Of all of the Sailor Guardians in the Sailor Moon franchise, Sailor Pluto might be the most mysterious. For most of her time in the franchise, she doesn’t even have a civilian identity like the rest of her teammates. When Setsuna Meiou finally joins the fray on Earth, she spends much of her time distant from the rest of the team.
As a result, fans don’t get a chance to know her very well. Based on her interactions with Chibiusa, we do know that Setsuna cares deeply about those close to her. Her solitary time spent in front of the Space-Time Door shows us she takes her duties very seriously. There is still more fans want to know. And now is the time we learn the answers to ten pressing questions about Sailor Pluto.
Is She The Oldest Sailor Guardian
This particular question is a bit difficult to answer. In terms of their civilian identities, Setsuna is definitely the oldest of the Sailor Guardians. While everyone else is a teenager when introduced, Setsuna is already a university student.
It gets more complicated when talking about Sailor Pluto. Neo-Queen Serenity, after all, placed her in charge of guarding the Space-Time Door, so Neo-Queen Serenity should be older than her. At that point, however, Neo-Queen Serenity isn’t Sailor Moon. When the Guardians made the trip to the future in the Black Moon arc, it’s revealed that Chibiusa is at least 900 years old herself. Sailor Pluto’s age is, thus, difficult to pin down.
Why Did She Once Attack Sailor Moon
Sailor Pluto was given a very important task, and she took her job very seriously. Part of her job was to destroy anyone who attempted to use the Space-Time Door she guarded.
When Sailor Moon herself emerged through the door, Sailor Pluto attacked without knowing who she was. If Sailor Pluto hadn’t realized the identity of the “intruder,” Sailor Moon would have been dust.
Why Does Sailor Pluto Have A Different Complexion Than The Other Characters
Fans of both the manga and the anime will have noticed that Sailor Pluto has a slightly different look than the rest of the Sailor Guardians. She’s the only one to be shaded with a darker complexion in the manga, and that manifested in different ways depending on the season of the anime watched. In the later seasons of the original anime series, for example, her coloring became more orange in tone than simply a few shades darker than her comrades.
According to creator Naoko Takeuchi in Punch comics at the back of the re-issued manga, she wanted the coloring of the manga to match the fact that she was “dark and mysterious,” so she shaded the character differently than the others. Anime artists just ran with the idea.
Did She Really Have A Crush On Prince Endymion
Endymion must be a great catch. It seems like he catches everyone’s eye. Of course, he’s in love with Princess Serenity, but in the 90s anime, Rei was interested in Mamoru Chiba as well. In the live-action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, he had a girlfriend, Hina Kusaka, who wasn’t one of the Guardians. Expanded backstory for the Sailor Moon franchise even revealed that Beryl was in love with him during the Moon Kingdom’s reign. Add Sailor Pluto to the list.
Pluto doesn’t appear to know him in his civilian form, but in the future, when she’s guarding the Space-Time Door, her crush on King Endymion is evident. She blushes whenever he talks to her. In the live-action musicals, her love for him even made it into its own song.
What Does Her Name Mean
Like all of the Sailor Guardians in the Sailor Moon franchise, Sailor Pluto’s civilian name when she is reincarnated has a special meaning. Setsuna Meiou keeps the trend of the surname being related to the Sailor Guardian’s planet, but Setsuna also holds meaning itself.
Setsuna translates to the English word “moment,” which is pretty fitting since so much of Sailor Pluto’s identity is wrapped up in her being the Guardian of Time. Meiou, on the other hand, makes up part of the Japanese word for her planet, Pluto. The kanji for “mei” translates to “dark,” while the kanji for “ou/ō” translates to “king.” The only other kanji present in the Japanese word is the one for “star.” “Dark king star” is a reference to Pluto being the god of the underworld in Roman myth, and the planet in our Solar System.
Does She Ever Let Anyone Else Guard The Space-Time Door
As the Sailor Guardian who has one of the loneliest jobs, Sailor Pluto doesn’t get to interact with the other members of the team very much. The only people she interacts with on a regular basis are Chibiusa and Diana. Perhaps that’s why she trusts them so much.
Not only does Sailor Pluto allow Chibiusa to travel through the Space-Time Door that she’s meant to guard, but she also trusts Diana to stand in for her. Diana, daughter of Artemis and Luna, is the one Sailor Pluto trusts most for such an important task.
Why Might Some Fans Know Her As Celia
When the 90s anime made its way to the United States, the English dub changed the names of many of the characters. Usagi became Serena, Mamoru became Darien, Michiru became Michelle, and so on. For Sailor Pluto, her civilian name of Setsuna was replaced with the name Trista.
One toy company in Canada didn’t yet know the new names when they released dolls for the Outer Sailor Guardian. Irwin Toys provided civilian names for the dolls of characters that hadn’t yet been introduced. Sailor Pluto was named Celia. That name appeared on all of the packaging before the anime revealed a different name for her.
Is She A Goddess
Unlike Sailor Venus, no one ever directly calls Sailor Pluto a goddess in the manga and anime. Instead, there are references made to her lineage. She’s the daughter of a Roman god.
Sailor Pluto is referenced as the daughter of Chronos. Sailor Chibi Moon even calls on Chronos when traveling through time, calling him “father of the guardian,” and several characters make references to Sailor Pluto having the blood of Chronos in her veins. It’s fitting, since Chronos was the god of time, but odd since she’s named for the god of the underworld.
How Are Pomegranates Related To Sailor Pluto
Pomegranates seem like they have absolutely nothing to do with Sailor Pluto, but there is a surprising link between them - though it’s never been confirmed as intentional by Takeuchi.
In the Greek story where Persephone ended up marrying Hades — who is analogous to the Roman god Pluto — she was bound to him because she ate a few pomegranate seeds in the underworld. That’s already one link to Sailor Pluto, but there’s another.
Sailor Pluto’s uniform is unique in that the stone in her tiara doesn’t match the color scheme of her Sailor Guardian uniform. Instead, the garnet in her tiara is matched by the Garnet Rod she channels her power through. The Japanese word for garnet actually translates to “pomegranate stone” in English as a reference to the dark red of the fruit! It hardly seems coincidental.
What Does Setsuna Do For Fun
Since the Outer Guardians are introduced later in the series, and most of their storylines revolve around protecting the world rather than just Princess Serenity, fans don’t get a lot of “civilian” time with them. In fact, a lot of what we know about Setsuna’s likes and dislikes are courtesy of stats included at the backs of different manga volumes.
One of the notes about the character is that she enjoys physics. We see that come to life when her civilian identity is a university student majoring in physics. Hobbies we don’t see in action? Sewing and shopping. Those two items are noted in her stats in the manga, and while Takeuchi did include sketches of Setsuna in some high fashion designs in her picture collections, we didn’t see much of these items in action in the manga or anime.