After the events of the second story arc, she leaves the gates of time to temporarily live as a normal human, joins Sailors Uranus and Neptune, and becomes a university student studying physics.

At this point, she gains the civilian identity "Setsuna Meioh" where previously it seems Pluto had none, unique among the ten main Solar System Guardians.

The exact nature of how she leaves her post differs between versions: in the manga and Crystal, she is reincarnated in the present-day by Neo-Queen Serenity after sacrificing herself during the second arc while for unknown reasons she still appears in the future in the fifth arc; and the anime gives no explicit reason for her appearing in the third season, she just shows up with a previously unmentioned civilian form with no apparent consequences.

Contrariwise in the manga and Crystal, Setsuna is Haruka and Michiru's equal and she even attempts to investigate the strange going-ons at Infinity Academy by herself before she reawakens as Sailor Pluto, for instance, by buying one of Tellu's Tellun plants (who she later kills).

[7] Sailor Pluto has additional, less cited spheres of dominion in her manga and Crystal incarnation, influences that are vaguely suggested in the anime, but never made explicit.

In the manga and Crystal, Pluto's death scene vaguely implies a romantic interest in Endymion, though this is never explored again.

[10] In the manga and Crystal, it can only be inferred from depictions of Pluto blushing while around King Endymion and her reaction when he runs to comfort her during her death.

As a character with different incarnations, special powers, transformations, and a long lifetime spanning the Silver Millennium and the 30th century, Setsuna gains multiple aspects and aliases as the series progresses.

Her sailor suit theme colors are black and garnet and in its first iteration has no sleeves and a jewel hanging from the choker.

As she grows stronger, Sailor Pluto gains additional powers and at key points her uniform changes to reflect this.

The first change takes place in act 44 of the manga, when she obtains the Pluto Crystal and her outfit becomes similar to that of Super Sailor Moon.

As Princess Pluto, she dwelt in Charon Castle and wore a black gown—she appears in this form in manga act 48 as well as in supplementary art.

The reason for garnet specifically being associated with Sailor Pluto is probably due to an elaborate pun regarding her underworld-based powers and mythology.

"), which was the province of Pluto in Roman myth; this is evident in her first named power, Dead Scream (破滅喘鳴, Deddo Sukurīmu),[12][19] which is her primary attack throughout the first anime.

In the manga, Sailor Pluto demonstrates a few other named powers, including Chronos Typhoon (時空嵐撃, Kuronosu Taifūn)[12][20] and the defensive force field Garnet Ball.

Ankoku no Princess Black Lady (Kaiteiban)-Wakusei Nemesis no Nazo, she uses it to stop Prince Demand from touching the Silver Crystals of the past and future together, which would destroy the universe in a time paradox.

At the end of the manga's Infinity arc (corresponds to the anime's S season), Sailor Saturn asks her to seal off the gateway to the world Pharaoh 90 had come from forever.

[24] All of Sailor Pluto's attacks require the use of the Garnet Rod, which is shaped like a giant key as a symbol of her stewardship over the Door of Space-Time.

"[25] Natale Conti cites Pausanias in noting that keys are an attribute of Pluto as the scepter is of Jove (Roman Zeus) and the trident of Neptune (Poseidon).

[27] These interests are never spoken of in the actual story, although creator Naoko Takeuchi drew concept art of Setsuna in outfits worn by real-life supermodels.

[28] Likewise, Setsuna is never actually shown to enjoy shopping nor to dislike cockroaches, eggplant, or the study of music, yet all of these things are delineated by Takeuchi well after the character's introduction.

Likewise she doesn't display any personality traits associated with Scorpios despite being born under the sign; it seems to have been picked solely for its astrological significance.

Together, they constitute most of the name of the dwarf planet Pluto in Japanese: Meiōsei (冥王星, "dark king star").

Her given name is setsuna (せつな) in hiragana which is a loanword from Sanskrit ksana, means "moment" (刹那), fitting in with her time-based powers.

When her civilian form debuted in the third season originally dubbed by Cloverway Inc., she was instead called Trista (while her last name was kept as Meioh).

In the stage musicals, Setsuna has been played by 10 actresses: Miwa Hosoki, Rei Saitou, Yuki Kamiya, Seiko Nakazawa, Teruyo Watanabe, Yuko Hosaka, Yukiko Nakae, Miho Yokoi, Mikako Ishii and Chisato Minami .

"[36] Sullivan especially enjoyed the interaction between Pluto and Chibiusa over magic tricks, since the viewer had the chance to see "a more tender side to her; it fleshed out her personality and made her endearing.

"[37] The scene in which Queen Serenity talks with a young Sailor Pluto about the taboos she must not break was described by Sullivan as an "adorable moment" but that foreshadows "something dire was going to happen".

[38] Finally, the author said that the penultime episode of the season should not be named "Showdown, Death Phantom" but "Heroine, Sailor Pluto", since she "knew she was going to die once she left the Space-Time door and used her Garnet Rod to stop time, but she didn't care.