Monday 17 September 2018

Moonlight Shines Eternal (The Sailor Moon Post: Part 1)

(Here it is. The big one. The thing I've been thinking about all year, and been writing about all summer. For the next five days we'll be posting all 20,000+ words of this massive critical analysis/feelings post about Sailor Moon, the 90's anime. One post per season. And dummy me thought I could slip it all into one post, or maybe even two or three. Nope. It ballooned out and took on its own weight. This is easily the most massive single thing I've done for the blog, and I'm really happy you all finally get to read it. I hope you'll join me for the whole ride. Without further delay, let's get into it.

Special thanks to Alina for giving feedback and critique, as well as all the pals who let me yell about this show with them for the past nine months.)


Prologue: The First Transformation


It's April of 2003. There are many things happening in the world, and many hit songs on the radio. We're unconcerned with world history right now. This is personal history. Here and now, at this moment in time, I am a high school student. I am also feeling fucking miserable. I can't recall exactly what I'd come down with. A stomach bug? The flu? It doesn't matter. The point is, I'm not going to high school today. My ass is laying on a couch all day, trying not to die. With nothing better to do, I switch on the television to see what I can watch to take my mind off of things. It's all dull and uninteresting to me from the satellite guide, but then something jumps out at me. On YTV, a Canadian channel that many of you may have nostalgia for, they're showing that old show, Sailor Moon. Yeah. I remember when that was new, just a short eight years ago. Yeah, it had that cool song and the girl with the really long hair who fought monsters. It was like, one of the first anime shows I'd ever laid eyes upon. Yeah, I liked that. Fuck it, it's almost over anyway and I feel like complete death. Let's throw it on. A remote control button press that will live in infamy. On my TV screen, in April of 2003, Sailor Moon is slipping and sliding on an ice rink while a pair of figure skating monsters come after her. It looks like a tricky situation, but she saves the day in the end. Huh. That was interesting. The episode's airing again later in the day and I have nothing else to do, considering that I feel like shit, so why not? So I view the whole episode. I like it. I can't tell you why now, as the particular reasons for this first transformation are lost to time and memory. Maybe it was the camp factor, maybe it was the fever, or maybe I, a teenage boy in 2003, just really liked the cute teenage anime girls.


Whatever the reason, this was the beginning of the first transformation. In April of 2003, I, a 17 year-old teenage boy, started watching the tail end of Sailor Moon's first season in secret. I was captivated by it. I was caught watching it exactly once and given a little shit for watching a children's show for little girls. I didn't care. I kept watching. That spring of 2003 was incredibly busy, in retrospect. I remember all the running around with school stuff. Book reports, homework, tests to study for... and then other looming extra-curricular things. Being tutored in high school math. Tutoring my pal in junior high math. The ever-present prep for our graduation. Working on my speech for the local speech competition. Now this leads into a vivid memory. Driving home by night from the speech competition, which was held an hour away. April 2003, a starlit night with the moon high in the sky, and looking up at it and thinking of my captivating lunar heroine whose adventures I enjoyed in secret every evening. In hindsight, and knowing where the show went now, I didn't actually watch that much. I made it from the tail end of the first season into the filler arc that opened the second. It didn't matter. The first transformation had already begun. By the summer of 2003, I was inspired. I had made a decision. I was going to write stories about those five girls I'd come to adore. Fanfiction. It's just a little embarrassing to say that, I'll admit, but the hell with it. If we can't own up to our sillier steps as teenage boys in 2003, how can we learn and grow? So there it is. I watched Sailor Moon in 2003 and wanted to write fanfiction about it. I didn't do it, and right here and now I'm glad for that in a way. It would have aged like fine cheese, a putrefaction of creativity. In thinking up ideas, I just had a self-insert who was going to hang out with the five girls and do... whatever. I admit this freely, knowing it would not have worked... but having the idea in the first place was that essential spark. Sailor Moon placed a seed inside my mind. A Star Seed that continued to grow and bloom. I was blessed with the mere idea of wanting to write, and though I didn't end up writing Sailor Moon fanfiction, I took things in another direction and started crafting stories of my own. Do you understand the essence of the transformation now? In April of 2003, laying on that couch and hacking or groaning or whatever when I hit that remote control button to turn on Sailor Moon, I created myself. I watched Sailor Moon, and watching Sailor Moon turned me into a writer.


It's January of 2018. There are many things happening in the world, and many hit songs on the radio. We're unconcerned with world history right now. This is personal history. Here and now, at this moment in time, I'm a nostalgic adult with a lot on their mind and a debt to repay. In this wild future that the teenage boy from 2003 could never have imagined, I have access to an infinity of Sailor Moon. I have access to the entire thing, and I'm going to repay my debt. I'm going to finish the show which made me the writer I am today, and I may even write about it. As the revisit happens, now in its original form and not an edited dub, I'm witness to the full potential of Sailor Moon. I know, almost immediately, what I have to do. I have to write about Sailor Moon. I have to use the power it gave me to praise it when it excels and scold it when it falters. I have to be a writer, and I have to communicate how this show has changed me. It's a scary prospect, made even scarier six months later. It's June 7th, 2018. I have finished Sailor Moon and I am literally writing this sentence right now. It's taken me half a year to watch this show, and I have gone through quite a lot to get here. It's finally time to repay my debt, and reveal just how I've changed because of this program. There's one of the secrets, of course. Sailor Moon has been absolutely influential to me, and it's changed me on a fundamental level and made me feel like a better individual for having experienced it. I can take its messages and themes to heart and feel enriched by them. Like Dirty Pair, Star Trek The Next Generation, Persona 4 Golden, and Dangan Ronpa V3 before it, this is a work that will stay with me forever. I will always remember when this was the most moving thing I'd experienced, even when the next big experience comes along. That's just how I take in media. I don't consume it: rather, I fuse with it. It becomes a part of me, and now I am going to use the power of writing it gifted me in 2003 to tell you all how it changed me in 2018. Will you come on this journey with me? The destination may be one you didn't see coming, and it's the scariest part of the whole thing... but the trip itself will be invigorating. Look up at the sky. Starlights twinkle and other worlds shine. Helios has gone to bed, to the world of dreams... and hanging in the sky, mirroring his light, the moon glows with utopian radiance. She's expecting us. She's been expecting us for years now. Come, my friend. We mustn't keep our Princess waiting. Let's begin.


Part One: The Crybaby Who Saved The World

"Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand is where I fall."




A month later now. I'm acknowledging the gap that you don't see because this is just a block of text, but this right here is being written a month after I did that lovely intro you just read. July 4th. Independence Day for my American pals. At this point, the transparency of my procrastination is more than a simple look behind a curtain. It's an admittance that I didn't know how to begin. I want this to be a post about the great and powerful feelings that I felt six months ago, but I was reluctant to let it begin as a plot summary for the first season. Still, I suppose it needs to be set up as such. The feelings will come forth, and I need to trust in that. Let us begin, then, at the beginning. It's 1992 and we're introduced to Usagi Tsukino, 14 years old. A klutz, a crybaby, a gourmand, and a poor student with failing grades. I did go back to the first episode after finishing the show, just to make things cyclical and all... and it's hard not to see my Usagi. It's hard not to talk about my Usagi, the one who made such an impression on me some months later, but she's not fully formed yet. No, Usagi has more secrets lurking within her. The first of these comes up right away, as a talking cat named Luna gives her a cute accessory and bestows upon her the power of a magical girl. So it is, then, that Usagi Tsukino transforms into a warrior of love and justice, the Sailor Senshi known as Sailor Moon. You don't need me to tell you this, but maybe you do so I must keep up appearances. Now, the points of interest begin to cascade right about here. Sailor Moon's foes for this first section of the series are the Dark Kingdom, led by Queen Beryl. They want energy from humanity with which to revive their true ruler, Metallia, and to that end Beryl sends out one of her officers, Nephrite, to drain humanity's energy to do so. What's interesting is his way of doing things. His scheme for the episode involves sending out his own monster of the week to take the place of a jewellery store owner (whose daughter also happens to be one of Usagi's best friends) and sell fancy new jewellery at incredible bargains, ensuring lots of women buy it and then get their energy drained by the cursed accessories.


Now, as a brief diversion, I should mention how I watched this show: with 200 half-hour episodes, many of them straight up monster of the week romps, I opted to follow a set of filler-free guides which condensed them all down to a viewing order that ensured every episode was either essential to the overall story or just fun in general. I admit I was a bit stricter with how much of Season 1 I watched, so I did less of it than I did with the others, so some things I missed out on. I can go back one day. The point is, I also remember an episode from 1995 that I didn't watch this time around. It was still Nephrite doing the scheme, but his energy gathering con this time involved a woman's fitness center or something like that. Now, the series involves women in these villainous energy-gathering cons because it's a magical girl show starring a lot of women and it's easy to get them involved in the plot of the episode. Or something like that. What crackled, though, was that this had the side effect of meaning that the vital energy needed to wake up Metallia from her slumber is, quite literally, feminine energy. To undercut my own point immediately, I'm sure that men get their energy drained by one of Nephrite's schemes later on. Still, sitting there in January and watching the show tell me that feminine energy was the most powerful force in this universe? That it could both awaken a dark queen from her eternal slumber, and turn a crybaby who failed all her tests into a powerful warrior of love and justice? There's something inspiring about that.


Well, we all have to start somewhere...
Sailor Moon's first battle starts a trend that will keep going for quite a while in Season 1. Those little red ornaments in her hair buns actually pick up her friend Naru's distressed cries for help as the jewellery store's patrons collapse from the energy drain, and her mother reveals herself as a monster of the Dark Kingdom. Sailor Moon is on the case not two seconds after transforming for the first time, and... well, it goes about as well as you'd expect. She runs from the brainwashed mob of jewellery-wearing women and cries a lot. Hell, even her crying is a superpower now as it creates a sonic burst. At the last moment, though, she's saved from a monster attack by a rose flung like a dart, and the mysterious Tuxedo Mask shows up to bail her out and give her the opening she needs to throw her magic tiara and dissolve the monster of the week into moon dust. That's how the show goes for a while after that, and as Saturday morning entertainment or whatever you can see the appeal. I grew up with Power Rangers, so I get the gist of it. The villains plot, they send a monster out to do a bad thing, our heroes fight them and get bailed out at the last moment and then blast the monster with their stock footage finisher. Light disposable entertainment, nothing wrong with it.


The keen of you noticed one word in that, though. Heroes. Plural. There are more magical girls to be awakened than just Sailor Moon, and over what was a slow burn on release and a quick continued burst for me, we meet them all. Ami Mizuno, studious genius and computer expert, becomes Sailor Mercury. No real alchemical power, but she's a dependable pal for Usagi who has her best interests in mind and can also fire bubbles as a magical girl. Rei Hino, glamorous shrine maiden with some form of psychic power which lets her see the future in flames, becomes the hotheaded Sailor Mars. She was my favorite in 2003 but the mists of time have obscured why. It may be as simple as "she was an anime girl I had a crush on", or maybe some part of her dub characterization spoke to me. Many people adore Sailor Mars. She isn't my favorite. Part of this is that Rei and Usagi have a... prickly relationship. They bicker a lot and butt heads, and I'm not the fondest of that. Rei's kinda mean to Usagi a lot of the time, from what I recall! Now, there are gleaming moments where Rei shows that she does indeed care for Usagi/Sailor Moon and these are more than welcome to me, but this bristly almost tsundere relationship dynamic is one I'm kind of cool on. At least Sailor Mars can shoot fire. On some basic level that's really cool. We're jumping ahead a bit, but let's talk about the remaining two girls. Makoto Kino, a tall sort of tomboyish girl who could absolutely kick your ass without a second thought but also has plenty of feminine interests, is Sailor Jupiter. She's really great. In her debut episode, one of the other generals of Dark Kingdom is pursuing a man for some magic crystal needed to further the goals of Dark Kingdom. Makoto sees this, and goes after them. Keep in mind that she isn't Sailor Jupiter yet, just an ordinary human. She goes fist first up against one of Dark Kingdom's most powerful without any fear, just to do the right thing. Goddamn. Makoto is also the focal character in that ice skating episode which started this entire journey, if you're keeping score at home.

(Interestingly enough, while doing a bit of research for this part of the post, I came across this article written by Amanda C. Miller, the voice actress for Sailor Jupiter in a later dub of Sailor Moon, in which she cites this very same figure skating episode as an inspiration and formative childhood moment. That's incredible to me, the fact that the same episode had such a profound effect on the pair of us and, in her case, led her to become her own inspiration. An overly long post will do well enough for me, but on with the show...)


This shit right here is why I wrote 20,000 words about this show.
Last, but not at all least... Minako Aino. Sailor Venus. Oh my god. I'm breaking paragraph here because I have quite a lot to gush about here. Sailor Venus is my favorite of the original five Sailor Senshi, a position held by all of two people: me and my pal Alina. For me, Minako embodies everything that made this show resonate with me. Strong. Pretty. A good friend to Usagi. She's a constant inspiration to me, in ways I can only attempt to express as best I can. Before I get into that, a little trivia: Minako enters the story fully-formed, due to her unique creation. She actually predates Sailor Moon, coming from a manga story the author wrote beforehand called Sailor V. In that, she gets an origin that's basically beat for beat what Usagi got: a talking cat tells her she has to fight evil and gives her a thing to transform into a mysterious Sailor Senshi. Sailor V is in the background of Sailor Moon, with posters and tie-in video games and all that. She's a celebrity in her own right, and then she finally joins the team as the final member late into Season 1. I'm skipping all over the place here, but let's focus in on one of the shining moments of the first season. This is when things were cemented for me, when the show shifted from being a fun romp to view every night into an honest to god piece of media that began to imprint upon me and would last in the sentimental corners of my mind.


So. Sailor Venus has only just joined the ensemble of Sailor Senshi at this point in the series, and we've just had a dramatic changing point. Usagi has learned that constant pain in the ass college student, Mamoru Chiba, is actually the mysterious Tuxedo Mask who's kept on showing up to assist in their fights with Dark Kingdom's monsters. Tuxedo Mask is captured by Dark Kingdom, and Usagi is feeling quite low about it. Enter Minako. Minako, who only just met this girl, who only just joined this circle of friends, is the one to come over and try to cheer Usagi up. Everyone else has their sympathies, of course, but they remain more practical and focused on their mission to defeat Dark Kingdom. It's Minako Aino, Warrior Of Love, who comes to Usagi's house to brush her hair and take her out to a new hair salon to get a new hairdo... because she was sad. Because she was feeling down, and Minako wanted to do what she could to make her new friend feel better. That right there is the moment when this show became a part of me. That right there is when Minako Aino, Sailor Venus, became my favorite character in this show: because she put in the extra effort to help. As I've said, it's not that the other girls don't care. it's just the specific gesture that stuck with me and helped me to begin to connect with Minako. This is also a bit of a turning point for Usagi in another way; up until now, from what I'd seen, she's still been doing the crybaby runaround until Tuxedo Mask shows up to give her an opening. In her battle with the salon monster this time around, there's still a bunch of panicked dodging but she does actually gain the upper hand and almost wins the battle all by herself, only foiled by (ironically) Tuxedo Mask who's been brainwashed by Dark Kingdom. The point is, though... Minako's act of kindness has done more than just open my heart. It's opened Sailor Moon's potential. The crybaby is beginning to gain a sense of bravery.


Before we get to the end, I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about Dark Kingdom and its villains a bit. Nephrite we've mentioned, the siphoner of feminine energy who bites it 13 episodes in after a botched attempt to trap Sailors Moon, Mars, and Mercury at an abandoned airport and finish them off. The next in line is Malachite, whom I didn't see a lot of but apparently has a divination gimmick and a subplot where he falls for Usagi's friend Naru that I didn't see. I probably should have, but that's a well I can go back to. No, the far more interesting pair are Zoicite and Kunzite. They're... well, Zoicite is at least incredibly gay for Kunzite. This got changed in the old dub, such that Zoicite became a woman. That's... something that I won't touch on just yet. You'll have to wait a few seasons for me to get into gender stuff and Sailor Moon. Kunzite is rather strong, though, and quite plotting in a lot of ways. Right. That should be well and good. On to the finale. We're getting into plot summary territory again, I'm afraid, but I will follow it up with emotional thoughts. Promise. The time for the final battle draws near, and our five heroines use a group teleport (yes, they have that power) to warp to the Arctic where Dark Kingdom's base in. They're accosted by Kunzite, the last living general of Dark Kingdom, and then truth is revealed in a big flashback. All along, the mission of Luna and Artemis (Usagi and Minako's talking cat pals, respectively) has been to locate the princess of the moon, Serenity.


SURPRISE SURPRISE IT WAS USAGI ALL ALONG! She's a reincarnation of the old Moon Princess, and Serenity was in love with Prince Endymion of Earth who Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask is a reincarnation of. Oh yeah, and all the other girls are reincarnations of the Sailor Senshi of old, EVERYONE'S A REINCARNATION! Dark Kingdom invaded the moon long ago and destroyed the peaceful kingdom, but the Queen used the power of a Silver Crystal to reincarnate everyone on Earth in the present day at the cost of her own life. Now Dark Kingdom wants the crystal for their own ends, and Usagi's got the thing. We've made it to the finale now.. It's time for a bit of narrative collapse, the point at which Dark Kingdom not only threatens the Sailor Senshi, but the show's basic ability to tell its story. A new quintet of villains, the DD Girls, are sent to stop the girls from getting to Dark Kingdom's HQ... and while they don't exactly succeed at that, the cost is great. Everyone aside from Sailor Moon is killed in battle with the DD Girls, and the show makes no bones about it. They're dead. They all go out heroically, of course, Venus and Mars in particular going out with one last big attack to vaporize a DD Girl or two... but they're dead. Even Tuxedo Mask, still brainwashed and made to face Sailor Moon once she alone reaches Queen Beryl, manages to bite it. Queen Beryl has the power of Metallia now. The world's pretty much fucked... until a lone figure approaches in the distance.







Usagi Tsukino. 14 years old. A klutz, a crybaby, a gourmand, and a poor student with failing grades. She's also a warrior of love and justice, a warrior who just lost her four best friends and her true love from a bygone age, and now is face to face with a being of pure evil. She doesn't cry. She doesn't run away. As her heroic transformation music plays, in the middle of the polar wastes, she strides forward with determination. Without witness, without reward, but with all the hope in the world, Usagi Tsukino stands against the ultimate evil of Dark Kingdom. She uses the power of the Silver Crysal, knowing full well that it will destroy her as well. Her friends, in spirit, assist her in striking back against Metallia's power. Sailor Moon gives herself to save the world, and by divine miracle everyone is reincarnated back to where they should be... but the cost? They have no memory of what they've done, who they've fought, the bonds they've made. They get their lives back, but Sailor Moon as a concept is done.


...Or it would be, if Naoko Takeuchi had her way, supposedly. It's hard to say whether or not this would have been a fitting end to the show. For me, I'm of two minds on it. Knowing what's to come and how this show will play with the concepts and ideas it's seeded in its primal state here? I wouldn't have it end here for the world. As awe-inspiring it is to see the completion of Usagi's arc from a crybaby to a warrior who gives herself to save the world? There's so much more to be done. The first season has only started the journey. It's by no means over, and later seasons will look back on this moment. With hindsight, I know the inspiration and joy I felt at watching Usagi blow herself and Metallia up is... somewhat inadequate. There's another way, and we'll get to it. Later. For now, we have our solid framework. Five amazing and wonderful girls who fight evil by moonlight, who I adore, who are friends and valued role models to me. Aspirations and dreams fill me as I view these early years, and it only gets better from here. This can't be where it all ends. Not by a long shot.


Next Time: The Crybaby Heals The Future

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