I have been rewatching the anime and something really bothers me, but I guess it's just apart of the show. The first example is in S when Haruka and Michiru are always hanging around such as the time when Haruka and Usagi get caught in the cave together and are forced to fight together. It's like neither knew that one was Sailor Moon and the other Sailor Uranus when both mysteriously show up after a battle especially since Haruka and Michiru show up after nearly every  battle. Wouldn't it click in someone's head that "Hey they must be sailor Uranus and Neptune!" Another example is when Seiya figures out that Usagi is sailor moon just by looking at her! I know this is just an attempt to draw out the plot more, but I really thought it was stupid when I was younger because I'm like that's clearly Haruka and Michiru! They look just alike! What are your thoughts? Stupid worthless debate or something worth looking into?

Daaahling,

Wanna add the appropriate 'theory' or 'debate' to the title?

It's fixed!

Thank ya!

Easy answer: Mysterious identity masking veil in the anime that doesn't work on Senshi from outside the solar system.

Hard answer: Yeah, I got nothing.

The anime relies on the clear suspension of disbelief that, yeah, we know that their appearances are identical in every way, and that Tuxedo Kamen is the only one who ever wears a mask. But they have SPARKLY INSTANTANEOUS TRANSFORMATION SEQUENCES. Magic sparkles clearly obscure their identities!

Obviously, Seiya became used to compensating for magic sparkles while searching for her own princess.

The other direction you could go in is that all of the characters in Sailor Moon are in the midst of some sort of willful denial of the Senshi's identities. "That can't be Usagi, Sailor Moon is too awesome!" "That can't be Haruka, she's wearing a skirt! She won't even wear the proper uniform!" "That can't be Ami, her clothes match!" Etc.

I remember when I brought up a similar topic when I was wondering how Fiore in the R movie knew right away that Usagi was Sailor Moon. I mean no one else got it that quick; especially the villains.

No idea.

my theory with Fiore- He's smart and minors in taking no bs. 8D That's about it. Or maybe he's been so obsessed(inlove) with Mamoru, that anyone who comes between them is marked for butt kicking!

At least Diamond had an excuse.

You know, PGSM addressed this so much better than the others by literally changing their appearance.

Anime- IDK There are -soooo many bun haired women around. Really. With the same group of friends as soldiers. Completely normal. yup.

Bt for real, most people say it has something to do with the jewels being magic and distorting their appearance/making them forgettable/prettier with whoever is looking at them. Thus never being remembered.

Another one is in episode 34 where the girls are searching for Usagi and Minako appears and no one recognize her like come on nothing changed from the last time you saw her

Anime seems IMO mostly consistent that transformations disguises identity. They get magic powers, so IMO it's perfectly understandable that this is another. The only difficult to explain exception seems to be Fiore.

MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is something that never made any plausible sense to me. And honestly, I think it is just simply excused due to it being of an anime/manga world fantasy. Because quite literally, there is no way someone can look at Usagi NOT see the resemblance to Sailor Moon, at least. Maybe there are magical properties involved that "mask" who the person is to others - but that has such a loophole in it because in the manga, both Usagi and Mamoru recognize each other as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen almost immediately. They dismiss the thought, which makes sense but they DID look at each other's PHYSICAL appearance and make the connection.

So I think this whole "not recognizing" the Senshi is just incorporated for plot. -_-

Yamichan16 wrote:

MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i agree with yami-sempai

but, this is a classic "Clark Kent"effect xD

Sailor Jupiter wrote:

This is something that never made any plausible sense to me. And honestly, I think it is just simply excused due to it being of an anime/manga world fantasy. Because quite literally, there is no way someone can look at Usagi NOT see the resemblance to Sailor Moon, at least. Maybe there are magical properties involved that "mask" who the person is to others - but that has such a loophole in it because in the manga, both Usagi and Mamoru recognize each other as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen almost immediately. They dismiss the thought, which makes sense but they DID look at each other's PHYSICAL appearance and make the connection.

So I think this whole "not recognizing" the Senshi is just incorporated for plot. -_-

Yeah I remember that from the manga that Usgai and Mamo made the connections, but dismissed it. I mean at least Sailor Moon had sliver hair in the manga right? So there were some changes about her physical appearance.

I always like it in magical series where the girls transform and their hair and eye colors change. People not recognizing them in that case makes sense.

Yamichan16 wrote:

Sailor Jupiter wrote:

This is something that never made any plausible sense to me. And honestly, I think it is just simply excused due to it being of an anime/manga world fantasy. Because quite literally, there is no way someone can look at Usagi NOT see the resemblance to Sailor Moon, at least. Maybe there are magical properties involved that "mask" who the person is to others - but that has such a loophole in it because in the manga, both Usagi and Mamoru recognize each other as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen almost immediately. They dismiss the thought, which makes sense but they DID look at each other's PHYSICAL appearance and make the connection.

So I think this whole "not recognizing" the Senshi is just incorporated for plot. -_-

Yeah I remember that from the manga that Usgai and Mamo made the connections, but dismissed it. I mean at least Sailor Moon had sliver hair in the manga right? So there were some changes about her physical appearance.

I always like it in magical series where the girls transform and their hair and eye colors change. People not recognizing them in that case makes sense.

Yami - Actually I believe Sailor Moon's hair is blonde too xD Or at least its colored that way in the colored panels of the manga xD Showed here -



Jupiter - I think Usagi and Mamoru figured out each others identities because they weren't transformed anymore. Plus Mamoru was still in his tuxedo just without his cape and hat and mask xD Also, when Mamo brings Usagi home, shes still in senshi form and she transforms back into Sailor Moon right there in front of him xD

I think this is the part you guys are talking about xD Correct me if im wrong

What I think about magic masking it is my thought but for the specific instance of Haruka/Michiru in Sailor Moon S, Haruka and Michiru actually duped the girls by tricking Makoto in the episode where Makoto was targeted by Scar and Kaolinite. Even acting to have been knocked out.

mysteryloveandjustice wrote:

Yamichan16 wrote:

Sailor Jupiter wrote:

This is something that never made any plausible sense to me. And honestly, I think it is just simply excused due to it being of an anime/manga world fantasy. Because quite literally, there is no way someone can look at Usagi NOT see the resemblance to Sailor Moon, at least. Maybe there are magical properties involved that "mask" who the person is to others - but that has such a loophole in it because in the manga, both Usagi and Mamoru recognize each other as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen almost immediately. They dismiss the thought, which makes sense but they DID look at each other's PHYSICAL appearance and make the connection.

So I think this whole "not recognizing" the Senshi is just incorporated for plot. -_-

Yeah I remember that from the manga that Usgai and Mamo made the connections, but dismissed it. I mean at least Sailor Moon had sliver hair in the manga right? So there were some changes about her physical appearance.

I always like it in magical series where the girls transform and their hair and eye colors change. People not recognizing them in that case makes sense.

Yami - Actually I believe Sailor Moon's hair is blonde too xD Or at least its colored that way in the colored panels of the manga xD Showed here -



Jupiter - I think Usagi and Mamoru figured out each others identities because they weren't transformed anymore. Plus Mamoru was still in his tuxedo just without his cape and hat and mask xD Also, when Mamo brings Usagi home, shes still in senshi form and she transforms back into Sailor Moon right there in front of him xD

I think this is the part you guys are talking about xD Correct me if im wrong

Actually I think Mamoru figured it out first because Usagi dropped her handkerchief that had her name and school on it while she was still Sailor Moon(or in her disguise at Princess D's party.). Though I'm puzzled a little by how he found out where she lived since he woke her up to get her to help others.

I always figured it was a 'glamor' that would drop when you were told the identity or saw the person transform. I'm not sure if I like the physical appearance changes in PGSM, but it totally makes sense from a secret-identity standpoint.

Sailor Venus wrote:

I always figured it was a 'glamor' that would drop when you were told the identity or saw the person transform. I'm not sure if I like the physical appearance changes in PGSM, but it totally makes sense from a secret-identity standpoint.

I think the PGSM change was because its live-action, noone else has blue hair in it and it just kind of looks silly in real life when theres a crowd and everyone has black or dark brown here in and there's just one girl with blue hair. Its okay for myu since there's alot fewer people so nobody stands out.

There was picture where Sailor Moon's hair was Silver. I think there was two. I can't find them. >.<

Yamichan16 wrote:

There was picture where Sailor Moon's hair was Silver. I think there was two. I can't find them. >.<

She has silver hair as Serenity. Also, Naoko wanted her to have silver hair, but it was changed to yellow/blonde because that color stands out more on the covers of the magazines it was released in.

But I believe there is artwork with Sailor Moon with silver hair. I mean I know she has blond hair officially ( Well the reader can just decided on their own if she has blond hair or sliver hair, right? XD).

Houyou no Senshi wrote:

I think the PGSM change was because its live-action, noone else has blue hair in it and it just kind of looks silly in real life when theres a crowd and everyone has black or dark brown here in and there's just one girl with blue hair. Its okay for myu since there's alot fewer people so nobody stands out.

.....Human Luna, Miki. Human Luna. XD

Lady Tuxedo wrote:

Houyou no Senshi wrote:

I think the PGSM change was because its live-action, noone else has blue hair in it and it just kind of looks silly in real life when theres a crowd and everyone has black or dark brown here in and there's just one girl with blue hair. Its okay for myu since there's alot fewer people so nobody stands out.

.....Human Luna, Miki. Human Luna. XD

Yeah but she was never really seen much around normal people like the rest as much, so it was okay but the rest would look completely... out of place and confusing, other drama adapted from manga do the same thing most of the time

After PGSM i came to the conclusion that i wasn't wrong when i thought "oh that's why their identities are never revealed", the girls have "normal" hair color and when they henshin their hair color changes, i don't care if it was because of live action and would be pretty weird a girl with blue hair, i still believe that's the reason, and i always thought the same with other mahou shoujo (best example Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne)

Yeah, but the girls always address each other by their names. Only Luna calls them by their Sailor names.

Ktenshi wrote:

mysteryloveandjustice wrote:

Yamichan16 wrote:

Sailor Jupiter wrote:

This is something that never made any plausible sense to me. And honestly, I think it is just simply excused due to it being of an anime/manga world fantasy. Because quite literally, there is no way someone can look at Usagi NOT see the resemblance to Sailor Moon, at least. Maybe there are magical properties involved that "mask" who the person is to others - but that has such a loophole in it because in the manga, both Usagi and Mamoru recognize each other as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen almost immediately. They dismiss the thought, which makes sense but they DID look at each other's PHYSICAL appearance and make the connection.

So I think this whole "not recognizing" the Senshi is just incorporated for plot. -_-

Yeah I remember that from the manga that Usgai and Mamo made the connections, but dismissed it. I mean at least Sailor Moon had sliver hair in the manga right? So there were some changes about her physical appearance.

I always like it in magical series where the girls transform and their hair and eye colors change. People not recognizing them in that case makes sense.

Yami - Actually I believe Sailor Moon's hair is blonde too xD Or at least its colored that way in the colored panels of the manga xD Showed here -



Jupiter - I think Usagi and Mamoru figured out each others identities because they weren't transformed anymore. Plus Mamoru was still in his tuxedo just without his cape and hat and mask xD Also, when Mamo brings Usagi home, shes still in senshi form and she transforms back into Sailor Moon right there in front of him xD

I think this is the part you guys are talking about xD Correct me if im wrong

Actually I think Mamoru figured it out first because Usagi dropped her handkerchief  that had her name and school on it while she was still Sailor Moon(or in her disguise at Princess D's party.). Though I'm puzzled a little by how he found out where she lived since he woke her up to get her to help others.

I thought he figured out her identity in chapter 3. He thought she looked like sailor moon so he decided to stalk her for a while in his tuxedo mask form and then saw her use the luna pen to change into a stewardess so then he was like, "Yep, she's got to be sailor moon."

This is just for the anime, because in the manga, Mamoru figured out Usagi was Sailormoon before she transformed.. but still, there was a whole lot of "gee.. this girl has blonde hair, tied into two pigtails, with buns.. and no other girl in this area has this hairstyle, and she's the same height and around the same age as this Sailormoon person.. nah.. couldn't be the same.)

So maybe for both, I think there's some sort of veil that makes it impossible for civilians to connect the very obvious physical similarities between a sailor soldier and their civilian form. I think if there's a sort of mental block, it could account for this.

Or I could be totally wrong.. who knows. hah.

As everyone said, the best solution to non-recognition is that what we see on screen is not accurate, and that the Senshi's faces are actually blurred, possibly their voices too.

As for Usagi and Mamoru, they had a past life connection, so that probably caused traces of recognition between them. And as for Seiya, though I have not seem or read StarS, my guess would be this: Perhaps Seiya, being a Senshi herself, was able to sense the magical energy coming off of Usagi even in human form. Perhaps she was better able to identify what she was detecting.

In the musicals, when Seiya shakes hands with Haruka and Michiru each of them feel the same aura, that they all have the power of the stars within each other. I'm sure its something like that.

Hm, still not sure I agree with the idea that their faces are blurred.. but who knows. I think that other senshi probably have a knack for sensing each other even in civilian form.

This topic has always fascinated me. I really liked the way they handled it in PGSM by having their civilian forms look so different (although, one could say that close friends/family would still recognize that they have the same facial features, just totally different hair.)