What race is setsuna Sailor Moon?

If you were a Brown girl fan of Sailor Moon growing up, like myself, one of the things you might have instantly noticed in the original anime is Sailor Pluto’s complexion. Compared to the other Sailor Scouts, Sailor Pluto (or Setsuna Meiou) was drawn darker than the other scouts. In the pages of the manga, this is emphasized even more by shading that makes her look very dark.

As a young Black girl, this made me drawn to Pluto—this statuesque, mysterious, powerful, and beautiful woman with the power to control time. She was written in the manga as a kind maternal figure equal to Neo-Queen Serenity. While pulling from multiple fantasy elements, all the characters in Sailor Moon are canonically Japanese. However, since most depictions of Japanese people in anime tend to have fair and light complexions, there has often been speculation about why Pluto is so dark.

Who is Sailor Pluto?

Sailor Pluto first appeared during the Black Moon arc. There are slight differences between the manga and the anime, but the general story is that Pluto guards the Space-Time Door, unlike the other scouts who protected the Moon Princess.

There were three taboos that she could never break:

1) She must never leave her post.

2) She could not allow anyone to travel through time.

3) She must never use her powers to mess with the flow of time.

If she broke the last taboo, it would mean her death. Eventually, to protect Chibi-Usa, Pluto breaks that taboo and dies. Later, she is brought back to life and becomes a full member of the Outer Sailor Scouts.

In interviews with creator Naoko Takeuchi, she stated that she wanted to “make Pluto a dark Soldier, so I gave her hair and skin a black tone.”

That is pretty much how anime and manga character designs are. Coloring to fit an aesthetic and vibe rather than always being an ethnic or racial marker. (Which is why blonde hair is not always an indication of whiteness).

Takeuchi’s Inpiration

We know Takeuchi was inspired by American and Western fashion in the 1990s, and in 1993, when Takeuchi introduced the character of Pluto, there were significant Latina and Black models. For example, a Chanel dress that was the inspiration for one piece of Sailor Pluto art was modeled by both Latina model Christy Turlington and Black-British model Naomi Campbell.

So the idea of a dark-skinned mysterious, tall woman could have been something she took from that influence. I remember there being rumors that Setsuna was part Romani, and that was the explanation for her skin.

So, is Sailor Pluto Japanese?

In many ways, the desire to explain or develop a theory as to why Pluto is darker than some of the other characters speaks to our colorism issues—that there’s an impulse to explain away her Browness by making her something other than Japanese.

While the Yamato people are the predominant ethnic group in Japan, other Indigenous people, like the Ainu people, exist in Japan. Pluto is darker, and she is Japanese. The two don’t have to be a contradiction.

But that doesn’t mean her skin tone didn’t matter. For many Brown girls, the dark complexion of Sailor Pluto was an indicator that we belonged in anime. While that complexion may vary depending on animation and adaptation—when I look at the black and white pages of the manga, I see what she meant to me. Sailor Pluto made me, and many others, feel like we too could have Sailor Planet Power.

(featured image: Naoko Takeuchi)

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Setsuna’s skin tone

The depiction of Setsuna’s skin tone has caused some controversy within the fandom, mainly due to the whitewashing (or the lightening of her skin) she receives in some fanart. However, I wanted to make this post to demonstrate that it’s not entirely black and white; in fact, Setsuna has been depicted with a wide range of skin tones throughout her many appearances.

Her original manga self (and the one people seem to base her skin tone off the most) is striking. When we see her for the very first time, we know immediately how different she is from the Inner Senshi. She’s tall (even taller than Mako), she’s mysterious, she’s intimidating, and she’s much darker than the other girls.

Now, the first thing that we notice (other than how freaking perfect her face is, I mean REALLY) is her skin. As I said before, her complexion is much darker than, say, Usagi’s. This is because, according to Naoko Takeuchi, she’s half-Romani (and presumably half-Japanese). We can assume that Usagi and the rest of the girls are 100% Japanese as Naoko has never said otherwise. 

Enjoy some more panels depicting how gorgeous Setsuna is because nobody ever talks about how gorgeous she is. 

Anyway, moving on! Here are some colored pictures of Setsuna, drawn by her creator, Naoko Takeuchi, the same person who did the panels above.

Setsuna is still noticeably darker than the other girls, but the change from ink to color mediums doesn’t transition that well. This is a problem that many artists face when they try to experiment with different skin tones.

In the anime, much like the examples above, Setsuna is still darker than her teammates but much paler than her manga counterpart. Her skin tone often fluctuates; she’s very pale in R but notably tan in Stars. Here’s a comparison chart made by a user over at Sailor Moon Forums. 

Even at her palest, Setsuna is at least a shade darker than the others.

So this is why I think it’s important to take a moment to access whether something is deliberately whitewashing or not. Personally, I just think that Setsuna should always be notably tanner than the rest of the girls because she isn’t 100% Japanese like the rest of them. I just don’t like seeing artists being hassled whenever Setsuna isn’t exactly as dark as she is in the manga because, like I demonstrated here, her skin tone is actually pretty inconsistent in the series as a whole. 

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Sailor Pluto looks a little… hmm.

Take a look at any lineup of the Sailor Soldiers and you’ll undoubtedly notice that, well… Setsuna – Sailor Pluto – tends to stand out just a bit from the other members of the Sailor Team. But just why is that?

One of the theories I’ve seen thrown around a lot is that Sailor Pluto isn’t Japanese, and that is why she differs in appearance from the rest of the cast. Well, today we’ll take a look at this question and more, and see what Ms. Takeuchi and the world of Sailor Moon can tell us about the Sailor Soldier of Time!

The Outer Soldiers

So is Sailor Pluto Japanese?

Of course not! She’s from Pluto! What’s more, she lived during the Silver Millennium, which existed hundreds – if not thousands – of years prior to the Japan we know today. But that’s not really what you’re asking, now is it?

How about Setsuna, then? Well, since we don’t really know anything about her life or family on Earth, I guess we’re open to interpret this however we wish. But I wouldn’t be so fast to assume that the color of her skin give us the proof we need to say that she’s not from Japan. After all, Japanese anime has typically not been subtle, shall we say, when a character is meant to be from a different country. She also has a Japanese name.

Manga Pu?

But the most important reason why this shouldn’t be significant is probably the fact that we’re talking about an anime where one of the main characters has pink hair, and nobody bats an eyelash.

While I find Sailor Moon to actually be fairly well-grounded in the real world, all things considered, we do have to accept that when it comes to character appearances, obviously some creative liberties were taken.

Now that we’ve gone way out of our way to explain why Setsuna is probably still supposed to be just as Japanese as our blonde-haired, blue-eyed moon bunny… is there any reason why she looks the way she does?

Read also:  What Power Is Sailor Mars Invoking with Burning Mandala?

Fortunately, Ms. Takeuchi took it upon herself to answer that question for us in one of her many informative Punch! comic strips that appeared in the back of the remastered shinsouban editions of the manga.

But don’t take my word for it. I think I’ll leave it up to Ms. Takeuchi to tell you.

Naoko discusses… Pluto!

I wanted to make Pluto a dark Soldier, so I gave her hair and skin a black tone.
That’s about all I remember!

I wanted to write about her unrequited love, so I write about it in Part 2. Sounds a little bit like an affair there, huh Pluto?

So basically, Ms. Takeuchi figured that Sailor Pluto was something of a dark and mysterious character, and thus a dark skin tone and dark green hair would suit her.  Personally, I appreciate the diversity in character designs, so good on her!

But most interesting to me is the side note at the bottom, written by Ms. Takeuchi. Glad to know that even she agreed that Sailor Pluto’s feelings toward the married Endymion were kinda… interesting.

But while we’re here listening to Ms. Takeuchi’s stories about Sailor Pluto, let’s finish up with what she has to say!

More about Pluto!

It was really tough to fill in her hair, add screentones to her skin, and draw her rod.
Naoko: So, whoever’d like to do Pluto, raise your hand!
Staff: Silence

For those of you who are like me and have no artistic sense, and thus no idea what screentones are, they’re a quick way of applying coloring or shading to a black-and-white drawing (often seen in manga) to save time.

Just looking at pictures of the Time Rod makes my heart seize up, so I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to draw. Though it is interesting to see here one of the rare instances where Ms. Takeuchi discusses her having a staff that helped her draw Sailor Moon. It’s by no means uncommon, but it’s interesting to remember that the manga of Sailor Moon wasn’t done entirely at her hands. She probably did the initial line work and touch-ups, but the other details are often done by assistants.

Cool as usual

So anyway! We’ve gone pretty far off course, but the summary of all this information is probably something like this: Sailor Pluto is intended to be no different than any of the other characters “in universe” – seeing, again, how the Sailor Soldiers live in a world where pink and blue hair are totally normal – but her darker skin tone and hair is supposed to be indicative of her darker personality. Considering how manga is a very visual medium, this is all pretty understandable!

Read also:  [Manga Comparison] Act 2 – Ami (Sailor Mercury)

Honestly, I’ve always loved Sailor Pluto as a character, but was always sad to see that she really never got any proper characterization in the anime or the manga.

Since we don’t have much in the way of canon answers to talk about Sailor Pluto / Setsuna’s life, I’d love to hear your theories!

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