Romance is a huge focus in the classic shojo series Sailor Moon. The cast of characters is so varied and nuanced that fans love to try out pairing different characters together, and some make more sense than others. Characters like Usagi Tsukino and Naru Osaka are very in love with the idea of love, and they sometimes have more than one crush over the long series.
Some Sailor Moon ships are totally doomed because they're one-sided and tragic. Others would make sense if the characters hadn't already found their perfect match. The more notorious ships are totally cursed because of changes the original anime made to the source manga by Naoko Takeuchi.
10 Naru & Umino Feel Thrown Together
Gurio Umino is a well-meaning smarty-pants in Sailor Moon. He often lectures Usagi Tsukino for messing up in school, but often he puts his foot in it without meaning to. He's not the best on picking up on other people's feelings, but that doesn't make him a bad friend. Umino can be a bit domineering, and that can put him at odds with Usagi and her best friend, Naru Osaka.
He confesses later in the series that he has a big crush on Naru. Umino even dresses up like Tuxedo Mask in a comical caricature to come to Naru's rescue. But any real relationship betweenUmino and Naru feels more forced than authentic because they don't have much in common aside from being classmates and having sweet dispositions.
9 Usagi Has a Big Crush on Motoki Furuhata
Usagi's first crush in the series is her sweet friend, Motoki Furuhata. He works at Usagi's favorite place to go after school, Crown Arcade, so they see each other a lot. Usagi moons over Motoki but they never become an official couple.
Motoki is a bit too grown-up for Usagi, and the girl he later ends up dating, Reika Nishimura, is far more suited to him. Usagi is so obsessed with Motoki that she fantasizes that he is the real Tuxedo Mask, even though the two of them look nothing alike. Though Motoki is a perfectly admirable person, Usagi's crush on him isn't really grounded in reality.
8 Rei & Usagi Are a Popular, but Silly, Fan Ship
An enemies-to-lovers romance arc will always be popular, which is why there's a strong fan percentage that would love to see Usagi and Rei Hino together. Rei and Usagi bicker constantly from day one, even in their superhero alteregos, Sailor Mars and Sailor Usagi. Beneath their constant butting heads is a true feeling of friendship, though.
When things get difficult, Sailor Mars and Sailor Moon tend to band together, but it takes extreme circumstances. If they were to ever get together, it would be far more "enemies" and barely any "lovers." If they were to ever get together, they'd fight far too much to be a healthy, functional couple.
7 There's Not Enough Explanation for the Inner Senshi & the Shitennou
It's unfortunate that the romance between the four Inner Senshi and the four Shitennou, or Heavenly Kings, doesn't make sense. Though there was no overt confirmation, fans speculated that the Shitennou, Prince Endymion's retinue of knights, had relationships with Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus, and Sailor Jupiter (respectively) in their past lives during the Silver Millennium. Sailor Moon Crystal confirms their past life romance.
The romance between the Shitennou and the Senshi doesn't make much sense because their past relationship isn't revealed until the Season 1 finale in Sailor Moon Crystal. It's sad because there seems to be a really compelling story there that's yet unexplored. Perhaps fans should hope and ask for a Sailor Moon Crystal prequel that would explore the Senshi more as Planetary Princesses, and their relationship with Prince Endymion's knights.
6 Queen Beryl Pines for Prince Endymion
Beryl once loved Prince Endymion from afar, when she was a simple villager and not the Queen Beryl that serves Metalia. Her love for Prince Endymion was unrequited because he had already fallen in love with Princess Serenity. Beryl's love turned into something terrible, and she destroyed the Moon Kingdom because he didn't return her feelings.
After Prince Endymion's reincarnated into Mamoru Chiba, Queen Beryl still wants him to be with her. He's already in love with Usagi, the former Princess Serenity, because they're destined to be together. Though Queen Beryl does steal Mamoru away for a short time, his "romance" with her is a result of her brainwashing, so the pairing has no legitimacy whatsoever.
5 Naru & Nephrite Felt Wrong
One small change made the possibility of Naru and Nephrite's relationship totally cursed. The original Sailor Moon anime made quite a few changes from the original manga. One of the oddest choices the adaptation writers made was aging up Mamoru Chiba and his former knights, Nephrite, Jadeite, Zoisite, and Kunzite.
In the anime, Mamoru is college age, and Nephrite presents himself as a grown professional man named Maxfield Stanton. Usagi and her best friend Naru are middle-schoolers who are about fourteen years old. Nephrite falling in love with Naru was an enemies-to-lovers romance invented purely for the anime, but it ended up being a terrible idea because of the gross age difference.
4 Haruka Loves to Flirt with Usagi
When Usagi first meets Haruka Tenou, she's struck by how handsome the race car driver is. She's not alone in her admiration, either; Minako also admires Haruka. Haruka seemingly has no problem leaning into Usagi's ogling because she has no problem flirting with Usagi. She even steals a kiss from Usagi in Sailor Moon Crystal.
As cute as Usagi is with Haruka, they wouldn't make a great endgame couple because Haruka's heart already belongs to the perfect person for her. Michiru has a maturity and depth that compliments Haruka very well. They have a very devoted romance that Usagi wouldn't quite fit into.
3 Jadeite Didn't Value Thetis
Dark Kingdom generals and agents aren't exactly known for talking about their feelings, but Thetis definitely seems to have a crush on Jadeite. She begs to work for him on his next assignment to drain energy for the Dark Kingdom and capture Sailor Moon. Thetis is gorgeous, devious, and very flirtatious.
In contrast, Jadeite seems more annoyed by Thetis than anything. Jadeite doesn't really deserve the ocean youma's attention. She's so valued that she's one of Queen Beryl's favorite youma. And though Thetis is rather devoted to Jadeite, Jadeite plays fast and loose with her, and the Sailor Senshi defeat her on his watch within minutes.
2 Luna Pines for Kakeru
A large part of the plot in Sailor Moon S: The Movie, Hearts on Ice is Luna's unrequited love affair with the astronomer scientist, Kakeru. Kakeru saves Luna from a car accident and nurses her back to health. As Kakeru takes care of Luna, he talks with her about his dreams and observes her without realizing that she can understand him. Luna thinks she's in love with Kakeru, but it feels more like she's going through something emotionally and projecting it onto Kakeru.
Luna is always the mentor who takes care of others. She wants to be seen and Kakeru makes her feel seen, though he couldn't ever love her, even in human form, because he meant to be with someone else. Luna's feelings about wanting to be seen have more validity than the relationship she thinks she wants with Kakeru. Ultimately, Luna makes a great match with Artemis because Artemis does value her for her, and the two of them have plenty to relate to.
1 Rei & Mamoru Was a Terrible Combination
Rei Hino guesses correctly that Tuxedo Mask is Mamoru Chiba in disguise. Usagi always fights with Mamoru, and even though the evidence is compelling, she can't bring herself to agree with Rei. As Sailor Moon, she greatly resents that Sailor Mars has a crush on Tuxedo Mask, too.
Usagi feels territorial because she liked Tuxedo Mask first, and there's a part of her that recognizes him from her past life. In the anime, Rei convinces Mamoru to go on a couple of dates with her, and they're extremely awkward. It seems more like Mamoru is trying to be polite than actually wanting to date her.
