#sailor stars

Happy New Year! This is a scan of a Sailor Moon Sailor Stars Marumiya curry sauce box. The artwork is rarely seen, but it’s gorgeous. The box is now around 23 years old! Enjoy the scan!

Eternal Sailor Moon :: Three-Lights.net Gallery

floraone:

sailormoonandme:

We need to talk about the Stars Arc Part 1: Introduction

We need to talk about the Stars Arc Part 2: Contextualizing the manga and anime

We need to talk about the Stars Arc Part 3: Stars of a Different Stripe

We need to talk about the Stars Arc Part 4: Conclusion

Anyway these are one big, fantastic analysis on the stars arcs in the manga and the anime!

Those who know me know I live more in the manga than the OG anime, because I have my own personal qualms with some of the choices the animators made (which, truthfully, are not specific to this post, so, whew!) 

However!

That doesn’t automatically make the manga/Crystal better than the OG anime, or any other version of SM. And preferring one version of this story isn’t bad. 

You prefer the OG anime?
Huzzah! 
There are certainly a lot of elements I still enjoy, and it got me into the fandom when I was a young teen, so I will always be grateful for that.

You prefer the manga?
Huzzah! 

You prefer Crystal?
Huzzah!

You prefer PSGM or the Musicals?
Huzzah!

The important thing here is that we all love the fandom, whatever that version (or all of them!) happens to be. One version isn’t inherently better than the other; it just boils down to personal preference. It is possible to express that preference without being degrading to the other versions, insulting the fans of your non-preferred version, or without stepping on others’ joy.

I saw a lot of this during the OG Anime vs Crystal debates. A lot of the complains about Crystal (inconsistent animation of the first 2 seasons aside) usually boiled down to preference for the OG anime, so Crystal was called “bad” simply because it wasn’t the 90′s anime.

Crystal wasn’t trying to be the OG Anime - the OG anime already did that - and the two really can’t be compared for all the reasons expressed in @sailormoonandme’s analysis.

I hope we can all come together and appreciate that we are getting more Sailor Moon content!

Huzzah!

Mercury in the veins

Ft. Ami Mizuno * Sailor Mercury

It’s happening! But unfortunately it’s only 2 films again. Why can’t they give sailor moon the attention it deserves? The eternal movies were great, but even adapting the Mangas shortest story arc, they cut a decent amount of content. Like even with crystal 1-3 and a season format they cut material. And sailor moon is designed for expansion in the anime, not less of the story being adapted. Not to mention we have some great side stpries that should of been adapted.

Plus honestly sailor moon does better with a season format considering its plotlines are broken up for episodes while it builds to the final conflict.

I’m absolutely excited. But this process of adaption continues to baffle me considering what a cash cow and iconic franchise the series is. I guess we’ll probably never get a codename sailor v adaption at this rate. Unless they decide to reboot the anime in another decade or 2

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars

Sailor Moon Sailor Stars

This is a Sailor Moon post rather than a Dragon Age post. Shocker, I know, but Sailor Moon is another one of my loves.

This will focus on the 90s anime adaptation of the manga. So do not come at me with “but in the manga,” because the 90s adaptation and the manga were incredibly different in multiple ways.

Seiya will be referred to as she/her because the male form was a disguise. That being said, any interpretation of Seiya’s gender is valid and I love them all!

Anyway.

I see a lot of shit talking about Seiya and it’s honestly … super tiring. So many of the “negative” points against Seiya are misinterpreted, misunderstood, and misrepresented for the sake of making her look like a dumpster fire.

1. “Seiya is creepy towards Usagi and stalks her.”
Except … she doesn’t. They meet by accident numeroustimes, and in fact Usagi even seeks Seiya out. They develop a friendship, and it’s normal and natural for friends to seek each other out. Usagi and the girls actually, literally stalk the Three Lights more than once during the season.

2. “Seiya thinks Usagi is weak because she told Mamoru to take care of her when they left.”
This honestly makes no sense to me. It is repeatedly shown that Seiya admires Usagi’s strength, both as Usagi and as Sailor Moon. It is natural to want the people you love to be protected, and that does not mean that you think they’re weak and incapable of protecting themselves. Seiya knew Usagi was capable and strong because she had seen her demonstrate these traits multiple times. Throughout the season, Seiya repeatedly lifts Usagi up with her confidence in her capabilities. This is even before she knows she is Sailor Moon.

Let’s not forget that when Galaxia kills all of the Inners, they ask the Starlights to protect Sailor Moon, so saying that Seiya telling Mamoru to take care of her means she thinks she is weak … that must mean everyone else thinks she is too, right? It’s absurd.

3. “Seiya can’t take ‘no’ for an answer, always hits on her, and is constantly pressuring her into a relationship.”
It is true that Seiya repeatedly quips about “having a chance” with Usagi. It’s also true that Usagi repeatedly reminds Seiya that she has a boyfriend. But it isn’t true that Seiya repeatedly attempts to coerce her into a relationship. It also isn’t true that she does it all the time. While she shouldn’t have done it even more than once (when she was unaware of Usagi’s relationship status,) it’s obvious from the context that she isn’t being serious. Seiya repeatedly making quips is an issue, and while those kinds of situations can and often do mean someone is being a “Nice Guy,” a predator, an abuser, etc., we know from everything that we see that it is not the case with Seiya.

Let’s take the “date,” for an example: Seiya throws it out there (literally, just time and place and walks off) and Usagi willingly shows up the next day and is even irritated that Seiya is late. Usagi is not forced or coerced into the date; she retains all of the power regarding whether or not she shows up. She would not have gone if she didn’t wantto.

Actually, let’s look at these instances of Seiya hitting/making a move on Usagi.

- In the “date” episode, Usagi thinks that Seiya is going to make a move on her. Some suggest that Usagi thinks she is going to kiss her, but the language, Usagi’s expressions, and her reaction to the truth seem to imply that she thinks Seiya is suggesting something more intimate.

- In the episode with the beach monster when Chibi Chibi opens up the door and pushes Seiya over on to Usagi, Usagi is the one who, again, assumes Seiya is up to No Good, despite it being a complete accident and innocent on Seiya’s part.

- In the episode where Seiya spends the night at Usagi’s because she’s alone and Seiya very nearly confesses who she is to Usagi while they’re in her bedroom, it is Usagi who believes that Seiya is going to confess to having a crush on her.

- Later in that same episode, when they are hiding in the cabinet and Seiya again thinks about confessing her true identity to her, it is Usagi who thinks Seiya is about to suggest something intimate.

In fact, throughout the season, it is everyone from Usagi, to the other girls, to single-episode characters, to even Luna who think that Seiya is going to suggest or attempt illicit activities with Usagi, and notSeiya.

It is all but explicitly stated that Usagi is attracted to Seiya. Not just because of the implications of her assumptions, but also because she is scolded over it. In fact, Rei tells her that she needs to sort her feelings out. Haruka and Michiru forbid her from seeing Seiya because she has Mamoru. She may not love Seiya the same way, but she is attracted to her and she does love her (and Usagi being attracted to other people is not a new thing.)

Let’s look at the softball episode, because it’s … pretty problematic and people often point to it as being one of the episodes that paint Seiya as some creepy stalker who can’t just take a hint and tells everyone that Usagi is her girlfriend.

It is Rei who thinks that Seiya training Usagi in softball is inappropriate (let’s remember that it is Ami who thinks that something illicit is going on with Seiya and Usagi in the bodyguard episode…) because Mamoru is Usagi’s boyfriend, not Seiya.

It is Sonoko who insists that Seiya’s “relationship” with Usagi isn’t acceptable, and it is her that places the bet that if Seiya’s team loses, she’s not to associate with Usagi anymore. Seiya agrees because she’s competitive, hates to lose, has confidence in herself and Usagi, and knows that Sonoko is wrong. When Usagi tries to interject about the actual nature of their relationship (that they’re not dating,) it’s the girlswho shush her because they’re expecting Seiya’s team to lose and that will give them the opportunity to make Seiya feel better.

I want to touch on the “Seiya knows Sonoko is wrong” part. I think what a lot of people don’t think about is that when Sonoko placed this bet and openly stated her disapproval of Seiya spending time with Usagi, Sonoko was attacking Usagi’s worth as a person. She was openly saying that Usagi wasn’t good enough to be hanging out with Seiya in any capacity. Seiya took issue with this because she obviously believes and knows differently. She values Usagi as a person. Who is Sonoko to decide who is and isn’t good enough to spend time with her?

Seiya is not approaching the situation with entirely selfish motives, unlike the girls who fed into the Seiya/Usagi romance for the hopeful eventuality of them being able to comfort Seiya after a loss when she’ll be forced to stop hanging out with Usagi. She uses this situation to help bolster Usagi’s confidence in herself.

That doesn’t change the fact that the bet is stupid to begin with, but it is what it is.

Oh, additionally … Seiya doesn’t tell the school that she and Usagi are dating. Them dating is an assumption that Seiya simply doesn’t correct. It’s worth noting that if she did correct that assumption, it would feed into Sonoko’s declaration that Usagi isn’t good enough to be with Seiya.

4. “Seiya tried to make the rooftop scene about herself and used it as a way to try to take Mamoru’s place in Usagi’s life.”
This whole entire scene is consistently misinterpreted and has all of the context ripped from it, because that is not what that scene is.

No, it 100% was not the best time for Seiya to ask that question (and no, it is not “can I take his place?” that she says,) but people tend to forget that Usagi is not the only vulnerable person in this scene and it isn’t just about her. It is Seiya who triggers Usagi’s emotional breakdown on accident, and in these moments she is watching the person she loves crumble into pieces. The rooftop scene is about both of them and the context makes that clear.

Up until this point, the only person who knew that Mamoru wasn’t keeping in contact with Usagi was Seiya. None of the girls knew, none of them. Imagine the amount of trust Usagi had to have in Seiya in order to share that incredibly sensitive information with her and with no one else, not even her closest friends. Usagi had told Seiya a whole 13 episodes before this one, and since finding out Seiya tried her best to make Usagi happy and to keep her mind busy. It isn’t until a few episodes after this that everyone including Seiya finds out that Mamoru is dead.

So Seiya spends all of this time believing that Mamoru ditched Usagi when he moved overseas and that he’s a horrible boyfriend who obviously doesn’t care about Usagi. This is naturally hurtful to Seiya, who grows to genuinely like and love Usagi through the season. She cares for her and doesn’t want to see her in pain, which is why she does her best to help Usagi feel less alone.

There is no point in the season where Seiya’s intentions are to maliciously shove herself into Mamoru’s place in Usagi’s life.

She has no idea who Tuxedo Mask is. She had no idea that throwing the red rose - her own personal trademark - was going to trigger such an emotional response from Usagi.

So here they both are on this rooftop in the middle of the pouring rain. Usagi’s breaking down over how alone she feels, and Seiya’s suddenly faced with the realization that not only did she cause this breakdown, everything she had been trying to do to help her wasn’t working and she failed again.

She couldn’t save her system/planets, 99.9% of her people are literally dead because she wasn’t strong enough to save them, and she and the other two members of her team had no idea where their princess was or even if she was okay until the episode before this one. Immediately after the destruction of everything they knew, the Starlights had to flee to an alien planet with alien people, disguise themselves, and pander to a bunch of complete strangers that salivated over, stalked, and harassed them, all while searching for their princess  and fighting the minions of the person who ctrl+a ctrl+x’ed their home system.

She had no time to process any of the unimaginable loss and failure she had suffered through.

When people talk about the rooftop scene and about how Seiya “makes it about herself,” this is everything they’re forgetting.

When Seiya is asking Usagi if she isn’t good enough, it isn’t Seiya trying to weasel her way in, it’s Seiya both coping with her own numerous losses and trying to remind Usagi that she’s there for her.

In the end, Seiya is the one that Usagi credits with being able to get herself through everything she was dealing with.