#pgsm ep 15

[keyofjetwolf]

Friends. Today, I present to you something I never thought to see. I have a post for you, right here before your eyes, containing the longest Usagi and Mamoru photoset I have ever compiled. Could I have made it shorter? No. It was impossible. It was all vital to properly communicate every single ridiculous fucking moment.

I’m as surprised as the rest of you to note that for the SECOND time, PGSM has created a situation where I actually like its take on Mamoru, and one of the few IN THE ENTIRE FRANCHISE where, for a second there, I purchased a ticket and voluntarily boarded the Usagi/Mamoru train.

In all seriousness, jesus wept, I am SO HAPPY PGSM made the decision to embrace the absolute absurditry in which it swims.

USAGI IS A BIG-HEARTED WELL-MEANING IDIOT

MAMORU IS A PILLAR OF AWKWARD GIVEN HUMAN FORM

AND IN A MOMENT THAT CAN ONLY BE DESCRIBED AS “BLOWING IT” NEITHER KNOWS WHAT TO DO EXCEPT WANDER AWAY TO STAND WITH THEIR BACKS TO EACH OTHER IN TOTAL SILENCE SAVE TO UNNECESSARILY POINT OUT MUNDANE BACKGROUND SHIT

MY GOD HOW ARE THEY STILL ALIVE

This was perfect. Absolute pitch perfection, and I hope three thousand years from now, they both still honour their mutual shameful unspoken agreement to never speak of this again.

#THE GIFTENING 2020 #THE GIFTENING 2020 day 2 #JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #allowing them to be humans and thus disasters makes them so much more likeable and appealing WHO KNEW

[docholligay]

Schedule for the next couple of days

Personal Patreon events: 

Tonight: Cook along with Doc, where we chill while I make dinner (20+), Posting of Me and Jill’s A-Ha Rock Band Competition (30+)

Tomorrow: Madoka Magica Episode 2 (15+) HEY IF YOU LOVE MY WORK ON UTENA YOU SHOULD SEE IT ON MM. Also remember that my patreon supports the free work, like Utena, and when I make more I can justify more free shit, like possibly picking up Tutu for the main blog, or PGSM. 

Sunday: Sailors Stars myu! (all patrons) my livestream, sponsored by one of my lovely patrons who I am not sure if wants to be identified, of the hilarious amazing Sailor Stars musical. 

Wednesday: BIOSHOCK INFINITE (10+) I should have new shirts?? Also Jet fixed my computer, sooooo ideally it’ll just happen like a human thing, it’ll be beautiful. 

Yuri Hell’s kitchen Patreon (episodic, not monthly) 

Saturday: 6 ET/3 PT The livestream of Jet absolutely laying waste to a ie while I scream at her. 

Main Blog: 

Friday next: Utena Episode 19! Who knows what’s going on in this show! Not me!! Last ep was kinda lackluster for how strong this arc has been, but I HAVE FAITH.

(Things to be added as they come up, but I just wanted to put this out there) 

[keyofjetwolf]

I know I’ve used this joke before, but I swear Mamoru is just the human embodiment of the butterfly meme guy.

But also the idea that Mamoru is up to his fucking armpits in princesses and so has to evaluate each individually on their own merits.

#JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #ps: mamoru it's like 7am on a weekday and you're alone in your apartment #why are you half dressed as a pirate

[keyofjetwolf]

OH SHIT YOU GUYS TODAY IS MINA BEANS’ BIRTHDAY

SHE IS FIVE YEARS OLD TODAY

Her very first picture

And her most recent, taken about 90 seconds ago.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINA

#life with jet wolf #puppy of love and beauty #sorry to interrupt pgsm but i only just realized the date and assumed you all needed to know IMMEDIATELY #THE GIFTENING 2020 #THE GIFTENING 2020 day 2 #JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15

[keyofjetwolf]

AS YOU CAN SEE FROM MY VERY NATURAL SMILE THIS IS NO MORE TO ME THAN A TIDBIT OF INFORMATION I PASS ALONG AT YOUR REQUEST AND I HAVE NO GAPING WOUND IN MY HEART WHATSOEVER

#THE GIFTENING 2020 #THE GIFTENING 2020 day 2 #JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #ami mizuno #ice powers chill soul

[keyofjetwolf]

#JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #minako's complete lack of shock at this #just a sort of flat resignation #I'M INTO IT #i am thus far loving this jaded ass WEARY minako #SHE FUCKING SHOULD BE #she's out here running very deadly interference #and it's not like the bad guys are going to give her a moment's peace of space to breathe #WHILE ALSO having to maintain her career #WHILE ALSO being a desperately young teenage girl #WHILE ALSO doing it ALL BY HERSELF #have we ever really had a minako in any iteration #who felt like she was carrying the weight of all the things canon demands she carry at this point in the story? #and pgsm only upped that a thousandfold #by giving her the fame and adulation every other version of her wanted #what an absolutely incredible fucking monkey's paw turn my god #I FEEL LIKE I AM FEASTING TODAY FRIENDS #EXACTLY ONE MINUTE AND THREE SECONDS INTO THE EPISODE AND I AM FEASTING

[keyofjetwolf]

Thank you, PGSM. This is in fact EXACTLY what I wanted, and you gave it to me, swiftly and directly. I have no way to teleport a cake into the past, but if I did, I would bake one and violate all laws and sense of reason to send it to you.

#JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #usagi: tuxedo kamen proved he's a good guy! #mako: THE FUCK HE DID #me: clutching episode and sobbing

[keyofjetwolf]

Shingo’s delivery of this news is given completely straightforward without emotion, as if to say, “I think it might have been you, but I’m not sure I care all that much.”

#JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #pgsm's OTHER great move with the tsukino household: #to offset usagi and ikuko at a constant eleven #shingo rarely goes above negative two

[keyofjetwolf]

PGSM is giving me a FEAST of little details with this episode, I AM PURE DELIGHT.

First we have Mako nodding and smiling, accepting this COMPLETELY FACTUAL RELAY OF INFORMATION entirely at face value. Ami didn’t say it was bothering her and she wasn’t more obvious about it (though how the fuck more obvious Mako needs is beautiful conversation for perhaps another time), and nothing about what she said bothered Mako at all, so she just goes back to her tea and her thoughts, content and happy and unconcerned. I enjoy this, not just for furthering Mako’s propensity to take absolutely everything in the very simple black/white binary that I so treasure about her, but by how unruffled she is. Not even a spark of jealousy or feeling left out, and if anyone could be in a position to understand how Ami’s feeling, it’s Mako and Rei. But nope! Usagi can, and should!, have all the friends she can make. Mako doesn’t feel less loved and valued and wanted. That could be commentary on Mako or Mako’s view of Usagi or both and more, that’s far less the point than how fine she is with it, especially in contrast to Ami who is basically in freefall right now.

Then we have Rei “emotional availability of a very grumpy brick” Hino, and for all that she’s intensely private and unconcerned about patting hands, she DOES notice Ami’s off. She may not get why, but she knows there’s something and just *FLAPPY HANDS* AAAHHH

I love this line they’re drawing, I LOVE IT. Rei not interested in coddling someone and being the shoulder to cry into doesn’t mean she doesn’t know people, it doesn’t mean she doesn’t CARE. Rei makes choices about who/what/where/when/how she opens herself to others at HER pace, not theirs.

And they’re sloooooowly slowly slowly building this latticework between Rei and Ami that I’m so into! Regular visitors to my Giant Sailor Moon Canon Voltron know how much I love their friendship, and the special nature of it that I see in how they built it together, outside of Usagi. PGSM is taking that and building it before my eyes and I’m ALIVE.

We have Ami putting herself out there to connect with Rei when Rei had just joined and was at her grumpiest and most distant. We have Rei urging Usagi to chill the fuck out and let Ami do things her way, we have Ami noticing Rei wasn’t comfortable working with that business guy and so volunteering to do it instead. Taken individually, these might not mean much of anything, just little things to push the narrative along or make a point outside of themselves. But it’s happening enough that I think they are ALSO the point. PGSM is building Rei and Ami as good friends in a very organic way, through a series of small steps and gestures that collectively build something meaningful.

LOVE TO SEE IT THIS IS IN FACT EVERYTHING I TREASURE IN LIFE. But ALSO, I’m so keen to see it in contrast to Ami’s friendship with Usagi, which is  heroin she’s injecting directly into her eyeball. Are they building Rei and Ami as a way to later show her that she CAN do it, that she is fully capable? Is her friendship with Rei a kind of safety net they’re weaving for if (when???) Ami goes too far?

I’M DISCUSSING THE INTRICACIES OF HOW AN ITERATION OF SAILOR MOON IS INTENTIONALLY CRAFTING THESE GIRLS’ INDIVIDUAL FRIENDSHIPS WITH EACH OTHER I HAVE FOUND MY NIRVANA AND I NEVER WANT TO LEAVE

#THE GIFTENING 2020 #THE GIFTENING 2020 day 2 #JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #me: has six hours of pgsm in one day #also me: GETS MAYBE THIRTY MORE SECONDS DONE

[keyofjetwolf]

So Minako hired the most hilariously over the top burglars to steal her shit so the Dark Kingdom would be distracted long enough for her to go on vacation.

PERFECTION

#JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #were the thieves coached to be as obvious as possible #or did minako just hired precisely the correct people for the job? #i'm honestly not sure which i'd prefer #but i do like how the conclusion to it all is essentially minako just fucking off to six flags for a week

[keyofjetwolf]

Miracle Romance? Fuck that shit, MIRACLE NARUMANCE

#THE GIFTENING 2020 #THE GIFTENING 2020 day 2 #JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #all this legwork could be for mamoru or kamekichi or that potted plant nephrite hid behind #pgsm naru is objectively the best #and if you don't agree you are wrong and we cannot be friends

[keyofjetwolf]

I can’t move past this sorry

#THE GIFTENING 2020 #THE GIFTENING 2020 day 2 #JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #ami's full text for those of you curious: #Usagi has another friend a friend who is not me a friend she obviously likes better #and she will never want to see me again or spend time with me this was my only chance at friendship #and now it's over I will never again know companionship or succor I am alone in a world increasingly dark and cold #worse now than when I began as I now know the loss of the light #mako's full text is of course mmm. good tea.

[keyofjetwolf]

PGSM spent $10 on the monster costumes, because that was all they had left after buying up every single scrap of turtle and turtle-related ephemera to be found within the country of Japan.

#JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #sure sure the sailor senshi fight evil monsters #BUT HOW CAN WE LET THE AUDIENCE KNOW MOTOKI IS OBSESSED WITH TURTLES

[keyofjetwolf]

LOOK AT ALL THESE DIFFICULT YET ENTIRELY FAIR WAYS THEY’RE EXPRESSING THESE DOUBTS

Sincerely, it’s such a welcome change of pace, not having everyone yell about how they have to stay away, and Usagi yelling that they’re wrong, and everything being at maximum drama and volume. EVEN USAGI TAKES IT RATIONALLY, slinking into her chair and looking sad

It’s actually a discussion! It’s people trying to work through a problem together toward a resolution! Not one side as the big meanie bullies and the other wailing and selfish! WHAT A FUCKING CONCEPT

And! (As if that weren’t enough, we have an AND!) And each of the girls has a different way of reacting! A different tact they’re taking on this!

We have beautiful, straightforward, runaway freight train Mako, who absolutely cannot get past what she knows in her Senshi heart to be truth. Tux is a thief, thieves are bad, therefore Tux is bad. Beginning, middle, end, DONE.

Ami isn’t sure, she hasn’t been able to draw any conclusion that fits all the evidence. But she takes care to temper how she puts it, opting for diplomacy. Doing bad things (or, at least, things that appear bad) doesn’t necessary mean the person IS bad, She’s leaving the door cracked for Usagi’s viewpoint to be true, but also allowing for Mako to be right. (Now I’ve thought about it, while I think this would be her stance anyway, it becomes particularly interesting in light of Ami’s recent development, doesn’t it?)

Then there’s Rei, who sticks with what she KNOWS, much like Mako, but hasn’t come to a conclusion about it. There’s something off and not quite right, that’s not in question. But then, Rei knows that she too is off and not quite right, and didn’t that prove to be a good thing?

We can say the same for Usagi, too! Her impulse is to see the good in everything and everyone, and so she’s sure Tux MUST have a good reason for what he does, even in the absence of any proof. But rather than hear the others’ concerns and conclude that they’re against her and her happiness, SHE LISTENS. Usagi’s life now consists of real actual evil and real actual monsters and she’s fought countless enemies who looked like real actual people until they didn’t. What does she know about Tuxedo Kamen? Really? Usagi is a bun of huge heart and very little brain, it’s true, so when her friends make really good points, SHE TRUSTS THEM. Even if she doesn’t want to believe it, even if she can’t fully bring HERSELF to believe it, she trusts that if they’re all saying this, maybe they see something she doesn’t.

I hadn’t realized what an absolute fucking JOY this would be to see until I saw it. A relief, even. Nobody is being shoved into one box or the other for the sake of angst, no one is completely thrown overboard to further ~the drama~. It’s more difficult than all that, it always has been, and I am SO BESIDE MYSELF that we’re actually allowed to see the girls experience that.

#JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #the only one 100% certain is mako #AND OF COURSE IT IS #that's mako's world #good is good and bad is bad and that is that #are we actually going to get to watch mako wrestle with her own viewpoints and assumptions #I'M ALIVE WITH THE POSSIBILITIES

[keyofjetwolf]

Did Usagi just deliver her episode recap to the others? THE OTHERS WHO WERE THERE? And they just sat there and let her without comment, because it’s not the first time, won’t be the last time, and they’ve all just sort of resigned themselves to it by now?

CAN YOU IMAGINE

Usagi: We discovered the third Sailor Guardian.

Rei: Thank you for proving you can go from two to three.

Usagi: Sailor Mars, who is Hino Rei-chan!

Rei: ...yes. I know that. We all know that.

Usagi: In her everyday life, she works as a shrine priestess.

Rei: Why is that relevant? Who are you talking to? Why are you behind a game show desk?

Usagi: (stares off into space for a minute, reliving clips in memory): No way! What am I going to do?!

Rei: (stands) No. (to Ami) Good luck. (leaves)

#JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #she still feels that every time #but it's more efficient to just use the time for a few minutes of meditation and blot it all out #ps: i so want to cut to mako now like 'i have not reconsidered my position on tuxedo kamen'

[keyofjetwolf]

Ami: She’s not a loser like the rest of us.

Mako: Yeah, she’s pretty great, isn’t she?

Rei: Who’s a loser? Are we sad Usagi isn’t here? I’m so confused right now.

#THE GIFTENING 2020 #THE GIFTENING 2020 day 2 #JW watches PGSM #pgsm ep 15 #rei was just enjoying the peace and quiet and has no idea what anyone else is talking about