30 Day Sailor Moon meme...Day 24
Mar. 24th, 2011 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
azuriteI'm not very good with timeliness on these things lately. But at least this time, I'm only 35 minute late, and not a few hours! And even if the timestamp doesn't reflect that, I am being honest!
There are only 6 more days left of this! Thanks to Frizzy at Sailor Failures for editing and sharing this awesome list!
If you didn't cry when Tuxedo Mask took the blow for Sailor Moon in the episode the dub called "Crystal Clear Destiny" (and not long after, when "My Only Love" cued up and Sailor Moon held him, dying in her arms, before transforming into Princess Serenity for the first time), you are SOULLESS!
I do believe crying my eyes out the first time I saw that. And probably during several subsequent re-watches, because isn't that the point?
I probably also cried in the manga equivalent of that moment, both in the present day (when, rather than be inside the Starlight Tower, they were outside the Tokyo Tower, if I'm not mistaken, in these bubble things...), and in the Silver Millennium, when Serenity IMPALED HERSELF WITH A SWORD. Remember what I said in previous posts about her being a bit extreme when it comes to Endymion? Yeah, it's things like THAT which make me think that way.
But for happy years, I think I bawled a little when Mamoru "proposed" to Usagi by slipping a ring on her finger before he left for Harvard. In the manga, it was immediately after this that Usagi saw Galaxia steal his Sailor Crystal/Star Seed and more or less disintegrate her true love right before her eyes, but she didn't really understand what she was seeing and so her mind blocked it out. She kept on expecting letters from Mamoru in America even though a part of her knew he was dead.
As the viewer aware of the truth, that moment made me cry a bit too, as did Usagi's realization that Mamoru was gone.... But then, her seeing him again? Awesome and happy tears once more! Those are the point of those moments, right? Poignant loss and amazing reunion? It's not just Usagi and Mamoru, but Usagi and ANYBODY, or any other Senshi and another friend. In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, it was the rebirth of everyone, including (and especially) Minako!
And in the anime, when Rei died after losing her Star Seed? It just goes to show that even though they changed the characters in the anime, perhaps making them much less mature, it made them more "modern," and for people their age or younger, probably more relatable. I don't remember looking at Rei (Raye) or even Usagi (Serena) when I was watching Sailor Moon...age 8-15 or whatever it was, thinking "Ugh, they're so immature!" I admired them, and in the end, the spirit of Rei and Usagi's friendship remains. You can tell they're still the very best of friends in the anime, no matter how much they bicker and argue.
Again, I think part of what makes Sailor Moon as a series so wonderful is that it's got this great blend of emotions: things that make you happy, things that make you cry (out of sadness or happiness), things that make you cheer or shout "Boo-yah!" and so on....
Yes, it's a shoujo series. Yes, the intended audience IS pre-teen girls. But can anyone enjoy it, even now, nearly 20 years after its initial release? HELL YES. It's not fluff, it's a great story, with room to play and enjoy and love, years after the story's been analyzed, re-done, with new characters, new angles, and everything else under the sun, stars, and moon.... It's an examination of Japanese culture and viewpoints in the early to mid 1990s, it's a ground-breaking, record-making Japanese anime, and it's what got me into anime in the first place.
I probably cried when I finally watched the 200th episode, too. It's both bitter and sweet knowing that it's over...but that it's never REALLY over, because fandom is forever! Huzzah, to Sailor Moon, now and eternally!
There are only 6 more days left of this! Thanks to Frizzy at Sailor Failures for editing and sharing this awesome list!
If you didn't cry when Tuxedo Mask took the blow for Sailor Moon in the episode the dub called "Crystal Clear Destiny" (and not long after, when "My Only Love" cued up and Sailor Moon held him, dying in her arms, before transforming into Princess Serenity for the first time), you are SOULLESS!
I do believe crying my eyes out the first time I saw that. And probably during several subsequent re-watches, because isn't that the point?
I probably also cried in the manga equivalent of that moment, both in the present day (when, rather than be inside the Starlight Tower, they were outside the Tokyo Tower, if I'm not mistaken, in these bubble things...), and in the Silver Millennium, when Serenity IMPALED HERSELF WITH A SWORD. Remember what I said in previous posts about her being a bit extreme when it comes to Endymion? Yeah, it's things like THAT which make me think that way.
But for happy years, I think I bawled a little when Mamoru "proposed" to Usagi by slipping a ring on her finger before he left for Harvard. In the manga, it was immediately after this that Usagi saw Galaxia steal his Sailor Crystal/Star Seed and more or less disintegrate her true love right before her eyes, but she didn't really understand what she was seeing and so her mind blocked it out. She kept on expecting letters from Mamoru in America even though a part of her knew he was dead.
As the viewer aware of the truth, that moment made me cry a bit too, as did Usagi's realization that Mamoru was gone.... But then, her seeing him again? Awesome and happy tears once more! Those are the point of those moments, right? Poignant loss and amazing reunion? It's not just Usagi and Mamoru, but Usagi and ANYBODY, or any other Senshi and another friend. In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, it was the rebirth of everyone, including (and especially) Minako!
And in the anime, when Rei died after losing her Star Seed? It just goes to show that even though they changed the characters in the anime, perhaps making them much less mature, it made them more "modern," and for people their age or younger, probably more relatable. I don't remember looking at Rei (Raye) or even Usagi (Serena) when I was watching Sailor Moon...age 8-15 or whatever it was, thinking "Ugh, they're so immature!" I admired them, and in the end, the spirit of Rei and Usagi's friendship remains. You can tell they're still the very best of friends in the anime, no matter how much they bicker and argue.
Again, I think part of what makes Sailor Moon as a series so wonderful is that it's got this great blend of emotions: things that make you happy, things that make you cry (out of sadness or happiness), things that make you cheer or shout "Boo-yah!" and so on....
Yes, it's a shoujo series. Yes, the intended audience IS pre-teen girls. But can anyone enjoy it, even now, nearly 20 years after its initial release? HELL YES. It's not fluff, it's a great story, with room to play and enjoy and love, years after the story's been analyzed, re-done, with new characters, new angles, and everything else under the sun, stars, and moon.... It's an examination of Japanese culture and viewpoints in the early to mid 1990s, it's a ground-breaking, record-making Japanese anime, and it's what got me into anime in the first place.
I probably cried when I finally watched the 200th episode, too. It's both bitter and sweet knowing that it's over...but that it's never REALLY over, because fandom is forever! Huzzah, to Sailor Moon, now and eternally!
