#anyway we slightly proof read and hit post. but yeah; akari will never be normal in my verses lol. thanks for reading

[cosmama]

theories and questions with summer: this began as a joke post but turned into a rare moment where i share the inner workings of my thoughts on SM canon / theories in regard to my portrayal ( occasionally throughout this i will refer to princess serenity, usagi, and akari as a unit by calling them the 'moon trinity'. it's easier than typing their names out each time ). enjoy.

sometimes when i'm making verses i think: 'should i just make akari a normal person?' because everyone might not know her or she might seem like a 'lot' but then i remember that:

her power level is crazy. even when masquerading as a child and in her iconic 15 seconds of screen time. but she's part of the moon trinity so the trait of being silly and stupid is inherent apparently.

she just has...time travel powers over other people? she casually explains the galaxy's ultimate power to a bunch of 12 year olds before being like, 'okay go home now' and just teleports them back to their time lmao

her identity and source of power is still discussed/debated to this day.*although between updated manga translations, the movies, and the musical, her identity is pretty clear(tm) to me and i think most of the fandom has generally accepted she is some form of us/agi. but i respect people continuing to have their theories too.

cosmos not being in the 90s anime was viewed as such a major absence that they named the new stars arc adaption after her, a character that ends up having like five minutes of screentime at best, to say 'hey, she's here! we fixed it' (and while it makes searching for content for her more annoying now, i appreciate that!)

to some, she's too mystique / powerful to even need a henshin - which is a take i've seen that i do NOT agree with lol! if anything her transformation in cosmos was too short and also too similar to kakyuu / felt a tad bit recycled in places imo >.> i get why(tm) but i wanted MORE aka something like this to show her majesty - especially since her lil transformation in the movie has some subtle hints / references to usagi's ESM henshin already imo so it would've been a nice, full parallel. but i am biased. and greedy idc lol. ky/lo._ren_more.gif )

and finally: she's mother. dat's it.

okay jokes aside: usagi is the messiah of the sm universe and that viewpoint affects how i write cosmos ( and no, i'm not referring to the 90s anime specifically, although the general purpose / her being a savior is the same ).

this is a lukewarm take! however, the implications of what that means within the universe of sm itself or how that affects usagi as a person isn't really analyzed or talked about deeply in the greater fandom from what i've seen ( and i say this respectfully: most of the sm analytical content is kind of surface-level ). we have this person ascending to an ultimate holy status, becoming an immortal being with a deep, inherent knowledge of the universe and this process feels basically fated. while princess serenity's star seed is supposedly just like her mother's, there is also something...different about her despite that claim.

i think more happened in this scene but i just...can never really exactly narrow my thoughts on a proper 'what'. it doesn't 'feel' like it's just queen serenity bringing her daughter's star seed to be reborn to me. originally, i used to go back and forth on if this scene was showing the princess' birth or was after her death but it's the latter because:

in the manga, guardian cosmos theorizes that maybe the woman wanted to make a new history for the star after choosing to remain in the cauldron - which costs the queen her life as she joins the 'sea' inside of it.

the movie also has her specifically say that the queen was distraught so the implication to me on when this takes place became pretty clear.

considering the unknown nature around princess serenity's birth it just makes me go 'hmmmm'. did queen serenity come here when the princess was 'born' too? what did she know about the galaxy cauldron? something about this scene feels like an exchange - the three of them are linked together. it's reinforced by the fact that guardian cosmos makes a point to say she remembers the moment well. how much life has the cauldron seen leave and return to it? what would make this specific star seed so memorable to her? was she more directly involved in its creation?

basically what i'm saying is that it's very possible that princess serenity has two mothers: queen serenity and the galaxy cauldron itself. guardian cosmos mentions that there is a chaos seed and a guardian chaos but they've been pushed to the depths of the cauldron. the moon trinity's star seed is the 'cosmos seed'. they became a true star and was born while chaos is still desperately waiting to do the same.

but i am digressing super hard right now. let's continue!

all of this is a very long way from being a teenager who eats a lot, oversleeps, and doesn't apply herself to get good grades ( b/c i also don't actually think usagi is 'dumb' even if i jokingly say that. she's lazy and doesn't study, there's a difference ).

there's a tragedy within this too though: we have this person who deeply feeds off the connections she has with other people - for instance, a popular headcanon explaining why the princess became a senshi when they reincarnated is because of her wish to protect and fight amongst her friends. whether that's true or not, she's always doomed to outlive them all. there is also beauty in finding each other again and again - which a constant theme within SM as a series.

which i guess gets to the ultimate question that i unintentionally ended up exploring on this blog: is it right for god to live amongst us? to find love? to have a child? to find friendship in other people even when her very existence is a constant threat to them all? is that selfish? is that wrong of her? the series says no - and in my opinion, it is right. it doesn't mean life is easy for her: the stars arc has usagi confronted with the fact that her power isn't beloved or always helpful to others. there are senshi that resent her and what she stands for, blaming her for the endless conflict and misery they've been trapped in due to galaxia's obsessive desire for power.

then there's akari. she isn't that teenage girl anymore. she's not overtly bubbly or as friendly as she once was when she was younger or in the other lives between her and usagi. she's over 6,000 years old. she's depressed. she's tired. but she's trying to live again - to learn to have hope after coming so close to giving up. she is definitely more on the 'alien god' side of whatever spectrum the moon trinity exist 'on' but she's trying.

note: this may have just been some added flavor from the localization ( which is fine to me, i, mostly, support localizers / don't attack them in this house! ), but guardian cosmos refers to queen serenity specifically as a 'heavenly body' that visited her. the distinction felt notable considering she referred to the sol senshi as 'stars' just a moment prior.

ultimately, akari's 'girl failureness' results in trying to destroy all life in the galaxy rather than having bad grades. it happens!

a bit more on the moon girls and the galaxy cauldron.

in the english dub, usagi, sailor cosmos ( + chibi chibi ), and guardian cosmos are all voiced by the same VA ( and if it wasn't for - understandable - stunt casting for cosmos, it probably would've been the same for the japanese dub. although it should be noted that cosmos and guardian cosmos still do share the same va in jpn while usagi and chibi chibi are both voiced by kotono ). the connection between the three is pretty apparent. guardian cosmos is definitely sailor moon's power guardian but unlike with the other senshi and their power guardians...she's not with usagi. she seemingly remains in the galaxy cauldron at all times and may or may not be able to leave.

but cosmos is still always with sailor moon even if she doesn't physically appear by her side - her 'presence' is felt within usagi's power as a sailor senshi. we see it the most overtly with sailor cosmos though.

white is the reflection of all wavelengths and considering naoko's tendency to incorporate science into sailor moon, sailor cosmos fuku being that color is more than just an aesthetic choice. cosmos is a reflection of not just the sol senshi but every senshi. she represents them as the ultimate sailor senshi; the ideal soldier that they all aspire to be and a protector of not just earth - but the entire galaxy. this is sailor moon's future, and it is reaffirmed in an original line from the movie:

however, chaos may still be reborn. but i know sailor moon, if that happens...you will protect us once more. - guardian cosmos.

color and theming matter in the magical girl genre but especially in sailor moon. we see the direct link between akari, usagi, and guardian cosmos through the use of colors for them throughout the movie to emphasize their connection and what links them together: the galaxy cauldron.

whenever a power tied to the cosmos crystal is used ( and remember, the cosmos crystal is the sailor crystal of the cauldron itself ), it's represented specifically by a bright, iridescent color scheme - the colors on the visible light spectrum. akari is physically shown to appear this way but it's showcased whenever she uses her abilities too:

when usagi scarifies her life by using the lambda power, the ultimate power of the cosmos crystal, the same color scheming replaces her usual golden crescent mark and pink transformative ribbons:

finally, there's guardian cosmos. when she first speaks to usagi and friends inside the cauldron, she appears as nothing but light - it's in the same cosmic glow that akari and usagi have now used. when she uses her powers to teleport everyone out of the cauldron, the same color scheme that reflects 'cosmos', or the galaxy cauldron, is used here:

also guardian cosmos. guardian chaos. galaxy cauldron. GC. you're so funny naoko.

on being a mother.

there's also a theme of motherhood in the series beyond just the obvious usagi / chibiusa dynamic. while yes, the 'cosmom' thing started off as just for fun from mutuals, it's actually incredibly relevant to sailor moon thematically. in a series that is very loud and proud about putting femmes at the forefront, i would think yes: the primordial figures representing the balance of the universe, whose light and darkness is in every living thing being represented as women is intentional. so is the galaxy cauldron being a 'mother' that is the source of all life - one of the translations even refers to the sea inside of the cauldron as the 'mother lifestream' ( *i am not sure what the perfect edition translation says, haven't bought any of those yet ).

if the moon trinity is tied to galaxy cauldron by being a living personification of 'it' and its power then yes, they are, quite literally, the mothers of the universe. the most direct comparison i can give is the God to Jesus comparison - usagi even 'dies' so that everyone can start anew, including 'sinners' like galaxia ( while the manga and movie never state what happens to her, the musical makes a point to say that even galaxia was revived and got to return to her home star ). i could say more but this post is already long.

tl;dr:

somebody: why is sailor moon all about usagi :/

me: BECAUSE SHE'S LITERALLY GOD.

*also the last part is ( partially ) a joke, i agree with most of the critiques about how everyone not named usagi doesn't really getting their due in the manga. with that said, there are also fans of the series they just seem to hate and resent the main character of the series. screw them lol