2026 REREAD:
WELCOME TO SEPTEMBER MOON!
"The incredible amount of power that the hands, bodies, and words of one's comrades and loved ones possess! That I've been able to get this far, keep on living, and continue fighting as a Sailor Guardian, is all thanks to my comrades and loved ones! That's what a Sailor Guardian is!"
I'll try to keep it brief this time, in spite of 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 12' being the final volume of 'Sailor Moon', and therefore it should be blown up and celebrated like a fireworks display. But sometimes less is more, and simpler is better.
Rereview:
The art - top-notch, beautiful, emotional and heartrending as ever.
Sailor Galaxia, the Guardian of Destruction, first received info about the Sagittarius Zero Star and the Galaxy Cauldron, at the heart of the Milky Way (aka Sagittarius Alpha Star), and about heavenly bodies (or stars, or star seeds), from someone on a faraway planet who looks suspiciously like Wiseman.
It was Chaos. Everything and everyone comes from Chaos, and the Galaxy Cauldron. All of Sailor Moon's previous villains originated from him (or her? Or do they even have a gender?).
Every villain, every enemy, was attracted to the Silver Sailor Crystal because of its light, warmth, and power, and feeling of togetherness and not being alone; linking to every star seed coming from Chaos and the Galaxy Cauldron, the birthplace of heavenly bodies. Everyone with star seeds - souls, hearts - are siblings, basically. Everyone is connected.
Chaos is "One who failed to become a heavenly body, and the ruler of the dark heavenly bodies of this Cauldron." Sailor Galaxia is an entitled, narcissistic Guardian, who came from "filth" and "scum" on a "scum-like planet", and who hates "scum" (she says that word a lot in the last quarter of the volume - she's a true fascist politician, equipped with buzzwords). She murders Sailor Guardians for their Sailor Crystals, for power over the galaxy. Her end goal is to use Chaos and the Galaxy Cauldron as a means to her own ends... but Chaos bests her first. They both want to start a new universe, and new history of the Milky Way.
Galaxia has her own Galactica Castle, and her own Sapphire Crystal (this doesn't lead to anything), and a giant Garden Crystal for storing Sailor Crystals.
The Sailor Star Lights and Princess Kakyu don't end up doing much before they are "killed". Not even when Kakyu transforms into Sailor Kakyu (why didn't she do so before...?)... which barely lasts for two pages before she is fatally stabbed by Sailor Chi. We don't even see these Guardians at the end; as they are not solar system Sailor Guardians. Did they get revived/reborn? Kakyu, in her death scene, says she hopes to be reborn together with her loved ones (I assume that includes her "one true love" who Galaxia killed, who isn't mentioned in this volume and who we never see; we literally know nothing about them), so hopefully that happens?
A similar fate befalls Luna, Artemis and Diana, who are injured and unable to talk, and despite being dropped off by Usagi at her house for her mother Ikuko to look after, the cats somehow get killed off-panel. And they don't show up in the final chapter, Act 60; not in the final scene, on Usagi and Mamoru's wedding day, surrounded by the solar system Sailor Guardians. I hope they were reborn as well.
I mean, Chibi-Usa's main motivation for going back to the past, aside from helping Sailor Moon battle Galaxia and save the universe, is to search for Diana, who left for the past initially. She tearfully comes to the conclusion that the cats had been wiped out on Earth. So it's really bizarre for her not to mention her dear little friend Diana again afterwards.
Sailor Chibi Moon's comrades - the Sailors Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta - show up in the thirtieth century (have they been sleeping in the Amazon rainforest up until then?) after Chibi-Usa stands her ground in wanting to go help Sailor Moon in the past. Her mother, Neo Queen Serenity, finally relents and lets them travel across space-time, and to the Milky Way (Sailor Chibi-Chibi Moon pulls them there herself). Ceres, Pallas, Juno and Vesta are there near the end when Eternal Sailor Moon sacrifices herself inside the Galaxy Cauldron to absorb and defeat Chaos, and when Sailor Cosmos reveals herself (this is also when Chibi Moon had temporarily disappeared from existence).
As Usagi leaves to go to the Milky Way with Chibi-Chibi, the Sailor Star Lights and Kakyu, Ikuko, holding the cats, and still oblivious to her daughter's other life, starts crying. She says she has a feeling her daughter will never come back home again. Usagi's father Kenji is barely present on the side of a panel. Does Usagi ever see her family again? Surely she isn't reborn into a new one? How much time has passed between leaving the Milky Way, and her wedding? She'll be in her early twenties then, like twenty-two, when Chibi-Usa is conceived and born.
It's a bit of a shame how many characters are sidelined at the end of the 'Sailor Moon' manga, with no mention at all.
This marks the third time in the main series that Tuxedo Mask/Mamoru is brainwashed into being an evil woman's property, and practically her love slave, in which he tries to violently murder Sailor Moon. The power of their love - and their Crystals - is the strongest light in the universe, indeed.
Mamoru's Golden Crystal is not mentioned once in this volume. I guess it was never as important as the Silver Crystal. Wait, where is Helios, and Elysion, in all of this?
I can't believe this only now occurred to me: When Sailor Galaxia took Mamoru's star seed and Golden Crystal at the beginning of the previous volume, why didn't she also take Usagi's star seed and Silver Crystal? What exactly is stopping her from taking it at any time? Is the Silver Crystal just that special and powerful? In protecting Usagi, along with her Sailor Guardian friends and other loved ones?
According to Seiya/Sailor Star Fighter, because Usagi/Sailor Moon is a princess, even the most powerful in the universe, "...You don't have to try so hard. [...] It's all right to be protected by others. For princesses... get stronger by being protected." I choose to interpret this as everyone needing help, guidance and support in times of crisis and chaos. No Sailor Guardian is an island. Or a lone star, without fellow heavenly bodies.
The fight between Sailor Moon and Sailor Galaxia is even more epic than Sailor Moon's fight with her "reborn" Sailor Guardian friends, with their Sailor Crystals, and new forms manipulated by Galaxia, like Tuxedo Mask.
Sailor Moon truly is the strongest and most powerful Sailor Guardian in the universe, with her bravery, empathy and heart, and endless capacity to hope in the face of utter darkness, despair, war, and evil. It's not just her Silver Sailor Crystal.
Sailor Moon can "embrace anything and everything"; even the bad things in life, for light cannot exist without darkness, and vice versa. She strongly, steadfastly believes in peace, and in everybody's happiness. The self-sacrificing Guardian won't give up on hope, no matter what.
The adorable Sailor Chibi-Chibi Moon is revealed to be Sailor Moon's "future ultimate form", Sailor Cosmos. In her future, another evil Sailor Guardian, Sailor Chaos, appeared, and destroyed everything, and Sailor Cosmos felt it was her fault, for not completely destroying Chaos, and the Galaxy Cauldron, in the past. She went back in order to see to it that her past self obliterates the Cauldron for good, even if it means no heavenly bodies will ever be born and reborn again... but she ends up reminding dear Sailor Moon to never give up - or rather, Sailor Moon reminded her; to never give up on everything, for everything comes from the universe, and the Galaxy Cauldron, and while there may always be conflict, due to the Cauldron and heavenly bodies existing, there is also hope. And the chance of another Galaxy Cauldron existing somewhere else anyway. This is a very truncated version of events.
There's a mini Guardian Cosmos, the "guardian star spirit of cosmos seeds" in the Galaxy Cauldron, as well.
There's something about "the Cosmos Crystal's ultimate Lambda Power, which restores everything to the static "cosmos"", according to Sailor Cosmos.
Sailor Lethe and Sailor Mnemosyne, two of Galaxia's desperate and misled minions/victims at Sagittarius Zero Star, are clearly a lesbian couple. Among my many hopes is they got their happily ever after.
Then there's the one-dimensionally evil Sailor Phi and Sailor Chi, Galaxia's "Star Gardeners".
So Chaos - or rather, the Galaxy Cauldron - is Princess Serenity's father? Does this explain the existence of the Silver Sailor Crystal, and why it's the most powerful source of light ever (as where there is light, there is darkness attracted to it)? Usagi/Sailor Moon/Serenity always existed as a symbol of hope, change and rebirth? That's my interpretation.
War and conflict may be endless, but so are love and hope. Light and dark must coexist. So must everybody.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd I'm done for now.
The Sailor Stars arc - the 'Sailor Moon' finale - ends in a white light bang, across the galaxy, the cosmos, the universe, full of heart, love, and hope.
Evanescence and transcendence!
Yes, the ending is a little rushed, with loads of details and character arcs left unresolved (was Takeuchi-sensei given a limited number of pages and panels to use up, or was it deadline issues?). But you know what? I love it. I love 'Sailor Moon', always have, always will. It's so emotional and dramatic, and I mean that in the best, most positive way.
Have hope and faith in yourself, and in your loved ones. And in the future, which is always changing, and always capable of shining brighter and brighter. No matter how bad and hopeless everything seems, with evil winning at every turn.
It's a great and important lesson to take to heart in modern times.
Happy September Moon.
Happy Sailor Year, every year.
Now it's onto the two 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Short Stories' collected volumes. These are more lighthearted and silly, and I'm sure we'll have extra fun, with not-so serious, high stakes climactic battles deciding the fate of the universe; and with less existential crises, and deaths and rebirths.
Final Score: 4.5/5
Original Review:
There are so many great quotes in this volume, I won't number them all.
Just... wow. Everything - how it all could and should end - is here.
Chaos! Cosmos! Heavenly bodies! Evil Sailor Guardians! I enjoyed every ounce of it. Why did it take me so long to express it until now?
It has always been about Sailor Moon, the Pretty Guardian in a sailor suit. She is the star. She is the hero. The manga finale reaffirms this: She alone can save the universe, and this time without her loved ones and companions, whom she had depended on for so long, and were the sole reason for her fighting up until now. Sailor Moon is Eternal, is Cosmos, a mother, a queen. The most beautiful, shining, luminescent star - Sailor Crystal - of all time. Her hope is truly immortal.
In ‘Volume 12’ we learn that Sailor Galaxia has delusions of grandeur and a god complex. She had wanted to escape her own dull planet, and collect more power from other Sailor Crystals in order to gain a mother planet of her own, and rule over the Milky Way. She learned about the birthplace of the Milky Way from Wiseman, oddly enough. Though as it turns out, Wiseman, along with all of Sailor Moon's past enemies, is a manifestation of Chaos, a failed heavenly body who controls the Galaxy Cauldron at Sagittarius Zero Star, the centre of the Milky Way. Galaxia constantly calls things she considers beneath her "scum".
Usagi firmly believes that Sailor Guardians are worth more than just the sum of their Crystals - she wants to restore her dear friends' bodies, somehow. She, Chibi-Chibi, the Sailor Star Lights, and Princess Kakyu travel to Sagittarius Zero Star for the final showdown with Galaxia; after leaving the injured Luna, Artemis and Diana with Usagi’s mother, who has a strange feeling that her daughter will never come home again...
Sailor Moon will learn the positives and negatives of both being protected and being independent. Elements from Greek mythology meet the Guardians at Sagittarius Zero Star - and Galaxia's castle. There's a tragic story of a lesbian Guardian couple; following Sailor Moon's declaration that she would willingly die if it meant that no war or conflict will cause any more suffering due to her Silver Crystal existing. The Star Lights perish easily, and Sailor Chibi-Moon and her Sailor Quartet Guardians arrive from the 30th century to save the past; thus saving their future. (There's a really funny, cathartic moment of Chibi-Chibi being introduced to Chibi-Moon). Princess Kakyu reveals herself as a Sailor Guardian (Well obviously. And couldn't she have transformed before? Like, when her Star Light protectors were killed?). She dies also, in Sailor Moon's arms.
All her Sailor Guardian friends, and Tuxedo Mask, appear... but as Galaxia's reincarnated slaves. Chibi-Moon and Chibi-Chibi use their power to protect Sailor Moon, but only she can fight - this is her solitary battle, even when her wings are torn off by those she once loved. By never giving up, and by using the Silver Crystal's fathomless power, she defeats the imposters.
Now the fight is on: Sailor Moon versus Sailor Galaxia. Galaxia mocks her opponent's trust and faith in others and their power, for one's strength can only come from oneself. Sailor Moon fights for the belief that having comrades in arms - physically and spiritually - is what it means to be a Sailor Guardian to begin with.
Galaxia leads Moon to the sanctuary and source of star seeds/heavenly bodies, the Galaxy Cauldron, which is also the home of Chaos, a Metalia/Wiseman enemy father. Galaxia throws all the Sailor Guardian Crystals into the cauldron, obliterating any chance of restoring their physical forms. With Tuxedo Mask gone, Sailor Chibi-Moon fades from existence. Things have never been so intense for Sailor Moon; Galaxia wants to get her angry, desperate and hopeless enough to pour out her maximum Silver Crystal power into the cauldron, and destroy Chaos. Galaxia plans to become the cauldron's new ruler - a god who controls life, death and rebirth.
A beaten-yet-still-loving Sailor Moon ends up saving Galaxia from Chaos, for she sees her enemy's loneliness reflected in herself. She also realises and understands all her previous foes’ wish to obtain her Silver Crystal light - to embrace it, to seek companionship in a big, dark, lonely universe. Chaos fully merges with the Galaxy Cauldron. Suspense mounts to the brim: Will Sailor Moon, the epitome of love and hope, have to take up Sailor Saturn's torch and bring death to the cauldron, and therefore all heavenly bodies, and the Milky Way?
Pointless, because conflict can never cease. Light cannot exist without darkness, and vice versa. The Galaxy Cauldron must live on, for rebirth - and therefore, hope - to carry on forever.
Sailor Moon is a hero of the universe who continues to have faith, to believe in a better future, to embrace anything, everything and everyone. Even when she says she has nothing to fight for anymore. A brave warrior, and shining star; living and struggling on in war, to no end.
"Together as one". Eternal Sailor Moon will not abandon hope for the future. Alone she enters the Galaxy Cauldron and embraces Chaos, and uses the power of all the Sailor Guardian Crystals inside - and across the Milky Way - to defeat the enemy, sacrificing herself in the process. Everyone is "regenerated" back into their heavenly bodies.
Chibi-Chibi, inspired by Sailor Moon to never give up no matter what, reveals her true form at last: She is Sailor Moon's ultimate future self, Sailor Cosmos. The Sailor Quartet acts as the audience’s stand-in as she explains her purpose. In Cosmos's future she did abandon hope, when battling the never-ending threat of Sailor Chaos. She ran away, and then revisited the past in order to fix her mistakes and stop Sailor Chaos from existing. Sailor Cosmos wanted the Galaxy Cauldron destroyed so as to prevent future conflict. But, thanks to her past self, she remembers hope, her reasons for fighting, and the Silver Crystal's good light.
Usagi, Mamoru, Chibiusa, and everyone else (I assume the cats are alive and well, as are Kakyu and the Star Lights) are together again. What a happy reunion! There is a Guardian Cosmos in the Galaxy Cauldron as well, who returns them to their old lives on earth.
The series draws to a close with Usagi and Mamoru getting married, and the conception of the future small princess of Crystal Tokyo.
The End.
Phew! Epic all around.
Other characters don't get much attention, except for Chibiusa. Old minor characters barely appear at all (Helios doesn’t show up at all, for example). But, as I've said at the start of this review, this manga has always been about Sailor Moon and the power she possesses - not just with her MacGuffin/slight deux ex machina Silver Crystal, but with her heart, her ferocious dedication to protect others, and limitless amount of hope in her battles with darkness from all across the universe. To be lent support from her loving friends and comrades. ‘Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon’ has always been an emotional journey more than anything, and the ending delivers in swirling, twinkling, teary galaxy loads!
There are two more of Naoko Takeuchi's phenomenal manga volumes left for me to review, containing short stories which don't connect to the main plots of any the series' arcs. As well as telling more fun adventures for 'Sailor Moon' fans, the stories are character studies which should make up for this finale's lack of panel time with fan favourites.
One quick note before I sign off for now: At the end, Guardian Cosmos tells Usagi that her past self, Princess Serenity, and the Silver Crystal were conceived when Queen Serenity once entered the Galaxy Cauldron with a "small heavenly body cradled to her chest". And Chaos calls Sailor Moon "my child" at one point. So it is implied that Chaos - or at least the cauldron itself with its billions of star seeds - is Princess Serenity's father. That... explains a lot, actually. It should begin many interesting reader interpretations and theories.
I love this manga/anime series, and will keep on loving it forever. As well as love, hope is the key to a brighter future.
Final Score: 5/5
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