Sailor Senshi- What they're called in Japanese untranslated.

Sailor Soldiers- A translation of Senshi and used in some subs like Pioneer and I think most fansubs. The fact that in SuperS the group transformation music sings in English SAILOOOOOOR SOLLLLDDDIIIIERS suggest this is the correct translation. 

Sailor Warriors- Another translation of Senshi. The old ADV subs of Classic and R used this. 

Sailor Guardians- This is the new "official" term that Viz sub and dub use even though Senshi does not translate to Guardian

Sailor Scouts- What the old DiC dub used


Personally I always call them Sailor Soldiers because that always made the most sense.

is this a Debate or just general stuff?

I have always thought of them as Sailor Senshi or Sailor Guardians mostly

SushiRoll wrote:

Sailor Guardians- This is the new "official" term that Viz sub and dub use even though Senshi does not translate to Guardian

Just FYI, Sailor Guardians started with the live-action series, originally as a way to distinguish it from the 90s anime. Then when the manga was re-released in 2003 in Japan, Naoko officially made the change to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, which ended up sticking and has stuck for all Japanese products, merc, etc. since then. I believe Viz has kept this as that is now what the official name is. Although, imo, a little annoying when it comes to the original anime when soldiers was the original intended. I don't mind guardians for newer stuff though.

That aside, I always preferred Sailor Soldiers too. The original musicals also refer to them as Sailor Soldiers many times, heck the overall theme song for old Myu is "La Soldier". xD

I guess it could be considered a debate

I usually say Sailor Senshi, but if I'm going for a translation, I'm partial to Sailor Soldiers. It was what I always assumed it was supposed to be due to the background vocals in some of the transformations and what I'd heard online.

Brit-chan wrote:

SushiRoll wrote:

Sailor Guardians- This is the new "official" term that Viz sub and dub use even though Senshi does not translate to Guardian

Just FYI, Sailor Guardians started with the live-action series, originally as a way to distinguish it from the 90s anime. Then when the manga was re-released in 2003 in Japan, Naoko officially made the change to Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, which ended up sticking and has stuck for all Japanese products, merc, etc. since then.  I believe Viz has kept this as that is now what the official name is. Although, imo, a little annoying when it comes to the original anime when soldiers was the original intended.  I don't mind guardians for newer stuff though.

That aside, I always preferred Sailor Soldiers too. The original musicals also refer to them as Sailor Soldiers many times, heck the overall theme song for old Myu is "La Soldier". xD

Yes it's definitely annoying for the Viz subs to use Guardian when the 90 anime clearly intended to use Soldier as the translation between La Soldier and the Sailor Team group transformation music in SuperS

I cannot begin to describe how horrifying it is to me to have them called "Guardians" I've always called them Warriors, I like that word more than "soldier" for the girls. Of course, those two terms are synonymous, so it really makes no difference.

A usually just call them Senshi. I will never call them a guardian. To me, a guardian is the male equivalent in my head-cannon for senshi.

As said above, Senshi is most likely the correct translation (at least 90s speaking)
I always used guardian to tell the difference between the Live Action Canon and everything .
I'm more used to Guardian, due to the old VHSs/DVDselse

If we were to go strictly based on the kanji for senshi (戰士）then "warrior" is the most accurate translation for this term. I think it took me a while to adjust to using "guardian", particularly when I first reread the manga in the form of the Kodansha English edition, but I've gotten the hang of it now. It's possible that Naoko changed her mind and decided to change the English translation to guardian after she decided guardian was a better description of the senshi's duty than being simply warriors, possibly in the sense that not only do they fight but they also support their charge emotionally as well.

I use guardian because i watched PGSM in first, but sailor senshi and soldier too. Not sailor warrior... it's too strange.

I prefer "sailor soldiers"; for me, it has connotations that they're an organization of fighters with a central purpose. I don't mind "sailor guardians", either—and I can understand why Naoko Takeuchi pushed to have that phrase used in English.

Starchild wrote:

I cannot begin to describe how horrifying it is to me to have them called "Guardians"

Starchild wrote:

I'm more used to Guardian, due to the old VHSs/DVDselse

Huh?   I think you meant Scout. xD Which I hated the most, especially after I learned they were supposed to be Sailor Soldiers/Warriors. Funnily enough, in the old Dic dub, there were some inconsistencies in the episodes, especially towards the end of R, where characters would call them Sailor Soldiers. I gladly accepted those mistakes. xD

Starchild wrote:

As said above, Senshi is most likely the correct translation (at least 90s speaking)

Confused again. xD I'm assuming you meant soldier or warrior?

mangaka-chan wrote:

If we were to go strictly based on the kanji for senshi (戰士）then "warrior" is the most accurate translation for this term.

It's funny...a lot of the online Japanese to English dictionaries could not find the word when I searched it (and i was gunna check a bunch of other sites but then the internet went wonky and blah), but when I just do a google search it comes right up on wiktionary, which lists soldier, combantant and warrior. So I think both soldier and warrior are equal when it comes to accuracy. I think it just depends more on the context.

I am negatrash and when asked will say on impulse "Sailor Scouts" because of the dub   But I think the translation I prefer most is Guardian... mostly because it sounds a little more romantic. I do also enjoy the idea of them as soldiers though, especially because it makes Usagi's ... court (?) match more with Mamoru's Shittenou/"Generals" who definitely have a more militaristic feel.

I just like the word senshi, personally. It's solidified itself as the term I use to refer to our favorite characters, especially in RPing and whatnot xD I just like it, I think it feels like its own term that encompasses what they are to me (though I do know it's not a SM term, it's a Japanese word)

Otherwise, I think "Guardians" would be the only other way I think of them

I have a bad habit of calling them "scouts" just on old habits. If it's not that, I just call them senshi. I also have a habit of alternating in-between the two-I once called them both senshi and scouts in the same sentence haha

I like using senshi. I never liked scout and I can't get used to guardian 

@Brit. You see. I'm so used to saying senshi I just don't even know lmao.

I tend to use "senshi" in talking/typing, but for translation purposes I prefer "soldier," both because it's a more direct translation, and also because La Soldier as well as other of the old songs (if anyone ever translated "Ai no Senshi" as "Guardians of Love" I might cry). The only time I really ever use guardian is in the acronym PGSM, and sometimes in references to new myu stuff.

I think one thing for myself, though, is why I refer to them as "senshi." While of course, its the original word, it's also that I've given it its own meaning. If I watch other anime or Japanese media where the word senshi is used, I would think of it as soldier immediately, but in regards to Sailor Moon, whenever I hear senshi I think specifically of what it means to be a Sailor Senshi rather than just any type. And since Sailor Moon is the only place where people tend to insert the word "senshi" in the middle of an English sentence, it's become something of a loan word to me meaning "Sailor Senshi." So especially when it's just the word "senshi" rather than "Sailor Senshi," I keep it as senshi. However, for official (or "official," in the case of fansubs, etc.) translation purposes, I understand that this is not necessarily good practice.

For example, I'm more likely to think of the new myu song "Kibou Nakushita Senshi yo" as "The Senshi who Lost Hope," and I might even type it out that way, because to me saying "The Soldier Who Lost Hope" or "The Guardian Who Lost Hope" both sound a bit general and odd, while using senshi, to me, sounds Sailor Moon specific (In this case, it also has the added bonus of keeping the vagueness on whether the senshi without hope is singular or plural, which is a vagueness I particularly like in this song title. Lovely!) However, if I were translating this in any "official" capacity, I would probably translate it as "The Guardian Who Lost Hope" because "guardian" is the preferred official translation. On the other hand, something like "Ai no Senshi," while I might still call it "senshi of love" in conversation, I would use "Soldier of Love" rather than "Guardian of Love" for "official" translations, because it is from the time period when the preferred official translation was soldier. 

In any case, even though that's how I would translate it, I still like "soldier" better than "guardian" because I prefer literal translations and I just like the feel of it. Ultimately though, I like using the word "senshi" best.

Also, @jup, I remember seeing debate on whether the Shitennou are ever referred to as "generals" in the Japanese version... and I don't remember the conclusion. The term itself refers to the four heavenly kings, and I don't remember what other words, if any, they ever describe them with or how those would translate. King still matches the courtly feel though.

WOW I really did not think I had that much to say on the matter, but apparently I did.

Oh man I am SO WITH YOU, cardea and Saturn on "Senshi" as a loan word!!

I've only found myself wanting to use a translation because of RP and more recent prose writing after several years of not doing any SM writing at all. When I was younger, writing a bit of fic here and there, I still used "Senshi". Other authors did too so it didn't seem out of place at the time. But now it feels unprofessional to write with a sort of personal slang like that.

So far I've tended to use "Guardian" because of Naoko's desire to change it in that direction and because it makes sense to me as they're sole representatives of their planets. They simultaneously get strength from and protect those planets and the Moon/Earth and I feel like that dual relationship and specialness makes a more feminine/nuanced term like "Guardian" a better choice over "Soldier" somehow. But I think I'd like to start using "Soldier" more consistently in writing/RPing that is specific to the pre-live action media. That's what it was meant to be for that time, and this thread has certainly solidified that in my mind! So thanks, guys! ^_^

I still have fond memories of staring at some of my bootleg Cardass cards with "Sailor Soldier" written on them and thinking how awesome it was instead of "Sailor Scout" and how glad I was to have the internet to show me more and more and more about that awesome original Japanese version XD.

Re: The Shitennou I tend to go with Four Generals because its more of a translation of the idea as they’re not literal Kings and The Shitennou goes from Buddhist mythology of four Gods who protect different directions of the world who serve under a ruler (Sakra) other anime/Japanese media have also used these connotations like Pokemon and Digimon

For the time being, I tend to choose Guardians. As a newbie, I haven't encountered Scouts/Warriors/Senshi much, and Soldiers feels like a bit strong of a word to use (my title notwithstanding). I dunno, maybe the word 'soldier' carries less of a militaristic vibe in Japan or something.

Saw this mini-debate and just had to jump in XD

First off I DO NOT call them "scouts" at all! I cringe at my past self for even considering it "cool". It completely downplays the power of Sailor Moon, by giving them such a name. 

That being said, which translation do I use? Other than simply calling them Senshi, which I admittedly do most of the time, even in conversation, if I had to pick an English translation, "Warriors", although fierce, does not sound right (at least to me), in reference to the Senshi. Not saying they are not warriors, they most certainly are, but they have a certain grace about them that the word "Warrior" just doesn't call to mind. 

But then there's the translation of Soldier. Even though it matches the "Generals", as Jupiter brought  up, it brings to mind for me images of soldiers on the battlefront, and again doesn't fully capture the essence of what I believe the Senshi to be. 

So now we've come to Guardian. Now this might be a bit of a controversial choice, but I actually prefer the word "Guardian". It matches what they do, guarding their princess, Serenity, and the rest of the solar system, without carrying around a heavy title like "Soldier", and with more grace than the title of "Warrior". It makes it seem more personal, because instead of fighting for a cause as a soldier would, they're fighting for someone to protect, as a guardian would.

I'll add a good point raised in a recent TuxedoUnmasked article: other characters from the same time period as Sailor Moon originally aired using the term "Senshi" did consistently have imagery that was more like a foot soldier with armor and weapons.

It reminds me of an element to their costumes that is often overlooked actually: why is there an upper and lower part of their sailor fuku bodice? I've always thought that the upper part is probably meant to be a breastplate, like in Sailor V's design. This is basically recognized in PGSM as well even if it is made from sad, cheap foam.....

Suddenly, if you imagine them running around with a heavy breastplate the feeling isn't quite as whispy-woo-guardian anymore!

I always thought their outfits were reminiscent of ballet leotards and skirts LOL

Actually if you look at the materials collection illustrations of Naoko's original designs for Moon and co., they definitely had a more armor feel to their designs. I believe she even points out that the part over her chest is like armor or some sort of protective material.

Also "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon" was the official English title of the series for quite some time. You can find it in a lot of Japanese printed media (if i hadn't mentioned this already. might not have gone to check what ive already written xD).

I call them Sailor Senshi, Sailor Soldiers, Sailor Warriors, and Sailor Guardians. I don't call them Sailor Scouts because it's not the correct translation for Sailor Senshi and to be honest Sailor Scouts sounds really dumb in my honest opinion.

For me, it's usually Sailor Senshi.  In English, I'll say Sailor Soldiers.  Whenever someone says Sailor Scouts, I want to scream - no offense to any who grew up with the dub.  It's just a terrible translation.

My introduction to Sailor Moon was through Dic so I do use Sailor Scouts but I prefer Sailor Senshi.