Artemis Sailor Moon Guide

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Cody is a writer who was shaped by manga and anime at a young age. From discovering series like Dragon Ball and Gundam, he fell in love with this medium. Though he walked away for a time in his teenage years, he came back in his adulthood to fall back in love with manga and anime. Nowadays, he can be found reading the latest manga series and catching up on all of the new seasonal anime. And, of course, writing about them at the same time.

Bottom Line Up Front

Artemis is the second talking cat introduced in Sailor Moon. The handsome kitty-cat is the partner of Sailor V and one of the assistants for the Sailor Guardians. His powers allow the team to fight against the various enemies in the series.

He is a suave and cool member of the group, keeping his cool while many other members are hot-headed and emotional. Artemis is the strategic core of the team, planning and advising the group when in poor situations. Though his role diminishes, in my opinion, over time, he remains an irreplaceable part of the Sailor Guardians and one of the main characters in Sailor Moon.

Artemis Sailor Moon Overview

In many long-running series like Sailor Moon, I’ve noticed that some critical characters step back into the shadows after their main plots are done. Sailor Moon has a problem with balancing its large cast, too, mostly sending everyone to the background while others get the focus.

This happens with the Sailor Guardians, especially as the group grows more extensive, especially with the cats. Artemis is a prime example of this, having a few arcs in the series that focus heavily on him and Sailor V, but not having much to do outside of that.

For much of Sailor Moon, he is just there for the ride, occasionally throwing in suggestions and quips to help the team. Even still, he is one of the most valuable members of the group. Interestingly enough, he is one of the few male members of the main cast of Sailor Moon.

At the same time, he is also one of the few talking cats in the manga and anime series. The magical talking cat assists the team in some of the crucial moments throughout the plot. For the most part, though, he is generally seen as the partner cat for Sailor V.

Much like Luna is for Sailor Moon at the start of the series, Artemis is the best friend of Sailor V, who has been with her since the beginning of her crime-fighting career. He plays a vital role in her success and later the entire Sailor Guardians.

Though he may not have the most glamorous position on the team or directly fight himself, there is no denying that the Sailor Guardians wouldn’t be able to win without his powers aiding the group.

Appearance Explained

Artemis is a white cat, so, admittedly, there is not a lot going on with him. This is even the case for Luna, the other main talking cat at the start of the Sailor Moon series. However, at least Luna has some extra detail and fun parts of her design that help her out.

The great thing about being a cat is that he is already much more interesting than the humans in Sailor Moon. As a white cat, there is not much to say about his overall look. He is thin with short fur, with a basic overall design that seems related to Luna like she was the basis for his look.

That said, he is slightly larger than Luna and has larger back legs and head. His tail is long, too, flowing and cute as a cat’s tail should be. He has long whiskers on his face with some adorable little marks on his cheeks to add a nice touch.

His eyes are green or purple (depending on the adaptation), which are quite pretty and sometimes unique. The mix of the shiny white coat of fur and the colorful eyes is a nice combination that I like. But the star of his character design is the welcome but extremely familiar marking that is on his forehead.

As you may already expect, Artemis has a yellow crescent moon shape on his forehead, almost like a birthmark or tattoo. It is small but gives a nice touch to an otherwise plain and uninteresting design. This also grants him some remarkable similarities to his fellow talking cat, Luna.

The crescent moon connects the two talking cats and also promotes the entire moon power aesthetic. This marking indicates the latent powers inside of him that he can bestow on others to help them fight in battles. Overall, I would say that Artemis is the more plain and basic cat of the bunch. Even the later cat, Diana, has more going for her than Artemis.

Part of this probably comes from the fact that I am not exactly a white cat fan in real life (more of an orange and white fan myself), but I can still appreciate his design nonetheless.

Human Form Explained

Yes, some fans are a little weird and want to see their favorite animal characters take on human forms. Well, it turns out that Artemis has a canonical human form, and he is pretty hot. I don’t blame Luna as he is quite the husbando character in his human version.

When he appears in his human form, Artemis looks similar to his cat self. He wears all-white clothing to match his cat fur and white hair. His hair is gorgeous, too, long and flowing down his back.

He has little accessories like a moon-shaped necklace and retains the classic crescent moon-shaped marking on his forehead. There is no doubt that Artemis is quite good-looking in his human form, but this version of him is pretty complicated compared to his cat form. But, yes, feel free to simp for the magical cat man if you would like to.

If you are interested in seeing Artemis look his Sunday best, then what you will want to do is check out the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga. For the anime fans out there that want to see him in his possibly “true” form, you want the fourth season of the original anime. Alternatively, you can watch the Sailor Moon Eternal film, which is the sequel to the third season of Sailor Moon Crystal.

It more faithfully adapts the second-to-last arc of the original manga in a much better-animated style. This movie is pretty recent, too, having just been released in 2021.

Key Moments

Artemist and Sailor — Image From Sailor Moon Fandom

Artemis has the bulk of his time in the spotlight earlier in the story of Sailor Moon. As teased earlier in the guide, I think Sailor Moon has a massive problem relegating its prominent cast members to the background after their respective main story arc is finished. Such is the case with Artemis, as his presence is always there, but he only has minor roles and lines in the later story arcs.

With that said, though, there are some heavy spoilers that you should know about that I am going to cover in this section—time to turn away now if you want to avoid them.

At the start of the series, Artemis’ primary role is to partner with Sailor V. Before Sailor Moon, or Usagi as she is also known, dons her celestial superhero garbs and takes down bad guys; Sailor V did it first. The only reason that Sailor V has her powers is that Artemis finds her and bestows them upon her.

He is her partner and helps her fight crime for much of the early parts of the series until they run into the other Sailor Guardians. Though they are rivals with the team at first, Artemis eventually connects with Luna, the other talking cat, and the two groups become one.

As part of the Sailor Guardians, this is where Artemis’ story dips some. The only real task for him as part of the team is strategizing occasionally and continuing to assist Sailor V as her partner. There are the antics that ensue between him and Luna as the only talking cats.

This eventually blossoms into possible romance for the two talking cats and even love. When Diana, the third talking cat, appears, he has another significant role in finding out about his future. It turns out that she is his future daughter with Luna.

Outside of that, Artemis’s only other moment of note is when Sailor V starts to doubt herself in one of the later arcs. She begins to think that she does not have the pure goodness inside of her like the other Sailor Guardians, and it takes Artemis to show her that she is valuable and part of the team.

Other than that, though, there is not much else to his storyline, which honestly sucks. Artemis is mainly a supporting member of the Sailor Guardians team.

Special Abilities

Artemis is not just any cat boy, as he has some special powers. Do you see everyday white cats being able to speak freely in English/Japanese? I didn’t think so. The general powers of Artemis boil down to two different forms: his cat abilities and powers from the crystal.

For starters, there is the fact that he appears to the main characters in Sailor Moon as a standard cat. His powers allow him to converse in human language and even have a level of intelligence that is not seen in that of other cats or four-legged animals.

This extends beyond just the fact that he can speak, though. You see, Artemis has the spoiler human form, possibly his original version. He can transform into this form in times of need to provide a more direct support role to the Sailor Guardians.

Unfortunately, he does not have enough control over this transformation ability to allow him to do it more often. Still, it is a last resort for the cat boy nonetheless. Thankfully, though, the other part of his powers make it so that he can use his transformation abilities on others.

This is seen explicitly in the case of Sailor Venus. He can give her a crystal symbolizing their friendship when he stumbles upon her. This crystal bestows upon her the ability to turn into Sailor V. He does not seem to be able to share this power with anyone else, unlike Luna. The latter helps the other Sailor Guardians awaken to their unique forms when they meet.

Voice Actor

Artemis has such a calm and chill voice that is nice to listen to in the Sailor Moon series. This is common across both the English and Japanese versions of the anime adaptation of Sailor Moon. I appreciate the acting for his role on both sides and have enjoyed both versions of Sailor Moon, at least in the Crystal remake.

Yasuhiro Takato is the voice of Artemis in the original Japanese version. One of his other notable roles includes Principal Nezu from My Hero Academia. Yohei Obayashi currently has Artemis’s role in Crystal, but I am not familiar with his roles outside of this. He has minimal supporting appearances in other series.

On the other hand, the current English voice for Artemis in Crystal is one of my favorite male voice actors. Johnny Yong Bosch is an incredible voice actor whom I have praised on our site for his roles in Demon Slayer as Giyu Tomioka, Ichigo in Bleach, and Yu and Adachi in Persona 4.

Key Relationships

I think there is nothing too special about the Sailor Moon story. What I love about the series, instead, are the characters. This is, first and foremost, a character-driven affair. As such, the cast members and their bonds with one another are at the forefront of what makes the series work so well. Oddly enough, though, Artemis has very few connections in the series.

His bonds are small in number as he has very little to do with the other Sailor Guardians in the group. I would say other than his partner in crime, Sailor Moon and possibly Chibiusa are the only ones that he has some interactions with. And even then, they are minimal at best.

Out of the Sailor Guardians, the only relationship that matters to the magical talking cat is Sailor V. Venus, the first Guardian he meets and the person he initially connects with. They have an unbreakable and beautiful bond that differs from that of Sailor Moon and Luna. There is a lot more personality and complicated feelings that exist between Artemis and Sailor V.

They fight at times but love each other and will do anything for one another. There are even some hints of romance at times on Artemis’ part, though that is likely just one-sided and temporary.

Besides his team partner, Luna’s relationship is equally essential. They bicker all the time and seem not to like one another, but it is clear that both cats have feelings for each other. This extends to his daughter, Diana, who he grows to care for as he gets to know her more.

She unlocks the fatherly side to Artemis that was previously reserved for only Sailor V. The three women in his life — Sailor V, Luna, and Diana — are why he fights. Because of the three of them, he can assist the Sailor Guardians in taking down the bad guys in the galaxy.

Fun Facts About Artemis Sailor Moon

Diana is a nice mix of both Artemis and Luna. — Image From Sailor Moon Fandom

Here are some fun facts about Artemis that I assembled that even the most staunch Sailor Moon fans might not have known about:

Diana is a nice mix of both Artemis and Luna. What she takes from her father, Artemis, is his lighter fur color. I also think her whiskers are more similar to his than her mother’s. Their tales are pretty comparable, too.
Artemis is the one male cat in the talking cats in the Sailor Moon group. This is notable since many think that he is not a male cat, despite this being the case. The confusion comes from past dubs in other languages that had Artemis as a woman. Some even flipped him and Luna. However, the canonical matter is that he is a male cat.
Another confusing matter is that sometimes Artemis is seen as a woman in lore. This is seen, too, in the fact that there was a time in the Sailor Moon manga’s development when a woman named Artemis was a character. It is unknown how or if she was connected to the actual Artemis cat we got in the end.
Artemis could have been the main talking cat in Sailor Moon in a different timeline. This is due to the fact that Sailor V came first as the prototype manga for the series. In the end, though, Sailor Moon was created, and Sailor V became a veteran member of the group. However, at least she does have her manga spin-off series with Artemis.

FAQs

Question: Is Artemis a boy or girl Sailor Moon?

Answer: Artemis is a boy in Sailor Moon. This is canonically the case. However, there is a lot of confusion since Artemis is often depicted as a female in lore. Not to mention, some dubs of Sailor Moon have even depicted him as a girl. But he is a male cat nonetheless.

Question: Are Luna and Artemis in love?

Answer: Slight spoilers here but Luna and Artemis do like each other. I am not sure if I would say that they are actually in love during the events of the Sailor Moon series, but they likely will be in the future, at least as we see with Diana.

Question: What is Artemis?

Answer: What fans see is that Artemis is a magical talking cat companion. However, there is more to him than just that. He is not necessarily a human person in the shape of a cat, but it seems that he is an alien. He originates from the same planet as Luna in space. Their planet’s race may be sentient cat creatures.

Conclusion

Everyone needs a cute, cuddly cat (or dog, if that’s what you prefer!) in life. This is even the case for superheroes and the guardians of Earth. Such is the case for the Sailor Guardians, who even need some feline friends to help stop the bad guys. Artemis is the male talking cat companion for the group and a valuable team member.

I like his personality and style, being the team’s cool, calm, and collected voice. However, it is unfortunate that Sailor Moon does not give him the attention and spotlight he deserves. His relationship with Luna is one of his storyline’s best and most prominent parts. While I addressed their relationship from Artemis’ perspective, you can find out more about Luna and her side of the complicated matter here in her Sailor Moon guide.