Which sailor moon characters are gay
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While she has both a female and male form in the '90s anime, Seiya is always female in the manga and merely disguises herself as a man.
As members of the boy band "The Three Lights", they lived publicly disguised as men but transformed into their true selves as female Sailor Guardians. Once they transform into their Sailor Guardian identities, they transition back into female bodies.
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The Sailor Starlights Are Excellent Trans and Non-Binary Representation
Along with being able to transition between male and female bodies, all three Sailor Starlights also behave like boys in their civilian identities and like girls in their Sailor Guardian identities.
These characters aren't one-note stereotypes, and they aren't all villains.
Haruka is often seen flirting with girls, especially Usagi, while her partner Michiru is portrayed as more reserved and occasionally flirty with men. No matter what trial comes their way, Michiru and Haruka always face it all together. Between heroes and villains alike, there are characters who are ace, gay, lesbian, bisexual and gender non-conforming.
It's enough to say no other iconic anime ever came close to bringing trans and non-binary visibility quite like Sailor Moon did.
Sailor Moon's Queer Legacy Still Matters
Summary
- Sailor Moon is a groundbreaking series that introduced positive LGBT representation in magical girl anime, specifically with the iconic characters Michiru and Haruka.
In the end, Usagi chooses Mamoru Chiba, but marrying Mamoru does not erase her potential bisexuality or pansexuality.
At one point in the series, Haruka even declares, "I am both man and woman," leaving the audience to interpret this self-identification without further clarification.
The Sailor Starlights, meanwhile, embodied duality in both gender and sexuality.
Just like the other two, she presents as male, states that she is a man when among regular Earth humans, and performs as part of The Three Lights.
Sailor Moon's Starlights Embody the Trans & Non-binary Fantasy
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon is a 30-year-old manga and anime franchise that's partly famous for its abundance of queer characters.
The dub attempted to alter the romantic relationship between the two by painting them as "cousins." Despite the US' best attempt, this didn't really work considering that Haruka and Michiru's on-screen interactions were never changed. They were shown to have a gentle relationship despite their villainy and given scenes with emotional depth.
However, it is important to note that the anime's version of the pairing is a clear deviation from the original manga, where their bond was described more like "that of brothers".
Even if censorship and localization often stripped away important character arcs and changed the nature of some of its relationships, there's something to be learned with how the show handled its representation.
Though debates regarding gender and sexuality have become much more advanced since the 1990s, Sailor Moon presented a refreshingly fluid and expressive vision for both – and it did so years before most Western media was brave enough to.
Good Representation?
Across the Sailor Moon franchise, queerness wasn't only present.
Approximately half of her crushes in the show are not cisgender men as well, namely Haruka Tenoh and Seiya Kou.
Usagi often makes comments about how pretty other girls are, eluding to her possible attraction of the same gender. In this version of the story, he's considered one of the Princes of Heaven, a knight for Prince Endymion who is meant to be with one of the inner Sailor Guardians.
Similar to Michiru and Haruka's censorship, Zoisite was also a victim of the American adaptation.
Fiore, in the Sailor Moon R movie, has ambiguous feelings for Mamoru with romantic undertones; Usagi certainly seems to think so, given her jealous reaction to Fiore taking Mamoru's hand after they reunite. Either way, he's one of many LGBTQ+ characters featured in the '90s adaptation of the series.
Kunzite Is Gay & In Love With Zoisite in the '90s Anime
His Hatred for the Sailor Guardians Stems From His Heartbreak
In the '90s anime, Kunzite was almost always seen at the side of Zoisite in the presence of Queen Beryl.