Now that we’ve gotten the serious attack suggestions out of the way, it’s time for us to delve a little deeper into Animage’s mail bag and look at some of the… less likely ideas for attacks recommended by Sailor Moon fans, way back in the summer of 1992.

Thought I can’t really imagine any of these attacks ever really appearing in the anime or the manga, it’s nevertheless a fun look back at the fandom in the early days of the series.

Let’s get started!

In case this is your first time hearing about this, a brief recap:

Back in April 1992, Animage¹ ran a contest for fans to propose characters, attacks, and story ideas to take place in the Sailor Moon universe. The results of this first contest were judged by members of the production staff and resulted in new catchphrases for Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars being adapted into the show.

The contest was pretty popular and garnered a lot of interesting plot suggestions , but due to the ~3 month time lag from when the suggestions came in and where they were in episode production, they couldn’t use the ideas. For the second contest, they asked readers to submit attack ideas, specifically:²

今回のテーマは、セーラームーン、マーズ、マーキュリーが３人で使う必殺技。これは人数が４人や、５人に増えても（！？）使える技のほうがよい。それから、うさぎちゃんたちは、相手が妖魔でも殺すのはいやなので、相手を殺さないですむ「愛」がある技のほうがいいそうです。

And I’m guessing you want this in English, huh? Fine.

The theme this time around is: a special attack that Sailor Moon, Mars, and Mercury can all use together. It’d be even better if it could be used by four, or even five (?!) people. Also, Usagi and the gang think that even youma shouldn’t have to die, so you should make it an attack that uses love and doesn’t need to kill.

Possibly most of interest here is that this may be one of the first times where it was hinted publicly that there would be other Sailor Soldiers. This also seems like around the time that the anime staff had decided that Sailor Moon wasn’t going to kill her enemies like in the manga. Interesting!

With that background out of the way, let’s take a look at some of the fan submissions!

Heartful Attack

(submitted by Marurou, of Tokyo)

Each of the Sailor Soldiers clasps their hands in front of their chest, summons their love energy, and lets loose an attack on the youma. The youma gets hurt by this mystical energy and turns into a rabbit, before being whisked off to the moon.

I actually kind of like this a lot, if I’m totally honest. It’s not so much because I’m infatuated with the idea of the enemies turning into rabbits and rocketing off to the moon, but rather that I really like the idea what they would need all of their powers combined³ in order to defeat enemies.

Fully Automatic Good Kid Washing Machine

(submitted by Yukinobu Kawada, of Niigata)

In what is perhaps the most adorable thing I’ve seen all month, the artist does a nice word play on 全自動 (zen-jidou; fully-automatic) and 善児童 (zen jidou; good/well-mannered kid) and goes so far as to illustrate a step-by-step attack for Sailor Mercury.

First, she shoves the enemy into a washing machine to wash away their evil.

Next, she hangs them on a clothes-line to dry.

Third, she lays the enemy down and irons our all the creases.

Finally, the youma has reclaimed their newly refreshed heart!

If this doesn’t warm your soul… I really don’t know if I can help you. I think we can pretty cleanly – pun intended – say that this attack never had a chance of appearing in the series, though.

Mars Dynamite

(submitted by Fall Guy, of Kanagawa)

Clearly having missed the memo on today’s theme being about love and non-violence, this submission describes an attack in which Sailor Mars summons up her inner power, her body becomes covered in flames, and she launches herself straight into the enemy.

I really like the premise of this attack, but for some reason there’s just something I can’t get behind with it being an attack in the Sailor Moon universe. It might have something to do with the fact that it is, at it’s core, more of a magical series rather than them directly engaging in physical combat.

Still, though, I think it could have been a cool attack, if pulled off right!

Tatami Flip

(submitted by Yuji Minami, of Osaka)

This was, pretty surprisingly, actually the attack that was loved across the bored by all members of the selection team – though that’s probably more out of the pure comedic value than applicability to the Sailor Moon universe.

Basically, the attack starts off with Sailor Moon throwing a bunch of tatami mats, which slide under the enemy. They’re confused and asks what this is all about, to which Sailor Moon replies “It’s tatami!”

In a very Phoenix Wright-esque move – many years before he could even think of it – she points at the enemy and shouts, “If you don’t get it, you’ve already lost!”. She continues on to say “You see, you’re no longer a youma, but a washitsu!”

The clever (??) pun here being that, depending on the kanji, youma can mean either the monster (妖魔)⁴ or a western-style room (洋間).⁵ By filling the room with tatami mats, she’s now turned the room into a washitsu,⁶ is a Japanese style room.

And this, my friends, is why explaining jokes is brutal – it just kills it.

Anyway, that’s it for the rest of the attack suggestions sent in by fans for the Second Sailor Moon Competition. It turns out there was even a third one put on by Animage, so I’m in the process of trying to track it down now.

What do you think about the idea of a group attack, which seems to be the direction they were trying to lead it in? I know we later got the Sailor Planet attack, but other than that do you think that group attacks could fit in with the Sailor Moon universe? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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