Fourteen-year-old junior high student Tsukino Usagi discovers that she is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity, the princess of an ancient Kingdom on the Moon, destroyed by The Dark Kingdom 100 years ago. When this evil force reappears she is granted powers to defend the Solar System against it using the identity of Sailormoon. As the series progresses, Sailormoon is reunited with other reincarnated soldiers—the princess's guardian soldiers. She is also reunited with her lover, Prince Endymion of Earth, who serves equally as romantic interest and primary protector.

Mizuno Ami is Sailormercury, a Sailor Senshi with water-based abilities and her attacks tend to serve a tactical purpose (by hiding her allies or by distracting/immobilizing/freezing her enemies). Ami supposedly has an IQ of 300, but despite the common association with her being a nerd, she nonetheless gains appreciation for artistic things, especially music, swimming and playing chess. Ami is generally considered the sensible one of the five girls, and usually is a scapegoat for embarrassment when the group is having a dullard moment. Ami lives with her mother, a busy doctor who is not home very often, and attends Azabu Juuban Junior High with Usagi Tsukino and Makoto Kino, in later episodes attending Azabu Juuban High. In the English adaptations, she is known as Amy Mizuno.

Hino Rei is Sailormars a Sailor Senshi with fire-based projectile attacks. Rei is one of the few Senshi to have overt powers not related to her superpowered alter-ego - she can use ofuda to seal or dispel evil, and sometimes suffers from vivid dreams. She also practices pyromancy, possibly as part of her shrine duties as a miko at her Grandfather's Hikawa Shrine. She has a confident, frank personality but with bouts of self-doubt and brooding, which has labeled her alternatively alluring and rude. She is known in the English translations as Raye Hino.

Kino Makoto is Sailorjupiter and she uses elemental attacks involving either lightning or plants. Makoto is between 14 and 16 years old and is 170 cm (about 5'7"), often considered a generic "tall" height of schoolgirls in anime. Her parents died in an airplane crash, and subsequently, she lives alone in an apartment. Although very strong and athletic, she considers herself "overly" tomboyish and compensates by being very good at domestic tasks - she is a great cook. Her most infamous trait is her seemingly random puppy-love affliction for cute boys, whom she invariably compares to a boy she knew when she was younger. She is known in the English translations as Lita Kino.

Aino Minako is Sailorvenus - the 'soldier of love'. Her attacks generally are 'light' or 'love'-related. As Sailor V, she acts as a decoy to Sailormoon and the two girls are considered to be very similar in appearance and personality. Minako is usually considered the de facto leader of the Sailor Senshi, and has been depicted as a capable fighter despite her quirks. Outside of her Sailor Senshi life she is quite normal; and she likes volleyball and is a loyal friend and a strong leader, but a terrible cook. She is the owner of a white 'magical' cat, Artemis, who fulfills a guardian role. She assumed her soldier role before the other girls and fought on her own for a time, because of this evasive lifestyle, Minako lacked serious friends and was often lonely. Minako's main dream is to become a famous idol. She is known in the English adaptations as Mina Aino.

Chiba Mamoru is the re-incarnated Prince of the Earth - Prince Endymion - and former lover of Princess Serenity. Wearing a domino mask to conceal his identity, he fights against the Dark Kingdom's operations and encourages the Sailor Team with advice appropriate for the situation fighting as Tuxedo Kamen (or Tuxedo Mask). After all of the senshi's past memories returned, the Dark Kingdom brainwashed the injured Mamoru into becoming a villain and in the final fight, he dies protecting Sailormoon once again and is healed when she defeats the evil. He is unlucky enough to fall foul of the main villains at several points during the series. He is known in English translations as Darien Shields.

Usagi "Small Lady" Serenity Tsukino a.k.a. Chibiusa is the daughter of Usagi Tsukino and Mamoru Chiba, sent back in time to the late 1990s to stay with them before she was born. Usagi is constantly fighting with her, and dislikes her because she is close to Mamoru. Chibiusa's affections come into conflict because she does not identify Usagi and Mamoru as being her parents from the future as since she sees such a sharp contrast in personality between them. Corrupted by an evil force called the Wiseman she later becomes Black Lady because her memories of her family and friends twisted and warped so that she believes they hate her - the realization that she is loved allows her to be healed. In later series she, too, becomes a Senshi : Sailorchibimoon (or Sailor Mini Moon). Her name in the English-language version of Sailor Moon, Rini, is a diminutive of "Serena", the name of her mother

Setsuna Meioh is Sailorpluto, the solider of time. Her precise abilities and knowledge of the past and present are only vaguely defined, however she wields a weapon, a long key-shaped staff with a garnet jewel at its top, through which she focuses her power. She is the oldest of the Senshi, either around her twenties or much much older, depending on the adaptation. Her eternal duty is somewhat vaguely defined as "to guard the gates of time." She is known in the English adaptation as Trista Meioh.

Kaioh Michiru is Sailorneptune, one of the "four soldiers of the outer solar system" and Senshi of the deep sea. Michiru is portrayed as a very polite, calm (sometimes coldly so) character in the series and is slightly older than the other main characters. Very little is known about Michiru's history, apart from that shared with her partner and lover, Tenoh Haruka/Sailoruranus. In the English adaptation of the anime she is known as Michelle Kaioh.