"Those with sailor crystals can take the name of a sailor senshi!" - Lead Crow, Act 45

The Anima Maids are not truly sailor senshi, even though they have complete access to the power of sailor crystals. The sailor crystals they carry are stolen from true sailor senshi, who were killed for their power.

The Anima Maids are imposters. Each of the Anima Maids is given power through metal bracelets on her wrists. It's implied that these bracelets hold the essence of the sailor crystal that they stole, and lend life to the Anima Maid in question. If the bracelets are broken, then the Anima Maid wearing them dies.

For ease of loading, I've split the Anima Maids appearing in the Stars arc into the following sections...

The first wave are those who attack the solar system and target the Sol system senshi: Sailor Iron Mouse, Sailor Aluminum Siren, Sailor Lead Crow, and Sailor Tin Nyanko. They fought because Galaxia promised them a planet of their own in exchange for their targets' sailor crystals. Unfortunately, they failed Galaxia one by one and never got to see the fruits of their labors.

The second wave are those guarding Zero Star of Sagittarius: Sailors Lethe and Mnemosyne, Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon, and Sailors Phi and Chi. Lethe and Mnemosyne star in volume 17 of the manga, and the other three make brief appearances in volume 18. (None of these ever appeared in the anime.)

The third wave are those who used to be the senshi of our own solar system. In a last-ditch effort to defeat Sailormoon, Galaxia reincarnated Usagi's own friends in their seeming flesh and sent them against their Princess. All eight senshi, as well as Tuxedo Kamen, arrayed themselves against Sailormoon and raised their braceleted arms in challenge... and then attacked, laughing gleefully.

Usagi refused to fight them at first, and her remaining friends fell protecting her. Even then, she could not force herself to fight, and it was not until they all attacked her, shattered her wand, and broke her wings that she was able to bring herself to fight them. Then she directed her strongest attack at them, and was forced to watch their bodies shred away... again. (This, by the way, was a masterful psychological ploy on Galaxia's part. It was just her misfortune that Usagi had a very generous soul and not only forgave Galaxia, but offered her friendship as well.)

As ever, the English translation is debatable. I prefer the term "anima maid," but the kana for the Anima Maids have also been interpreted to be "Animamates" or "Anima Mates" or some such, all of which are correct. I just personally prefer "anima maid" - "maid" because the villains in question are female, and "anima" is, in Jungian psychology, a term for the feminine soul. It seemed appropriate.

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