Sailormoon or Sailor Moon?

corza-chan · Post by **corza-chan** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:03 am

Sailormoon or Sailor Moon... I have been pondering about this topic for such a long time, and i cannot decide which way I should write the names for the Original Japanese version on my website.

I have discussed this with many of my friends (sailor moon fans and non-sailor moon fans), and a lot of them have good reasons for each in the way that they should be written in an English Translation.

"Sailormoon" is how many of the Japanese/English official sources feature the Senshi names and so do the Manga, but I have seen in some official sources the names written as "Sailor Moon" etc.

A friend suggested that Naoko mayb have been going for a Western style super hero terminology, such used in characters like Batman and Superman, and never do we see "Bat Man" or "Super Man" written with spaces inbetween.... possible reason it should be written as "Sailormoon"...

A reason to write them with spaces would be that the katakana characters that represent Sailor (Seeraa) and Moon (Muun) are both 2 seperate English words and there are times througout the anime when the Senshi call each other by their planetary names (Moon calling Sailormars just Mars), so this could also possibly show that they are meant to be 2 seperate words.... or could it be just a nickname for them???

I would love to hear what everyone thinks. Thanks

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:31 am

I would say that, all things considered, the proper way to write it would be seperate. It's correct English grammar, it's easier to read, it reflects the way the names are pronounced. But, just because it's proper doesn't mean it should automatically always be done that way. Precisely because it is improper and stands out against normal construction, I often write the names combined, as I have with my own pseudonym. It's a way to say that the sailorsenshi are something special, and deserve a word unto themselves, not just a construct of two existing words.

corza-chan · Post by **corza-chan** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 8:37 am

I guess u're right.... So... is that you think i should do them seperate words on my site or combined?

The series I will be writing as:
Pretty Soldier Sailormoon

because that is how it has been shown in all official sources, even the newly released Toei DVDs.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 8:48 am

I have seen arguments for both sides, and while I prefer to write it as separate words myself, if you want to write it as one, go ahead.

Why do you keep referring to "Sailor Moon" instead of "Sailormoon"?

Yes, I've been studying Japanese for six years. Yes, I know that everything in Japanese is written as "Sailormoon", "Sailormercury", "SailorStarFighter", etc, etc. But in Japanese writing, there are NEVER spaces between individual words. When people claim that the true Japanese title of the series is "Sailormoon" and point to the fact that "Sailormoon" is the correct translation of the katakana title ("Seiraamuun"), they overlook the fact that EVERYTHING in Japanese iswrittenjustlikethis. Thereareonlyspacesbetweensentences. Therearenotspacesbetweenwords. So I prefer to write "Sailor Moon" the way that looks most natural in English - that is, with spaces between words. Hence, "Sailor Moon", "Sailor Mercury", and "Sailor Starfighter." It's just a matter of personal preference, really. Would you prefer that I wrote everythingjustlikethis?

This was written by Kotetsu of Starlight Pops, and it's the main thing that solidified my decision. I wholeheartedly agree with her, right down to the fact that I have been studying Japanese too so I know how spacing is done in that language.

One compromise I just thought of was using a hyphen "Sailor-Moon" "Sailor-moon?"

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 11:09 am

I personally think it should be written as "Sailor Moon." As Rainbow said, the Japanese never put spaces between any of their words, so it wouldn't make sense to use the spelling "Sailormoon" on your site but then have spaces between all your other words. Furthermore, Sailormoon isn't a word. Sailor and Moon are two different words that form a name. And if the correct spelling was supposed to be with the words combined, then wouldn't Sailor Moon call Sailor Mercury "Sailormercury-chan" instead of just "Mercury-chan"? And just because the Japanese write it as "Sailormoon" in Engrish doesn't mean that it's the correct spelling. It just means that the Japanese don't know how to write English. Seriously, the Japanese aren't experts in the English language, so I wouldn't exactly use their spellings of English words as proof that this is the correct way to write a Japanese character's English name.

corza-chan · Post by **corza-chan** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 5:52 pm

lol.... On my BANDAI Spiral Heart Moon Scepter, most of the words are in English. Sailor Moon is written as "Sailormoon" and the transformation phrase is written as "Moon Cosmic Power Make-up!" with spaces... and same with actual item name... So, if they can write everything else with spaces but still write Sailor Moon as Sailormoon wouldnt that mean it's the way they intended to write it.

As i said at the start, it could possibly be a pun from Naoko when she decided these characters names... having the words together just like super heroes in America and how DiC write the Negaverse... even though it's not exactly the same... the 1995 bandai box and my 2004 Toei DVDs write the show as "Pretty Soldier Sailormoon" and their team name as "Sailor Soldiers"... everything else without spaces.... except the "Sailormoon", and no i'm not just translating any Japanese into English, these are from official sources written in English from the Japanese companies....

Mercurius Twin · Post by **Mercurius Twin** » Fri Mar 03, 2006 6:03 pm

I'm mainly in agreement with Sailorasteroid; I think it's more of a 'use your own judgement/do as you like' sort of situation. "Sailormoon" isn't proper English, but the Japanese don't seem to care. It is a title of sorts, so could you consider it immune to those sorts of conventions? I'm not exactly a specialist in that sort of thing...

Oh, and as an aside, on the Toei DVDs, they fused the words "pretty" and "soldier" as well (so it's written as "Prettysoldier Sailormoon"). It's not immediately obvious, because it's usually only visible on the bottom half of the circle (the characters' heads usually block it on the top).

corza-chan · Post by **corza-chan** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 8:44 am

Mercurius Twin wrote:Oh, and as an aside, on the Toei DVDs, they fused the words "pretty" and "soldier" as well (so it's written as "Prettysoldier Sailormoon"). It's not immediately obvious, because it's usually only visible on the bottom half of the circle (the characters' heads usually block it on the top).

You're right... for some reason i thought i saw the full title written elsewhere, i must've remembered looking on the Movie Discs. Coz on the inside cover they have a little passage written in English about the series, but they only write the series as "Sailormoon"... I should get in contact with Toei and ask someone how it should be written as.. lol... on the cdjapan site that i buy em on, the DVDs are labelled as "Bishojo Senshi SAILOR MOON".... Well, I guess i should write them with spaces.... but i guess i can still have entries in my encyclopedia section that have them written both ways.

Thanks everyone

Sailor Europa · Post by **Sailor Europa** » Sun Mar 05, 2006 9:45 am

You could always just type SailorMoon, like that.
Rather than Sailormoon or Sailor Moon.

Honestly, I prefer writing it as Sailor Moon.

/me shrugs

Mr Ikari · Post by **Mr Ikari** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 9:01 pm

I suppose you could chose one name, but refer to the other in the introduction to your site.

example:

Sailor Moon (also known as SailorMoon)

or something to that effect. After all, both titles are going to be valid to some people.

I hope that helps.

Aya Reiko · Post by **Aya Reiko** » Wed Mar 08, 2006 10:22 pm

In general, when refering to the JP series, I use the one word format. When refering to the US series, I use the two word format.

That how I look at things.

corza-chan · Post by **corza-chan** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 3:46 am

*pulls hair out*

I dont think this issue will ever be finalized. Every single time i have seen the Japanese write it, they write Sailormoon. All the "Sailormoon World" merchandise write all the names as one.

Everyone has said the Japanese would be writing everything without a space, but why do they use a space between the series name?
(Sailormoon R, Sailormoon S), which is written on all the anime art books. On the official handbooks they are written as "Pretty Soldiers" so yeh... I need to know wat everyone thinks i should do, then i shall re-read everyone's entry and try to decide what i should write.

I just want my site to be as accurate as possible. Everyone else on my site is spot on and has no fan made information. I just need to sort out how i should write the series and senshi names correctly.

Musashi · Post by **Musashi** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:30 am

I think it's pretty stupid when people type it Sailorvenus or Sailormars... ^^;; And yes, they don't ever put spaces. So that way you have Mizunoami and Tsukinousagi and you KNOW that's not right as they usually call her Usagi/Usagi-chan.

>>>Everyone has said the Japanese would be writing everything without a space, but why do they use a space between the series name?
(Sailormoon R, Sailormoon S), which is written on all the anime art books. On the official handbooks they are written as "Pretty Soldiers" so yeh... I need to know wat everyone thinks i should do, then i shall re-read everyone's entry and try to decide what i should write.

Because they have a slippery grasp on the language.

See above post's examples for other screw-ups. Quit pulling your hair out and just use ONE and yeah, put the other one in brackets/parentesis and for the rest of the pages, be consistent and use only that one. -sighs- This is even more ridiculous then the Lucario/Rukario deal over at the Pokemon-fandom...
BOTH are 'accurate', there is no one 'correct' spelling, all work, it's just that Sailor Moon is more correct and shows you actually speak and understand English unlike some random foreigner who's just supposed to write it on some product.

if you're going to be so OBSESSED over it, then simply write it out in katakana every time like I see some people do for Pokemon. That way you could never be wrong... but you wouldn't be satisfied with that either?

In short: Who cares?

>>>
Important Note: Although, in many of the official sources for the Japanese anime and manga, they more often write Sailor Moon as Sailormoon, but I have decided to go with spaces between the two variants. As I have discussed for a long time, I have decided that it's a lot more convenient with the space in between and not so much inaccurate because even in Naoko Takeuchi's original manga there were spaces in-between. It also makes their names and the season titles easier to read and distinguish between the separate words.

Ooh, that's good. ^^

Starscream · Post by **Starscream** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:19 am

corza-chan wrote:I just want my site to be as accurate as possible. Everyone else on my site is spot on and has no fan made information. I just need to sort out how i should write the series and senshi names correctly.

As others have suggested, I wouldn't worry too much about being "accurate", because even the original authors can ignore their own "rules" and switch between the one/two word format.

My suggestion? Two words for the character names, one word for the series. I've seen that protocol be followed before, and it SOMEWHAT makes sense; character-wise, the individual soldiers/guardians are often called by their planet name ("Mercury-chan" etc), so it would make sense to me that Naoko intended for the characters to be "Sailor Moon" and so on. As for the show/comic title, while official artwork and publications might not be as reliable to go on (again, due to things like "Prettysoldier Sailormoon"), such products have hardly ever printed the title of the series as "Sailor Moon"; even the back of the artbook writes, in English text, "Pretty Soldier Sailormoon". Thus, while the character names seem somewhat obvious, I'd go with whatever you'd like for the title. Again, the title spelling is concrete in the English versions of the product (two words), while it's ambiguous whether or not it was intended so in the Japanese version, so ultimately this decision is yours.

corza-chan · Post by **corza-chan** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 3:50 am

Thanks.

To make things easier i will just write everything with spaces. I have already put a notice on the main index, which "Musashi" quoted me on just above, because i was counting on just writing them as seperate words (Sailor Moon & Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon). I guess i will do what i intended to start with and just make entries in my Encyclopedia section:
http://www.sailormoon-universe.com/jap_a-z-encyc.html
and write "an alternate spelling of "Sailor Moon", or alternate spelling of Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. I guess i need to make sure i put down all the different variants of how the show and the characters have been written on any official source.

Post by **AnimeGuru0** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 3:18 pm

I direct you to this picture of the new Stars region 2 DVD release...

http://img293.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... 1816ez.png

In it, it lists the show as prettysoldier sailormoon sailorstars. Now we all know there's supposed to be a space between pretty and soldier. Thus, I think you can spell it however you want, with or without a space. I don't believe there is a "correct" way.