Exactly what the topic title says.

As we all know, the current day Senshi are the reincarnations of the Silver Millennium Senshi; but are their current era selves their only reincarnations?

Personally, I would like to think that the girls were reborn throughout the Japan modern era, without awakening their Senshi powers.

Thoughts, opinions?

Hmmm this is an interesting question. Maybe someone who has read the manga and knows things about the actual Galaxy Cauldron can answer! cough brit cough

As far as 90s anime and manga goes, my personal belief is that these are not their only reincarnations. Though, my belief is a bit more solid in the manga rather than the 90s anime, since the 90s anime never covers the Cauldron and even though it seems Sailor Moon has the ability to bring her friends back, reincarnation doesn't seem to be quite as big of a theme for the series, outside of the first season, and even then it really just focuses on Moon being Princess Serenity and Mamoru being Endymion more so than the other characters.

In the manga, I feel its safe to say that they've been reborn several times, just never awakened and never actually met up with each other as they end up doing in the main story line.

Now, the version that actually goes "deeper" in this this are actually the musicals! If you're familiar with the musicals, Sailor Stars and Sailor Stars Revised Version has an "Edo period" scene (thats a homage to Japanese period dramas, jidaigeki) that suggests that everyone was at least reborn during the edo period and all their paths meet up again, particularly Usagi's and Mamoru's. One version even goes so far to have Usagi reborn as a male named Usanoske and when Usanoske meets "Mamoru", who is just a young Edo period lord, they both feel the tug of fate and its hinted it could be love. The only thing is that since the Edo scenes are were written more as a homage to these old dramas, it could be taken with a grain of salt with how much evidence it adds to the overall Sailor Moon meta. I personally think it adds to the idea of reincarnation and emphasizes the possibility of multiple reincarnations.

Thats also not to mention another musical, The Legend of Kaguya Island, which is its own original story, not seen in original anime or manga, that hints that there was another, earlier reincarnation of Princess Serenity prior to the Silver Millenium. They often refer to this character as "Princess Moon" rather than the usual Princess Serenity and I feel like that distinction was deliberate.

Anyway, outside of the musicals, since its never officially stated if they had other reincarnations, you can't really say with 100% certainty but I really believe its quite possible. There are just lines here and there that suggest that its possible and pretty much to not rule the idea out. xD

I'll take a more hard line about it and say that aside from the musicals, there's no evidence that the Senshi are reborn between the Silver Millennium and current day.

Btw, spoilerrrrs ahead XD.

My reasoning is because of their memories first. The most important part of their reincarnation during their present day existence is that they are able to access memories from that past life and carry forward the emotional ties that come with them. This happens in the 90s anime after the world is reset at the end of Season 1 as well - they get back the memories of Season 1 *and* their Silver Millennium memories. Albeit not necessarily a reincarnation as such, my point is that the series treats their pasts and the memories from those pasts as a key element of the story and a key element of what makes the main characters special. If there were any hints whatsoever about any additional reincarnation, it would have to be through memories, of which there are none.

To say that maybe there were some past reincarnations without memories is to treat the reincarnations with less seriousness - less purpose and therefore without need to be remembered. But as far as we know from the 90s anime, Queen Serenity specifically sends them all to Earth to be reincarnated "to be happy". We're not talking about the idea of reincarnation that involves randomness. It was clear that this was purposeful: a journey into the future together. Similarly, the reincarnation of the Senshi from their dissolution in the Cauldron at the end of the manga is purposeful. This time, instead of Queen Serenity granting Sailor Moon/Usagi/Serenity's wish to be happy together with each other, it's Guardian Cosmos. But it's still special and not random at all. And again, it's at least implied that they get to keep all their memories from before. And hell, even fanfic that I've read *still* typically treat any made up in-between reincarnations with some sort of purpose - everyone wants these characters to be together and to realize their power together. To think that such reincarnations would not be remembered come present day given the examples we have is too convenient in my opinion.

Lastly, I'll reiterate from Brit's post that the Edo period sketches from the Myu are first and foremost a tribute to those traditional stage performances, and although a great addition to the context of time travelling in those Myus' plots, are pretty hard to integrate with the other source material, as seems to be the case with a lot of Myu-exclusive stuff ^^;;;.

So, although I do get Brit's conclusion that it shouldn't be completely ruled out as there hasn't (to my knowledge) ever been any clear statements either way in canon, I don't feel there is enough to even hang your hat on for a good headcanon.

Then again, there is the Moonlight Densetsu lyric which is translated as something like "again and again" or "time and again", "we'll find each other"... Mind you, not lyrics written by Naoko for once but hey, maybe that's one of the sources for fans thinking of this possibility?

Diagnosed wrote:

Lastly, I'll reiterate from Brit's post that the Edo period sketches from the Myu are first and foremost a tribute to those traditional stage performances, and although a great addition to the context of time travelling in those Myus' plots, are pretty hard to integrate with the other source material, as seems to be the case with a lot of Myu-exclusive stuff ^^;;;.

So, although I do get Brit's conclusion that it shouldn't be completely ruled out as there hasn't (to my knowledge) ever been any clear statements either way in canon, I don't feel there is enough to even hang your hat on for a good headcanon.

Then again, there is the Moonlight Densetsu lyric which is translated as something like "again and again" or "time and again", "we'll find each other"... Mind you, not lyrics written by Naoko for once but hey, maybe that's one of the sources for fans thinking of this possibility?

I can understand the hard line approach (btw they weren't just stage performances but literally a genre of television and film) but you left out Kaguya reference, and there was something I forgot until just yesterday, from the Dracul musicals, where it is implied that Joan of Arc was actually a previous reincarnation of Usagi/Princess Serenity. And in both Kaguya and Dracul these are not just from scenes added in as homages. These were thought out and probably had reasons for the way they were, even if those reasons aren't as easy to pick up on as the viewer.

There's also the lines in the manga where it's meant to be Serenity saying that no matter how many times they are reborn, they will find each other, again and again.

Reincarnation and rebirth is a large theme in Sailor Moon overall, on top of reincarnation being a strong Eastern philosophical belief and this being a series deeply rooted in Eastern philosophy, myth and culture, with tie ins of Western myth and philosophy. I'd argue that the reincarnations happened but for some reason, the "present" time was important for the true awakening of the Sailor Soldiers and the other reincarnations did not have the significance needed for memories. I don't think you can totally rule it out, head canon or no. It's too rooted in the philosophy of Japan.