This is something I was talking about recently with some other Sailor Moon scalers. I am very interested in comparing characters at various stages of their progression. I was considering my favorite character and wondering alright if she was as was at the start of her development, who can clear this very first benchmark of hers?" In other words, what characters even if they lose to Sailor Moon are strong to begin the comparison.
If you're reading this blog this is probably not the first time you're reading about Sailor Moon, but in case you're unaware Sailor Moon is actually an extremely powerful character, much stronger then most characters that one would expect. For reference the most common matchups people put her against are characters like Goku, Pegasus Seiya, Cardcaptor Sakura, Kami Madoka, Supergirl etc. So how strong was she at the start of her progression? The first time Sailor Moon gets more powerful is Act 4, so this should include all feats from the first three acts which form their own sub arc, the Jadeite arc.
By far the biggest explicit feat this Sailor Moon has is that her ultrasonic waves would threaten Jadeite's world in Act 3. This is substantiated when Sailor Mars' first attack accidentally destroys the same dimension later that chapter as a side effect. This dimension's size is contested but there is a very clear moon within the dimension, with the destruction of a planet-moon system like ours requiring large planet bordering on low stellar power. This is consistent with the Parallel Senshi, Five Child Senshi from a parallel dimension stopping a planetary threat seconds after their first transformation into Sailor Senshi.
There is argument for them to be in the stellar range in general. The Ultrasonic Crying is considered a joke attack and borders on this level accidentally. The Stars are living entities in the Sailor Moon universe and yet are under the protection of the Sailor Senshi suggesting the Senshi can battle entities that would threaten such. Sailor Moon Crystal which was directly overseen by Naoko Takeuchi the original author, suggests that the early First Arc Sailor Senshi are not that much weaker then the Late First Arc Senshi with the Heavenly Kings battling the Sailor Senshi fairly evenly early and late in the arc. This would suggest Sailor Moon would scale to a portion of the power the Late First Arc Senshi show destroying Kunzite's barrier that withstood energy comparable to a supernova, and above second arc fodder that can withstand being on a black hole. That the Early First Arc characters aren't THAT much weaker then the Late First Arc is also implied by Pre-Serenity Moon withstanding an attack from Kunzite, who Beryl considered still a threat to the Princess Serenity that tanked the prior supernova energy.
Some argue the characters are weaker based on the sense that they don't seem to be cosmically strong at this point in the story with how the Senshi are shocked at the Silver Crystal's ability to easily destroy celestial bodies, or how Kunzite saying he would return the Senshi's attacks times 100 only threatens to destroy Tokyo. These arguments will often try to suggest the Moon in Jadeite's dimension is merely a visual effect and often try and tie it to Usagi's transformation. I rarely say this in fictional media analysis but the last point is just objectively wrong. The Moon is not caused by Usagi's transformation effect and to claim such requires one to essentially not be reading what happens as events happen in the manga between Usagi's transformation and Usagi's pre-battle speech where the Moon is seen including Ami teleporting in, the two finding Rei and Jadeite, and Jadeite taking Rei hostage. You can say it's inconsistent if you want and it very well may be, but trying to say the Moon is a transformation visual is objectively wrong. There are also arguments it should be much higher, usually the dashes of white on the page as indication of stars in Jadeite's dimension, using the fact that Stars are capable of "flooding the Milky Way", the belief Jadeite's dimension should be considered an entire universe, or the belief that the Senshi's power can affect higher dimensional ghosts. Each of these I don't really agree with either, though for different reasons. I bring both of these up only to say I recognize that there are other ways one can scale this, and I do not agree with much lower or much higher interpretations.
In terms of speed Sailor Moon even at the start of her series gets the benefit comes from the fact that any entity of any power in this verse including entire alien species demonstrating the ability to traverse interstellar distances, much like other series with eldritch horror influences. Inhabitants from the worlds of Mau and Coronis came from distant star systems to Earth. The timeframe is unknown but the fact that these are biological entities who need such things as food and sleep puts an upper limit that requires speeds dozens to thousands of times the speed of light. The Ancient Moon People came to the Sol System from the "far galactic reaches" similarly with the people of Earth warring with and killing them. The Stars are living entities and a pair of them dozens of lightyears away come to Earth in humanoid form every year, requiring speeds dozens to thousands of times the speed of light. Minako even prior to her first transformation accidentally sends herself to Venus quickly with Light taking over 2 minutes to go the same distance, usually calced at somewhere between single digit FTL to triple digit FTL. All this suggests Sailor Moon while not at the extreme speeds she would get to later, should be likely hundreds or even thousands of times the speed of light.
Even at the start of the series, though she doesn't know it, Usagi is a Sailor Senshi, an Avatar of a God, a Destined Soldier, Chosen by Fate. This gives her abilities. Even before awakening she was born with her guardian planet, the Moon, giving her protection from many haxes. For example for of the kinds of things the Sailor Senshi early in the story withstand, a Dark Agency villainess named LinLin brainwashed all of China and yet Minako was unaffected and Zoisite was able to drain energy from the entire town yet Usagi was able to withstand it without even transforming. As a Sailor Senshi, if Usagi dies she will reincarnate and reawaken eventually to her true identity, this Sailor Senshi self treated as her true self and mortal lifetimes as temporary disguises.
Even among this group Usagi is special though for her Sailor Crystal is the legendary Silver Crystal, supreme light of the universe and while it lays dormant within her early in the story, even dormant it can grant greater protection. When her Senshi powers were neutralized from Planet Nemesis, Usagi recovered quickly from the Paralysis of the Evil Eye technique, credited to the Silver Crystal. Also when Chibiusa was in distress, despite not have yet awakened the Silver Crystal within her, much like early Usagi, she was able to accidentally wander to Wiseman's domain outside space and time, "at the end of the world." This is because the Silver Crystal reacts to one's heart, and commands space and time. Should Beginning of Series Sailor Moon's heart be so distraught, a similar effect would presumably happen.
The Silver Crystal is shown several times to react by itself to protect Usagi, growing into a barrier around her, creating an energy around her to protect her, or teleporting her outside of danger. This may apply even to beginning of series Sailor Moon.
All Sailor Senshi have an aura of stellar energy which can be utilized for "Henshin", transforming into their Sailor State. Doing such creates a blinding flash of light as well as a burst of energy that can be used for destruction. It is a holy energy, and stated to be their holiest power. It has been shown to allow for teleportation of oneself or others through dimensions, though at this point Usagi is unaware of such, and undoes spells that are negatively affecting a Senshi as shown when simply transforming reversed Palla Palla's spell switching Usagi and Chibiusa's ages.
Their stellar energy has also been shown to do much more such as creating levitating energy bubbles around them, shooting generic energy blasts that seems to deconstruct enemies, and enchanting material objects to create new attacks themed around said attacks. Though it's unlikely Usagi at this point knows she can do any of that.
While she doesn't have the cosmic senses she would have later, Sailor Moon would get enhanced senses immediately upon transforming for the first time, including her hairpieces hearing Naru's distant cries, and her goggles clairvoyantly showing her such. The Sailor Senshi regularly demonstrate the ability to see and interact with metaphysical entities including spirits, dreams, and even conceptual objects. They also possess enhanced psychic sensitivity and are shown numerous times to have prophetic dreams.
Sailor Moon in Act 1 demonstrates two attacks. The first is more of a joke though, as when Usagi becomes upset enough and cries her hairpieces amplifies the crying into ultrasonic waves. This a sonic attack that created a sense of numbness and threatened to destabilize Jadeite's world should Usagi cry in that dimension, suggesting it can damage the fabric of space itself. This seems consistent with the way it was shown to be able to harm incorporeal ghosts in Chibiusa's Picture Diary 3.
Sailor Moon's first real attack is the Moon Tiara Boomerang where she throws her tiara like a boomerang which cuts enemies and turns them to dust. She also shows hair ornaments she can use like darts in Act 2 though in Act 1 she presumably doesn't know she can do that yet.
Finally it is noted that Sailor Senshi transform into women of strength and beauty, a woman among women. This supernatural beauty gives the Sailor Senshi a level of social influencing that can cause enemies to act sub-optimal against them. For instance when the Terrorist Warlord Demande saw Usagi's future self, he immediately fell in love with her and dedicated himself to capturing her instead of killing her.
Obviously the weakness this Usagi would have is she has yet to even begin developing as a Sailor Senshi. As she was Princess Serenity in her last life, she is the only one of the Inner Senshi to have had no combat experience in either lifetime, and lacks the skill or fortitude of a soldier. She hasn't yet developed as a person and is still clumsy, a crybaby, and cowardly, though of course she does still have her biggest strength which is her love that lets her overcome her weaknesses to become a hero should people need her.
So that is Start of Series Sailor Moon, the benchmark to even begin comparing to Sailor Moon powerscaling-wise. She has Large Planet to Stellar Level Power, FTL+ Speed, Two Different Attacks including one that has an offensive hax (turning to dust) and the other of which negates a common defensive hax (intangibility), hax resistances to a large variety of haxes (including at least mind manipulation, energy manipulation, age manipulation, poison, and paralysis), possibly other potent defensive options, enhanced senses, social influencing, and powerful spacetime manipulation if her heart becomes chaotic enough. There's few protagonists who could beat her at the start of their own series, unless they're one of those protagonists that don't get any stronger and just start at extremely powerful.
How does she compare to my other favorite series protagonists (beginning of series):
Of the 32 other series on my favorites list I think 22 there isn't really any good argument for them being able to beat even Start of Series Sailor Moon. Some of them have things that might be relevant, the Cutie Honey Flash version of Cutie Honey can reach similar attack potency but is vastly slower and would just blitzed. Luz from the Owl House and Samus from Metroid might have rivaling or even superior speeds depending on your interpretations but have nowhere near the same level of power. Yusuke from Yu Yu Hakusho is a ghost at the start of the series but the Ultrasonic Crying can hit ghosts. There are only 10 that could or maybe could defeat Start of Series Sailor Moon at their respective start of series, five of which I think are arguable and five of which I feel more confident in. The five I think are questionable:
Cures: My favorite Pretty Cure Seasons are Heartcatch, DokiDoki, and Go Princess but Cure Blossom, Cure Heart, and Cure Flora would all be much weaker then Start of Series Sailor Moon at the start of their series, with Cures early on scaling mostly to Smile PreCure while already heavily battle worn surviving the Bad End Cannon that can destroy planets and numerous early season light speed feats, which is good but still dwarfed by fodder characters in Sailor Moon. The odd argument is that being a Cure comes with a level of supernatural combat skill as well and if you think they can dodge around a bunch they might be able to just outwait Sailor Moon depending on if you think Sailor Moon at this point can tap into the infinite energy of the Silver Crystal for stamina or not. I think it's very unlikely given the speed gap and the fact that the ultrasonic crying is an omnidirectional attack. Cure Heart by the end of DokiDoki PreCure should at least be able to beat this Sailor Moon though as she fought a universal threat and was outright compared to the Big Bang.
Yuki Yuna: So Yuki Yuna has stats that are neglible compared to Start of Series Sailor Moon, that said even by Episode 1 has fairies that give her immortality and barriers that protect against things like black holes and arguably against universal deities. Basically a fight between them depends on if you think Sailor Moon has some way around this and if not who has higher stamina. The Heroes have enhanced endurance and should be able to fight longer unless Sailor Moon once again can draw on the infinite stamina
Yugi Muto: So Yugi has some very interesting hax that could hypothetically beat this version of Sailor Moon. On the other hand she can hit the spirit with her Ultrasonic crying. It really just depends on what you think they do in character. I very much could see start of series Yugi appearing ominously and being all scary and that causing Usagi to cry and destroy the spirit. If he appears more normal, I am not sure what would happen.
Kratos: So it depends on whether or not you think Start of Series should include the Prequel Comic. Prequel Comic Kratos isn't doing anything to Sailor Moon. On the other hand if you think it includes all of God of War Ascension, the first game in the timeline then yeah Kratos should probably win. The Furies have similar feat to the Jadeite dimension with their own dimension, Kratos has similar speed scaling far faster then light, he has own strong suite of abilities plus far greater endurance, skill, etc. If you think it's Kratos from the start of Ascension that gets wonky with Ascension going back and forth in the timeline but Kratos would still have gotten his training from Ares and be likely on that level physically, just lacking in abilities in which case it's might get arguable as it depends on if Sailor Moon's better abilities would be better or worse then Kratos being an actual fighter with extreme skill and endurance in comparison.
Superman: So would mean Superman at the start of the Golden Age. Superman doesn't get feats on the level of even Beginning of Series Sailor Moon until near the end of the Golden Age so it really depends on whether you think Superman got stronger during the Golden Age. His feats are definitely way way more impressive later on then earlier on, and he does have at least a few points where he seems to struggle with things early on. That said when three Kryptonians come to Earth during the Golden Age, they instantly have powers equal to Superman's, suggesting it's an on/off switch type thing. If Superman has full Golden Age scaling then he would have stellar level scaling and speed feats likely millions of times faster then light and should just blitz. If it's just the feats he has early on then he is negligible in comparison.
The Five I feel probably could win even at the start of their series:
Bayonetta: Start of Series Bayonetta is trickiest because it's not clear how much losing her memories weakened her, her but she was still able to fight Jeanne without her memories, and if she has any amount of her stats she's either comparable or superior to Beginning of Series Sailor Moon. Even with just comparable speed she can shift into Purgatory and outlast her
Panty Anarchy: Panty doesn't seem to get much stronger during Panty and Stocking meaning she scales to the Silver Surfer parody ep in Season 2 that involves MFTL scaling and arguably universal scaling which should let her beat Start of Series Sailor Moon
Blossom: Blossom doesn't seem to get much stronger during the Powerpuff Girls and so should scale to the feat of making a dimension with a sun that HIM makes which you would need a higher estimate of the Jadeite Dimension feat to beat, as well as to MFTL+ feats of fighting expotentially increasing nanobots and crossover scaling to Monkey's billions of times c feat
Wander: Wander from Wander over Yonder also doesn't seem to get much stronger and in season 2 plugged a black hole that was sucking in the galaxy with his finger. If Sailor Moon was faster she might still win via Moon Tiara but Wander seems at least vaguely relative to Sylvia who can run galactic distances quickly so probably not
Amaterasu: Amaterasu from Okami is the only one who doesn't cheat by scaling to later series feats here. But Amaterasu at the start of Okami can make stars with just a dab of the celestial brush and scales to its MFTL speed, putting her at similar levels to the stellar level interpretation of Sailor Moon just much more casual, and has her own suite of abilities and combat skill.
