SoraNews24 —Japan News—

Recently we’ve been seeing a lot of ways for you to express your inner sailor scout. There’s Sailor Moon pajamas, Sailor Moon cellphones, and even Sailor Moon designer bags and, um, menstrual pads.

But what about when you want to eat like one of the sailor scouts? Well that’s something we at RocketNews24 have been wondering ourselves, so we decided to try making one of Sailor Jupiter’s legendary bento boxes. How did it turn out? Let’s just say we ran into some interesting characters along the way….

But first, before any of that, we had to do some research. There are actually three different depictions of Sailor Jupiter’s beautiful bento, depending on which version of Sailor Moon you’re watching or reading. There’s the original manga, the original anime, and the new Sailor Moon Crystal series.

▼ For those following along at home, to see the bento in action turn to chapter five of the manga, episode 25 of the original series, or episode 5 of the Crystal series.

No matter which version you choose, the scene is essentially the same: Serena/Usagi spots the new transfer student Lina/Makoto eating a spectacular bento and can’t help but swoon over it.

▼ “Yikes! Is that bento okay? It looks all black and burnt.”
“Well, the manga is drawn in black and white….”

▼ Indulging in a sweet, colorful onigiri can be just as much a pleasure for the eyes as the stomach.

▼ Diligently taking notes and trying not to be hypnotized by those big, Jupiter eyes.

The Crystal version shows us the bento full-on, making it easy to copy, but the manga cuts it off a bit, and the original series only shows it to us after Makoto has taken a few bites. So we had to put on our scientist hats in an attempt to recreate the contents of each bento.

▼ The manga’s bento, made up of (starting at the top, going clockwise) croquettes, peppers wrapped in meat, quail eggs, cherry tomatoes, spaghetti, then onigiri with mixed in peas, carrots, hijiki seaweed, and bamboo shoots.

▼ The original series’ bento: meatballs in the middle (that were already eaten), croquettes, quail eggs made to look like chicks, cheese hamburger patty, carrots, cherry tomatoes, and the same onigiri as above.

▼ The Crystal series’ bento: white fish with tartar sauce, wieners (small hot dog sausages) cut into octopus shapes, beans, fried egg, cherry tomatoes, spaghetti, and the familiar onigiri.

So now we were faced with a decision: which bento were we going to make? Each of them looked so good and had their own little special things that set them apart.

Then we had an epiphany….

It was a gargantuan task, but we were willing to take it on. Since one of the overlaps between all the bento was the onigiri, we decided to start there. Here’s the list of ingredients we used to make them:

– 1.5 cups rice
– 1 tablespoon dried hijiki seaweed
– carrots cut into 3cm strips
– 50 grams of bamboo shoots
– 2 tablespoons of green peas
– 3 tablespoons of mentsuyu (combination of dashi, soy sauce, mirin and sugar)
– 1 tablespoon of sake
– A sprinkle of sugar
– A dash of soy sauce
– A bit of vegetable oil

▼ Just cut everything the same size, put it all in the rice cooker with some water, and voila!

▼ The Crystal series’ onigiri is a little different, with beans, carrots, and chicken mixed in, but otherwise the same as the above.

If you want to be really fancy, you can marinate the chicken in a mixture of mentsuyu, sugar and sake for 15 minutes before putting it into the rice cooker with the other ingredients. It makes it more flavorful and helps balance it with the rest of the onigiri.

While the onigiri were cooking, it was time to take on the other parts of the bento. We cheated a little bit and bought some of the ingredients ready-made, but you can’t blame us – we had three bento to make! And we were getting pretty hungry….

▼ Showing some meat-wrapped peppers who’s boss by frying them up.

▼ Take that, fried egg! Sailor Chop!

▼ But one thing we couldn’t cheat on was the baby chicks from the original series’ bento. We had to carve those ourselves.

▼ Just add a little leftover hijiki for the eyes and beak.

▼ If Usagi saw these, her squeal about how cute they are would probably shatter a couple buildings’ worth of windows.

▼ The face of someone who has just spent a non-zero amount of their day carving tiny chicks out of eggs.

▼ And with that the onigiri rice was ready. Time to start packing them down!

▼ Before long the three bento started really coming together. For the authentic princess look, check out a nearby 100-yen store and see if they have any bento decorations like patterned paper and colored picks.

And then suddenly bright lights started flashing! The air was filled with sparkles and when everything settled, a transformation had taken place!

▼ “In the name of the moon we will… feed you delicious, beautiful bento!”

▼ Here’s a closeup of each bento, starting with the manga’s version. The plastic decorations really do add that sailor scout touch.

▼ And here’s the original series’ bento, complete with baby chicks staring at you as you devour their surroundings.

▼ And lastly, the Crystal series’ bento. The octopus wieners add that perfect balance of cute and bizarre that is necessary in every successful bento.

▼ And all three bento together, perfect for any post-battle sailor scout picnic.

▼ And then guess who showed up? Tuxedo Mask! …without tuxedo or mask, but hey, the rose is what really matters, right?

▼ “Thanks, bun-head!”

▼ We even inducted some new sailor scouts in the process.

▼ And what would a real Sailor Moon bento be without some villains? Here’s Rise Up Shinomiya, creator of the Lawson Diet, swiftly defeated by the power of Jupiter’s Supreme Thunder Crash! …and octopus wieners.

▼ And the evil Negaverse P.K. Sanjun watching menacingly from outside.

▼ “I’ll get that silver crystal yet, Sailor Jupiter.”

▼ Well that’s all for today, sailor scouts! Remember, if you want to stay strong like us, be sure to eat lots of fruit and vegetables, and avoid sugary drinks! If you need help, you can talk to your parents, or an adult you trust! See you next time!

Photos: © RocketNews24