Perhaps this is a foolish "theory" but I just started to think about it and before I knew it I had written it out. People often mention how weird it is that Luna and everyone else could not figure out that Sailor Moon was the Moon Princess. The names are so obvious, yes? How could Luna and the rest not realize that Sailor Moon was the Moon Princess! However, I think there is a very good reason for this.

First, no one knew what the Moon Princess looked like, including Luna (due to her loss of memories), so that is one thing. Only Mamoru was having dreams of a Princess (that resembled Usagi) but he was not aware that this shadowed figure was the Moon Princess.

But here is where my thinking begins. Perhaps it can be said that Sailor Moon's name is affiliated with the Moon not because she is the Princess of the Moon but rather because she is the sole guardian of the Moon Princess. It would make sense, yah? The Senshi of Mercury would protect the Mercury Princess and the Senshi of the Moon would protect the Moon Princess. Plot twist though that the Senshi of each planet is also the Princess of their own planet. It is an interesting and I feel unique decision by Naoko to choose that the Princesses of each planet leave their home to become the Guardians of a Princess from a different planet. I think it is quite beautiful actually, as if only the Princesses are worthy enough to protect the Moon Princess.

But it makes for a perfect disguise. Why would a warrior of a planet, i.e. Sailor Moon, also be the Princess, the sole user of the most powerful crystal of the universe? Usually the most valuable royal family members do not put themselves as a direct target of the enemy. The Senshi of the Moon would therefore be a protector of that planet's Princess and not the actual Princess in truth.

Hmmm. It makes sense to me! I think the one reason why it's so obvious to everyone else is the fact that, as far as the anime is concerned, you're watching a show aimed towards kids/teenagers who wouldn't think that far into it. All they know is that the senshi are searching for someone important, so the answer is probably in the main character of the show :p The anime (at least in the English dub) doesn't say as much about the fact that she is a guardian as the Manga does, so I guess someone new to Sailor Moon isn't as aware of the fact that she is a guardian and doesn't put two and two together to realize that she's guarding the Moon Princess like you said.

I also agree with what you said about how beautiful that is. Princesses are obviously always viewed as weak women who don't do anything important, but I love that they can be princesses who also kick ass!

Was it really so obvious that Usagi was Moon Princess? I realized it in ep. 35 .

I think that it was actually clever trick - few people would guess that Usagi was given task of looking for herself.

Wow, Jupi. This totally makes sense and is actually a great way to thinking about it. That's probably exactly what Luna was thinking too when she discovered Usagi and that she was Sailor Moon; that she was the protector of the Moon Princess, not that she was the Moon Princess. I mean, like you said, why would Sailor Moon be the Moon Princess be the "sole user of the most powerful crystal of the universe" as well? This is clever. Honestly. I was like "oh damn!" lol when I read this.

However, I want to say that you mentioned that each senshi is the princess of their own representative planet. So, in that case, wouldn't it make sense that Sailor Moon is also the Moon Princess since Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, etc. etc. are all Princess Mercury, Princess Mars, Princess Venus, Princess Jupiter? You mentioned plot twist, yes, but I still feel like since the senshi are also the princesses of their planetary representations, it could count for Sailor Moon and the Moon Princess as well, no?

This is very well thought out, Jupi! ^^

(Bee tee dubs, the moon is not a planet ;P)

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't all the Senshi the princesses of their own planets?

Yes? Jupiter and I both said that in our posts

But this is never mentioned in anime and in manga not before Dreams arc - so it can't be used for guessing the identity of Moon Princess.

(My money were mostly on Naru...)

Even if it can't be used for guessing, I still wanna say the obvious Moon part in Sailor Moon is the Moon Princess if we're going that route. Yeah it's a good theory that like Sailor Moon ---> protector of the Moon Princess (closest protector), but if I were Luna, I would've seen if Usagi was the Moon Princess. Even if in her mind it'd be for giggles mostly.

(I don't really like Naru cough >.>)

It would have been awesome if Naru could have been involved, somehow. I wish she had still played the part of a minor character throughout the series, rather than just disappearing. I did create a fan fiction in which Usagi and Lunga got terribly confused and told Naru that she was the princess of the moon. It's one of my favorite that I have created.

I love Naru-chan. I'm so sad she pretty much went poof at least so far in Sailor S

http://moonsticks.org/56-a-perfect-disguise/