples of the western RPG.

Aside from video games, there are also tabletop RPGs that can be played with friends such as the incredibly iconic Dungeons & Dragons, which is enjoying a new surge of popularity thanks to its featured role in Stranger Things.

It was only fitting that fans of RPGs and Sailor Moon would one day cross paths, and this artwork is a testament to that crossover.

Artist Sasha Mutch has transformed the Sailor Scouts into typical RPG classes, and we’d be lying if we didn’t say that it works out brilliantly.

As shown above, it appears that our beloved Sailor Moon has become something of a Paladin or fighting mage. Her armor and clothing are perfect representations of a medieval fantasy take on her normal costume, containing fantastic details such as the heart belt buckle or her ribbon becoming a headband.

While the shield she is brandishing is extremely cool, it’s her Crescent Moon Wand being transformed into a staff that truly takes the cake.

While we’ve only featured Sailor Moon's RPG counterpart in this entry, feel free to check out the artist’s RPG versions of the other Scouts, too.

Disney Princesses As Sailor Scouts

Considering how popular Sailor Moon is and how popular Disney Princesses are, this crossover was seemingly inevitable. It’s also extremely impressive.

The attention to detail for each Disney Princess and their unique attributes that define their personalities along with their design aesthetics is awesome, and all of that has been translated perfectly into unique Senshi forms.

Starting from the left, Meg from Hercules maintains aspects of her original costume, including color, deisng and even the broaches near her shoulders, along with her fiery personality.

Alice is next, and it was a stroke of genius to morph the Cheshire Cat into some kind of mix between Luna and the Luna P toy from the future. Snow White’s Scout uniform is the most impressive due to its incredible incorporation of her original costume and the iconic poison apple.

To round things out, Pocahontas is, fittingly, imbued with the power of the wind and Mulan has not only the distinct flower in her hair, but is accompanied by a legitimately threatening Mushu.

What’s even cooler is that artist CdubbArt created another set of Disney Princesses as Sailor Senshi that you can check out by visiting their page.

You’ll see equally fantastic interpretations of Aurora, Belle, Ariel, Cinderella, and Jasmine, and, by the end, you won’t be able to shake the feeling that you’d love to see a genuine.

Sailor Samurai Moon

The Sailor Scouts are pretty cool. We’re not afraid to admit that. However, do you know what’s cooler than Sailor Scouts? Samurai. Do you know what’s cooler than both samurai and Sailor Scouts? Samurai Sailor Scouts.

The above must have been the thought process of artist Lilsuika, because it’s a perfect union between both concepts. When we take a step back, both the franchise of Sailor Moon and the historical samurai seem like the antithesis to each other, and yet, here’s this superb evidence of both concepts working beautifully in unison.

Sailor Moon’s Spiral Heart Moon Rod has been transformed into a brilliantly realized katana, and her distinctive Sailor outfit has been beautifully rendered into traditional samurai armor, with even those big, butterfly/fairy wing things from SuperS being turned into kimono-styled sleeves.

Other touches that we love are the moon-emblazoned gauntlets and the way Sailor Moon’s locket has become the major emblem on her armor. The prominent placement of these emblems surely strike fear into whatever creatures from the Negaverse are prowling ancient Japan.

Of course, the image wouldn’t be complete without this powerful pose in front of the crescent moon, where she’s likely in the middle of telling evildoers that she will punish them in the name of said moon.

Realistic Sailor Mars

We’ve already looked at some realistic takes on the Sailor Scouts, but they had their own aesthetics to define them, such as the dark and gritty, battle-hardened Sailor Moon, or a post-apocalypse take on the franchise with reimagined outfits.

In this piece, we have a very well-rendered version of Sailor Mars, but with the aesthetic leaning more towards realism rather than anime or fantasy.

Despite this, Sailor Mars maintains a superbly familiar expression on her face, the kind of cool, calculated look that Rei is known for, and artist R also nailed her eyes perfectly.

Aside from all of that, our favorite aspect of this piece is how the artist rendered Sailor Mar’s signature, fiery attacks.

Instead of the attack looking like a typical fire ball and merely forming from her fingertips out of nowhere, there is a an immense touch of magic applied to the technique, which is very fitting for the entire concept of the “magical girl” genre.

This Mars fire ball is sparkling with magical energies which seem to be coursing through the air like the wind, as if she is pulling the element of fire right from nature around her.

It’s because of these reasons that we wanted to show just how cool a realistic take on Sailor Mars is, but more so just how awesome each Sailor’s special attacks could be if given a chance to be reinvented.

Gothic Villains

If someone were to describe Sailor Moon’s visual language to you, one of the least likely things you’d ever hear someone say on the topic would be that its style is “gothic.”

Sure, there are plenty of gothic elements, like the Moon Kingdom, the design of the Dark Moon Clan’s ships and palace, and even elements of Queen Beryl’s dark domain, but it’s far from a defining feature of the series.

Artist Diewahne, on the other hand, decided that they would spice things up with a healthy dose of gothic elements, and it pays off beautifully.

Seemingly inspired by the fantastic portraits and style of Ayami Kojima, who is known for her truly awe-inspiring and detailed artwork for many entries in the Castlevania series of video games, this artist took Kojima’s approach and brought two beloved pairs of lovers into gothic life.

The left side is the pair of Kunzite (or Malachite, for those familiar with the dub) and Zoisite, who were tragically separated near the end of the first season.

The right side of the portrait is the popular Nephlite with Molly or, specifically in this case, Naru, whose forbidden love was the subject of easily one of the most emotional arcs in the entire series.

The artist even put up the cutesy, combined names above the pairs of lovers with “KunZoi” and “NephNar.” While fate was not kind to these couples, this awesome gothic artwork does them justice while also being stylistically gorgeous.

Biker Scouts From The Moon

In Japan, “Bōsōzoku” is a subculture amongst the cool kids that revolves around highly-customized motorcycles, riding with fellow enthusiasts in gangs, and one that often crosses boundaries in terms of legality or safety. To top it off, they’re noisy and they drive recklessly.

This subculture was so prominent for a period of time that it was skewered and parodied in Gekisou Sentai Carranger, the Japanese version of Power Rangers: Turbo, where the villains were known as the “Reckless Driving Gang,” The Bowzock.

Artist Babsdraws’ interpretation of the Sailor Scouts as members of the Bōsōzoku is far from a parody, however, and they do a fantastic job of taking all the appealing elements from these biker gangs and making them mesh perfectly with the Scouts.

Perhaps the most interesting element is that this seems to be the future-based Crystal Tokyo, and that the magically-grown-up Black Lady, formerly known as Rini, is the leader, with the other Scouts seemingly abandoning the Queen and her boring leadership duties in order to follow her daughter and her reckless driving.

On Black Lady’s body, we can see her tattoos, which are based on her mother’s transformation lockets, and there’s even a sticker of Luna on her bike’s windshield.

The rest of the team looks great, too, with Mercury’s emblem adoring her bike, fire on Mars’, and the green highlights for Jupiter.

Sailor Moon's Iron Throne

Game of Thrones, and the A Song of Fire And Ice series of novels that it’s based on, is a phenomenon that has captured the attention and affection of countless fans across the globe.

Considering the amount of fans that Sailor Moon also has across the planet, crossover fan art was inevitable, and while there are quite a few, we felt this one did an awesome job at combining the two properties into something distinct.

Artist GBIllustrations has taken Game of Throne’s most iconic image, the Iron Throne, which represents the leadership of Westeros (aside from being the literal throne of the king), and has given it a Moon Prism Make-Up makeover.

Here, the rightful heir to the Moon Kingdom contently sits upon her own Iron Throne, but this one is the “Throne of Magic.”

Instead of being comprised of countless medieval weapons, this particular royalty has hers made from the many magical weapons and gadgets throughout the series, such as the key that allows for time travel, Sailor Pluto’s staff, and even the iconic Crescent Moon Wand, which appears as the centerpiece to this work of art.

According to Viserys Targaryen, the Iron Throne is made of the “swords of the vanquished, a thousand of them, melted together like so many candles.”

That’s all well and good, but we’re happy that Sailor Moon decided to construct hers out of the Scouts’ arsenal rather than the moon-dust left over from the thousands of monsters that she personally eliminated.

Sailor Moon Super Stylized

Naoko Takeuchi’s original designs within the manga and its animated adaptation are truly unique in the world of anime.

In the same way that Akira Toriyama’s designs for Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest, and beyond are so recognizable, so too are Takeuchi’s, with their slender proportions and dreamlike atmosphere.

What sets Takeuchi apart from Toriyama and other peers, though, is that she isn’t afraid to stylize her work, even if slightly, and artist R A B B I T must feel the same way.

This bold piece is extremely pleasing to look at with its awesome color scheme and truly fantastic design aesthetic.

We’re not exactly sure what the exact inspiration is for Sailor Moon’s sailor uniform in this piece, but there are touches of Native American and Mesoamerican art in the design, calling to mind the patterns on Totem Poles.

Aside from the intricately and lovingly crafted uniform, there are also the glorious, dual sabers that this Sailor Senshi is wielding, with pleasing complex patterns and a bold pose to show them off.

The burst of rainbow from the blade is also a great exclamation point to add to the piece as a whole, completing this perfect picture of a more warrior-focused Sailor Scout with a uniform that’s a piece of art in itself.

Sailor Warriors

In the context of the show, the Sailor Scouts, Sailor Soldiers, Sailor Senshi, or whatever you’d like to call them are legitimate warriors. They fight all kinds of beasts and super-villain, including inter-dimensional and inter-galactic threats, and find themselves in brawl after brawl.

The only strange part is that if we took a step back and looked simply at their outfits of choice, we’d be hard-pressed to guess that they did any fighting at all.

Artist Kevin Wada seemed to think the same thing, and created a piece that showed the Sailor Scouts looking like truly fierce warriors who would eliminate any threat that dared enter their domain.

In this awesome piece, each Scout is given a major makeover in terms of looks, and they all look stunningly powerful. The teeth-gritting Sailor Saturn looks super cool, and the chain-whip wielding Sailor Venus is poised for battle.

Sailor Jupiter already looks like she’s kicked the tar out of someone, while Mercury and Rei look like incredibly reliable allies. Lastly, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto all appear stronger than the Amazons of Wonder Woman, but the real centerpiece (literally and figuratively) is Sailor Moon.

Looking uncharacteristically poised and tough, this Sailor Moon is clad in armor, and instead of wielding a wimpy magic wand, she instead wields an iron halberd in its design, looking like an imposing and respected warrior leader.

Oh, yeah, Rini and Tuxedo Mask are in the picture, too, but they’re lame compared to the Scouts on display.

The Sailor Hipsters

For those who don’t know what a “hipster” is, it’s a person belonging to a subculture that ironically follows the latest trends, but specifically the ones that fall outside “the mainstream.”

These are the kind of people who you’ll ask who their favorite band is, and they’ll say “I’d tell you, but you’ve probably never heard of them.” How about their favorite movie? “It’s an underground independent film. I doubt you know it.” You know, those people.

In any case, artist Jen Bartel thought it would be interesting to give the Sailor Scouts a coat of hipster paint, and thus take them far from the mainstream, and deep into the indie scene.

All of our favorite Scouts actually pull of the look rather well, and some of the details inserted by the artist are brilliant.

For example, Venus has patterns of a white cat on her clothing, which are an obvious reference to Artemis, her companion. Mercury has glasses, which are almost certainly a callback to her scan-visor, but she’s also got Nephlite’s crystal around her neck in a cool Easter egg.

Sailor Moon has a unicorn on her shirt, which is a likely reference to Pegasus, and she’s got bows in her hair, much like her Sailor uniform. Her footwear resemble her boots, too, as does Jupiter and Mars’ shoes mimicking their traditional Sailor wares.

Sailor Jupiter is also an apparent fan of Harry Potter, but that’s neither here nor there.

Steampunk Scouts

The steampunk aesthetic is one of the most beloved and well-known subcultures around the globe, and has legions of fans who can appreciate the look’s affinity towards old-school steam technology, gears, goggles, airships and more.

In the same way that it was inevitable for Sailor Moon to have fans who love “grimdark” stories, Disney Princesses, RPG characters, and more, there was certainly a sizable chunk of the fandom that lived and breathed steampunk, and this piece of art is the well-made proof.

Right off the bat, let’s just come right out and say how totally kick butt both Steampunk Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask look.

The background calls to mind the iconic “I will punish you" moon, though instead of being a crescent with roses entwining it, it’s whole with gears, and heart-shaped rose petals flutter through the air.

Sailor Moon herself looks totally awesome with her little hat (standing in for the red jewels that create the meatball look) and her western uniform is a great, rugged fit for the determined, one-eyed look she’s got going. The Moon Wand transformed into some sort of weapon is also a great touch.

Tuxedo Mask doesn’t look half-bad either, with his iconic mask being replaced with the traditional Steampunk goggles, but with a gas mask to further the look. Also, it’s an epic detail for his gatling gun to have roses as the weapon of choice.

Artist Laura Sava created a well done piece all around.

A Truly Dreamy Tuxedo Mask And His Princess

We’ve mentioned a few times throughout this list how much we adore Naoko Takeuchi’s original work and design aesthetic, especially how it manages to incorporate ethereal or dreamlike elements into its design language.

For example, watch nearly any episode of the original anime and you'll notice how the backgrounds are filled with blurry, bubbly, watercolors that seemingly blend together in perfect symphonies of visual splendor, while the main characters have a far more defined and grounded appearance.

Artist MoonlightYUE has combined the dreamy aesthetic of the series’ backgrounds with the show’s penchant for more grounded characters, creating a unique and beautiful fusion.

The Princess’ dress appears to fade in and out of reality, as if were an otherworldly element of a long forgotten dream, while the background maintains that blurry, warm feeling of nostalgia.

Tuxedo Mask, or Prince Endymion, rather, also seems to be drifting between the gloriously dynamic background and foreground while he embraces his lover.

Another thing to note is just how detailed this image is, with well-defined pieces of architecture for the main palace and buildings in the background, but it also has mere suggestions of spiral staircases, beautiful forests, wispy clouds and even a blinding light that seems to be washing out a ghostly face.

The Scouts As The Avengers

The current slate of Marvel movies may not have started the modern superhero revolution, but they sure as heck kept it invigorated and thriving, with each and every release dominating the box office and being beloved by both critics and fans.

In a way, they seem to be doing the same thing that Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z, and Pokémon did for the then-anemic anime market in the West.

Therefore, it is only appropriate that these modern day entertainment pioneers would cross paths, and this is evidence that they’ve done so successfully.

Here we see our favorite Scouts redesigned by artist Jei Shepard as members of the Avengers, and they shockingly fit their adopted roles very well.

Most obvious is Sailor Jupiter taking on the mantle of the Thunder God himself, Thor, while Mars applies her mastery of fire to Hawkeye’s bow. Sailor Venus breathes some life into the otherwise underused Black Widow, and Sailor Mercury fits right in as the tech-based Iron Man.

Also, as it should be, Sailor Moon retains her leadership role as Captain America, though her uniform features a Moon rather than a star, and her shield is emblazoned with a crystal.

Where does this leave Tuxedo Mask? Is he the Hulk because he only shows up when everyone needs him most and then disappears? That’s gotta be the case.

Selling Propane By Daylight

“In the name of propane, I will punish you, I tell ya hwut!” With a catchphrase as intimidating as that, no corrupt beasts from the darkest depths of the Thatherton Empire would dare challenge the master of propane and propane accessories and – okay, who are we kidding-- this is really on our list because of how bizarre of a crossover it is.

With Dale as Mars, Bill (of all people) as Mercury, Boomhauer as Venus, and Lucky as Jupiter (really?), things take a jump from the surreal to the nightmarish with artist TheSteveYurko's piece.

Of course, Hank would absolutely be Sailor Moon and it’s only fitting for Bobby to be Mini-Moon, but it’s still no less bizarre.

What makes this image even more unsettling is the immense attention to detail for not just the Sailor suits, but also the tie-dye, bubbly, crescent moon background that looks nearly identical to what was in the show.

We suppose it’s only natural that there would be some crossover between King of the Hill and Sailor Moon fans, much like how there was with superheroes, steampunk and RPGs, but this exceeded our wildest expectations.

We love both King of the Hill and Sailor Moon, but even this is just way too weird for us.

Dark And Gritty Sailor Moon

“Dark and gritty” is something seemingly a certain faction of every franchise wants to see infused into the franchise’s that we love, and it’s not hard to see why.

While the 2017 Power Rangers movie didn’t smash box office records, its serious, rather dark take on the material satisfied the fans who had been longing for it, and even won over a few that had initially rejected the concept.

Michael Bay’s Transformers movies also delivered the dark and realistic approach that certain Transformers fans had been calling for for decades.

Taking up a significant portion of the geekdom’s collective mindset, the ever-popular Sailor Moon seemed long overdue for a “grimdark” treatment, and artist Stef Tastan has given us a brilliant taste of what a “realistic” Sailor Moon could look like.

In the above art, we get a look at a battle-ravaged Sailor Moon. Her costume remains rather traditional looking, opting not for the boring and generic leathery or armored look for modern superhero costumes, except her shoulder pads, which appear cracked.

Dirty and cut up, Sailor Moon glares at the viewer with the eye of a battle-hardened warrior who genuinely looks like she’s destroyed hundreds of monsters (and she has.)

Sailor V The Superhero

Out of every entry on this list, from the truly outlandish to the ones with the strictest adherence to reality, we believe that this version of Sailor Venus is the ultimate piece of Sailor Moon fan art, and one that genuinely transcends the original designs of Naoko Takeuchi’s original masterworks.

We’ve seen dark and gritty, we’ve seen cartoonish, and we’ve even seen hipsters, but this particular take on Sailor Venus just screams evolution, but it also has an incredibly firm grip on what makes the original designs work so well.

If there were ever a true live-action, big budget Sailor Moon movie, we hope that this design by artist RedreevGeorge would inform the look of the film and its costumes.

Sailor V’s uniform looks tougher, even slightly leathery, but maintains every iconic element of the original (unlike Superman losing his red underpants in the DCEU) and the way her Venus Love Chain is being portrayed as a powerful, magical force is epic.

Heck, even Artemis looks great.

Best of all, though, is the look of the world. It has that touch of the dreamlike, ethereal qualities that permeate through Takeuchi’s designs, but are enhanced and honed to fit a more grounded look for this Sailor V and her more realistic world.

The only thing that would have made this piece better are those sunglasses that Sailor V wore when she was a solo superhero, but we’ll let it pass due to just how awesome this artwork truly is.

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What do you think of this fan art? Do you prefer it to the original Sailor Moon artwork? Would you be interested in seeing any of it on-screen? Sound off in the comments!