That's what I'm thinking. "Inner Senshi" and "Outer Senshi" are fan terms used to distinguish the guardian soldiers--Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter--from Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, and Saturn.

Because the series was originally going to be one arc long, Naoko probably wasn't planning on assigning a Sailor Soldier to every planet. Sailor Moon had some elements of sentai (fighting squad, like the Power Rangers) series, so that's probably why she decided on five Sailor Soldiers--V/Venus, Moon, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter.

So even though Jupiter is on the "outer" side of the asteroid belt, she's still an "Inner Senshi" because Pluto, Neptune, and the others weren't designed until later. Thus, her mission is different.

Rachael pretty much hit the nail right on the head. Any confusion spawns from the fan assigned titles.

Japanese superhero shows from that time period always have teams of 5. She needed a 5th sailor.

Like others mentioned, it was made up by the fans. though I do wonder why takeuchi didn`t give them an official name lol

Rachael wrote:

That's what I'm thinking. "Inner Senshi" and "Outer Senshi" are fan terms used to distinguish the guardian soldiers--Mercury, Mars, Venus, and Jupiter--from Neptune, Uranus, Pluto, and Saturn.

Because the series was originally going to be one arc long, Naoko probably wasn't planning on assigning a Sailor Soldier to every planet. Sailor Moon had some elements of sentai (fighting squad, like the Power Rangers) series, so that's probably why she decided on five Sailor Soldiers--V/Venus, Moon, Mercury, Mars, and Jupiter.

So even though Jupiter is on the "outer" side of the asteroid belt, she's still an "Inner Senshi" because Pluto, Neptune, and the others weren't designed until later. Thus, her mission is different.

That's bloody brilliant, that is. O.o

I always thought it was for balance. Two senshi from the planets within Earth's orbits, two from without.


.... Super nerdy side note: Did you know that Jupiter's existence has pretty much protected the Earth for millennia? It's great size and gravitational pull often disrupt the paths taken by comets and attract stray asteroids, pulling them farther out of the solar system as opposed to towards Earth. Its position also keeps the asteroid belt from developing into a planet, further providing Earth with a shield against accelerated space debris.

AMI OUT.

This was a always a problem for me, but I used to get upset when little, they would sing "Sailor Venus, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars (Mars, Mars, Mars),* Sailor Jupiter" When that's not the complete order that the planets go in! I know lyrically it sounds better but it used to confuse me, haha.

* The echo is for added effect and in hope that it get's stuck in all of your head's as it is now stuck in mine.

I think it's appropriate that Jupiter is an inner senshi. There are 8 planets (not counting Earth) and it has to be even, it just has to be. And it has to go in some sort of order because Mercury and Venus protect Earth from one side whilst Mars and Jupiter protect from the other.

When it comes to the gas giants it also makes a lot of sense. But Pluto doesn't really suit Jupiter's role if we swapped it around.

Just a thought, now that we've ditched Pluto as a planet and children will probably most likely not be taught about it being one, will Sailor Moon become irrelevant in some ways?

Didn't it say somewhere that Naoko never really called her the senshi of planet Pluto, but always instead called her the senshi of time, or the guardian of the door of time? She was never meant to function as a senshi. this is why I think it'll forever and always be okay.

Speaking of Pluto not being a planet anymore... I was kinda frustrated when they decided to make that change!!! To me it meant everything we learned at school about astronomy was wrong and it made me feel like our generation was just as dumb as in Copernic's time when he tried to explain to everyone what he just discovered... Earth was not center of the Universe anymore!

I know I might be exagerating things there, but that's how all this made me feel because it actually makes sense Pluto isn't a planet for different reasons you maybe know, but I'm not going to elaborate too much on it.

As for Jupiter being an inner Senshi, one explanation I would have would be similar to Rachael's. Originally, Naoko wasn't planning on assigning a Sailor Soldier to every planet. At that time, she shouldn't have called all Senshis inners except Jupiter! I also think since the whole series is mostly centered on the five original senshis and that all the other senshis only make a few appearances (to compare with the inners) it's maybe how they decided to divide them.

Kyralih wrote:

Didn't it say somewhere that Naoko never really called her the senshi of planet Pluto, but always instead called her the senshi of time, or the guardian of the door of time? She was never meant to function as a senshi. this is why I think it'll forever and always be okay.

Ah I see, very smart Naoko. Very smart.

Well that's sorted.

Kyralih wrote:

Didn't it say somewhere that Naoko never really called her the senshi of planet Pluto, but always instead called her the senshi of time, or the guardian of the door of time? She was never meant to function as a senshi. this is why I think it'll forever and always be okay.

Yup, I think it has to do with Pluto's 'blood line'. After all she is the daughter of Chronos or that is what it is allude in the series. She can die and be reborn because her duty is to the gates of time. Although this enters a new aspects, because since she is seen as this legendary character almost goddess like, could it be that she is an aspect of Chronos.

Sorry, not in the subject XD

((Neither will this be:

Why Pluto is no longer a planet, the abridged version:


The year was 2006. An astronomer/mathematician studying fluctuations in gravitational pull in the outer solar system discovered a rather large spherical object outside of Pluto's orbit - a new 'planet'. This celestial body he called "Eris" after the goddess of discord, knowing what that discovery would mean for the scientific community. This planet and Sedna, yet another celestial body beyond Pluto, would bring the planet count to eleven, and with more potential planets ever farther into the Kuiper Belt, that number was only going to rise.

This begged for a better definition for a planet.
The original definition was something along these lines - A celestial body that

• orbited the sun

the 'orbited the sun' deal knocked all moons off the list. Asteroids didn't count well, because they were asteroids. That's the only reason - they fit another definition. As did comets. But now, with our telescopes and other detection devices reaching ever farther into space, we really had to zone in on what we wanted to define as a planet, else kids would be learning 20, 30, 40 planets in years to come, and that's just ridiculous.

So they got together in late August of 2006 and came up with a new definition: A planet is a celestial body that

• orbits a star
  
• has enough mass as to form a perfect sphere under its own gravitational influence.
  
• has cleared its neighborhood of debris.

That second rule killed off most asteroids and several Kuiper Belt Objects (or Trans-Neptunian Objects) as they're pretty lumpy ('cause they're so small), but still allowed for Pluto, Sedna, Eris and even Ceres, a member of the asteroid belt, to make the cut. The last specification killed them - none of those bodies had enough gravity to clear the path of their orbits - there was space junk and rocks in their orbital path.
So those objects that meet all three requirements are Planets.
Those objects that meet the first two, but not the last requirement, are Dwarf-Planets.
Those that don't meet any of the requirements have their own special term, be it comet, asteroid, TNO or KBO, or a moon.


.... And now I shall take off my Ami-glasses. ^_^ ))

(Nicely done!!)

Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are the "ancient" stars. While Uranus, Neptune and Pluto are the "modern" stars.

The first five planets in Japanese contain the names of the five Chinese elements, water, metal, fire, wood and earth respectively. Perhaps that's the reason for it?

Going with that it makes me question why Hotaru isn't a Guardian Senshi?

Although, apparently later on she'll be part of Chibiusa's Sailor Team not the Outer Senshi.

Maybe that has something to do wtih it?

Hmm, I disagree about Saturn being part of ChibiMoon's future team - though they were allies at one point, Saturn is very much a part of Sailor Moon and is a very vocal advocate for their princess. While her relationship with Chibi Usa is sweet and endearing, I still think her first and foremost loyalties lie with her mother, Neo Queen Serenity.


.... though it's super interesting to learn that even Asian cultures associated Saturn with earth and the harvest... xD

I personally think that she chose five on the original team for balance - one specific leader, with two on either side. Artistically, you always want to deal with an odd number ^^'

I don't remember the Yume arc that well so I can't recall what Saturn's role with the Sailor Quartet is X3

But Saturn does have a unique status among the Outer Soldiers, she is not a talisman bearer for example...

So perhaps it has something to do with Eastern Astronomy? or even Western Mythology as Saturn is not exactly the same kind of God as Jupiter, Mars, Venus or Mercury...

I kinda don't understand what you mean. ^^'

I always thought that Saturn was an integral part of the Outers because she was the reason for their having talismans in the first place - to summon her - and her scythe is kinda like her own talisman (as it's super powerful. o_o).

And thank you for bringing all of this up! I'm finding out so much more about Saturn than I did before! For example:

Quote :

The planet Saturn was associated with the element Earth (as in dirt, not the planet), and thus with farming (burying a seed and letting it grow) as well as graves (burying a body and allowing the soul to be reborn).

Quote :

The history of Saturn is double in nature. The original Saturn was the Italian god of agriculture and prosperity. The Romans later identified him with Cronos, the oppressive Greek god of time and gloom. The Romans were conscious of Saturn’s dual nature. In fact, two English adjectives derived from Saturn, Saturnian and Saturnine, are direct opposites: the former meaning happy and prosperous, the latter meaning gloomy and sullen.

How neat!

Hotaru just doesn't exactly fit in with the other three, I mean. She's a lot younger, her role is very very different to the other three. I mean the talismans are based on the The Imperial Regalia of Japan, right? (A sword, a mirror and a jewel)... so she doesn't quite fit in and so Saturn's glaive is more like the Harp, the Whip the Arrow and the Leaves of Oak that the Guardian Senshi have. She's in the group, but I feel she's just slightly different. Thats what I feel anyway :3

:O I didn't know that about the talismans mirroring the Imperial Regalia!!

Very interesting theory! Perhaps she is so different as she was never meant to exist?



P.S., I'm loving you for all of these new tidbits of information and brain teasers! ^-^ Thank you for activating my brain in this awesome little debate!

Oohh maybe, perhaps she just has a different status among them. Kind of like how Venus is a little different from the other Guardian Senshi?

Nice! I agree. She stands a little apart because her original purpose and duty is completely separate from them all, and is really only part of them through the evolution of Princess Serenity as Sailor Moon and the love shown to her by the princess despite her fate. And then through her rebirth at the hands of Super Sailor Moon, she is able to choose her path as a senshi and chooses to serve as an additional guardian of Sailor Moon.

I wondered this too but I have always looked at her symbol as well. The Jupiter symbol looks exactly like a number 4 and she was the 4th scout introduced!


It is also clever, because on the ADV dvd release of the series in English, the 4th DVD used her symbol as the number on the dvd! Thought that was pretty neat!

Also clever how they got her introduced into the series on the fourth DVD so it was planned if you ask me!

Probably means nothing, but I don't think it is a coincedence she was the 4th scout introduced and her symbol is a 4

^^ That's neat with all the 4 information. I was thinking she was the fourth because Naoko made V first, then the protagonist, then just went in planetary order to fill out their ranks before reintroducing Venus to the gang.

XD And Jupiter's symbol is actually a stylized representation of Zeus's lightning bolt (Zeus being the Greek version of Jupiter and god of the skies).