Sailor Moon Manga Used Crying Against Her FIRST Villain Ever

Sailor Moon is easily one of Japan’s most popular manga and anime series. The manga and anime’s gripping storyline and engaging artwork earned many fans, from Japan, the United States, and many other countries. But few fans of the animated show know how Sailor Moon’s emotions actually led to one of her biggest victories.

The manga’s lead hero, Sailor Moon a.k.a. “Usagi Tsukino” was portrayed as a ditzy “airhead” teen with a tendency to cry about her problems for the early part of the manga series (although she greatly matured as the story went on). The anime also used these qualities to characterize Sailor Moon, but for far longer than the manga. Surprisingly, Usagi managed to actually weaponize these qualities in her very first adventure — when she beat a foe by crying.

The story happened in Sailor Moon Vol. 1 Chapter 1 which details how how Sailor Moon met a black cat named Luna. Luna gifted Usagi with a special broach that allowed her to turn into Sailor Moon and sent her after the villains terrorizing Tokyo. For her first mission, this pitted the newly transformed Sailor Moon against a jewelry store owner (actually the demonic-looking Youma, Morga) who used energy-sapping crystals to absorb the strength from teenage girls. Unfortunately, although Usagi technically had all the powers of a Sailor Scout, she did not have the experience or battle-hardened personality to truly use them effectively. While she leapt into battle enthusiastically, she quickly found herself outmatched when the villain sent an army of brainwashed customers after Sailor Moon… who quickly beat up the teenager.

Shocked that being a superhero actually meant that she would have to endure some cuts and bruises (not to mention skinned knees), Usagi quickly began questioning her life choices. Determined to force the Sailor Scout into battle, Luna ordered Sailor Moon to fight the army, but Usagi, feeling utterly overwhelmed, dealt with this problem the way she dealt with most of her issues. She started crying.

Thanks to her Sailor Scout hairpiece powers, Sailor Moon’s bawling produced “Supersonic Waves” powerful enough to shatter glass and disorient the first Sailor Moon supervilain. Seeing an opening, Luna ordered Usagi to throw her “Moon Tiara Boomerang” at the villain and disintegrate the bad guy. Although not a traditional victory, crying about her problems basically helped establish Sailor Moon as a hero.

While a seemingly silly power, one shouldn’t discount the fact that supersonic sound waves are a time-honored superhero trope. From the X-Man Banshee’s “sonic scream” to the Inhuman Black Bolt’s devastating voice, being able to wail so loudly you can literally shatter physically objects is an ability not to be discounted. Sailor Moon manga later showed its heroine come up with multiple other attacks, but her first take down was an impressive, albeit unintentional, display of her superhuman bawling.

About The Author

Michael Jung
(700 Articles Published)

Michael Jung is a mild-mannered freelance writer-for-hire, actor, and professional storyteller with a keen interest in pop culture, education, nonprofit organizations, and unusual side hustles. His work has been featured in Screen Rant, ASU Now, Sell Books Fast, Study.com, and Free Arts among others. A graduate of Arizona State University with a PhD in 20^th Century American Literature, Michael has written novels, short stories, stage plays, screenplays, and how-to manuals.

Michael’s background in storytelling draws him to find the most fascinating aspects of any topic and transform them into a narrative that informs and entertains the reader. Thanks to a life spent immersed in comic books and movies, Michael is always ready to infuse his articles with offbeat bits of trivia for an extra layer of fun. In his spare time, you can find him entertaining kids as Spider-Man or Darth Vader at birthday parties or scaring the heck out of them at haunted houses.

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