#this is what PGSM has done to me

[tirorah]

Me: Eh, not a big fan of musicals and such.

Universe:

Me: AWW YEAH LET'S GO

[real-life-senshi]

PGSM Five Performers Special Talk Session - Fan Translation

In celebration of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (Live-Action)'s 🎉 20th anniversary🎉, I present to you the never-been-done-before, full translation of the Senshi talk (3 pages long) from the "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Visual Book" (first released on April 30, 2004)!

Some notes & disclaimer:

I'm not a fluent Japanese speaker, but I do know Hiragana, Katakana, basic Japanese grammar and kanji, and a few good tools to use for translation. All's to say, all mistakes are mine. Sorry if there's any!

I'm also not a professional translator. Due to the grammar differences between Japanese and English, some sentences will sound awkward in English for the conversation to make sense.

Hama Chisaki is the old stage name Izumi Rika used when working on PGSM. She changed her stage name to Izumi Rika after changing production company and returning to the entertainment industry after a hiatus where she focused on school.

Please note that everyone's name is written in the order of (Family Name) (First Name) in Japanese style instead of Western style.

You can find scans of the full Visual Book at Miss Dream.org! I own a copy of the Visual Book, so I made some of my own scans for some of the images and was able to double-check the text outside of Miss Dream's scans.

Without further ado...

No matter in transformation as a Sailor Senshi or out of transformation, all 5 girls are incredibly busy in their daily lives.   Although there are not many opportunities for all the members to get together, but just like their development within the drama, the bond between them seems to be deepening day by day.

Here is a guest-talk session with all 5 of them. In fact, this is a "first in history”!

Kitagawa: Among the 5 of us, don’t you seem the most feminine and lady-like? Azama: Is that so?

—For this round of work, the 5 of you are gathered to do this photo shoot for the Visual Book, but you rarely get to all come together in a full group when you're shooting for the drama, right?

Sawai Miyuu (Sawai): That’s true. I think the first time all 5 of us got to shoot together in the drama was the assembly hall scene (Act 18)?

Azama Mew (Azama): And after that, there were a couple more times.

Hama Chisaki (Hama): But for the other times I'm the only one that's not really there. (laughs) Right now I’m Dark Mercury (Editor note: this is how everyone calls Sailor Mercury on site while she’s under the enemy’s control). Because of this, I’m all alone. (laughs)

—From “Crank In” (= Japanese term for starting film shoot) till now, over half a year has passed already.

Sawai: That’s so quick!

Hama: Eh, that means it’ll be farewell soon? (laughs)

Kitagawa Keiko (Kitagawa): But you can also think of it as there’s still another half a year to go.  It’s kind of like a turning point for us.

Hama: I see. From that perspective, it feels like we still have a long way to go. (laughs)

The truth of the 5 girls! Would you want to go back to that day?

—In reality, among the 5 of you which of you is most unlike the character you portray?

Sawai: Isn’t everyone quite similar to their character?

Kitagawa:  Not me.

Hama:  I don't think so either.

Kitagawa: (without hesitation) Yeah, you’re not.

Hama: Hey now. (laughs) But Mako-chan (= Azama Mew) also isn’t, so isn’t everyone quite unlike their character besides Usagi (= Sawai Miyuu)?

Sawai: Wait, what?

Azama: You really are just the way Usagi is.

Sawai: What? …… But one of us is more mature?

Hama & Azama: (in unison) Who?

Sawai: Me! Sawai Miyuu!

Everyone: ……

Sawai: Eh, why? That’s how everyone thinks of me?

Azama: Fashion sense, hairstyle, etc. is different though.

Sawai: Not like that! I meant my personality, my way of thinking, etc. (laughs) …… But, I still think with the 5 of us, we all are like our characters in individual unique ways……

Kitagawa: We look similar.

Komatsu Ayaka (Komatsu): What do you mean by that? (laughs)

Kitagawa: Like our aura, I think we all give off a similar vibe to the original characters.

Komatsu: Ahh, you’re right, we do fit the vibes.

Azama: I don’t think my vibe fits though?

Everyone else: You fit—!

Sawai: Such as the part where you’re both feminine.

Kitagawa: Among the 5 of us, don’t you seem the most feminine and lady-like? 

Azama: Is that so? 

Sawai: Then we’re fine up until the last episode, Minako is alive! Komatsu: Got it. I’ll do my best. I won’t die. (laughs)

Hama:  Seriously though, even for the people who have not seen the show at all, if they see the 5 of us, I think they probably can figure out which character each of us plays (just then, a sound of “pop” came from beside her.) …… Usagi-chan, stop popping your bone. (laughs)

Sawai: Ah, please transcribe the sound you heard just now in a cool* way.

「シャキーン！」(Shakin) was the word Sawai used to describe her request. Which is an onomatopoeia commonly used in manga to describe something done looking cool and eye-catching, like a character's victory pose. What a Usagi-like behaviour... lol

Azama:  That makes no sense. (laughs)

—Now that we’ve gotten to the punchline (laughs), I'd like to ask which of the 5 of you do you think gave a first impression that is the most different from the reality.

Everyone: Chisaki!

Hama:  Me, because I’m shy……

Azama: When we first met, I thought she was not talkative at all. Then before I knew it, she started talking a lot. ....... I don't remember how it happened in between. (laughs)

Kitagawa: But we’ve all changed [since the time of establishing first impressions].

Sawai: That’s true. At first, we wouldn’t even joke with each other.

Hama: Yeah. And before, they wouldn't ignore me or anything like they do now.

Azama: Eh? We would ignore you now?

Hama: I didn’t mean it like that. (laughs) Before, when someone made a [bad] joke, you wouldn't just let it slide, or say something halfheartedly like "yeah, yeah", right? I wish I could go back in time.

Kitagawa: I don’t want to go back.

Komatsu: Yeah, you’d want to move forward. (laughs)

Kitagawa: Yeah, let’s keeping looking forward. Because we’ve all done such hard work to get here already.

Hama: And I don't want to go through that winter again (laughs)……

The Senshi team divided? What would Minako’s fate be?

—As mentioned earlier, it took quite a long time for all 5 of you to get together in the show, hasn't it?

Sawai: I was really happy about it.  It was like, "Finally, all five of us are here!"

Azama: My friends laughed at that assembly hall scene though.

Komatsu: My family too. (laughs)

Hama: Eh? Why?

Azama: Y’know, we paused to pose a few times didn't we? And after all of that, we end up not fighting as a full team after all. (laughs) They said, "Aren’t the 5 of you supposed to fight together?"

Sawai: Speaking of, Venus has a lot of cool-looking arrival scenes.

Kitagawa: Halation*. (laughs)

Halation: (photography/filmography terminology) It means a halo-effect when additional lighting is added.

Komatsu: Come again?

Kitagawa: It's what Director [Sato] Takemitsu said. “This is the scene where the princess appears, so we'll need some halation,” he said.

Sawai: He really did say that quite a few times.  “Halation, more halation”, he’d say.

Kitagawa: He'd say, “It’s an iconic scene. So give me more halation!”  It's strangely still ringing in my ears. (laughs) But by the time this book came out......

—Everyone would’ve found out that Usagi is the real princess, and Venus is the leader (Act. 25~26).

Komatsu: That’s true. (At Kitagawa Keiko) “You’re the substitute”. (laughs)

Azama: And, the rest of us are like the other 2 spares. (laughs)

Hama: The princess, the leader and the sub, and then blue and green, it does feel like that. (laughs)

—No way! (laughs) By the way, do you guys have time to watch the show at all?

Sawai: I watch it. After all, sometimes it’s hard to imagine how I would look on TV. Even with commercial shoots, you never know how it's going to look until the final product is finished .......

Kitagawa:  I’m the opposite. I’m afraid to watch it.  At first, when I watched it on the On Air* date, I felt frustrated and thought, "I could’ve done much better now.” I guess I watch it mostly when I don’t appear much on screen.

On Air: Japanese filmography terminology for the first official footage release of a program, typically means the first episode of a series.

Azama: There was a time when I didn't have enough time to watch it, at its peak I'd miss the show for up to a month's time. So I'd binge-watch all 4 episodes in one go the moment I can instead, and I’m still 2 episodes behind right now. (laughs)

—Excluding your own scenes, what scene has left a memorable impression on you?

Kitagawa:  There are so many that I can’t decide on one.

Hama: It’s practically impossible to say our lines when suffering from pollen allergies. Sawai: It’d be like “In the name of love and justice… achoo!” (laughs)

Azama: For me, the scene where Akumi-chan (Editor’s note: During the time as Dark Mercury, Hama Chisaki’s character Mizuno Ami is referred to as “Akumi”, merging “Aku” (evil) with “Ami”.) was on the merry-go-round was great.

Sawai: That sideway glance was really intense. (laughs)

—Speaking of intense, the confrontation between Rei (=Kitagawa Keiko) and Minako (=Komatsu Ayaka) was also very exciting.

Sawai: And ever since then, I notice those two (Kitagawa & Komatsu) have become very close. (laughs)

Azama: And, those two (Sawai & Hama) are also really close with each other, so I’m left all alone……

Sawai: That’s not true!

Azama: Odd numbers are not good to work with after all. (laughs) From now on, I'll get closer to Luna (Sailor Luna = Koike Rina) instead. (laughs)

Hama: Lately, most of my time is spent in the company of the Shitennou. (laughs) I feel like it's been a long time since I’ve met everyone like this.

Sawai: I've also been spending a lot of time with Mamo-chan (Chiba Mamoru = Shibue Jouji) lately. And most of the scenes are done with gloomy expressions. (laughs)

Komatsu: Minako’s also suffering from time to time...I wonder what will happen?

Sawai: She did say there’s only six months left.

Hama: Let’s make a decision now?

Komatsu: About my illness? (laughs)

Hama: Wouldn't that make it easier [to act]?

Sawai: In talking with the collective staff-san, the story is supposed to be that Sailor Moon protects Minako from dying using the Silver Crystal......

Azama: Eh? Mamoru* dies from the Silver Crystal?

“To protect”( 守る) is pronounced “mamo-ru” in Japanese. Azama mistook Sawai's choice of saying “protect” with “Chiba Mamoru” the character.

Sawai: That’s not it! (laughs) To use the Silver Crystals to "protect" Minako.

Kitagawa: I guess that'll be in the last episode……

Sawai: Then we’re fine up until the last episode, Minako is alive!

Komatsu: Got it. I’ll do my best. I won’t die. (laughs) But before the last episode, I might die a bit.

Azama: Die a bit?

Komatsu: No, I meant to say, “I might die a bit before”. (laughs) (At Sawai Miyuu), Well, I’ll be counting on you then. (everyone laughs)

Sawai: But six months is quite a long time, isn't it?

Komatsu: …… So you want me to die sooner? Even though I just bowed at you. (laughs)

The Sailor Senshi’s message to their fans

—Since Crank In in the summer, winter had come and gone, and now spring has arrived……

Sawai: Crank-in was so hot! And I was running all the time.

Hama: At first it was just the two of us, me and Usagi. And Naru-chan (Kawabe Chieco) too.

Kitagawa: And I joined in September.

Sawai: It would have been rough to wear a shrine maiden costume in August.

Kitagawa: No, because there’s the fireplace, it actually always feels like midsummer for me.

Sawai: Oh I see. But even though I’m really glad winter’s over, now there’s pollen allergy to deal with in spring. (laughs)

Hama: It’s practically impossible to say our lines when suffering from pollen allergies.

Sawai: It’d be like “In the name of love and justice… achoo!” (laughs).

—To wrap us up, would you please give a message to your fans?

Hama: This kind of thing is so hard to do. (laugh)

Azama: Let’s go in the order of the day of the week*.

Japanese days are named according to the elements. From Monday – Sunday: moon, fire, water, wood, gold/metal, earth, and sun. This means Mercury's and Mars's order is flipped when compared to the Senshi lineup.

Sawai: The order of the day of the week. (laughs) So I’m first? …… Hm~mm, it has already been six months since the program started and the 5 of us have come together, please support us until the very end. We will also do our very best!

Kitagawa: For purchasing this book, thank you very much.  It's very much appreciated.

Hama: You can see the 5 of us outside of our usual roles in this book. And you can also see how we spent our New Year's (laugh), so please enjoy this book!

Azama: When thinking about how things will unfold moving forward, I think everyone will be looking forward to how things turn out, so let’s all be excited and watch each episode together! (laughs)

Komatsu: They said everything already. (laughs) I don't know what to do……

—It's the closing of this segment, so please end it with style.

Komatsu: …… Only six more months left.* (everyone laughs)

OMG, she legit just quoted her own line, THAT line from Act 18. lol

—Thank you very much. (laughs)

[kyralih]

I was caught in a big storm last week that knocked power out for two days and the internet hasn't come back on yet, but in the time I finished a reread of Cardinal King - all 3 arcs - and =) it just makes me happy.

There are a few mistakes, still, and reading it on a small screen from my drive files showed formatting errors and whatnot, but I really enjoyed rereading it. Characters made me laugh and I teared up at the end, and --

Anyway, TLDR, I love that I not only finished one huge fanfic project, but two full sequels. I love that I worked in some of my favorite Sailor Moon tropes and attacks and powers, I love what the shitennou became and my version of them. I like what I did with the senshi and Usagi. I love the criss-crossing and mish-mashing of plot points from Black Moon and Infinity arcs in making Architects of a New World and Bright Future. I love being manga-based but having anime touches and flairs from anime-only scenes, pulling from PGSM and Promise of the Rose and the Dream Arc. And I love that I named the final chapters of arc 3 after DiC dub songs - it made me laugh and nostalgia-all-up because I had completely forgotten I had done that.

I love Mamoru, and I love Helios, and I love Kaito and Nero and Yuu and Khalid. I love what I did with their powers and abilities. I love their relationship.

And I super love being able to reread an old project and still loving it.

Rereading all the foreshadowing I put in about the final arc and it's villains, remembering the side stories I had planned for the time period between arc 3 and 4 -- maybe I'll find the time to complete the Cardinal King project, but I like that the 3rd arc ends so nicely that it doesn't feel like that final arc has to be rushed.

ANYWAY this has been an author's reflection on a work she loves that she loves. ❤️ Kudos to me from me, and a sincere thank you to anyone else who has read, or intends to read, my little parallel sailor moon series.

🧭 👑💖

[lusciakoushiro]

November Part 2

My drawing continued and once again I decided to go over a piece I did the previous year.

I did this originally to test out the graphite method of transferring an image to another canvas. I still haven't colored the transferred image so I figured this would be a good time to and look how cute Kosmo is!!!!

Upon doing this I also decided to just do a full shot of puppy Kosmo as well as color the PGSM Luna.

Not quite sure what I did to make Luna so purple, but I'll go over her again later. At this point though I was running out of things to go over and practice coloring and once again YouTube decided to teach me something and that's that ibis has base poses you can use. Intrigued, I loaded one of them up and made this.

It was an interesting experience to go over the base pose and fill in the blank. So naturally I did it again with my other OCs.

Now I am pleased with both of these for one reason or another, but there is something about the bases that are weird. So on the one of Luscia I had to edit the chest down as the base seemed to have quite the large booba and her booty became odd once I added her skirt. On the one of Sora and Tracey, I had to fix Tracey's jaw as it was too long. Both of those changes got made after I started to fill in the blanks as it were. Tracey's hand also looks fugly (I also forgot his wedding ring...) and this was witb going over the lines the program provided and it didn't look like that on the raw base. So werid, but overall a welcome experience for when I can't find a reference or just want quick practice.

Though I am still uncertain about what happened with my snowglobe and the resin, I still wanted to do a giveaway for the Sheith fam and I remembered seeing another way of doing charms with the shrink plastic by using printable vinyl. So what am I to do? Test out the vinyl and my printer to make stickers of course.

I am so happy with how these turned out! (Excuse the rough cuts) In all seriousness, I was not expecting these to come out to vibrant and professional looking. Knowing that my printer could handle the vinyl I tucked that knowledge away for later.

Since binging art YouTube I had become quite intrigued by the squishy makeovers, however finding any in stores near me was like a needle in a haystack. And where as I normally don't mind spending a little extra on art supplies, the fact that I don't know what I am dealing with as a canvas made me not want to drop $20 on a small lot. Luckily my Dollar Tree had a few so I only dropped $5 for this experiment (excluding the cost of my fabric paint)

Can you guess what I am making?

And to round out the month, my Facebook memories showed a drawing I did years ago (10 years to be exact). This picture is what really hooked me with the desire to draw. So when it came up I made the comment that I kind of wanted to go over it on the tablet, to which my friend was very encouraging of it. So I did.

I'm overall happy with it, the filtering to make it more shaded for night time really is a nice touch. I could have done better with the leaf brushes though lol.

With that, we are coming to the end of the year...

[keyofjetwolf]

Oh boo-hoo, darkness, get over yourself, or, Rei Hino: Comfort Lesbian

We’ve been building to this for the past several episodes now, this moment where we finally get confirmation of all the turmoil Ami is feeling, about Usagi and about Naru and, especially, about herself. All of which is delicious and complex and everything I wanted but could hardly believe they’d give us. It’s not a good look for Ami! It’s angry and lonely and uncertain!

Ami especially, I think moreso than any other character across Sailor Moon iterations (character who actually gets screen/page time, anyway) is boiled until she’s lost most of her flavour. I think the anime tries hardest, but often replaces “the smart one” stereotypes for “the nice one” and calls it a day. For whatever reason, it’s like Ami’s an action figure they’re afraid to take out of the box because they might get her dirty and diminish her value.

Not PGSM, though. PGSM is just “AW YEAH LET’S PLAY” and pitched everyone in a mud puddle.

I AM ALIVE

I’ve talked about this again and again, how much SENSE this makes for Ami. Completely ostracized for her entire life, she’s got her first taste of what it means to not be alone, and she’s hooked. Usagi is like a drug for Ami, she’s the entire focal point for everything positive Ami’s feeling, and she’s terrified that without Usagi, she’ll go back to the way things used to be, and she CAN’T, she just can’t.

And she needn’t be! PGSM has gone out of its way throughout the series so far in showing us how much Ami has already grown and changed for the better. Fuck, look at just this scene! There’s something wonderful and precious about the bond between Ami and Rei. They’re each other’s first friend that they made THEMSELVES, using the things that they learned through their friendship with Usagi. Ami has reached out to Rei more than once, able to see through her stoicism and bluster and navigate through it (versus, say, Usagi just flat out ignoring it). She allows Rei to keep those defenses while still reaching for her, making Rei that much more willing to reach back.

Rei also sees Ami. She’s never been smitten a day in her life, and Rei isn’t inclined to throw every little questionable thing into the spin cycle until it comes out gleaming and perfect. Ami’s weird and awkward, but so what? She’s a good person, and she tries. Every single time Rei would rather deal with someone who tries too hard rather than not enough.

They can do this. AMI can do this. She HAS. Even in this scene, where she’s confessing to Rei, it’s abundantly clear how much stock she puts in Rei’s opinion. Particularly BECAUSE it’s Rei (really, it had to be Rei), who wouldn’t even know where to start trying to give someone an insincere platitude, Ami trusts what she says, and at no point in any of this, even at her lowest and most intense self-hating, does Ami think Rei isn’t her friend. The problem is that Ami has pinned so much on Usagi, and so little on herself. Usagi is the keystone; pull her out, and it all collapses.

Again, all of my love to PGSM for going here. For looking at Ami, really thinking about how broken her life would have made her, and being willing to follow that thread. She confirmed -- directly, in the text, by her own words -- everything I hoped we were building to.

INCLUDING THIS SORRY BRB HAVE TO RUN AROUND THE OFFICE SCREAMING AGAIN

There’s so much going on, Ami is having a fuck of a day, but this is perhaps the thing she’s most upset about: the realization that she might just be kind of a shitty person. There’s been nothing in Ami’s life that would have even hinted she could be like this. Hell, there’s basically BEEN nothing in Ami’s life before now. But here it is, she finally gets something worthwhile, and this is how she acts? No wonder she went without friends this long, if this is who she is. Usagi was just wonderful enough to try and see past it, that’s all, which only makes Ami feel even worse for “deceiving her”. God, what a beautiful inescapable spiral Ami’s built for herself, I’m almost impressed.

REI HINO IS NOT IMPRESSED

HHHHRNRNNNRRNGGGHHHGNNNNGHHHRR

SHE’S SO NOT HERE FOR ANY OF AMI’S BULLSHIT. Not the deep dark confession, not Ami eating herself up over it all. Ami’s barely started, and Rei’s already had enough.

Sidebar to say how much I fucking LOVE how they shoot all this. Rei’s angry stomp slicing across the camera, interrupting Ami’s efforts to drown herself in all this. Her angry clenched fist (A REI HINO FAVOURITE), the way the camera rises as it follow’s Rei’s towering presence. She carries so much authority in this scene, you can FEEL her and how little she is going to put up with all this. The way Ami gazes up at her, too, once again giving Rei all the power between them. It remains to be seen how much of this will stick, but what’s clear is that Ami will listen to Rei, and believe her, even if just for this moment.

The way Rei completely brushes all of Ami’s angst away though, AAAAAHHHHH I DIDN’T KNOW I COULD LOVE HER MORE BUT SHE ALWAYS MANAGES TO FIND A WAY TO MAKE ME. Ami’s completely undone by this, and Rei’s just “Psshh, whatever, this is entry level ‘dark’, get over yourself.”

But she also makes it an invitation. “Congrats! You’re human.” Ami’s sin here, if she could be said to have one, is in not dealing with it all very well, and she’s basically an emotional newborn, so even there, it’s understandable.

One of the best things about this, though, is how Rei is meeting Ami on much the same level Ami connected with Rei. Not ignoring how they feel, nor dismissing it, just accepting it and moving forward. We STILL don’t know why Rei was so bothered about going to that guy’s house to protect his not-the-ginzuishou, but Ami didn’t chase down the why or convince Rei it wasn’t a problem, she simply offered to go in her stead. Here, Rei doesn’t insist Ami is the purest pure snowflake gumdrop who would never think a bad thought in her life, she just says “Bitch, you ain’t special.” Usagi’s all-inclusive love is wonderful, and I don’t doubt the power of its constant dopamine hit, but it’s also in so many ways unrealistic and impractical (much like Usagi herself), and once again, I tip my hat to PGSM for being the ONLY Sailor Moon incarnation willing to go there for its main character, too.

(I don’t know if PGSM had a mission statement, but you could tell me it was “Each and every one of these girls is fascinating and wonderful AND DEEPLY FLAWED” and I would just nod in emphatic agreement.)

What about Rei’s darkness? I don’t know! THANK YOU FOR ADDING IN A BARELY RELATED MYSTERY. The specifics aren’t important right now, and maybe never will be. It’s Rei, she’s a constant bubbling cauldron of stewing rage, even here in PGSM where she’s able to keep it to a low simmer. It could be about her mother’s death, all the gossipy assholes, her father’s everything. It could be Usagi bumping into her this morning, IT COULD BE ALL OF THESE.

The point is, Rei knows all about thinking and feeling some negative shit at someone, but she also knows there’s a difference between what you feel and what you DO. You can’t truly be part of life and never fuck up, it’s just not possible.

AND NOW HERE’S WHERE REI SHOWS HOW MUCH SHE’S CHANGING TOO. Her point made, her lecture done, Rei peers down at Ami and sees that it’s just not working the way she wants. Rather than lose her temper, or double down, or wash her hands and walk away, she instead CHANGES TACTICS.

She doesn’t demand Ami immediately bounce to her feet, instead she drops down to Ami. She stops lecturing and tries comforting. NONE of this is natural for Rei, all of it goes against the kind of person she is and always strives to be. Slowly but surely though, Rei’s learning that her way is not the only way, and to temper her impulses.

WHO KNEW WE WOULD GET SUCH JUICY DEVELOPMENT FOR REI IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THIS AMI GOODNESS WHO AMONG US COULD HAVE PREPARED FOR THE BOUNTY

Still though, Rei is Rei is my beautiful ridiculous marmoset Rei.

Blessed, friends. I am blessed this day.

[docholligay]

Rave: Ami from PGSM

If you would have told me that there was any iteration of Sailor Moon that could have gotten me into Ami, I would not have believed you. I would have told you that there was no direction I thought any official version of Sailor Moon would ever dare go that would do interesting enough things with Ami that I could possibly be motivated to care about her. 

And then PGSM came along and said that everything I know as a human being is flat wrong. 

Ami’s general characterization is “Smart and nice” and I have very little patience for the general “poor put upon nerd” trope as she stands, and so I was expecting nothing when I went into PGSM. I mean, this goes for all things with PGSM, but Ami wasn’t even on my radar. I was hoping for something that annoyed me less than the manga, really, and it was only the myus that convinced me there was any point to going outside the anime at all. 

IMAGINE MY SURPRISE. It’s very early on where we get the idea that there’s more to Ami than poor, beleaguered nerd, and that some of her misery and isolation are because of things???she does??? and actions she takes?? What is this accountability??? We get to see her as being an intensely jealous person, who can be foolish in her own loyalty, who’s not always nice??? And also, the idea that she might not really be into studying for her own sake, but because she’s felt like this is what she’s supposed to want all her life? I mean, god, even just making Ami’s wanting to be a doctor about something other than Ami just being great and smart makes it so much more interesting. 

THE WOMAN --SANs A STUFFED ANIMAL SHE IS SO UPTIGHT SHE MAY BREAK. 

Which is basically the Darkury arc. Ami finally bends until she breaks, and yes, its brainwashing, which I am famously known not to love, but also its done with this undercurrent that it was always waiting inside of Ami, that Ami has been pinning up all this anger and repressed sexiness violence, and I think the show goes to some effort to show that’s why it works so effectively on her, because she does feel angry at Usagi, even though she loves her, she’s struggling with the idea of not being the only companion, she’s struggling with all the things that the world forces her to be and also she forces herself to be. 

And it never strips all of this out of Ami, it always lets her be a character we can question, a character that we can have complicated thoughts about, even when she comes back. I think part of why PGSM is so effective for me personally is that it allows the girls to be fully realized and SOMETIMES UNLIKEABLE. It makes them feel so much more real, so much more like a character you could get into and really want to crack open, in a way that the anime, which it must be said I love, doesn’t always allow for. 

[rin-the-shadow]

Crystal Tokyo Challenge: Day 12

Day 12: If Crystal Tokyo never happened, what would the Senshi’s careers be? (Feel free to include the Shitennou in this if you want)

Regarding the Senshi, I tend to assume it’s what they’ve stated their dreams to be over the course of the manga/anime/other versions. I can’t find the article that grouped them all in one place, and it’s been a little while so I may get a few things wrong, and I may take a few liberties, but:

Usagi of course marries Mamoru. I seem to recall a line in the Dream arc of the manga where she mentions wanting to join a manga-drawing club, and while I don’t necessarily see her publishing professionally, I do like the idea that she would do commissions here and there. 

Ami becomes a doctor. If Crystal Tokyo didn’t come to be, I don’t know that she would be able to do the same degree of integration of magic and technology in healthcare, but maybe she would still find ways to sneak it in.

Rei takes over the shrine once her grandfather passes it on to her. I seem to recall her having some other things she wanted to do, but at the moment I don’t recall what they were. I’ll have to make a note to edit this post if I remember or if I happen to see the PGSM episode or manga chapter that made me think that (and I do think it was one of those two.)

Makoto gets married and has a big family, and she also owns and works in a flower shop/bakery. I really like the idea that her kids would help out when they get older, too.

Minako probably goes through a few different dreams, including being an idol singer. Later on, she uses the skills she had to pick up in order to do so to run several workshop classes on singing, dancing, acting, and so forth.

Outer Senshi, Mamoru, Shitennou, and Beryl under the cut.

For Setsuna, it depends on if she has to stay at the space-time door or not. But if not, then she goes into nursing and becomes a pediatric nurse. She might have done this in the manga as well, but this headcanon is largely based on the musicals, where she would sometimes take on the role of the school nurse as a cover.

Haruka goes into professional racing, and afterwards does piano. Though I am also opting to hold onto my earlier headcanon that she probably does some kind of after-school sports/racing thing for kids and teens.

Michiru becomes a professional violinist and painter. She continues painting even after she has largely retired from performing. I also still like the idea that she would do some kind of painting classes or music workshops.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that Hotaru wanted to be a nurse, but if this isn’t accurate or if she wasn’t able to for some reason, I could also see her having a small but successful career on the internet reviewing antique lamps.

Chibiusa is admittedly the hardest to answer for this, but I could maybe see her doing something art related. She seemed to like drawing in the first anime. She may also appear as an occasional co-host on Hotaru’s web show, and draws her title cards.

I have a similarly hard time figuring out what Mamoru would do, so if anyone has any headcanons on this subject, I would be happy to hear them! EDIT: A comment I got on this post tossed up the idea that Mamoru might become a social worker. I’d read a few fanfictions after making this which suggested he might go into med school, but I like the idea of him going into some kind of field which would allow him to help kids who went through similar experiences to what he did.

And of course, I will also include the Shitennou.

I like the idea of Zoisite doing coding and game design. I’m not sure why I’ve gotten attached to this headcanon as fast as I have, but it’s stuck. I think he also likes playing piano or dancing (blame PGSM/Casablanda Memories and Reconquista) but I don’t know that he would want to do it professionally.

Kunzite does something around historical research. I could see him working as a museum curator, and writing the descriptions on the exhibits. I feel like there was something else he did in PGSM when he lost his memories, but I don’t remember what that was at the moment, so I’ll make a note to check that episode and update if something is implied or confirmed. While I do have a headcanon that Kunzite has some artistic ability and can in fact draw very well, I don’t think it’s something he would want to do professionally.

Nephrite does so many jobs it loops back around and becomes funny. But all joking aside, he probably does some kind of entrepreneurship, or something that involves working with people. And of course, because of Classic Anime Nephrite’s 500 million side hobbies, he probably does do some things with those on the side, but not with all of them. 

Jadeite might still end up doing something with parks and recreation. He’s probably also a bit like Nephrite and does a few different jobs at different points. If he and Rei have an amicable relationship (again, regardless of whether or not it’s romantic) he might work at least part time at the shrine, particularly since a few adaptations have him being or claiming to be a bit spiritually inclined. Like Mamoru, he’s also one I’m open to headcanons for.

I’m also going to go ahead and include Beryl, even though she’s not a Shitennou, because I’ve been watching the musicals again, specifically Reconquista and Eien Densetsu, and I want this woman to have some happiness. There was a fan-comic I read where she makes a webshow about clothing alterations, so I would like to headcanon her becoming a costumer/designer for a theater company. 

[ffamranxii]

Okay folks, I am all caught up with Tokyo Mew Mew Au Lait chapters 1-3 and Tokyo Mew Mew 2020 Re-Turn chapters 1 and 2 so I am Doing A Thing! Buckle up, bitches!

MASSIVE SPOILERS IF YOU’RE WAITING FOR THE OFFICIAL ENGLISH RELEASES (whenever the hell those will be). Thanks to @berrychanx​, @hikayagami​, and @ribbonstrawberrysurprise​ for the scans, English translation, and hard work putting the translation onto the manga so neatly.

LEADERS

MOMOMIYA ICHIGO AND SHIBUYA AOI

Honestly this is the biggest difference between the 2020 Re-Turn reboot/original series and the magical boy tribute. Aoi is in no way like Ichigo once you get past that they’ve both been injected with Iriomote cat DNA. Whereas Ichigo is cheery and bubbly and cute, Aoi is withdrawn, suffers from low self confidence, and sort of breaks the fourth wall during nearly every fight, freaking out at how catchphrases and such just seem to burst forth from him after he transforms. (It’s honestly a funny highlight.) Their respective crushes are also treated differently, with Aoi falling hard for Anzu (though of course saying nothing) almost immediately, almost a love at first sight sort of deal, and Ichigo already having this crush on this boy when we start vanilla TMM and already deeply committed to him in the reboot. In civilian form, (using vanilla Ichigo here, it’s not fair to compare Aoi to 2020 “been a magical girl for years” Ichigo), Aoi is a lot more unsure of himself, and seems almost to be in this Mew Mew thing for Anzu, whereas Ichigo immediately had a “I’ll do my best” acceptance mindset from the start. (Both freak out over their cat ears appearing at random moments, even Ichigo in the 2020 reboot, and I think I can finally give poor Aoi a point over Ichigo here. It makes him uncomfortable but he just wears a hoodie and hopes no one notices. It makes Ichigo freak out more lol.)

THE LOVE INTEREST / DUNGEON NAVI / SECONDARY PROTAGONIST

AOYAMA MASAYA, HINATA ANZU, SHIROGANE RYOU

Anzu is a precious peach and she occupies such a weird role here that I almost couldn’t make her a neat little graphic. She doesn’t fit neatly into a “oh, they’re a genderbent so and so” like nearly everyone else, and it’s fascinating. On the one hand, several panels in the first chapter of Au Lait make it clear that the writers are setting her up to be Aoi’s love interest. Every magical girl anime has a love interest, so why wouldn’t a magical boy manga? But that’s where she diverges. Unlike Masaya, who is a very clear tribute to Sailor Moon’s Tuxedo Mask (with the exception that he’s a cute bean as a civilian, he’s nearly the same person. No past, gets kidnapped, magical form to protect the magical girl, evil form to fight the magical girl [this happened in PGSM, and he’s been brainwashed several times]), who has always been a secondary character, Anzu actually starts the Au Lait manga. She wasn’t even featured on the promo images, so when I opened the first chapter in a zip file I thought I’d downloaded the wrong one. My rudimentary Japanese confirmed I hadn’t, but I was like “well who tf is this chick?” I waited for an English translation to be sure and yup - Anzu is being treated almost like a secondary protagonist. Well that’s new. It’s as if the Au Lait writers smashed together the characters of Ryou and Masaya and named their love child Hinata Anzu. She’s intelligent, she knows more about this project than she should, and, like Ryou in vanilla, she’s out and about and helping the boys, not just as a civilian, but in every battle. She doesn’t have powers (that we know of), but her smarts and knowledge of animals have served them well time and again. Au Lait seems more like, as one reader put it, Anzu And The Dork Squad than Aoi’s team. 

Masaya in 2020 Re-Turn is adorable. He is at odds with Quiche over Ichigo (or more like, he dislikes just how much Quiche likes Ichigo), and in a moment of panic he uses his leftover remnants of Deep Blue’s power to... change his clothes. I’m not sure what actually happened there. (Note: Thanks ribbonstrawberrysurprise: Deep Blue manifested to float the chimera anima/train and its passengers to safety.) But I love that he was so concerned for Ichigo, who at that moment desperately needed help, that the being who created his body and didn’t like Ichigo wanted to protect her. Ryou was his standoffish self, but even he seemed to have a hint of a lingering crush. He organized a party for the Mews and then took over in cafe duties so Ichigo could meet her man at the airport, unable to quiiiiite meet her eye while saying so. I always did like Ryou/Ichigo.

THE SASSY RICH BITCH

AIZAWA MINTO AND YOYOGI SHIZUKA

First of all: SAILOR JUPITER TAUGHT ME THAT PINK EQUALS FLOWER HURRICANES AND CAN I JUST SAY THAT I AM DISAPPOINTED AS FUCK THAT SHIZUKA ISN’T PLANT BASED AND CAN’T DO FLOWER HURRICANES THAT IS ALL.

Admit it. When we saw the promo image, we assumed certain things. One of those things turned out to be true: Aoi would be the Iriomote cat, because of course he would be Ichigo’s counterpart. Shizuka is wearing glasses, and his costume had the little tail, which meant he must have been a fish or a marine mammal and therefore Retasu’s counterpart, right? RIGHT. But also very, very wrong, my friends. Shizuka is indeed water based like Retasu - he’s an Amazon river dolphin (the pink ones!) - and that’s where all his similarities to our gentle green girl end. Instead of making everyone exactly the same but gender flipped, Au Lait is going in a slightly different direction, and I really like it. Shizuka is actually the most similar to our resident princess Minto! They both attend prestigious elite schools and generally act better than everyone else, but the real gem here is their interactions with their leaders. Shizuka has some truly snappy one-liners - such as discovering Ryuusei (”that’s the power of an idiot”) - and his reactions to Aoi are gold. He considers himself a genius, and indeed he’s very intelligent according to Natsume (and his school seems to be for smart people, it’s not prestigious for music or anything like that), and he makes little quips at Aoi all the time about how Aoi isn’t. I could totally see him spending an entire shift reading a book at Cafe Mew Mew while Aoi does all the work, only for him to stand up and someone to scream “HOLY CRAP, SHIZUKA’S UP, SHIT’S ABOUT TO GO DOWN.” 

Minto is also full of snappy quips at Ichigo in the reboot, mostly about how Ichigo should handle the biggest, strongest enemies since she’s the leader, and can’t Ichigo even keep them in place so Minto can shoot them down? (And yeah, someone totally said the above comment ^ when Minto stood up at Cafe Mew Mew.) Minto was always one of my favorite characters, and I love that we saw a lot of close ups of her in the reboot, and that she seemed to be second in command.

THE CHILD

FONG PURIN AND KANDA RYUUSEI

Oh my god these two. I refuse to believe they aren’t related. I know Purin is Chinese but you cannot take this headcanon from me. 

Purin is my favorite character in OG Mew Mew and Ryuusei claimed my heart the second I saw the Au Lait promo. NEITHER OF THEM DISAPPOINTED ME, I AM SO IN LOVE.

While I WILL say that I in no way care for Mew Pudding’s redesign (I hate literally everything about it. I miss her jumpsuit. I hate the little pigtails at the top of her head. I hate the ribbon. At least she still has her fingerless gloves), I love that she got an entire panel of just her being badass. She stood in the middle of some train tracks, facing a runaway speeding train chimera anima, with that ^ fucking look on her face, and was like “where you going, na no da?” Purin from like, ten years ago wouldn’t have done that. She has matured so much, but she’s still the young, goofy little acrobat monkey who provides for her tea-themed siblings (who criminally do not make an appearance) and I just love her so fucking much, you guys.

RYUUSEI. Guys. He’s an idiot. Oh my god. He’s a cute lovable idiot. “What’s a gomodo dragon? What’s a kodomo dragon? What’s a condo dragon and why does it need a house?” Anzu was in love with him for like five seconds until she learned he’s a dumbass, and Aoi was jealous as fuck, and no one ever told him what his damn animal was, and I laughed my ass off through his entire last couple pages. He also had his jacket hand embroidered with the kanji for dragon, BUT IT’S MISSPELLED. It’s missing a stroke! XD 

Ryuusei is the KOMODO dragon (which is Anzu’s favorite animal), and komodos are badass. He also either always had weird animal powers, or just never noticed that he suddenly got super smell. Komodo dragons, by the way, can track their prey for literally MILES by smell alone, for DAYS. It’s absolutely terrifying (thank you for the nightmares, Wild Thornberries), and Au Lait made it fucking comical. I can’t even. HE CAN SMELL THE RED DATA ANIMAL ON PEOPLE. I love it. He’s super strong and super cute, apparently lives with his grandparents, and is Purin’s counterpart in every single way, except I think SHE might be more mature than him. I love him. He is my baby. 

Yellow is my favorite color and yellow never disappoints. 

THE FAMOUS

FUJIWARA ZAKURO AND ROPPONGI AYATO

Zakuro had next to no presence in the reboot. She occasionally made some panels look pretty. She twice had a half page to herself, one per chapter. I am sad. I love my wolf lesbian. In semi-related news, I feel I have solved the mystery of Zakuro’s red data animal, something that has plagued the TMM community for years. The grey wolf is not endangered at all, yet Zakuro is injected with one, right? I read somewhere (either in a TMM blog or a conservation blog) that there is a subspecies of grey wolf that IS critically endangered. I believe it’s the Mexican grey wolf? I headcanon she was injected with DNA specifically from a Mexican grey wolf. 

Moving on. In Chapter 3 (which was a DELIGHT), we met Ayato. Chapter 3 was the most frustrating chapter because let me tell you, Au Lait marks the first time I have ever read a manga chapter by chapter as it was being released in Japan. So I’m waiting Nakayoshi to publish the chapter, then I’m waiting for someone to scan Nakayoshi, then I’m waiting for someone to translate it, over and over and over, and omg I can’t believe this is what people DO. I’ve waited for full volumes before, but CHAPTERS? This is torture. Ayato, I haven’t had enough TIME with you!

Ayato seems to be an actor (in a really... really weird stage play), and has very few lines in his first appearance. I’m not sure what I make of him. He says about six sentences, which is actually a lot for a character introduced on a cliffhanger, but... I can’t decide if he’s said them in a mysterious Sailors Neptune and Uranus way or a flamboyant Sohma Ayame way. I ALSO DON’T KNOW WHAT ANIMAL HE IS AND I AM VERY ANGRY. BB Ryuusei said he smells like yakitori (a type of grilled chicken), which confirms he’s a bird. But. WHICH BIRD, DAMNIT? 

CHAPTER FOUR WHERE ARE YOU?

THE FUNDING

AKASAKA KEIICHIRO, HINATA NATSUME, SHIROGANE RYOU

Hello again, Ryou! The boys here were wallpaper (though cute wallpaper) in the reboot. Natsume is 100% a troll. I love her. She admits in chapter 3 she literally just injected hot boys for her Mew Mew project. Even Ryou wasn’t that blunt. I mean, if you gotta save Earth and stare at people while you do it, they better be cute, right?

IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL THE FANDOM

MIDORIKAWA RETASU, SHIRAYUKI BERII, AKAI RINGO

Aside from her two half panels as a Mew Mew per chapter, this is the only good cap of Retasu as a civilian in the reboot. D: I believe Hiroo Taichi will be her counterpart in Au Lait.

I never liked Berii. There, I said it. She got TWO animals. She was some random newbie and she got to be leader just like that? And she was clueless and dumb and the writing in A La Mode wasn’t great. But I really like 2020 Berii. She’s cute, she seems more rabbit than cat, and she seems more intelligent and less of a blonde Ichigo clone. I don’t know if she’ll have an Au Lait counterpart.

WHERE IS RINGO? THE REBOOT WAS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO PUT HER IN THE STORY FOR REAL AND SHE JUST... WASN’T THERE?! THIS IS BLASPHEMY. RINGO IS THE BEST MEW MEW. BEST GIRL. JUSTICE FOR RINGO.

THE RELATIONSHIPS

MASAYA & ICHIGO VS AOI & ANZU

ZAKURO & MINTO VS AYATO & RYUUSEI

Nearly all of 2020 chapter 1 focused on Ichigo seeing Masaya again. I’m guessing this took place after he left for London. Ichigo left with him after A La Mode, and some time between then and Re-Turn came back to Japan, and now Masaya is back. They are still as lovey as ever, but not as sickeningly cute as Tsukino Usagi and Chiba Mamoru or anything. Phew! Their counterpart in Au Lait seems to Aoi and Anzu. (Look at that height difference! Poor Anzu, her poor neck.) Aoi already has a massive crush on her, but Anzu, bless her, is oblivious.

AND NOW FOR THE GAYS.

I think Zakuro and Minto is probably one of the most popular TMM ships and holy lesbians, Batman, they were well fed with this GORGEOUS panel at the end of chapter 2. Look at it. Zakuro had literally no panels, save for her two intros, to herself, and barely any panels at all in the reboot, and then BA-BAM, this beautiful ending shot. I swear Ikumi did it on purpose. Speaking of gays - is Ayato/Ryuusei the new Zakuro/Minto? Ayato seems to be at least bisexual (he also hit on Anzu), but this was literally his second panel. He is in a (terrible, TERRIBLE) play, and the actors are walking in the audience looking for the villain. Ayato walks into the audience and HITS ON RYUUSEI. His first goddamn words are “Do you want me to keep you, my cute little puppy?” to Ryuusei. He says fuck this acting shit, I see a SNACK. I think I ship it. I think I ship it hard.

THE STORY

*Au Lait is just getting started, so typical magical girl boy anime manga: Let’s find the others! Shenanigans! Some fillers! It’s cute, I love it, go read it.

*2020 Re-Turn is actually REALLY GOOD and chapter 2 reminds me of just how unique Tokyo Mew Mew was and still is among not just magical girl series, but animanga as a whole. Quick, what was the last environmental series you remember? Mine was Captain Planet - in the 90s. Preachy, in your face, after school special about things like pollution and endangered species and littering and honestly it was really cool, but very much a product of its time. Even now, magical girl animanga is still focused on bad guys, but bad guys are generic and represent something created for the series. Here, the bad guys are US, other human beings, who traffic animals, who endanger them, who wreck our planet enough that animals are barely clinging to life. There’s a very poignant scene featuring the adorable snow leopard up there (who’s the secondary protagonist of the reboot) ^, showing his mother being shot and himself being snatched by poachers, and he’s terrified, and has no idea what’s going on or where he is, and Ichigo is terrified for him. We need more series like this - not just of the magical girl genre, but of ALL genres. To make it accessible in this way, for people of all ages, something enjoyable, that people can fangirl over and love and its creators clearly put a lot of love and thought into. We need another Captain Planet, but less preachy, less after school special-y. We don’t want to be like the aliens (who remember, are descendants of humans who fucked up Earth so badly they had to leave it). 

Behind all the cute of this manga and its reboot, and its new spinoff, Tokyo Mew Mew has a powerful message that we should all be following. It’s not even subtle. Get yo shit together, peeps. 

[death-rebirth-senshi]

That Glimmer had an actual plan she was keeping from Shadow Weaver was a delicious plot twist. A plan that sort of hinged on Double Trouble betraying the horde, sure, but a pretty damn effective one nonetheless.

Glimmer made a mistake in "trusting" Light Hope, but then I think the main miscalculation was Light Hope also getting a fairly dramatic power boost once the planet was balanced. Light Hope goes from barely being able to get Adora, unable to actually get her from the horde and being forced to watch, and just generally kind of sitting there being useless...to having the capabilities to portal the entire planet out of Despondos and control She-Ra through the sword.

I'm sure Glimmer planned to get info and then just make sure Light Hope didn't do step two.

It's also kind of interesting that at this point, all that really needed to be done to balance the planet was for Scorpia to connect with her Runestone. If it was that simple, you'd think Light Hope would just tell Adora that instead of being cryptic, but there's also often an element of the princesses working in sync and that leading to a glowing powerup, so I think that was part of it too. And Glimmer manages to deliver on this faster and better than I think Adora ever would have, and it just kills me, this efficiency Glimmer has as queen.

And that Light Hope being so vague and cryptic was intentional, that she didn't want to clue Adora in to too much and risk another betrayal. I joked before about them watching PGSM, but really that idea there that the mystical first ones were also an empire, colonizers, obsessed with legacy, willing to drain entire planets for power is all in that similar vein. That the first ones weren't benevolent at all.

Really, it's all in Adora's transformation shout: "For the honor of grayskull!" I don't remember what little of he-man and an attempt at a he-man reboot (?) to answer what the fuck grayskull actually is, though of course the battle cry is familiar. But neither does the show ever answer that question! It's a very specific and not neutral thing to say when she transforms; She-ra exists for the "honor" of...something we still don't even know about. And that idea comes to full bear with what Light Hope reveals the first ones to be like.

[amboato]

Minako, Luna, and Artemis!

I’m going to be honest, Anon. I had this partially done shortly after I published the other ones. Then Tumblr ate it, or so I thought. For some reason, it’s saved on Tumblr mobile, so I’m answering it (again) now.

Minako

favorite thing about them - Just one thing? It’s like everything about her? How fiercely loyal she is, how protective of her friends she is, how she uses her bubbly goofy persona to hide her serious badass Senshi self? Honestly, Minako is so dynamic. She acts like a ditzy blonde stereotype, but she’s always 5 steps ahead of the game. She’s not afraid at all to be herself and embrace life to the fullest (because after all, who knows when it could end?). And honestly, to little amboato, she was #goals.

least favorite thing about them - She quit volleyball to focus on her Senshi responsibilities 😭 The poor child needs an outlet that’s not Senshi-related.

favorite line - “Having this much beauty should be a crime. I should be arrested.” Minako please.

brOTP - Minako and Artemis, Minako and all the Inners

OTP - I don’t really ship Mina with anyone in the anime (younger me did ship Mina and Motoki for the sake of pairing everyone off with someone lol), but Reinako is practically PGSM canon.

nOTP - Minako and Kunzite, I just can’t do SenshixShittennou

random headcanon - Minako resents Queen Serenity with a white hot passion for sending them to Earth and letting them get a taste of normal life before they were inevitably reawakened as Senshi.

unpopular opinion - Mina’s not just the goofy one who looks like Usagi.

song i associate with them - “C’est La Vie” from PGSM and Taylor Swift’s “White Horse.”

favorite picture of them - Minako you had the disguise pen, and I know it can do better then that. You just couldn’t stand to not put your own spin on what Sailor Moon should look like. 

Artemis

favorite thing about them - Artemis is staunchly in Minako’s corner and will do anythign to help her as best he can.

least favorite thing about them - How he goes off and does his own thing sometimes and usually ends up in trouble.

favorite line - “I don’t feel like doing anything at all today.” That’s a total mood, Artemis.

brOTP - Artemis and Minako

OTP - ArtemisxLuna

nOTP - Artemis and any of the girls

random headcanon - Artemis is one of Neo-Queen Serenity’s and King Endymion’s best advisors once Crystal Tokyo begins forming because he remembers some of the Silver Millennium.

unpopular opinion - Artemis doesn’t deserve to be the butt of Luna’s jokes all of the time.

song i associate with them - CSNY’s “Teach Your Children”

favorite picture of them

Luna

favorite thing about them - Luna loves the girls, she just has trouble showing it.

least favorite thing about them - She’s unnecessarily harsh with Usagi and Artemis.

favorite line - Any time she’s encouraging Usagi and not tearing her down.

brOTP - Luna and Ami

OTP - ArtemisxLuna

nOTP - Luna and any human men whatsoever

random headcanon - Luna finally makes her peace with losing her life in the Silver Millennium before a couple of years before Crystal Tokyo happens. 

unpopular opinion - Just because Luna’s still mourning the loss of the Silver Millennium and Queen Serenity, it doesn’t give her a pass for the way she treats Usagi or Artemis.

song i associate with them - Bastille’s “Pompeii”

favorite picture of them

[tirorah]

Note: This is a follow-up to this post.

I think Ami's expression says a lot in this moment.

You see, Ami may have been forced into looking like a jealous, manipulative jerk due to the Senshi secret, but there's a kernel of truth here. Ami IS jealous. She DOES feel anxious and insecure about Usagi's friendship with Naru. And if she'd just talk about that with someone like Rei, Rei would rightfully give her an incredulous look and tell her that Usagi's heart is so big, she has room for all of them as her BFFs.

But she doesn't, because poor Ami isn't used to expressing her needs; she's always done what others expect of her. She's not used to feeling selfish and she doesn't know how to handle this new aspect of herself.

You can tell that it's affecting her self-image: Usagi keeps insisting she's kind and wonderful, but how can that be true if part of her wants to claim all of the love that Usagi so freely gives to everyone? Doesn't that make you a bad person? That's a tough thing to deal with when you're used to being seen as good, as a perfect little angel one might say.

It's supremely interesting to see this play out when you already know the events of the story later on, because all of this is setup for Ami switching sides. And THAT'S because love in all its forms is a driving force in PGSM. Allow me to explain.

Ami has a crush on Usagi, clearly. One consequence of this is that you want your crush's attention. But just like Ami's anxiety about her new friendships, any lapse in this attention causes insecurity that she's not dealing with properly. This is because this is all really new to her...and because she's a Senshi. Yeah.

Try to imagine Ami's situation here: she has NO frame of reference for friendships and crushes AT ALL. And suddenly this Senshi stuff comes along. Suddenly, she has magical powers that must be kept secret, and she has a few new friends to share that secret with. They get a place to hang out specifically crafted for them. Their magical powers frequently place them in danger.

Through their shared destinies and trials, these girls are forming a deep bond at a way faster rate than normal friendships tend to progress at. All of this is highly unnatural, but--I can't stress this enough--Ami doesn't know that. She may understand that her sudden friendship with Usagi is suspicious to others, but to her, her friendship with her fellow Senshi is the only type she's ever known.

And the narrative is constantly proving to her that her complete devotion to this, her 100% emotional investment rate, is not only preferred but necessary. Remember, her voice was the loudest when Usagi was being turned into a Youma. This is how friendships are meant to be, she thinks. All of this time together is normal.

Which is why, when the others start to get tied up in their own problems later in this arc, Ami's anxiety hits full-force and twists everything. She starts to believe they're not friends anymore because they're not being as devoted as she is. They don't love her as much as she loves them.

This misconception of what friendship and love is like is why she's eventually able to be turned into an evil version of herself. Because think about it: both Queen Beryl and the true antagonist are also driven by love. To be more specific, it's a toxic kind of love, one evolved into obsession. Ami is on that same path and because she's not sharing this with anyone, there's no one there to stop her from barrelling down it. No wonder she becomes a villain.

I'll say it again: Ami is SCREWED.

And PGSM is awesome.

[real-life-senshi]

10 (Mostly) Spoiler-Free Reasons to Watch Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon 2003 Live Action

A countdown to the 20th anniversary of Act 1 air date!

Reason 2: The humour!

The live-action series is great that it doesn't take itself TOO seriously. Almost all if not all episodes have some comedic moments, finding a balance of seriousness and moments of relief. After all, life goes on even in the midst of crisis!

Everyone can be funny!

Throughout the series, each character has its comedic moments, some overt and others subtle, but the opportunity gets passed around. Not one character is the sole comedic relief person, even if some characters are naturally funnier than others.

I very much appreciate the types of humour the show brings, as when each character has their own comedic moment, it's done by capitalizing on the awkward side of their personalities, or the role they may play in certain dynamics. It's important for me to emphasize this because no one gets disrespected or dumbed down for the sake of humour! It makes the comedic moment not only believable, even if sometimes cartoonish, but more importantly, it's not forced or cringe.

The editing!

The post-production crew did a phenomenal job with the background music transitions, sound effects and visual effects to optimize the delivery! I think PGSM humour gets to me so much because as a video editor, the timing or certain SFX or VFX transition is just spot on, multiplying the effects of the comedy.

Here's a small selection of such comedic moments. These are all more overt, so it didn't require too much context building (or subtitling), and most are early series, as I had to be very picky to make sure it's spoiler-free.

The last one in the clip is my favourite one by far. Unlike Ami-chan in the manga or anime, Ami-chan in the live-action series, while still smart with a high IQ, isn't actually the brain-cell holder in the team dynamic. lol

While most of the clips I shared show Usagi being the butt of the joke or the ones creating humour, it's EXTREMELY important for me to note that Usagi ISN'T actually written as "dumb" or "stupid" in the series. This re-emphasizes my earlier point. Usagi in PGSM is written to be good to a fault, naive, innocent, immature, naturally overreactive (thus awkward) and sometimes slow to the uptake, but never stupid. Her grades are not great because she's lazy and leaves things to the last minute, not because she's "dumb". When it comes to Senshi business, while Usagi may act according to her heart and not necessarily with facts, she does arrive at the correct conclusion and puts clues together well on her own. Even if mistakes were made, they were actually reasonable mistakes. That's what I love about PGSM's writing, the screenwriter really gets the characters and doesn't disrespect or devalue them for ANY reason!

You can watch the subbed versions of the series at:

Miss Dream Fansubs

Sea of Serenity Fansubs

The series is also on other online streaming sites, but be cautious to only visit them with good adware and firewall installed.

9 days till the 20th anniversary of Act 1 air date!

Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

[alannah-corvaine]

MUSE : Alannah Corvaine / Outway

FC: is this faceclaim or free company? better do both! Faceclaim: Emily Rudd Free Company: Pretty Guardians of Menphina «PGSM»

OCCUPATION :  White Mage / Purifier / Healer for Hire AGE :  22 SEXUALITY :  Demisexual, Biromantic PRONOUNS :  She/Her

APPEARANCE :

I am 5'7" or taller

I wear glasses

I have at least one tattoo

I have at least one piercing

I have blonde hair

I have brown eyes

I have short hair

My abs are at least somewhat defined

I have or have had braces

PERSONALITY :

I love meeting new people

People tell me that I’m funny

Helping others with their problems is a big priority for me

I enjoy physical challenges

I enjoy mental challenges

I’m playfully rude with people I know well

I started saying something ironically and now I can’t stop saying it

There is something I would change about my personality

ABILITY :

I can sing well

I can play an instrument

I can do over 30 push-ups without stopping

I’m a fast runner

I can draw well

I have a good memory

I’m good at doing math in my head

I can hold my breath underwater for over a minute

I have beaten at least 2 people in arm wrestling

I know how to cook at least 3 meals from scratch

I know how to throw a proper punch

HOBBIES :

I enjoy playing sports

I’m on a sports team at my school or somewhere else

I’m in an orchestra or choir at my school or somewhere else

I have learned a new song in the past week

I work out at least once a week

I’ve gone for runs at least once a week in the warmer months

I have drawn something in the past month

I enjoy writing

I do or have done martial arts

EXPERIENCES:

I have had my first kiss

I have had alcohol

I have scored the winning goal in a sports game

I have watched an entire season of a TV show in one sitting

I have been at an overnight event

I have been in a taxi

I have been in the hospital or ER in the past year

I have beaten a video game in one day

I have visited another country

I have been to one of my favorite band’s concerts

RELATIONSHIPS :

I’m in a relationship (primary verse)

I have a crush on a celebrity

I have a crush on someone I know (wolverse)

I have been in at least 3 relationships

I have never been in a relationship (wolverse)

I have asked someone out or admitted my feelings to them (primary verse)

I get crushes easily  

I have had a crush on someone for over a year

I have been in a relationship for at least a year (primary verse)

I have had feelings for a friend

MY LIFE :

I have at least one person I consider a “ best friend ”

I live close to my school

My parents are still together 

I have / had at least one sibling

I live in the United States

There is snow right now where I live

I have hung out with a friend in the past month

I have a smartphone 

I have at least 15 orchestrion rolls

I share my room with someone (primary verse)

RANDOM SHIT :

I have break-danced

I know a person named Jamie

I have had a teacher with a last name that’s hard to pronounce

I have dyed my hair

I’m listening to one song on repeat right now

I have punched someone in the past week

I know someone who has gone to jail

I have broken a bone

I have eaten a waffle today

I know what I want to do with my life

I speak at least 2 languages

tagged by: @kyrie-silverwings | thank you!!

[crazykacey]

Just something I have been working on ^^ (renders from @myu-resource​ and @kosmosinusa​ )

SO as you might have noticed from my previous post that I just rewatched Sailor Moon R The Movie: The Promise of the Rose and it was simply for this!

Even before of the announcement that Sailor Moon S Movie/ Kaguya-hime no Koibito is going to be maybe into a musical, I have been wondering what it would be like if the movies were made into musicals! So I watched the movie and at the same time I was taking notes about which actor would be best for each role and which songs would go into this musical! (I thought about making this a Youtube video but because there is going to be a lot of explaining and stuff so I figured it would be easier to just do a post :D) So I guess you could call this a “What if?” Myu or something :D (or just a Dream Myu)

Hope you enjoy this because it TOOK A FREAKING FOREVER XD And I even lost half of the progress so that was fun xD ALSO there are probably spelling errors and stuff because I’m not native English speaker and this was kinda tiring lol but hope you enjoy! xoxo

(Also gonna put “Keep Reading” here because this post is looong af)

Cast: 

Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon: Hotaru Nomoto (I don’t know what it is but everytime I think about R movie and wondering who would be the best Moon for that, Hotaru just immediately jumps into my mind. Hotaru isn’t the best Moon imo but she is SUPER AMAZING and since Moon is a little bit more mature in this movie and I feel like Hotaru is a very good option, since her serious and caring(and goofy :D) Moon was soooo amazing!)

Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask: Yuu Shirota (Since this movie is kinda centered on Mamoru and his past I feel like Yuu is the best choice, since he brought Mamoru’s sensitive side more up than anyone else imo, especially in SRD and KOK)

Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury: Chieko Kawabe (So in the musicals Chieko was really bubbly and cute which wasn’t very Mercury like, but seeing her playing Naru in PGSM brought a completely other side of her up which is why feel that she could also be that shy and studious girl who doesn’t really know who to interact with people)

Rei Hino/ Sailor Mars: Misako Kotani (Since this is movie is fully on the anime and Misako basically is the perfect Anime-Mars for me (picking fights with Usagi but also caring about her the most WHILE also being that serious miko when something is wrong), I knew immediately that she was the right choice)

Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter: Yuu Takahashi (Yuu was the first Jupiter to me who actually showed us the feminine side of Jupiter, and since it is kinda important in the movie, when they are remembering their past and stuff, I thought that she would be the best)

Minako Aino/Sailor Venus: Rimo Hasegawa (It was REALLY hard to pick a Venus for this one, since Venus’ past has never really been explored in Myu (Which they totally should! just give as the goddamn Sailor V musical) but then I felt like Rimo was the one who actually got to the closest point (in LMF) and would be PERFECT for this one

Chibi-Usa: Ayano Gunji (So Chibi-Usa doesn’t really have big role in the movie, heck she wasn’t even a Senshi then so I don’t know if they would actually include her in the musical lol but anyways, since it’s the basic Anime-Chibi-Usa I felt that Ayano woulb be best since she pretty much was the Anime-Chibi-Usa)

Fiore: Kenji Urai (OKAY SO after seeing the Death Note musical I noticed how well Kenji plays as a villain, so that is why I decided to choose him for Fiore, and since he is a former Tux and he was done other stuff with Yuu before too, it would be pretty cool :D)

Xenian Flower (voice): Tomoko Inami (SO this was the one I struggled the most with. For like an hour or two I just went through all different actors from Myu and listened all different songs from Myu to find someone who would be best for Xenian Flower. Since Xenian Flower is just so manipulative and doesn’t care about else and just does thing for it’s own advantage so I felt like it couldn’t just be played by some random(if you get what I mean) but then it hit me that Tomoko would be amazing at playing Xenian Flower since Mistress 9 is pretty much the same, manipulative, deceiving (when in the anime she tricked Sailor Moon by lying that Hotaru is still alive into giving her the Holy Grail) and does everything for her own advantage. And her voice is so good and I think that it would be good for the Xenian Flower! Also the reason why it says “voice” is because the Xenian Flower is just hanging on Fiore’s chest and it would be kinda impossible for her to just hang on Kenji’s chest for the whole musical XD)

Flower Youma: Ado Endou, Miki Kawasaki, Kaori Ishikawa ,Mio Nunokawa, Yuka Kobayashi, Tomoko Inami, Ayumi Nakaoka, Mayuko Kawamoto (Ado and Miki are pretty self explanatory, Kaori was SO amazing as Nehellenia/Lemures, I included Mio because she was a pretty epic Telulu and she is all about the flowers so that’s why :D Yuka is just awesome so that’s why she is here xD I wanted include Tomoko in the Ensemble crew since it would only be her voice as the Xenian Flower so that way she could also be physically on the stage. I just really liked Ayumi and Mayuko xD Mayuko was super sweet and Ayumi seemed really good! I wish she could have gotten a proper role in Myu)

Musical Numbers:

1. BestFriends (At the flower garden) Inners + Chibi-Usa (Even though there is only a short clip of this song and the instrumental online, I feel like this song fits in! Especially because the movie has a lot to do with the girls friendship with Usagi. Also included Chibi-Usa because she needs to be a part of some songs at least :D) 

2. Otome no Policy (After Usagi and Mamoru’s failed kiss, when the other girls prank Usagi with the worm) Inners + Chibi-Usa (Even though I haven’t seen Super Live, I feel like Otome no Policy was a nice inclusion! And since this is Sailor Moon R Movie and Otome No Policy is the ending theme for that season, I think it would be cool!)

3. Kaze no Shijin (When Mamoru is talking about his past with Usagi) Mamoru and Fiore (Beryl’s lines would be changed and they would be sang by Fiore. Since this was pretty much the moment in SRD and KOK when Mamoru opens about his past to Usagi, this song HAS to be included. And obviously Fiore wouldn’t physically be there but in Mamoru’s mind or something when he starts to remember stuff)

4. Fiore's Theme Song (When the Flower Youma seed is sent to Earth) Fiore, Xenian Flower and Flower Youmas (So since this song doesn’t actually exist it doesn’t have a name so it’s just that :D In the movie Fiore doesn’t appear in that scene but I think it would be cool if he could have his “villain song” or something. Maybe Fiore could be reminiscing about his past with Mamoru and indicating his hate of Usagi. Maybe even the Xenian Flower could have a solo part there)

5. Sailor Make Up! (When Usagi and Chibi-Usa get knocked into the cafe and the Senshi transform and start to fight with Flower Youma(s)) Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus (I feel like this song would really fit in because there aren’t that many songs with just the four inners and because this song doesnät really get finished because the enemies overpowered the Senshi. Also I really like this song and it’s sad that it’s pretty much forgotten :( )

6. Make Up! Kumikyoku ~ Moon ~ (When Chibi-Usa wakes the fainted Usagi up and she transforms into Sailor Moon to save everyone from the Flower Youma) Sailor Moon (This is pretty much fits in since it is Sailor Moon’s transformation song and because the other Senshi are in trouble so it just makes it even more perfect for Sailor Moon to sing this while she saves everyone. Obviously it would be much a shortet version, similiar to what it was in Kumikyoku Medley but maybe a little bit longer. Ofc without Tuxedo Mask or the Shitennou. Probably just the introduction and then some dancing and finally Moon Tiara Action/Boomerang)

7. Tuxedo Versus (When Fiore is about to attack Sailor Moon but Tuxedo Mask comes to save her) Tuxedo Mask (I think this fits the scene best out of all the Tux songs since either they are too calm or too energetic. I mean this song is pretty energetic too for the scene in the movie because it was pretty calm since the Flower Youma was dead and it was just Fiore trying to kill Sailor Moon. But you would think that in the musical there would be more than one youma and Tux could just come to save Sailor Moon from them and the Fiore would appear to do his thing)

Act 2 (Act 1 ends when Fiore stabs Tuxedo Mask and takes him to his asteroid and the curtain descends as Sailor Moon screams for Tuxedo Mask, similarly to NogiMyu)

8. Fiore's past & Truth about Xenian Flower (Mamoru is in the resurrection tank or whatever, and Fiore tells him about his past while the Senshi learn the truth about Xenian Flower) Whole Cast (Senshi, Chibi-Usa, Mamoru, Fiore, Xenian Flower and Flower Youma) (SO this song doesn’t exist either but I feel like this song would be one of those epic songs where the Senshi and the villains sing their own lines and it becomes one huge song similar to Sailor Battle La Reconquista from La Reconquista or Shuuketsu - Yume no Atsumaru Basho from Amour Eternal or Triple Dreams from Yume Senshi. In that song the Xenian Flower could tell about her true goal and Fiore and Mamoru about their past while the Senshi are shocked about the the Xenian Flower. Also in the movie they learn the truth about the Xenian Flower from Luna and Artemis but in the musicals they could learn it from Ami who could have found it from her computer or something)

9. Ai no Senshi New version (When the Senshi use Sailor Teleport to go the asteroid to save Mamoru) Inners (So this would be similar to what Sailor War was in Old Myu (another good option for this scene) but I decided to put Ai no Senshi instead since Ai no Senshi is also from Sailor Moon R and it’s really epic battle song and I have always wondered what it would sound like in a musical!)

10. Watashitachi Sailor Guardians battle ver. (When the Senshi are at the asteroid and start battling against Flower Youmas) Inners (pretty self explanatory :D each Senshi sing at their own turn and attack the youma and at the end Sailor Moon destroys them all with Moon Princess Halation) 

11. Sorezore no Elegy (When the Senshi are trapped by Fiore and he demands Sailor Moon to make a choice, drop your wand or they all die) Inners (Okay this song fits PERFECTLY. Since they all are telling Sailor Moon to fight and survive and leave them be even though Sailor Moon doesn’t. Especially the line “This life was dedicated to you long ago” is just simply perfect for this scene and really hits the feels. Also Pluto’s part wouldn’t be there)

12. BestFriends Ballad ver. (When Fiore is sucking Sailor Moon’s energy, telling her how horrible of person she is and how they all will never understand loneliness and sadness, everyone starts to think about their lonely and sad past) Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus (So this version doesn’t exist either but it just came to me that it would be simply perfect for this scene since everyone starts to think about their sad and lonely past before they met Usagi and when they also try to convince Fiore to not kill Usagi and tell him how lonely they were before they met her. Also because the movie has a lot of stuff about the girls friendship with Usagi and since the regular version was at the beginning, it just hits the feels.)

13. Fiore and Mamoru’s Duet (Mamoru who has escaped from the resurrection tank, throws a rose at Fiore telling him that he remembers everything and tries to convince him to not kill Usagi) Mamoru and Fiore (so yeah this doesn’t exist either but it would just be perfect point for them to have a duet where Mamoru tries to reach out to Fiore and tell him that Usagi is not a bad person)

14. Otome no Policy Ballade ver. (When Fiore learns the origin of the rose that Mamoru gave him) Sailor Moon (When listening to the ballad version of Otome no Policy, it just came to me that it would fit this scene so well. I can just hear Usagi singing gently and quietly, trying to sooth Fiore by showing him where Mamoru got his rose while he is trying to take the Silver Crystal)

15. Moon Revenge (When Usagi uses the Silver Crystal to stop the asteroid from crashing to the Earth) Inners (Pretty self explanatory :D one of the BEST songs from Sailor Moon and it needs to be in this)

16. Moon Revenge Piano ver. (After Usagi has died from using the Silver Crystal and everyone is crying) Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Venus and Tuxedo Mask (This also played at the same scene in the movie so it just has to be in this and it would so much hit in the feels)

17. Moon Revenge (curtain call) (Similarly to what it was in UNV, when the actors come to bow, it’s instumental, but at the end everyone sings the last verse)

Service Numbers

1. La Soldier Inners + Chibi-Usa (Obviously)

2. Ai no Starshine Inners (Since it was first sang in Petite Entrangere, which is basically Sailor Moon R, I wanted to include a song from that arc’s musical)

3. Moon Revenge Inners (without any talking because during the musical there probably would since it’s a pretty important scene)

4. Moonlight Densetsu Whole Cast (Senshi, Chibi-Usa, Tuxedo Mask, Fiore, Xenian Flower and Flower Youma) (Obviously again)

OMG I FINALLY DID IT :D I cannot believe how long it just took to do this xD But it was really fun! (though frustrating at one point when I lost the progress...)

Probably next I’m going be doing the same thing Sailor Moon S The Movie but it’s gonna have to wait a while I think xD I don’t know

Also a thing I realised while writing this was that the cast has actors from each stage!/There are actors from each Sailor Moon’s stage (well not NogiMyu or Super Live tho)

AnzaMoon: Misako

FuminaMoon: Ayano

MiyukiMoon: Chieko, Ayano

MarinaMoon: Chieko, Yuu Shirota

SatomiMoon: Yuu Takahashi

HotaruMoon: Hotaru, Rimo

and I wasn’t even thinking about that when making this xD Pretty funny coincidence lol 

[sailorshitpost]

25 unpopular sailor moon opinions, sailorshitpost edition

obligatory reminder that these are just opinions and you’re free to disagree with them, i speak only for myself and subjectivity is implied!

unpopular opinion #1: i don't understand why people love the asteroid senshi so much. they're really weird, dont make sense from a lore perspective (#naoko), and barely get to do anything. also, their hairstyles are just too ridiculous for me

unpopular opinion #2: most of the art updates to the 2005 edition of the manga were unnecessary and weird. specially when naoko would redraw characters' faces to be more cutesy. in general i think her older art is better than her newer style, i like the classic feeling

unpopular opinion #3: when people say they hate the eternal fuku's bubble sleeves i assume they're talking about the 1992 anime's super absurd take on them. the MANGA's eternal sleeves, where the bubble is MUCH smaller, were perfectly fine and MUCH better, but it’s easy to miss this fact!

unpopular opinion #4: i like helios bc he's an interesting character that had a lot of potential... he just wasnt executed that well (especially in superS)

unpopular opinion #5: sailor moon R is bad. black moon arc is better, but still pretty bad. black lady is a silly character. 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

unpopular opinion #6: human artemis is hot and very, very, very underappreciated. he has a boob window AND a belly button window

unpopular opinion #7: sailor stars isn't bad in the same way R/black moon is, but it's NOWHERE NEAR the best season. too much wheel-spinning w/ starlights to try to recapture the outers dynamic from S. i'd put it squarely in the middle. (classic > S > stars > R > supers)

unpopular opinion #8: the 1992 anime is a better adaption of the sailor V manga than it is of the sailor moon manga. you can totally see how sailor V is what was used to pitch the show idea to toei - the tone of the anime matches the tone of the V manga MUCH more

unpopular opinion #9: mercury and neptune's powers make sense and don't overlap. (fresh water/ice vs. salt water/oceans)

unpopular opinion #10: darkury from PGSM is a dumb fanservice character. i dont really think she looks cool either. mio is also a bad character but i think that opinion isnt unpopular rofl

unpopular opinion #11: apparently i am the only person who is super horny for the actress playing nephrite in the newest musical, this is so unjust

unpopular opinion #12: manga!chibiusa is the most interesting and complex character in the entire franchise

unpopular opinion #13: tuxedo mask ought to be treated like a senshi in all respects but name. gimme a transformation, attacks, items, etc!! the manga does a better job with this but still not enough for me

unpopular opinion #14: i liked the shitennou/senshi romance subplot added to sailor moon crystal, and tbh, the fact that it was awkward and rushed worked for me because i feel like that's how naoko wouldve done it if she were forced to cram it into the manga on her tight schedule

unpopular opinion #15: the only good version of new moon ni koi shite is the one by momoiro clover Z

unpopular opinion #16: not only should sailor moon have kept her goggles/mask, but everyone should have had a mask. take everyone's masks from the prototype designs and just add them onto the final designs!

unpopular opinion #17: dream arc of the manga doesnt get enough credit for all the things it does right. eternal fuku, the princess forms, and the whole concept of sailor crystals all come from dream arc!

unpopular opinion #19: ikuhara gets way too much credit for why sailor moon is good 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

unpopular opinion #20: censoring a gay romance by making zoisite female was homophobic and awful, but i’m not against the idea of one of the shitennou being female. when i watched the dic dub as a kid, female!zoi helped round out the female cast and make them even more diverse

unpopular opinion #21: the superS movie is better than the S movie

unpopular opinion #22: once the blu-ray edition of crystal came out and fixed the really off-model parts, there was no longer anything objectionable about the animation, especially if you compare it to the cheap and often shoddy animation of the 1992 anime. most people who still dont like it are just salty about the character designs 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥

unpopular opinion #23: ikuko itoh’s style of drawing the characters wasn’t the best. they became very lanky and too doe-eyed, delicate, “precious moments” styled. the best animator/designer from the original anime is kazuko tadano

unpopular opinion #24: most of the flaws of the manga can be attributed to it not being long enough & naoko being worked to death

unpopular opinion #25: the filler in season 1 is great, but the filler in all seasons after that was excessive, bad, and brought down the show

WHEW........... some of these might not actually be that unpopular but there ya go lol :3

[keyofjetwolf]

I LOVE SO MUCH ABOUT THIS ENTIRE MOMENT AND YOU HAVE TO LISTEN TO IT ALL I’M SO SORRY (i’m not sorry)

First, there’s the original recipe reasons to love it. Minako is being a fucking toddler with her need to outdo Rei. She could’ve just said something to Rei, or set up this teaching moment in any number of ways at any point at all between her realization last night and now, THREE MINUTES BEFORE THE SERVICE. Nope! Gotta wait for Rei to start hanging her signs, gotta hang hers a few feet away, GOTTA WAIT IN SILENCE FOR REI TO SEE HOW MUCH BETTER MINAKO’S SIGN IS.

Sure, okay, people are about to be attacked and get energy sucked and feed the Dark Kingdom’s plot to overthrow the world, but what does any of that matter if Minako can’t prove her lost pet poster superiority to Rei? EXACTLY.

For as much fun as we can make of it -- AND WE CAN, AND WILL, FOREVER -- I love all of this as a way to unquestionably show Minako never takes her eye off the ball. She’s ABSOLUTELY committed to fucking with Rei, but even as she’s doing that, she’s thinking about what the Dark Kingdom may be up to and putting pieces together. PGSM Minako is, at least so far, perhaps the best consistent showing of the multi-faceted nature of the character. Minako is many things, ALL THE TIME, and even as she’s indulging one side of her, the others are never far away.

Finally, there’s how this IS a teaching moment for Rei. Minako could have told Rei what was going on, or just ordered her to follow, or even let Rei spot her in her fuku with the expectation that Rei would follow. Hell, she could’ve just dealt with this herself, a sort of dick measuring affirmation that she’s better than Sailor Mars AS HAS BEEN EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS DOG. But all that stuff, that’s play. This is business.

Minako may put the pieces on the table, but she lays them out for Rei, and then waits. Earlier, she tore a chunk out of Rei for not being the perfect unquestioning soldier, but either it was never what she really wanted or she’s seizing an opportunity now Rei’s proven to be more than that. Minako doesn’t want to dress Rei down or put her in her place anymore, she wants Rei to step up to meet her. We’re back to them as partners, and that it’s done within the framework of Minako’s petty-ass squabbling with Rei DELIGHTS ME.