Could the Sailor Scouts/Senshi Use Their Attacks in Civillian Form?

 Hey everyone, how's it going? Did you all have a good weekend? I had a quiet weekend for a change. Today I'm going to be doing something a little different. I'm a geek and this blog is called Josh's Geek Cave, yet, I don't really talk about things from the shows, movies, comics and books that I like outside of my reviews. And now you're probably asking why I'm doing this instead of working on my review for season 2 of Stargirl, right? Well, because my brain is funny and thinks about the most random stuff. Like take earlier today for example. There I was sitting at my kitchen table, eating lunch when I asked this question: Could the Sailor Scouts use their attacks in civillian form in Sailor Moon? After looking it up on the Sailor Moon Wiki, the answer is sort of, so that's kinda what I want to dive into right now. Before we get to that though I will be using the names from the original '90s English dub for the most part when talking about the original '90s Anime as that's what I'm the most familiar with. So, yes, I have read the Manga, have seen the other TV show versions, and am fully aware of everyone's Japanese names. With that out of the way, let's get into it.

Created by Naoko Takeuchi in 1992, Sailor Moon is about a girl named Usagi Tsukino (Serena in the original English dub) who becomes a warrior with magical powers named Sailor Moon. Together with her Sailor Senshi (Sailor Scouts in the original English dub) friends, Usagi fights the forces of evil to protect the remains of the Silver Millennium (the Moon Kingdom in the original English dub). While dealing with all the trials and tribulations of being a teenager. Sharing alot of similarities to Power Rangers and its parent series, Super Sentai, because Naoko Takeuchi was a fan of Super Sentai, Sailor Moon started out as a Manga series and has been adapted into two Anime series, as well as a live action Sentai-like series. And like Power Rangers, particularly the early seasons that aired in the mid to late '90s, the Sailor Scouts can't, or don't, use their powers in their civillian forms. Except, that's not entirely true. It depends on the medium the story is being told in. For example, the Manga might have extra abilities for the Sailors that neither the Anime nor the live action show would have for them. And vice versa, the Anime and live action show might give the Sailors extra abilities that the Manga didn't.

Earlier, when I said that the answer to the question in the title of this post is sort of, what I mean by that is that it not only depends on the medium the story is told in, but on which character we're talking about. For example, Rei Hino has the power to ward off evil spirits that she can use as Sailor Mars and in civillian form, but that's because she learned it at her grandfather's temple, prior to her becoming Sailor Mars. 

In the prequel Manga, Codename: Sailor V, Minako Aino, a.k.a. Sailor V, has a disguise compact that allows her to disguise her appearance without having to transform into Sailor V, but otherwise Sailor V doesn't have any attacks or abilities that she can use in her civillian form.

In the Manga, while the Sailors do have different variations on their main attacks or extra abilities from what they have in the Anime, I think Rei is the only one who has a civillian attack. Because, I don't think we even see the Crescent Moon Wand or any of Sailor Moon's scepters when she's in civillian form as Usagi. 

The original Sailor Moon does away with much of Sailor Venus's backstory as Sailor V, particularly in the original English dub, which didn't even translate and adapt the one episode where that backstory is shown, it's only Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars that have civillian form abilities. Sailor Moon has the disguise pen that's similar to the compact that Minako had in Codename: Sailor V but that's the extent of it for her. Though we do see the Crescent Moon Wand and the Imperium Silver Crystal when she's just as Serena, since that's how she transforms into Sailor Moon, and the wand acts as a homing device for the carriers of the Rainbow Crystals so that they can act before Zoycite gets to them. Plus Serena uses the Crescent Moon Wand and the Silver Crystal as Princess Serena and Neo Queen Serenity in Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R. It's just she's always as Sailor Moon when using her basic attacks.

The 2003 live action series, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, which was produced by Toei, was extremely limited when it came to the effects budget, despite it being produced by the same company who produce Super Sentai, and Kamen Rider. As a result, even Rei doesn't have any civillian attacks like she did in the Anime and the Manga. At least none that I can remember. And definitely not up to the point that I finished off, as I didn't actually finish watching the series when I first got the DVD from a friend of mine. 

Because the 2014 Anime remake, Sailor Moon Crystal, sticks much closer to the original Manga, as far as I'm aware all of the Sailor Senshi have all the abilities they had in the Manga rather than what they had or didn't have in the '90s Anime series. So other than Rei, none of the other Senshi have any abilities they can use in civillian form.

And that, my friends, is it for me for today. I don't even know why I was thinking about this today, but whatever the reason, I thought it'd be fun to talk about it on here, since like I said at the beginning of this post, this blog is called Josh's Geek Cave, but unless I'm reviewing something I never just talk about something like this from my favourite franchises. And maybe I am misremembering something from Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. It's on my list of shows to review for sure. In the meantime though I'll be back tomorrow with a comic book review and on Thursday I'll be coming on here for a pre-series thoughts on That '90s Show, the sequel series to That '70s Show with Friday being when I'll have my season 2 review of Stargirl out and Sunday will be my review of however many episodes my sister and I end up watching of That '90s Show as we don't actually know if the season is dropping all at once, or if it's dropping one episode a week. So until then have a great evening and I'll talk to you all later. Take care.