So this is an opinion of mine that I have always thought but I was hesitant to actually talk about it because I know that Sailor Galaxia is quite loved among several people here. And also, I did not want to come off as rude or offend anyone. But I think (I would hope at least, heh), that most of you know me by now and know that I do not mean anything personally against anyone.

To start off quite bluntly -- I have never liked Galaxia. Throughout the Sailor Moon series, there have been several times that an enemy has realized their wrong doings and through the love of Usagi, they were cleansed or healed. This happens more so in the anime than in the manga (something that is annoying at times, but alright). However, Sailor Galaxia is the one specific enemy who I was actually rather annoyed at the animators for making good. I know there have been a lot of villains in the past who have been manipulated by darkness and done wrong and so their redemption can almost be understood -- it was not (fully) their fault. However, I feel that Galaxia did too much evil and hurt too many people to be forgiven. Sometimes, even when you realize what you have done and may be sorry, sometimes you have to pay the price, regardless of your regret.

I am not a cold hearted person or anything like that, but I really feel that Galaxia did too much harm to be given a "happy ending" of her own. She killed everyone and with selfish, cold-blooded reasoning. In the anime, it bothered me very much about her whole story. I felt that the animators needed to passify all the evil she does in the manga, so they wrote the story of her trying to destroy Chaos and then being consumed by it. That way when she slaughters just about everyone, there is the excuse that she was poisoned and that it was not her fault. This whole vein of thought fits into the same (my opinion) rather weak final battle. This was Usagi's last fight and she didn't do anything and Galaxia caused so much pain and yet she was redeemed.

In the manga, Galaxia remarks how she grew up a nobody on her home planet and was alone -- and yes that is painful but it is no excuse to destroy everyone. I am sorry, but there are some things that just can not be used as an excuse. If you hurt one or two people then maybe but when you go on an all out execution, you have forfeited yourself.

It was beautiful of Sailor Moon to risk her life to save Galaxia when Chaos violently shook the ledge she stood on. Sailor Moon is after all, the Senshi who loves all. Right before Galaxia's end, Galaxia recognizes the hope in Sailor Moon and I think that is why her bracelet cracks, where her moment of "redemption" occurs. I think Galaxia lost hope in humanity but that does not make her actions any more justifiable. I feel that Naoko made the right choice in letting her be destroyed, not healed by Sailor Moon.

There are moments when Galaxia alludes to wanting to destroy Chaos and begin a new Galaxy. So maybe one can say that she had "good intentions." It is possible that she went through unimaginable pain and suffering on her own planet and that is why she wanted to start anew. But I still believe that there is no excuse for obliterating entire planets and innocent people. If she had succeeded in killing Sailor Moon, nothing would have stopped her.

Basically this: her demise in the manga was certainly more fitting to me than what occurred in the anime.

I COMPLETELLY agree with you.
I kinda hated what happened in the last episode of the anime. Sailor Moon was a weakling at times (I repeat: At times). It's understandable that dialogue may solve some problems, but c'mon! Not fight the person who killed your closest friends and distroyed your planet? That I didn't like. Even in the manga Sailor Moon fights a little.
As for Galaxia, she was way out of her game with the assasinations. A very selfish and twisted beign ('cause let me tell ya, that wasn't even human). I love Sailor Moon, i really do, but the entire Stars season could've been much MUCH better.

Thank you for your input, Jonathan! But I have to ask you to please replace the word you used to describe Sailor Moon. The Lady does not like foul language here.

If she really did destroy entire planets, then Galaxia's total death toll would DRAMATICALLY outdo the numbers of everyone killed in WWII... She just isn't likeable, or redeemable... :S And she seems SO shallow- I mean, even Darth Vader has a better reason for going bad... A lonely nobody? Well, so are 99% or anime fans- but we don't try to destroy the universe. We eat some pocky, watch cartoons and write snarky blog entries- but never try to obliterate everything. Universal destruction is NOT an acceptable form of stress-relief! :S

I agree- Galaxia is awful. And trying to turn her into a fallen sparkle-Sue at the end may seem warm and fuzzy, but... I mean, WHY spare her when some of the other bad guys are more likeable, more sympathetic and have better traits? If *everyone* lived, then it would be understandable, but... WHY would the anime writers kill Saphire and Diamond, but spare HER? I just don't get it... And the Four Kings were brainwashed, too- were they spared? :S As much as I admire her fashion sense, I don't like Galaxia's character at all... Even Beryl seems more sympathetic to me- at least she was driven mad by love...

And the anime backstory is not only pulled out of nowhere at the last minute, but it makes no sense... I mean, ANYONE would know better than to seal evil away INSIDE THEM. Sheesh, my cat knows better than that- if she eats something evil, she coughs it up (often on a newly-vaccuumed rug...)

While I agree that the anime version of Stars is weaker compared to the manga, Galaxia didn't really bother me that much. I always felt that Galaxia was essentially sacrificing herself for what she thought was doing the right thing, by trapping Chaos inside her body. Unfortunately, she could not fight off Chaos all on her own and it over took her.

Galaxia was corrupted, like many of the previous villains. She just managed to become a lot more successful than other previous Sailor Moon villains. She is kind of like the Kefka (from Final Fantasy VI if you don't know...)of the Sailor Moon world. Except Kefka is a million times cooler and eviller.

While Galaxia might not necessarily be my favorite villain, she is certainly just as redeemable in the anime as any of the other villains. Did it help with the story? /shrug I'm kinda meh on it. I used to idolize the last episode because it was the only episode of Stars I had seen and I thought it was a pretty awesome ending to the series. But as I rewatched it later on as an adult, it didn't feel as satisfying to me (theres also the sadness of no more Sailor Moon to watch associated with it.) I thought it was nice for Galaxia to have been redeemed to her former self and thus was able to make ammends for what she did by returning all of the StarSeeds (which seeing that it brought back all the Solar Senshi, it would mean, she'd bring back the other Senshi that were killed to life. If you weren't a Senshi, sorry, but you are kinda screwed).



Now onto her manga counterpart (because i decided to wiki it since the Stars arc is fuzzy in my memory). Her manga counterpart is no where NEARLY as redeemable as the anime version. I mean just read this thing.

Quote :

In the manga, Sailor Galaxia was born on a planet she referred to as "trash" and wandered alone and miserable for an unknown amount of time before discovering that she had the power of a Sailor Senshi. That power alone was not good enough for her, though: she had to have the strongest power in the galaxy, and so she left her home planet.

While wandering the universe in search of this ultimate power, she heard about a place where all the stars were born. One day, she overheard a mysterious cloaked figure talking about that place, and he told her that the birthplace of the stars, the center of the galaxy, was the Sagittarius Zero Star.

Her main objective was to find more power, and to do so, she collected all the Sailor Crystals she could find. She made her base at the Galaxy Cauldron, the birthplace of the stars, and built an empire that she called Shadow Galactica, with her power centered at her castle, Galaxia Palace. As she sought out Sailor Crystals to add to her collection, she also gained followers to whom she promised power in return for their service. Some of those followers killed the Senshi of their home planets and stole their Sailor Crystals, using that power to became the Sailor Animamates.

Galaxia knew, however, that Chaos was only helping her in order to have her do his dirty work. She was not powerful enough to defeat Chaos alone, and as a result she planned to use Sailor Moon to defeat Chaos for her. Galaxia came to the Sol System and captured the Sailor Crystals belonging to the Solar System Senshi, effectively killing them. She then recreated their bodies, as well as that of Prince Endymion, as her servants and commanded them to fight Sailor Moon in order to cause her pain. If Sailor Moon gave in to anger and despair, then Chaos could take control of her; if that were to happen, their two opposing powers would cause both beings to self-destruct, leaving Sailor Galaxia to retrieve their Star Seeds and become the strongest Senshi in the universe.

To this end, she threw the Solar System Senshi's Sailor Crystals into the Galaxy Cauldron, melting them into nothingness, and made Endymion kiss her boots before she threw him in as well. Endymion's death also caused the disappearance of Sailor Chibi Moon, who had arrived from the future to aid her mother. Sailor Moon's grief infused Chaos with power, but Chaos used that power not to strike down Sailor Moon, but against Galaxia herself, hurling her over the precipice toward the Cauldron. Sailor Moon saved Galaxia's life and protected her from Chaos' darkness with her own shining light, and when faced with Sailor Moon's purity, hope, and love, Galaxia lost her will to fight. Her bracelets shattered, and she disappeared forever.

http://wikimoon.org/index.php?title=Sailor_Galaxiahttp://wikimoon.org/index.php?title=Sailor_Galaxia

Like holy crap, this bitch was evil from the beginning. I don't even know why Sailor Moon saved her other than the fact that its Sailor Moon and she's always trying to save everyone. I kind of see Galaxia as Sailor Moon's Freiza and Sailor Moon is Goku, being dumb and trying to give them mercy when all they would do is come back as a robot form to be cut up by Trunks. Duh. (I apologize from going from so serious to funny like that but i couldn't help myself).



Edit: BTW I edited the title of the thread to follow forum rules. <3

I think its a nice twist on all senshi aren't nice goody goody people. They are like humans some are "bad" some are "good". It was nice to see something different in the anime and manga then the normal I am an alien and I want to do this this and this.



With the Manga I think she realized what she did was wrong, she did die but I still believe that was under Chaos' rule because if I remember correctly Sailor Moon didn't really touch her. She kind of just faded away, granted I like her Manga version better as she is more ruthless and I might be biased and liking more ruthless types of villains. She was just plain evil/wanting from the beginning. Since we don't know the whole truth of where she comes from, from the Manga, I still think she is redemable since every story has a deeper meaning. Granted we will never know it, even so I still think she learned her lesson before dying. I have to go back to the manga and reread it because its a bit fussy on who actually did kill her, I just remember her fading away.



But regardless not everyone is fuzzy and warm like Sailor Moon, which I thought it was done tastefully. It just felt good to see something new then the same thing we saw for 4 other seasons.

I think Galaxia is actually an example for a misanthropic person. (very extreme though) I don`t really care for her, but in the manga, I can relate to her. Living in a world where there is killing, theft, racism, etc. can be awful. And Galaxia got sick of all these people, all these "dirty" stars. I think she wanted the silver crystal because it was so pure, and even though earth is FAR from perfect, Sailor Moon managed to purify so many awful things. She destroyed all things she thought of as dirty and not good enough, and at the end she destroyed herself. Becuase she was bad and not pure herself, and she understood that at the end.

Discussing the redemption of Galaxia, we have to keep in mind that her portrayals in the anime and manga were vastly different. In the manga, she was born on a forsaken planet, one which she considered "trash," warping her world view a great deal. Once she discovered her power as a Sailor Soldier, she abused that strength to begin galactic conquest. She was described as the "Soldier of Destruction" and the "Soldier of Solitude." It's harder to get more blunt and obvious than those two titles. She was the biggest bad you could imagine in the Sailor Moon continuity outside of Chaos itself. And she wanted to destroy Chaos so that she could seize control of the Galaxy Cauldron! And so while she might have become administrator of this forum, she still desired total control of the life and death cycle of the galaxy.

In the anime, Galaxia attempted to stop Chaos by sealing it within her own body. This was an altruistic act which backfired drastically, although Galaxia attempted to pull a gambit by releasing her Star Seed and hoping it would reach someone who would protect it from herself. Galaxia was still dedicated to destroying planets and enslaving Sailor Soldiers as part of her designs on the galaxy. But the anime made no mention of her origins, so it seems that Galaxia had been truly overwhelmed by Chaos' evil influence rather than acting as a maleficent force by her own choosing.

I suppose an argument could be made for her manga incarnation---and Niveouslily hints at this---that she was driven to "purify" a world she viewed as rotten. That would be very similar to Light Yagami from Death Note who, though he claimed to have the best of intentions for society, was warped by the power provided to him via the Death Note, leading him to believe he was destined to become the god of a new society. In a similar fashion, once Galaxia discovered her own latent powers, she began a campaign to eliminate the "trash" of the universe when in reality, despite her new found abilities, she had become the epitome of the scum she so despised. I think that would have been really interesting for Takeuchi to explore, and the manga background for Galaxia certainly has more depth than the anime, but it still stops short of a truly multilayer character; Galaxia remains a super villain who became a misanthrope because of a bad childhood.

But at the heart of this, Sailor Galaxia is still a Sailor Soldier. Usagi in the anime certainly identified this, and in the manga she rebuffed Galaxia's claim to destruction by asserting that Sailor Soldiers were meant to create and protect. So a possible criterion for redemption is Galaxia's potential as a Sailor Soldier. Could something better be made of her existence even after all the destruction she caused?

As I have indicated in past posts, the anime suffers frequently from having to wrap up plot points in one to two climactic episodes. That amount of time is insufficient for exploring the past of a character that only appeared recently. It's strange, too, since the anime provided more background for a lot of the underlings which did not exist in the manga. There seems to be some inverse proportion to the rank of the character and the expository exploration of their origins and goals. But I digress.

To address the main topic---does Sailor Galaxia deserve to die?---it's very tempting to go with Princess Leia's assessment of Darth Vader in the expanded universe: ten minutes of repentance does not make up for a lifetime of destruction. I would say that is generally the acceptable answer because a character like Galaxia was a monster on such an enormous scale. Yet I think the beauty of the anime resolution---the core message, not necessarily the blow by blow account (or lack thereof)---is that one is capable of atonement if they truly recognize and repent. Treading lightly into theological territory, I suppose it appeals to my Catholic sensibilities regarding the necessity of faith and works in salvation. In the case of Galaxia, Sailor Moon essentially absolves her of the egregious sins she committed and tells her to guide the souls she destroyed back to their proper place. Eternal Sailor Moon is one step away from healing lepers and telling parables! Being more serious, I do believe that the message of love triumphing over destruction is one which could be glossed over as being too simplistic, yet it should not be ignored in its potency and poignancy.

From a narrative perspective, however, my assessment is that the ending of the final episode was rushed. Galaxia is healed, she flies away, Sailor Moon is distressed that she's alone, and then everybody returns. The end. After all of that, the audience is driven at high speeds to Resolution Town. I preferred the confrontation between Galaxia and Sailor Moon in the manga as Eternal Sailor Moon was pushed to her absolute limit and very nearly came apart. The anime explored the concept with the brief Nehellenia Arc at the beginning of Stars, but Usagi never wavered in her values and principles. Having Sailor Moon in the manga go toe-to-toe with Galaxia in a fight was novel given her standard attitude. I appreciated that because it reminded us that Usagi was, to paraphrase the Architect, still irrevocably human.

Did Galaxia deserve death? I'm hung up over her past infractions versus her future potential. In the manga, she was essentially evil through and through; I would say that if death was a necessity to stop her rampage, then so be it. In the anime, however, she was freed of Chaos' influence, and so it begs the question whether it was actually Galaxia who committed those crimes or another "personality" or facet of her nature which would not have appeared had Chaos not controlled her. It is very much a judgment call, but if Galaxia can be redeemed after all she has done, that would speak volumes about the power of forgiveness and salvation.

I also felt a little 'meh' about Sailor Galaxia. Personally, as much as I did not like her, (I mean, come on? Who is, well, dumb enough to seal chaos inside of themselves?). I understand she was trying to -save- everyone or whatever, but she had to have known that she is indeed a powerful senshi and there are going to be a lot of consequences. Anyways, in the anime I feel like she was trying to do a good deed and in her mind it was a great idea. It was in fact, dare I say, not her fault for acting the way she did; it was chaos controlling her. But I still feel that she was accountable for her actions. I do feel like Sailor Moon did make a bad decision by letting her go (and barely fighting, ahem), but I also was a little happy. I mean, who truly knows what it feels like to have chaos fighting your soul for your body and killing everyone and everything you tried to protect? It must feel pretty crappy.

I myself have not read the Stars arc (yet) but from what I have heard she was much more deserving to die than in the anime.

Whether or not this made sense to anyone else, I don't know. haha. But I hope it did because I do want to get my point across (if I even made any). And I do see it from both sides, and I also have mixed emotions.

Geez, I'm an emotional wreck when it comes to her. lol.

For Sailor Moon, certainly as portrayed in the anime, it really doesn't have anything to do with Galaxia 'deserving' to die or not. She's all about the unconditional love, and I thought that Sailor Moon's refusal to pick up the sword and fight like a man & her refusal to kill Galaxia was both in keeping with the anime up to that point and symbolically interesting. (It seems to reflect a particular line of feminist thought, as well - that is, don't grab the power traditionally given to men because it seems like the boost one needs to get stuff done short-term; do things your way. I don't want to get into disecting this completely here because it'd go way off topic, but it's a Thing that's around, anyway.)

OK, so obv. I am less interested in Galaxia herself than in the way she was used as a plot device. Oh well.

Well there is something you have to remember, she lost her star seed. She didn't turn into a phage, but was possessed by Chaos just like Queen Metallia possessed Endymion in the live action show. One entity--this case being Chaos--entered the only empty vessel around it. And why not enter the body of your enemy and drive them to do great evil? You'd get a major kick out of it. Galaxia, yes, was an evil psycho, probably the most bad ass aside from Mistress 9 [in the manga, at least.]

In the anime, she was toned down A LOT. Her manga counter part was so HORRIBLE. LOL. Horrible as in, multiply Mistress 9 by oh say, a million.

When someone loses their star seed--as depicted a lot in the anime-- they pretty much become empty. So while other villains had a tiny part left of them, Galaxia did not. Sure we saw the good one in a field, but where the heck is that? It could be in her mind, in her soul, whatever, but she had no control over anything, not even a finger until she was bathed in the glow of the gizenshou.

But yeah, the animators were kind of like, "WE'RE TIRED OF THIS ARC, LET'S JUST GIVE THEM A HAPPY ENDING. BLAH DONE."

It was very rushed and sloppy. It left you feeling like, well how you're feeling now lol. Like, "ehhh? SO IF I WENT, TOOK HER LOVER, HER FRIENDS, KILLED THEM ALL, OBLITERATED THE UNIVERSE, IT'S ALL GOOD? OH, OK. SWEET. I CAN HAS ICE CREAM SUNDAE WITH YOU GUYS NOW?"

I hated how all of the villains were "saved by sailor moon's love". It got sickening after a while, which is why I liked the ending to the live action better [she blew up the world AGAIN, became a total bitch in her princess form, didn't seem to care if she harmed her senshi as she deflected explosions at them, BLEW UP THE WORLD A THIRD TIME WHILE TAKING OUT BERYL, THEN she realized what she had done and kinda threw a phoenix down on the entire earth].

All in all, I disliked the ending for Galaxia, but it was more plausible considering she had been taken over for years [maybe centuries]. It would have been better if the animators/writers carried it for a bit longer [you know, how they had Tin Nyanko refuse to be completely healed, thus leaving her conflicted etc].

Hey I'm thinking about what you said about PGSM above. You might want to put behind a spoiler cause I know not everyone has seen PGSM. Granted spoilers should be expected in these debate threads, since we are assuming most have gotten this far in the anime/manga. But I know not as many people have watched PGSM. So um. I don't know where i was going with this besides putting it behind a spoiler out of courtesy maybe? XD

There's a spoiler warning in the title of the thread-- it was there before I posted lol.

Hmm... personally i think i dont think its like usagi to let people die if she can't help it from happening and i think because galaxia's backstory is different in the manga and anime its not very fair to compare them in this way unless youre talking about which story was better. In Galaxia, she was a good soldier who was possessed by Chaos so i dont think its fair to say that because she was so ruthless in the manga, she should have died in the anime. Her crimes were not under her own will and in the end, it all worked out anyway. She guided all the stars she destroyed home.


Thats what i think anyway...

Why do you think she should have died in the anime?

I agree that anime and manga versions should be treated separately. And manga never reached that idealism, characters are more inclined to kill.

I however believe that Galaxia despite being possessed has some blame - and returning the star seeds is that way of her penance.

In the anime: No

In the manga: Probably

I feel like Galaxia redeemed herself through death.. Unlike in the anime, where Galaxia was under the control of Chaos and had no control of her actions, Manga!Galaxia was fully aware of what she was doing; she wanted to become GOD, and to do so, had to wipe out all existing creation. Yes, it's true that she had been manipulated by Chaos, but not outright controlled; she still very much had free will and was well aware of her actions and their consequences.

Anime!Galaxia was able to redeem herself by returning the stolen star seeds; in the manga, it seems like it's not so clear-cut and simple. Instead of people immediately popping out of their star seeds, it seems like they actually need to CULTIVATE again and grow back on their own accord. So Galaxia wouldn't be able to redeem herself that way.

Thereisnospoon and Jupita made excellent points. Let's put this in an earthly perspective; You're sitting at home, just relaxing and watching tv, when a documentary about a serial killer who killed over 15 people comes on. You're interested so you sit in and listen. The documentary mentions that said killer had an abusive childhood and brutalized from a young age. While this certainly may explain WHY this individual killed (and this is where the whole nature vs. nurture argument comes in), does it give them an EXCUSE? Does being abused give you an excuse to be the abuser?

NO. No matter how unfortunate your past may have been, that doesn't give you an excuse to act out on your rage. We never really understand WHAT made Galaxia's past so horrible, although it seems very likely that she wasn't really abused... In fact, I don't think she had any people in her life whatsoever. I think she was all alone on that "trash" planet. She became so power hungry because she confused that empty feeling inside of her for a lust for power instead of a longing for love. Due to the lack of people in her life, she was unable to develop empathy or form bonds of any kind. She was able to slaughter millions because she couldn't form any kind of empathetic connection to anyone. Does this give her an excuse? Like with the serial killer above, certainly not, but it may help to EXPLAIN.

This is getting kind of long winded, haha, but although I adore Galaxia and she's my fave villain alongside M9, I'm happy Takeuchi killed her off the way she did. Galaxia was finally able to understand why she felt so empty; she had never experienced love, to love or be loved. After witnessing and experiencing Sailor Moon's all encompassing love, she was finally able to get a glimpse of what she had missed and was remorseful. She didn't fight death because she knew it was what she deserved.. And so my answer is yes.

Agreed; I hated what they did to Galaxia in the anime. They basically plastered everything that was Sailor Cosmos and made a good version of Galaxia instead of actually having Sailor Cosmos. Chibi-chibi's anime story made very little sense, especially after comments from characters talking about how chibi chibi and Usagi "had almost the same aura." I mean, seriously people! >.<

Galaxia in the manga is definitely unforgivable. She abused her power as a Sailor Senshi, unsatisfied with protecting the universe and instead wanting to be a god (Xehanort anyone?). Chaos only showed her the right direction; the yearning for more was already there, and she was already shown destroying a planet before ever meeting chaos. And, initially, Usagi does do her best to kill her. Honestly, Usagi not killing her herself sort of came about as she began to miss everyone and not really want to go on fighting anymore. And sometimes, yes, Usagi can honestly be a little overly sympathetic >.< Saving Galaxia from Chaos wasn't exactly the ideal move, but it did have the desired eventual outcome, and is more of a reflection of Usagi's loving character--that she could love all existence, even her enemy, someone who seemed to hate all of existence. It's this love that eventually grants her the power to awaken the Cosmos crystal and save everyone.

So, in both instances of the anime and the manga, it really boils down to displaying Usagi's character rather than actually redeeming Galaxia. In the anime, yes, she is redeemable as it is implied she was being controlled by Chaos; in the manga, well, Galaxia fades away, a fate that she ultimately deserves, and we hear no more about it.

I think that in the Anime, there should have been a final Chaos battle. Just saying.

I agree with everything written above. Honestly, I would have just preferred it if Usagi did do a sword fight with Sailor Chaos like how it was going to happen instead of whimpering.

Besides I remember a similiar situation with Mamoru in episode 46...

Usagi doesn't wanna fight him at first. Beryl then says to Usagi that EVERYTHING her friends have been fighting for would go to waste. She remembers her friends' deaths and then realizes she can't die and attacks Mamoru.

In Stars, Galaxia not only has killed her friends, but her lover, and ALMOST THE WHOLE GALAXY, but I guess Usagi still doesn't find that a good reason. Like, won't her friends' deaths be wasted this way????

With Saturn, it was a bit different of a situation since Mistress 9 didn't ACTUALLY kill anyone at that time.

Then that opens another question. Does revenge justify the act of murder? Yes Galaxia killed Usagi's friends and boyfriend. But what's the point? Killing her won't bring them back. By the end Stars Usagi has evolved as a senshi and a person. She knows fighting isn't the solution to everything. Yes she could just use the Crystal to bring them all back. But that plot device was already used. Plus it could kill her in the process. Then her friends would be left mourning the death of their princess. Man this got all dark all of the sudden. 

I don't think killing Galaxia would count as murder exactly. With how many people Galaxia killed, it was  unsafe to leave her alive.  Sailor Moon was possibly the last person who could protect the universe from Galaxia.

The main reason I am frustrated with Usagi's choices in the finale is that she threw away the sword from Chibichibi before she knew that Galaxia would redeem herself.

Taking away a life is always murder. But that's just my way of thinking. At this point in the series Usagi was beyond killing.

deathrebirthsenshi wrote:

Galaxia in the manga is definitely unforgivable. She abused her power as a Sailor Senshi, unsatisfied with protecting the universe and instead wanting to be a god (Xehanort anyone?). Chaos only showed her the right direction; the yearning for more was already there, and she was already shown destroying a planet before ever meeting chaos. And, initially, Usagi does do her best to kill her. Honestly, Usagi not killing her herself sort of came about as she began to miss everyone and not really want to go on fighting anymore. And sometimes, yes, Usagi can honestly be a little overly sympathetic >.< Saving Galaxia from Chaos wasn't exactly the ideal move, but it did have the desired eventual outcome, and is more of a reflection of Usagi's loving character--that she could love all existence, even her enemy, someone who seemed to hate all of existence. It's this love that eventually grants her the power to awaken the Cosmos crystal and save everyone.

I can only speak for the manga (since I have only fully watched season S of the anime) here but I think this is the closest answer we can get.

It is the fact that Sailor Moon chooses not to seek revenge that grants her victory in the end. It's stated outright that Galaxia is the most destructive force in the galaxy, whereas Sailor Moon is the most restorative. Logically, it makes sense for Sailor Moon to fight one of her greatest opponents passively through love.

Adelaide wrote:

I don't think killing Galaxia would count as murder exactly. With how many people Galaxia killed, it was  unsafe to leave her alive.  Sailor Moon was possibly the last person who could protect the universe from Galaxia.

The main reason I am frustrated with Usagi's choices in the finale is that she threw away the sword from Chibichibi before she knew that Galaxia would redeem herself.

Legally, the concept of murder is someone taking another person's life. Soldiers do this all the time in a war zone, but are given basically a licence to kill/ forgiveness by the government to do this. Cops as well, as long as it can be proven that there was no other choice, that they were being attack etc. 

However, the fact is, when you take a life, it is murder, regardless. What you are talking about is the concept of taking out one person for the betterment of society. Various societies, such as the United States practice this. You see it with Death Row. People on Death row are generally huge threats to society and when they are killed, it is a murder that is condoned by the government and society at large. 

As for Usagi's choices, she has always operated on faith. Every time she decides to try and save the bad guy, to make them good, she operates on hope and faith. She never truly knows if what she will do will work, all she can do is have faith. This is essentially Usagi in a nut shell.

I agree that it was very in character for Usagi to spare Galaxia, it just frustrated me that she gave up Chibichibi's sacrifice AND put the entire universe in danger. I understand why she did it, it justs irks me. (Its probably part of why I like the manga better)

As for the murder piece, its probably an argument for something other than an anime forum, but I feel like it is justified if you know it will save more lives than it costs. Just my feelings, and I know many of you will disagree.

Whether it can be justified or not, taking a life is still murder. And that's not what she stands for. 

Sometimes yes, killing one person to save a life can be justified, but it's an incredibly hard decision to make and one that whoever does it will have to deal with for the rest of their lives. I think murder in this case should only be used as a last resort and as Usagi was not on her last resort, I see no issues with the actions she took.

Personally I don't think whether Galaxia was justified or not has anything to do with why Usagi saved her instead of letting her die.  All of Usagi's loved ones had just died and the Earth was on the brink of destruction and she was tired of seeing all the killing and people dying.  Usagi didn't want anyone to die anymore, even if they were her enemy, and that was why I think she tried to save Galaxia.  And if we're arguing Galaxia should have died because of all the horrible things she did while she was possessed by Chaos, what about all the other villains Usagi had spared throughout the series?  Should Usagi have killed the Ayakashi isters as she did in the manga for all the crimes they committed?  How many innocent people did the Ayakashi Sisters kill in the future while working for the Black Moon to take over Crystal Tokyo?

You have to remember in the manga, she isn't possessed by Chaos and is really just an evil despot.

I was speaking mostly for anime Galaxia.  I agree that manga Galaxia is a different story.