Within the magical universe of Sailor Moon, feline companions Luna, Artemis, and Diana are much more than just adorable pets. These sentient cats play pivotal roles, offering guidance, wisdom, and unwavering support to the Sailor Guardians. While Diana is known as the daughter of Luna and Artemis, her unique origin story only scratches the surface of the fascinating lore surrounding sentient felines in Sailor Moon. Let’s delve deeper into their origins and uncover the secrets of their kind.
Luna and Artemis are revealed to be natives of Mau, a mysterious planet deeply connected to cats. This planet, situated within the same galaxy as Earth but beyond our solar system, is the ancestral home of these intelligent feline beings. The manga reveals that Mau’s existence predates even the Silver Millennium, raising intriguing questions about Luna and Artemis’s service to Queen Serenity in the Moon Kingdom. It’s implied that Luna and Artemis, along with others of their kind, migrated from Mau to the Moon at some point in the distant past, dedicating themselves to the lunar royal family.
Interestingly, Mau is also the home planet of Sailor Tin Nyanko, a character who adds a layer of complexity to the narrative of sentient cats. In the manga canon, Sailor Tin Nyanko is not originally a true Sailor Guardian. Instead, she tragically eliminates the planet’s rightful protector, Sailor Mau, to seize synthetic Sailor Soldier powers. This detail suggests that Sailor Mau herself, the original guardian of the planet, may also have been a sentient cat, further solidifying Mau’s identity as a planet with a significant feline population.
The conclusion of the manga offers another intriguing glimpse into Mau’s inhabitants. After the defeat of Chaos, all beings with true star seeds, including Sailor Guardians and special individuals like Tuxedo Mask, Luna, Artemis, and Diana, were resurrected. This resurrection extends to Sailor Mau, implying her return to life on her home planet. Considering that all other Sailor Guardians encountered are humanoid in form, it’s reasonable to assume Sailor Mau was also humanoid. However, the manga leaves room for interpretation, not explicitly denying the possibility of Sailor Mau being a sentient cat herself. This ambiguity, combined with the established origins of Luna and Artemis, strongly suggests that Mau is populated not only by humanoids like Sailor Tin Nyanko and potentially Sailor Mau, but also by a population of sentient cats as regular inhabitants.
Diana holds a unique position among these feline characters. Unlike Luna and Artemis, who hail from Mau, Diana was born on Earth, specifically in the futuristic Crystal Tokyo of the 30th century. This makes her the only known sentient cat who is not a native of Mau, highlighting her special connection to Earth and the future of the Silver Millennium.
It’s important to note that while the manga canon establishes Mau as the origin planet for Luna and Artemis and provides context for Sailor Tin Nyanko and Sailor Mau, the anime adaptation diverges from these details. The anime portrays Sailor Tin Nyanko as a true Sailor Guardian brainwashed by Sailor Galaxia, omitting any mention of Mau or the deeper backstory of Luna and Artemis. Therefore, to fully understand the rich lore of sentient cats in Sailor Moon, the manga remains the definitive source.
In conclusion, Luna, Artemis, and Diana represent a fascinating aspect of Sailor Moon’s intricate world. Their origins on the cat-themed planet Mau, the mysteries surrounding Sailor Mau and Sailor Tin Nyanko, and the implications of a planet populated by sentient cats all contribute to a richer understanding of the Sailor Moon universe, reminding us that these feline companions are integral to the unfolding magical saga.
