#which is why Usagi has her own disguise forms in Sailor Moon | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

vhenanshiral · 3 years

Text

On the Topic of Seiya Kou.

This is a Sailor Moon post rather than a Dragon Age post. Shocker, I know, but Sailor Moon is another one of my loves. This will focus on the 90s anime adaptation of the manga. So do not come at me with “but in the manga,” because the 90s adaptation and the manga were incredibly different in multiple ways. Seiya will be referred to as she/her because the male form was a disguise. That being said, any interpretation of Seiya’s gender is valid and I love them all! Anyway. I see a lot of shit talking about Seiya and it’s honestly ... super tiring. So many of the “negative” points against Seiya are misinterpreted, misunderstood, and misrepresented for the sake of making her look like a dumpster fire. 1. “Seiya is creepy towards Usagi and stalks her.” Except ... she doesn’t. They meet by accident numerous times, and in fact Usagi even seeks Seiya out. They develop a friendship, and it’s normal and natural for friends to seek each other out. Usagi and the girls actually, literally stalk the Three Lights more than once during the season. 2. “Seiya thinks Usagi is weak because she told Mamoru to take care of her when they left.” This honestly makes no sense to me. It is repeatedly shown that Seiya admires Usagi’s strength, both as Usagi and as Sailor Moon. It is natural to want the people you love to be protected, and that does not mean that you think they’re weak and incapable of protecting themselves. Seiya knew Usagi was capable and strong because she had seen her demonstrate these traits multiple times. Throughout the season, Seiya repeatedly lifts Usagi up with her confidence in her capabilities. This is even before she knows she is Sailor Moon. Let’s not forget that when Galaxia kills all of the Inners, they ask the Starlights to protect Sailor Moon, so saying that Seiya telling Mamoru to take care of her means she thinks she is weak ... that must mean everyone else thinks she is too, right? It’s absurd. 3. “Seiya can’t take ‘no’ for an answer, always hits on her, and is constantly pressuring her into a relationship.” It is true that Seiya repeatedly quips about “having a chance” with Usagi. It’s also true that Usagi repeatedly reminds Seiya that she has a boyfriend. But it isn’t true that Seiya repeatedly attempts to coerce her into a relationship. It also isn’t true that she does it all the time. While she shouldn’t have done it even more than once (when she was unaware of Usagi’s relationship status,) it’s obvious from the context that she isn’t being serious. Seiya repeatedly making quips is an issue, and while those kinds of situations can and often do mean someone is being a “Nice Guy,” a predator, an abuser, etc., we know from everything that we see that it is not the case with Seiya. Let’s take the “date,” for an example: Seiya throws it out there (literally, just time and place and walks off) and Usagi willingly shows up the next day and is even irritated that Seiya is late. Usagi is not forced or coerced into the date; she retains all of the power regarding whether or not she shows up. She would not have gone if she didn’t want to. Actually, let’s look at these instances of Seiya hitting/making a move on Usagi. - In the “date” episode, Usagi thinks that Seiya is going to make a move on her. Some suggest that Usagi thinks she is going to kiss her, but the language, Usagi’s expressions, and her reaction to the truth seem to imply that she thinks Seiya is suggesting something more intimate. - In the episode with the beach monster when Chibi Chibi opens up the door and pushes Seiya over on to Usagi, Usagi is the one who, again, assumes Seiya is up to No Good, despite it being a complete accident and innocent on Seiya’s part. - In the episode where Seiya spends the night at Usagi’s because she’s alone and Seiya very nearly confesses who she is to Usagi while they’re in her bedroom, it is Usagi who believes that Seiya is going to confess to having a crush on her. - Later in that same episode, when they are hiding in the cabinet and Seiya again thinks about confessing her true identity to her, it is Usagi who thinks Seiya is about to suggest something intimate. In fact, throughout the season, it is everyone from Usagi, to the other girls, to single-episode characters, to even Luna who think that Seiya is going to suggest or attempt illicit activities with Usagi, and not Seiya. It is all but explicitly stated that Usagi is attracted to Seiya. Not just because of the implications of her assumptions, but also because she is scolded over it. In fact, Rei tells her that she needs to sort her feelings out. Haruka and Michiru forbid her from seeing Seiya because she has Mamoru. She may not love Seiya the same way, but she is attracted to her and she does love her (and Usagi being attracted to other people is not a new thing.) Let’s look at the softball episode, because it’s ... pretty problematic and people often point to it as being one of the episodes that paint Seiya as some creepy stalker who can’t just take a hint and tells everyone that Usagi is her girlfriend. It is Rei who thinks that Seiya training Usagi in softball is inappropriate (let’s remember that it is Ami who thinks that something illicit is going on with Seiya and Usagi in the bodyguard episode...) because Mamoru is Usagi’s boyfriend, not Seiya. It is Sonoko who insists that Seiya’s “relationship” with Usagi isn’t acceptable, and it is her that places the bet that if Seiya’s team loses, she’s not to associate with Usagi anymore. Seiya agrees because she’s competitive, hates to lose, has confidence in herself and Usagi, and knows that Sonoko is wrong. When Usagi tries to interject about the actual nature of their relationship (that they’re not dating,) it’s the girls who shush her because they’re expecting Seiya’s team to lose and that will give them the opportunity to make Seiya feel better. I want to touch on the “Seiya knows Sonoko is wrong” part. I think what a lot of people don’t think about is that when Sonoko placed this bet and openly stated her disapproval of Seiya spending time with Usagi, Sonoko was attacking Usagi’s worth as a person. She was openly saying that Usagi wasn’t good enough to be hanging out with Seiya in any capacity. Seiya took issue with this because she obviously believes and knows differently. She values Usagi as a person. Who is Sonoko to decide who is and isn’t good enough to spend time with her? Seiya is not approaching the situation with entirely selfish motives, unlike the girls who fed into the Seiya/Usagi romance for the hopeful eventuality of them being able to comfort Seiya after a loss when she’ll be forced to stop hanging out with Usagi. She uses this situation to help bolster Usagi’s confidence in herself. That doesn’t change the fact that the bet is stupid to begin with, but it is what it is. Oh, additionally ... Seiya doesn’t tell the school that she and Usagi are dating. Them dating is an assumption that Seiya simply doesn’t correct. It’s worth noting that if she did correct that assumption, it would feed into Sonoko’s declaration that Usagi isn’t good enough to be with Seiya. 4. “Seiya tried to make the rooftop scene about herself and used it as a way to try to take Mamoru’s place in Usagi’s life.” This whole entire scene is consistently misinterpreted and has all of the context ripped from it, because that is not what that scene is. No, it 100% was not the best time for Seiya to ask that question (and no, it is not “can I take his place?” that she says,) but people tend to forget that Usagi is not the only vulnerable person in this scene and it isn’t just about her. It is Seiya who triggers Usagi’s emotional breakdown on accident, and in these moments she is watching the person she loves crumble into pieces. The rooftop scene is about both of them and the context makes that clear. Up until this point, the only person who knew that Mamoru wasn’t keeping in contact with Usagi was Seiya. None of the girls knew, none of them. Imagine the amount of trust Usagi had to have in Seiya in order to share that incredibly sensitive information with her and with no one else, not even her closest friends. Usagi had told Seiya a whole 13 episodes before this one, and since finding out Seiya tried her best to make Usagi happy and to keep her mind busy. It isn’t until a few episodes after this that everyone including Seiya finds out that Mamoru is dead. So Seiya spends all of this time believing that Mamoru ditched Usagi when he moved overseas and that he’s a horrible boyfriend who obviously doesn’t care about Usagi. This is naturally hurtful to Seiya, who grows to genuinely like and love Usagi through the season. She cares for her and doesn’t want to see her in pain, which is why she does her best to help Usagi feel less alone. There is no point in the season where Seiya’s intentions are to maliciously shove herself into Mamoru’s place in Usagi’s life. She has no idea who Tuxedo Mask is. She had no idea that throwing the red rose - her own personal trademark - was going to trigger such an emotional response from Usagi. So here they both are on this rooftop in the middle of the pouring rain. Usagi’s breaking down over how alone she feels, and Seiya’s suddenly faced with the realization that not only did she cause this breakdown, everything she had been trying to do to help her wasn’t working and she failed again. She couldn’t save her system/planets, 99.9% of her people are literally dead because she wasn’t strong enough to save them, and she and the other two members of her team had no idea where their princess was or even if she was okay until the episode before this one. Immediately after the destruction of everything they knew, the Starlights had to flee to an alien planet with alien people, disguise themselves, and pander to a bunch of complete strangers that salivated over, stalked, and harassed them, all while searching for their princess and fighting the minions of the person who ctrl+a ctrl+x’ed their home system. She had no time to process any of the unimaginable loss and failure she had suffered through. When people talk about the rooftop scene and about how Seiya “makes it about herself,” this is everything they’re forgetting. When Seiya is asking Usagi if she isn’t good enough, it isn’t Seiya trying to weasel her way in, it’s Seiya both coping with her own numerous losses and trying to remind Usagi that she’s there for her. In the end, Seiya is the one that Usagi credits with being able to get herself through everything she was dealing with.

#sailor moon #sailor star fighter #eternal sailor moon #seiya x usagi #seiya/usagi #seiusa #bssm #bishoujo senshi sailor moon #90s sailor moon #pretty soldier sailor moon #usagi tsukino #tsukino usagi #seiya kou #kou seiya #sailor stars #sailor starlights

275 notes · View notes

endysgirl · 5 years

Text

Sailor Venus Birthday Tribute

This is my birthday tribute to Venus. It doesn’t necessarily focus on one moment but a series of my favorite moments from the manga. Venus wasn’t one of my favorites as a kid or as a teen even. But over the years, I’ve really come to love her. For me, she represents power, leadership, fun and one of the greatest examples of sisterhood in pop culture. She’s also my bestie’s favorite, and since the two of us are ride or die, it’s inevitable that I came to love V-Chan. When we first meet Sailor Venus in the Sailor Moon manga, it’s when she saves the day helping Moon and the others as they are being attacked by one of the Shittenou. Moon and the Senshi feel a special connection with her immediately. Her touch triggers a type of deja vu for them. She says she’s the Princess, (bc she’s Serenity’s body-double) and Usagi finds it strange that even though she’s the Princess it seems like she’s trying so hard to protect the rest of them. Hello, sweet irony. After it’s revealed that she is not the princess, we find out that she is the leader of the Senshi. While Moon is their princess, the one in charge of the Senshi is Venus. As leader, she’s the one who is able to pull the Holy Sword from its resting place on the moon (which the anime leaves out. Seriously, swords are cool. Why leave it out?!). Even Jupiter with her super strength couldn’t pull it out (although in one of the musicals, they have Jupiter doing just that). Venus is the one who is able to call forth the sword in battle. And in fact, *Venus* is the one to wield it against Beryl, killing her.

💫Lemme say it again, Venus kills Beryl!💫 And at this point she’s the one with the most intact memories of what it was to fight in the SilMill and watch everyone die because of Beryl. The anime and Crystal changed this scene to make Moon the one who defeats Beryl. But nah, it was V-Chan, Leader of the Senshi.

I’m sure y’all already know the precursor to Sailor Moon was the Sailor V manga. It was revised to make Sailor Moon the protagonist. Here’s the breakdown of the two volumes:

In Codename: Sailor V, Minako is portrayed as an athletic, strong-willed, girl who loves to sleep and gets bad grades. Remind you of anyone? Once Artemis awakens her, her memories aren’t fully returned but she’s all in to fight bad guys whether they’re gangsters or monsters. She has a transformation pen and a disguise compact, like Usagi will have. She’s also constantly falling in love for the “first” time and kissing a bunch of dudes. There’s one guy who makes an appearance repeatedly, Phantom Ace, he wears a mask and always saves her. She falls in love with him, of course. But, he seems to know her more than she knows herself. He taunts her that she doesn’t really love him. That she doesn’t love any man, because there’s someone else who holds her eternal devotion. She denies it, thinking she truly does or can love him, but as she’s about to kiss him, something feels wrong. She feels that “this love isn’t the real one either”. Phantom Ace doesn’t take kindly to it and tries to cut her down, telling her that she will never have love and will always fail her duty (which she doesn’t remember yet). He reveals himself as working for the Dark Agency (aka the negaverse). His name in the past was Adonis and he used to watch her from the castle on Venus. He watched her eternal devotion to Serenity and how that always took the place of any lovers’ interest, including his own. Apparently, it’s her “curse” to never find love

(cursed by a man who was rejected. GTFOH). But I’d argue (and Venus herself says it) that her one and only love is Serenity. Any other form of love, while nice, isn’t as important and doesn’t *feel* as real, as she herself says when she almost kisses Phantom Ace. While the curse is aimed at centering romantic, sexual (probably hetero) love as the most important emotion for Venus, she defies it with her yearning for the Senshi and Serenity. Anyways, battle ensues and as Ace dies, her memories come pouring back. She remembers “the only people who could ever really know me. Those who share the same feelings as me.” She’s realized that even though she took on fighting as Sailor V, this greater purpose is what she’s been searching for. It’s the “one and only love” she needs moreso than any man’s kiss. She remembers that she’s “a champion born to protect one, and only one, very special person.” She packs her bags and heads to Japan to find those with who can truly ever know her (Usagi also has to explain this to Mamo. That she can only be her *real* self in his presence. Just so, the Senshi are their truest selves in Serenity’s presence). I know a lot of fans don’t like or fail to comprehend the devotion and love the Senshi have towards Serenity but I think Codename does a great job of explaining it. Minako falls in love with a new dude all the time, but those infatuations are never to the depth of her love for Serenity. And before ppl start getting it twisted, it’s not sexual. It transcends the sexual. Serenity and her Guardian Goddesses are the epitome of sisterhood, and I 👏🏽love 👏🏽 it👏🏽! Patriarchal conditioning to expect sexual, non-platonic, usually heterosexual romance as the greatest achievement or happiness that a female can acquire is so prominent in most mediums, so I love how those ideals are so casually replaced with this yearning and devotion between the Senshi for each other in the manga.

#sailormoon #sailor moon fandom #manga moment #sailor moon #sailormoonmanga #sailor v #codename sailor v #codename sailor v manga #happybirthdayvenus #theOGsenshi #sailor venus #v-chan #serenity #adonis #magical girl #mahou shoujo #minako #aino minako #minako aino

90 notes · View notes

endysgirl · 5 years

Text

Galaxia: the baddest bitch in the galaxy (pt 1 of 3)

Galaxia is easily the baddest bitch of the entire series, and I love her. I’m about to dish out a lot of info, so if you’ve never read the manga, get ready. Shit’s intense.

First, lemme address the anime and emphasize that I do love the anime and I enjoy it for what it is. However, I think the manga story is better and imma show you why. Also, just bc I think the manga is better doesn’t mean I don’t like or enjoy the anime. In the anime, Galaxia has been fighting in the Sailor Wars against Chaos for an unknown period of time. She is the strongest Senshi in the Galaxy and she decides the only way to stop chaos is to seal it inside her body. Let me specify here that the reason Galaxia became angry and bitter (according to the anime) is bc when she sealed Chaos inside herself, she sent her starseed away to search for the “Light of Hope” who could help her. That starseed takes the form of Chibi Chibi and finds Usagi. Without that starseed, Chaos could overtake her. This is not so in the manga. Unlike every other villain - Diamond, Tomoe, Nehelenia- Galaxia in the manga is never controlled by Chaos or used as a puppet. She is aware of exactly what Chaos is. While I am hyper-critical of how the anime treats final battles and villains, Stars works for me bc they changed so much. They completely changed the intent and the power of Galaxia and Moon. I’ll cover that more in the manga discussion below.

In the manga, Galaxia is the most powerful Sailor Senshi in the galaxy and the only rival to Eternal Sailor Moon. She is the Senshi of destruction bc her starseed is the ultimate force of destruction, the Sapphire Crystal. It is known as the Crystal of Destruction and is second only to the Silver Crystal. It surpasses the Silver Crystal in terms of destructive power bc the Silver Crystal’s main power is one of restoration and healing (hence all the second chances Moon is able to execute time and time again). It is the ultimate force of destruction and supplies Galaxia with vast destructive abilities and enough power to easily battle Sailor Moon. It can destroy entire planets and stars. We don’t see this in the anime. Instead the anime makes Chibi Chibi her starseed that she sent away to find a new host. I have a lot of problems with the storytelling bc of this, but the anime changed the ultimate meaning and the ultimate battle for Stars (Chibi Chibi is also hella important as she is Sailor Cosmos in disguise, who is the ultimate form of Moon). The Anime stands well on its own BUT I think the depth the manga offers is far superior and the sheer power we get to see from Eternal Moon establishes her as a Creation Goddess (and my Joseph-Campbell-loving heart is kicking into overdrive bc of this). The anime keeps Moon pretty ordinary which I feel is erasing her power. It’s still good on its own, but I can’t help but compare them and find it ultimately lacking while enjoyable. Now, for the next post, some background on Galaxia.

#sailor moon fandom #sailormoon #sailor moon #sailor galaxia #galaxia #sailor stars #galaxy cauldron #eternal sailor moon #mangamoments #usagi

11 notes · View notes