30 Day Sailor Moon meme...Day 14
Mar. 14th, 2011 08:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteI'm back, I'm bold, maybe even--ah hell, how many times have I opened a post with that line? I clearly love alliteration too much. Or similar-sounding words. Like Sailor Failures!
In critiquing the Sailor Senshi's fashion sense, several facts have to be taken into account:
* The anime is a different beast from the manga, which is different from the live action. Naoko had some, but not all say in the anime, which was produced in a hopping, cosmopolitan neighborhood of Tokyo. The manga took longer, but was heavily inspired by fashion advertising, so when possible, the art features some pretty fashionable outfits. And the live action debuted almost a decade after the anime and manga were both over!
* They've all taken place at least 7 years ago, if not way, way more. Fashion sense changes like the tides, and "greige" wasn't even a color back then. Thus, what looks ridiculous now might have been cool back then.
* The culture is different. Now and then, here and there. The fashion sense in Japan isn't going to be the same as what it is in New York or Paris or anywhere else. Every culture adapts and adopts.
That said...Rei! Whether it's the anime or the manga, I think Rei has managed to represent, as "Warriors of Legend: Reflections of Japan in Sailor Moon (Unauthorized)" says, both the traditional Japanese girl and a "cosmopolitan" girl, eager to try new things, be popular, and find her own happiness.
The Meet Sailor... books that came out many years ago did a great job of highlighting the fashion sense of each of the Inner Senshi, and I really liked a lot of (anime) Rei's outfits. But in the manga, where she's a more graceful, elegant character, very traditional in comparison to her anime self or even the other Senshi, she's still very stylish.
There could easily be a "Swimsuit Artbook!" featuring the many sexy summer outfits of the Sailor Senshi (anime OR manga!), and while Rei in any form might be a bit reserved compared to say, Minako, when the weather gets nice, Rei can be just as sexy as any supermodel. See Case #1, from the first artbook. The red and white are her image colors (accented by violet, which we get from her long, long hair), and next to Usagi's stripes, Rei's thicker stripes and red blocks "pop." She's also got cool star accents, something that she's featured more often (and longer) than Usagi/Sailor Moon has. But her huge earrings are big diamond blocks of checkerboard! Rei is definitely a study in contrasts.
Another swimsuit picture! This is smaller than the last one, and ironically, Ami and Makoto are the traditionally-dressed ones, while Rei is, again, in a timeless red one-piece swimsuit. She knows what works for her--I think that makes her fashionable, too!
You can't really praise Rei's fashion sense when it comes to her school uniform, because it's a uniform. But do you know lots of people pick schools not based off how close they are, or what friends will go there, or what programs they offer, but the style of the uniform! T.A. Girls' Academy is a Catholic school, but at least they have nice uniforms (as opposed to very plain ones, which is what I'm used to seeing from those kind of schools). And Rei seems to like wearing it all the time....
Rei isn't usually casual in the manga, but hers is the one outfit in this lineup that I'd wear. Well, hers and maybe Ami's, since they are very similar. But the others just seem too...loud, and too matchy-matchy for my tastes. That and I can't really stand pink.
This image doesn't show much of Rei's outfit, but in contrast to the other girls', her outfit seems more relaxed--a natural kind of sexy, instead of a cute-feminine or obvious kind of sexy, the way Usagi and Ami, Minako, Makoto, and Setsuna are. I'm not even including Chibiusa because she's just a child.... I like it a lot. I think I'd wear a little black dress with a warm velvet wrap. Her earrings are very pretty, too! I like how her hair seems more of a natural brown than black or even violet, and her hair's got a bit of a curl on the side.
When I think of really cool "ensemble" images for the Senshi out of uniform, this is the kind of thing I think of. I don't think we'd ever see Rei in this kind of outfit in the manga, but I like the idea that she has this fun, flexible fashion sense there, too. She seems much older and mature in the manga, and to see her "let loose" is a relief--it's a bit like acknowledging the young girl she is (and acts like, in the anime, anyway). I don't know if I personally would wear this kind of an outfit--it's very nautical and kind of 70s--but I like the pattern with the solid colors that suit Rei's complexion. If I had to pick any one outfit to wear from this image, it might be Ami's. Hey wait, is that because it reminds me of Anzu's?!
Can you really imagine conservative Rei-chan in an outfit like this?! Well actually, most of the Senshi are wearing very sexy outfits here. (This is the biggest version I could find of the anime version, which reduces the sexiness by quite a bit. If you have a bigger version of this anime poster, let me know! Until I get an industrial-size scanner, I can't scan mine...) She even has a (presumably temporary) rose tattoo on her breast! :-O
In the fourth (SuperS) artbook, this is probably one of my favorite images. You can't see all of Rei's outfit, but it looks like a sleeveless collared shirt and red capris. I think someone like Rei could pull something so solid and shocking off, but everyone else needs to balance it out with other colors or patterns. Even Setsuna and Michiru, whose outfits we can't see all of, look a bit strange, I think, with all that red so close to their faces. But with Rei, it's normal.
Sailor Moon being what it is, it's not surprising that people theorize about yuri (girl x girl) pairings. Besides Haruka x Michiru, there's nothing overt in the series, but there are a lot of possibilities that are at least minorly supported by canon, if not just the artbooks. Take this image of Minako and Rei. They look pretty close. Both so stylish and matching! Actually, Minako and Rei seem to have a special relationship in the manga and the live action, but they're more like friendly rivals in the anime. I think it's because they're both so close to Usagi/the Princess, but they definitely have an interesting chemistry on their own...but Rei is still the more stylish one.
If I ever had a ridiculously girly kitchen outfit, Rei-chan's in this image would be it. She's looking at that watermelon as if it's vexing her! I don't really like watermelon, though...but I suppose all the other red fruit out there would be too small for this picture.
Can we possibly talk about fashion without mentioning wedding dresses? This is another ensemble picture from the fifth and final (if you don't count the Materials Collection or doujinshi "Infinity" artbooks). Of all the dresses, I really do like Rei's best. It's still very obviously a wedding dress (though we can't see the bottom of it...), but she accents the whole outfit with her own taste--her veil is offset by these bright red blooms, she has a red pearl necklace, and she has a huge rose blooming at the top center of her dress. The other girls all have traditional elements: lots of roses, lace, ruffles, buttons, traditional cuts...those aren't really my thing. But if I got married in a white dress, it would be simple with a pop of color, like Rei's. At least I think so. ;-)
That's it. I mean, there are a lot of Rei images in the anime that I really like, and I'm sure some screenshots from the live action, too, but that might require a photo gallery...which I would like to do, someday. I still have to fix my iPhoto library. There were lots of duplicates.
C'est la vie!
In critiquing the Sailor Senshi's fashion sense, several facts have to be taken into account:
* The anime is a different beast from the manga, which is different from the live action. Naoko had some, but not all say in the anime, which was produced in a hopping, cosmopolitan neighborhood of Tokyo. The manga took longer, but was heavily inspired by fashion advertising, so when possible, the art features some pretty fashionable outfits. And the live action debuted almost a decade after the anime and manga were both over!
* They've all taken place at least 7 years ago, if not way, way more. Fashion sense changes like the tides, and "greige" wasn't even a color back then. Thus, what looks ridiculous now might have been cool back then.
* The culture is different. Now and then, here and there. The fashion sense in Japan isn't going to be the same as what it is in New York or Paris or anywhere else. Every culture adapts and adopts.
That said...Rei! Whether it's the anime or the manga, I think Rei has managed to represent, as "Warriors of Legend: Reflections of Japan in Sailor Moon (Unauthorized)" says, both the traditional Japanese girl and a "cosmopolitan" girl, eager to try new things, be popular, and find her own happiness.
The Meet Sailor... books that came out many years ago did a great job of highlighting the fashion sense of each of the Inner Senshi, and I really liked a lot of (anime) Rei's outfits. But in the manga, where she's a more graceful, elegant character, very traditional in comparison to her anime self or even the other Senshi, she's still very stylish.
There could easily be a "Swimsuit Artbook!" featuring the many sexy summer outfits of the Sailor Senshi (anime OR manga!), and while Rei in any form might be a bit reserved compared to say, Minako, when the weather gets nice, Rei can be just as sexy as any supermodel. See Case #1, from the first artbook. The red and white are her image colors (accented by violet, which we get from her long, long hair), and next to Usagi's stripes, Rei's thicker stripes and red blocks "pop." She's also got cool star accents, something that she's featured more often (and longer) than Usagi/Sailor Moon has. But her huge earrings are big diamond blocks of checkerboard! Rei is definitely a study in contrasts.
Another swimsuit picture! This is smaller than the last one, and ironically, Ami and Makoto are the traditionally-dressed ones, while Rei is, again, in a timeless red one-piece swimsuit. She knows what works for her--I think that makes her fashionable, too!
You can't really praise Rei's fashion sense when it comes to her school uniform, because it's a uniform. But do you know lots of people pick schools not based off how close they are, or what friends will go there, or what programs they offer, but the style of the uniform! T.A. Girls' Academy is a Catholic school, but at least they have nice uniforms (as opposed to very plain ones, which is what I'm used to seeing from those kind of schools). And Rei seems to like wearing it all the time....
Rei isn't usually casual in the manga, but hers is the one outfit in this lineup that I'd wear. Well, hers and maybe Ami's, since they are very similar. But the others just seem too...loud, and too matchy-matchy for my tastes. That and I can't really stand pink.
This image doesn't show much of Rei's outfit, but in contrast to the other girls', her outfit seems more relaxed--a natural kind of sexy, instead of a cute-feminine or obvious kind of sexy, the way Usagi and Ami, Minako, Makoto, and Setsuna are. I'm not even including Chibiusa because she's just a child.... I like it a lot. I think I'd wear a little black dress with a warm velvet wrap. Her earrings are very pretty, too! I like how her hair seems more of a natural brown than black or even violet, and her hair's got a bit of a curl on the side.
When I think of really cool "ensemble" images for the Senshi out of uniform, this is the kind of thing I think of. I don't think we'd ever see Rei in this kind of outfit in the manga, but I like the idea that she has this fun, flexible fashion sense there, too. She seems much older and mature in the manga, and to see her "let loose" is a relief--it's a bit like acknowledging the young girl she is (and acts like, in the anime, anyway). I don't know if I personally would wear this kind of an outfit--it's very nautical and kind of 70s--but I like the pattern with the solid colors that suit Rei's complexion. If I had to pick any one outfit to wear from this image, it might be Ami's. Hey wait, is that because it reminds me of Anzu's?!
Can you really imagine conservative Rei-chan in an outfit like this?! Well actually, most of the Senshi are wearing very sexy outfits here. (This is the biggest version I could find of the anime version, which reduces the sexiness by quite a bit. If you have a bigger version of this anime poster, let me know! Until I get an industrial-size scanner, I can't scan mine...) She even has a (presumably temporary) rose tattoo on her breast! :-O
In the fourth (SuperS) artbook, this is probably one of my favorite images. You can't see all of Rei's outfit, but it looks like a sleeveless collared shirt and red capris. I think someone like Rei could pull something so solid and shocking off, but everyone else needs to balance it out with other colors or patterns. Even Setsuna and Michiru, whose outfits we can't see all of, look a bit strange, I think, with all that red so close to their faces. But with Rei, it's normal.
Sailor Moon being what it is, it's not surprising that people theorize about yuri (girl x girl) pairings. Besides Haruka x Michiru, there's nothing overt in the series, but there are a lot of possibilities that are at least minorly supported by canon, if not just the artbooks. Take this image of Minako and Rei. They look pretty close. Both so stylish and matching! Actually, Minako and Rei seem to have a special relationship in the manga and the live action, but they're more like friendly rivals in the anime. I think it's because they're both so close to Usagi/the Princess, but they definitely have an interesting chemistry on their own...but Rei is still the more stylish one.
If I ever had a ridiculously girly kitchen outfit, Rei-chan's in this image would be it. She's looking at that watermelon as if it's vexing her! I don't really like watermelon, though...but I suppose all the other red fruit out there would be too small for this picture.
Can we possibly talk about fashion without mentioning wedding dresses? This is another ensemble picture from the fifth and final (if you don't count the Materials Collection or doujinshi "Infinity" artbooks). Of all the dresses, I really do like Rei's best. It's still very obviously a wedding dress (though we can't see the bottom of it...), but she accents the whole outfit with her own taste--her veil is offset by these bright red blooms, she has a red pearl necklace, and she has a huge rose blooming at the top center of her dress. The other girls all have traditional elements: lots of roses, lace, ruffles, buttons, traditional cuts...those aren't really my thing. But if I got married in a white dress, it would be simple with a pop of color, like Rei's. At least I think so. ;-)
That's it. I mean, there are a lot of Rei images in the anime that I really like, and I'm sure some screenshots from the live action, too, but that might require a photo gallery...which I would like to do, someday. I still have to fix my iPhoto library. There were lots of duplicates.
C'est la vie!
