In the midst of all this turmoil, I received this wonderful commission by @wafalo. It is superb and a real MOOD for what I’m feeling right now. ESM stands at the brink of The Galaxy Cauldron, the birthplace of the universe, about to take on her greatest foe, Chaos. All her loved ones have been taken from her but instead of being crushed with despair, she is filled with Hope. Even if she can’t stop the Chaos in front of her, she knows that as long as the Cauldron keeps birthing stars, that one day Chaos will be pushed back, and it’s that Light of a Hope that she carries with her as she plunged into the Cauldron and releases all her power, knowing it will cost her her life.
I fell in love with these postcards from the Girl’s Night Out popup cafe the moment I saw them! I knew I had to get my hands on them, and the lovely @blaze-rocket was able to help that happen.
I cannot get over how perfect these postcards are. To me, this is what Sailor Moon is; a testament to the little moments from the series that made us fall in love with the characters, especially how their personal preferences were reflected in their fashion choices. In a world of merch where it’s easy to just slap a random crescent moon on something pink and say “look, it’s Usagi,” the designer responsible for these graphics went the extra mile to take imagery from the show itself that needles its way deep into our nostalgia-cortexes.
How many references do you recognise? Quiz yourself against this comprehensive (image-heavy) list! 👇
I commissioned my first piece of Sailor Moon art from an artist that I really love. I didn’t give him much context because I was confident he wouldn’t disappoint. Just this picture below and brief summary of how much I love Cosmos is the info I gave him. I commissioned this because I was thirsty for Cosmos and his rendition of her just made me thirstier because it’s like she’s still a mystery. And that’s not a criticism. I absolutely LOVE it and I love how his piece is evoking all kinds of feeling and depth and I just love staring at it. Endlessly. The more I look at it, the more I love it. It’s sublime. It’s thought-provoking and it’s absolutely gorgeous and different than any other sailor moon fanart that I’ve seen before.
I am so late on posting this but I just did not have time to edit. For Mars I wanted to talk about her 90s anime version and her much better manga version.
Let me start by laying my bias wide open. I never liked Sailor Mars. As a kid I thought she was unnecessarily mean. She was and still is my least favorite, besides ChibiMoon. She’s beautiful, and her powers and attacks are awesome. As for how she fits into the overall scheme of things, I have major issues with how the anime portrayed her compared to how Naoko intentioned her. Frankly, I can’t help but view 90s anime Rei as an imposter and I’ll explain why...
Ok, first let’s talk about 90’s anime-Rei. We know she’s very hard working, goes to an elite girls’s Catholic school and wants to be an independent career woman when she grows up. Yet, for some reason (*cough*patriarchy) she sees Mamoru in season one and thinks he’s perfect so she’s gotta have him. She embarrasses herself going all boy crazy over him (he literally steps on her head and just walks away) and he seems like a typical clueless dude who doesn’t realize she *likes* him. I relate hardcore to Mamoru here. She’s so thirsty and he is so not. Then fast forward to after Endymion gets taken and Rei slaps Usagi calling her a coward. It’s meant to be some great emotional scene that some fans latch on to. Yet, it’s not Rei’s slap that motivates Usagi. It just hurts her. Go watch it again (epi35); it’s the voice of Mask from her memory, gently and patiently encouraging her, as always, that she is strong and can fight that spurs Moon into action. We’ve seen over and over that Usagi responds to patient encouragement over violence, just like when she does when she faces the baddest villains. Yet, the 90s anime always has Rei cutting her down. As far as I’m concerned, it’s just the patriarchy at work, trying to convince young girls that the boy or girl who’s mean to you really does care about you. It’s toxic and just plain stupid.
Now, am I saying 90s anime Rei doesn’t really care about Usagi? No. Not at all. She’s her Senshi and they share the same heart and the same dream to protect those they love together. Of course she loves Usagi. My issue is how the 90s anime portrays that dynamic. It’s spreading toxicity within female friendships and trying to sell it as genuine. I also understand that Mars’s fiery personality is what a lot of her fans love about her. I’m not saying that’s bad either, even if it’s an inaccurate representation of the character Naoko created. Apparently, it was Ikuhara that wanted the anime to change her cold and aloof personality to “fiery”. To perpetuate the patriarchal tropes I’ve mentioned, the anime tried to paint her as Usagi’s bff of the group, usurping Minako’s place. In the manga, Minako is the Leader of the Senshi and the one closest to Usagi in personality and in her role as the Leader of Serenity’s guards. Yet the anime is constantly trying to make Mars the one that is extra special to Usagi. Case in point, at the end of Stars the first voice we hear address Eternal Moon after she defeats Galaxia is Rei but in the manga, Usagi is drawn hugging Minako first. These little moments bother me, probably a little too much.
Then there’s the love triangle they tried to created with her and Mamoru. Fucking kill me. The love triangle garbage is just typical, patriarchal tropism within the storyline that has no place in the SM story in regards to Mars. Let’s make two friends like the same dude bc that’s drama that people have been conditioned to enjoy. It’s lame as far as I’m concerned. Let’s take a moment to remember the random, stupid and pointless scene in the curry episode where ChibiUsa and Mamoru run into Rei and after a moment of awkwardness they decide to go find Usagi together. Tell me that’s not the patriarchy trying to validate one woman’s place by using another woman as comparison instead of letting her stand on her own. 😒 And they’re trying to backtrack on the whole Rei liking Mamoru episode. This isn’t Rei’s fault obviously, I’m just using this scene to explicate why I don’t like the dynamic the anime created, and why that makes Mars a difficult one for me to get excited about.
There’s no way you can convince me that Mars’s bitchiness wasn’t a direct result of a “male perspective” (as Naoko called it). The idea that female bffs bully each other and cat fight all the time is ludicrous. As a 32yo woman (and lifelong Moonie) with a tight circle of girlfriends, there isn’t a single one of us who would tolerate such toxicity from the other, even at 14yo. It just isn’t realistic, unless it’s a bad relationship. I’ll give the anime credit for getting one thing right - her bravery. In both the manga and the anime, Mars is fearless. She charges into battle and gives it her all. She doesn’t let any doubt get in her way. She does not hesitate or dwell on self-doubt. And that alone is reason enough to love her.
Now, let’s discuss Manga-Rei. Because Adult-Moonie-Me LOVES manga-Mars. She actually appears in Codename Sailor V outside the arcade. She says the atmosphere is “disquieting” and leaves. In the manga, she’s very quiet and reserved. There is no bickering or cat fighting between her and Usagi. She’s also probably the most objectively beautiful of the Inners. She’s suppose to be “slender”, with long black hair and brown eyes which are sometimes seen as purple. When Usagi first sees her on the bus, she thinks she’s soooo beautiful. And another time, when they’re at the beach/pool, guys keep buying Rei drinks but she’s not flirting or giving them any attention, bc she is not boy crazy. Sis is enjoying those drinks tho.
Her awakening in the manga is very similar to the anime with the exception that’s she sees a premonition of Usagi and Jadeite that makes her go find the bus. Like the other Senshi, she is drawn to Usagi.
In her manga profile, her dislikes are television, modern society (the anime has her immersed in pop culture, going so far as to make her write her own songs and dance at the school festival), canned asparagus and men. It’s implied that she doesn’t like men or care for them bc of her father. He never had time for her and she doesn’t have a good relationship with him. Plus in a short story, she has a guy she likes but he chooses to follow her father’s footsteps into politics. So she kisses him and is like, boy, bye. ✌🏽 She considers men emotionally weak, untrustworthy and is generally disinterested in them, even if they’re buying her drinks and fawning over her. Same, Sis.
She is described as beautiful and “reserved”, but “scary” when she’s angry. She so beautiful that when Mamoru’s underclassman, Asanuma, sees her, he thinks she would be the perfect girlfriend for Mamoru (who Asanuma thinks is perfect) and that she should be Mamoru’s ideal type. He’s really surprised that Usagi is so *ordinary*.
Rei has strong precognition and has an affinity to fire. Ironically, there is nothing in Shintoism about fire reading, so that must just be a shoutout to the Greek influence on the manga. I love her psychic abilities in both the anime and the manga. Random fun fact: Naoko worked at a Shinto temple for a while before or maybe during college.
Mars is one of the only Senshi, like Michiru, who can use an item as an attack in her civilian and Senshi form. Her “ofuda” (Shinto talismans) are powerful enough to disperse evil and make regular people faint (remember anime epi w/Unazuki’s mouth getting sealed and in the manga/crystal she accidentally “purifies” Usagi, causing her to faint). Mikos (shrine maidens) are known to use archery attacks, so civilian Rei was already proficient in archery before awakening as Mars. Also, just like Jupiter’s earrings stay on her when she transforms, Mars is always wearing a pendant and when she transforms, it attaches at the waist to her fuku.
Mars also, uniquely, has her own guardians: the Crows, Phobos and Deimos. In the anime, the crows never take human form as they do in the manga. In the Dead Moon arc, Jupiter and Mercury power up by speaking with their inner consciousness. But Mars powers up by speaking with the human forms of her crows. This is a great moment in the manga bc Phobos and Deimos basically tell Rei that’s it’s ok to not want or desire men and marriage. She is the asexual goddess everyone overlooks and I love this aspect to her personality. The Crows are the ones to give her the Mars Crystal which is her starseed. We also find out here that Mars pledged a vow of Chastity to Serenity in the SilMill. They don’t explain the reasons behind the vow, but considering Rei’s spirituality and serious conservatism, it’s understandable. Also, while Phobos and Deimos are named after the moons on Mars, in the Stars Arc it’s revealed that they’re from the Coronis and were acquainted with Sailor Lead Crow.
For the most part, Rei in the manga seems more boring than Rei in the 90s anime, but personally, I don’t think so. Reading the manga in middle school and seeing a female not *give*a*fuck* about marriage was awesome to me. She’s also kinder and she has far more respect for Usagi. She’s extremely popular at her school and has her own fan club. She carries herself with a certain dignity that reminds me of Michiru. She’s second in command after Venus. And let me end this by saying that Crystal gave Rei justice, and for that I am happy.
Happy Birthday, Mars! 🔥 🌙 ⭐️
P. S. Check out Allison Yarrow’s book “90’s Bitch: Media, Culture and the Failed Promise of Gender Equality” for more detailed analysis on how women in the 90s who wanted to have a home and a career got turned into the bitchy boss, bitchy girlfriend or bitchy best friend to subvert their quest for gender equality. I think Rei is the perfect example of this narrative. Especially when you consider men changed her nature in the anime from what her female creator intended for her. Also, check out the podcast on it https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unladylike/id1333193523?i=1000432317654 (podcast name: Unladylike episode 45. how to free the 90s Bitch)
Thanks for reading all this you wonderful Moonies!!!
Show Unladylike, Ep How to Free the 90s Bitch - Mar 19, 2019
“Long ago, there was a perfect, shining star just like you,who came to this place...holding against her chest the empty husk of a fledgling star. That star’s strength and brilliance was just like yours, Sailor Moon. And so, she said that she would stay where I was and her life was lost to the oceans of the Cauldron.”
I’ve been thinking about Cosmos a lot lately. Sailor Cosmos symbolizes the feminine divine to me because of what she represents and implies for our heroine, Usagi. Her role transforms the hero narrative into one of divine power. While, Moon always uses phrases like cosmic, power, eternal and so on, at the introduction of Cosmos we get to see those traits personified bodily in her, not just as an extension of her wand power. I’ve written before on my tumblr about Cosmos and how I liken her to a Creation Goddess. While I’m social distancing because of Covid I’ve been thinking about her a lot more (mainly because I was planning on getting her as my second Sailor Moon tattoo at the end of March).
I consider Cosmos, and therefore Moon, as embodying the feminine divine because of the overall power of her crystal/starseed. In the Stars arc, we find out that Cosmos has Lambda power which the manga says is the power to restore everything to the static Cosmos. I’m curious as to the literal Japanese translation here, and looking forward to seeing if the Eternal Editions translates this differently. The reason for my curiosity is because lambda which is the eleventh letter of the Greek alphabet is the symbol for a cosmological constant. It is used to describe the energy density of space, and the ever expanding dynamic energy of space. Aristotle, Ptolemy and eventually the early Christian church accepted the idea that there were fixed stars in the universe, meaning they accepted a static Cosmos. Static referring to things being unchanged, not expanding or growing. It wasn’t until after Copernicus discovered elliptical orbits and Newton theorized gravity that people began to realize the universe might actually be expanding. That it might be dynamic instead of static. While there were many objections to the idea of a static universe, philosopher Immanuel Kant perhaps surmised it best. He makes the argument that whether the universe had a finite starting point and fixed stars aka static Cosmos, or whether it was infinite aka dynamic was irrelevant because of time. So yeah, I’m really interested in how Eternal Editions will translate this phrase and what exactly it’s suppose to mean.
We see the now proven theory of time as cyclical in the oldest living religion in the world, Hinduism. And Hinduism heavily influenced the emergence of Shintoism and the other mythos that accompanies Naoko Takeuchi’s Sailor Moon universe. Pluto is the biggest example of time being cyclical but that’s an analysis for another time. In Sailor Moon, we see reincarnation many times. In Stars, we learn that the Galaxy Cauldron is where all things in the universe are born. We also learn that Queen Serenity gave her life and power to the cauldron so that Serenity and the entire Earth could have a giant redo (also a topic for another time). We see when Moon kills Dark Endymion that she is confident that no matter how many times they are reborn, they will one day meet each other again and they will have a chance to be happy.
So what does this all say about the nature of Usagi’s power? Usagi’s power is one of rebirth and hope. And as Cosmos, using Lambda power, it has evolved as the cosmic power that makes up the universe. Her power of rebirth is a power of creation. She has the ability to draw stars to her, and by stars I mean the senshi. As the Stars arc revealed to us, the senshi are all drawn together because of their great devotion and bond to each other and to Serenity. So literally, at the end of Stars it wasn’t Usagi’s power alone that made them be reborn together, but their combined will as stars/star seeds allowing them to draw each other close. So we can assume that Cosmos, who is Moon alone in the far distant future, may be fighting alone but there’s the hope that she will one day be rejoined by her senshi and lover.
Using this analysis of her as a Creation Goddess, I’d like to take it step further and assert that according to Asian mythologies she is also something much more significant. Those familiar with Asian religions, folklore and even movies and dramas have heard the phrase “Will of Heaven”. Sometimes this is translated as “fate” or “destiny” for non-Asian audiences. The Will of Heaven or Mandate of Heaven was used to ordain ancient Chinese kings. But it was also used more widely to imply that what is happening or whatever decisions are being made is the Will if Heaven and is divine fate. Japanese mythology, Kojiki, describes how the universe begins, and after it begins there is the formation of Heaven (not in the Christian sense). The formation of Heaven creates Light which is the Will of Heaven. From there, Kojiki describes the creation of gods and goddesses and the Earth/Islands of Japan itself.
Considering how deeply Naoko uses mythology in Sailor Moon, I would assert that Moon becomes/is the Light of Heaven and therefore the Will of Heaven. This works in the Sailor Moon Universe through many examples: when she kills Dark Endymion with the confidence that they will be born again, when she finds and rescue the senshi on Nemesis, when she as NQS grants Pluto eternal sleep but then also sends her back in time to be reincarnated with a new mission, when she is able to bring Saturn back from the Tao System and have her start life over during their timeline, when she is able to activate the Golden Crystal essentially making Mamoru her consort and activating her power to enhance her own, and in Stars when she throws herself into the Cauldron to release her power which makes it possible to push the ever-growing power of chaos back into being a smaller part of the universe. Her Will is what gives her crystal power and she can use the will of her senshi to enhance her power. That ability allows her to be the Messiah, the Queen, the Savior and the Creator. Her Will throughout the manga is what shapes the outcome of those around her and by Stars, the Universe itself. It’s an awesome power that demonstrates her eternal brilliance as an “immortal star” as Mamoru calls her.
Usagi’s transformation fro Ordinary Girl to Will of Heaven and Creation Goddess to Eternal Shining Star is bittersweet to me. While my childhood memories of Sailor Moon are deeply rooted in watching the 90s anime growing up, my love for Moon as an adult fan is sustained through the Stars arc in the Manga. I think her transformation is ultimately feminist and of the feminine divine. Anyways, that’s just what I’ve been thinking of the last few days as I social distance and eat too much because I can’t go anywhere.
Anywho, if you liked this please check out my tumblr post in Cosmos: https://endysgirl.tumblr.com/post/187799988033/sailor-cosmos-and-eternal-moon
FINALLY done with my Sailor Cosmos paper craft! It took me two weeks, working on and off, to get this done. Honestly, towards the end I was getting kind of annoyed and frustrated with it, but I’m glad it’s done now. Now I just need to figure out where to hang it, and I can go back to working on Future Reunion…
I am super all about Minako and Usagi having a friendly competition (well, it’s friendly to Minako, Usagi actually gets competitive) over who has the most merch out there, Sailor V or Sailor Moon.
They go out together, starting in the morning, and trawl the local shopping areas. Minako sees a t-shirt, one point V. Usagi finds a pin, one point Moon. She sees a little girl with a Sailor Moon keychain, two points! But the same little girl has Sailor V sneakers… and so on.
It finally ends in a tie, and both girls end up back at Usagi’s house in the evening, playing video games in her room while eating Pocky. Suddenly Minako looks at Usagi grinning with all her teeth. Usagi sweatdrops a little and shrugs at Minako like, “what?”
And Minako, still grinning, points the giant Sailor V poster over Usagi’s own bed.
I decided to display my sailor moon condoms by making *condom bouquets*. These were inspired by the amazing fanfiction of @floraone I feel like Sex Guru Minako would totally approve.
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