Barging into your conversation with a grand GOOD MORNING I GOT UP TOO EARLY
So I caught Oath’s “What I still don’t and never will understand is where the readings of Michiru that hop between a Mean Girls archetype and a weepy damsel in distress for Haruka to rescue and comfort come from.” and then had to go do something else for quite a while, which left that percolating in my head. I’ve said before that one of the things I was looking to do when I began this rewatch was to try and GET Michiru, which was something I failed at abysmally the first time around. I feel I’ve exceeded expectations on that one, but I never really thought about why I had such trouble with her in the first place, or what I WAS seeing. That’s where my mind’s been turning all morning and now I’m here to share. You are WELCOME.
Up front, it’s really possible I had a lot of internalized shit going on at the time. I don’t say this as an excuse, but we’re talking 1996ish, so seventeen or eighteen years ago. I had a lot to learn and unlearn (and still do, frankly).
I think part of the gross mischaracterization of Michiru comes from the fact that she requires some measure of focus to really get. Michiru’s kind of like a work of art herself: there’s just as much about her, if not more, in what you DON’T see. Michiru’s all the subtext between the lines. If you aren’t paying attention, you miss what’s really going on.
Unfortunately that also means you have to WANT to focus on her, because it’s just not in her more up-front character to demand your attention. Particularly not when you have Haruka right there.
Haruka is, I think, a huge part of the “problem”. That, and how the episodes flow. Haruka is just such a vocal character, she comes out immediately appearing to be the dominant force behind their partnership. The first few episodes (when they’re only shadowy figures), it’s Haruka who holds the heart crystal, it’s Haruka who proclaims it’s not what they’re looking for, it’s Haruka who returns it. When Minako confronts them, it’s Haruka who basically says “Go fuck yourselves.”
Michiru only gets one line here, and because Haruka’s already made the point, it comes out pretty much just as supporting Haruka.
By the way, I think it’s really cute that my subtitles gave Haruka and Michiru neutral colours in these scenes, like it didn’t want to spoil the surprise reveal next episode. Subtitles, you’re adorable.
Then we have the next several episodes. First, again, we get Haruka, in an episode which is largely unforgettable thanks in no small part to Minako and Usagi’s antics, along with the “twist” ending. It’s a really strong episode, even to the casual viewer.
Compare that with Michiru’s episode, which is next. It’s just not as well done an episode (the dramatic hit in animation quality doesn’t help), nor is it as engaging (on the surface), due in no small part to the fact that much of its emotional crux is in Usagi feeling inferior and insecure — feelings exacerbated by how Michiru is gorgeous and refined and a gifted musician and a talented painter. So our first real meetings with Haruka and Michiru, and just on the surface the take-away is that Haruka is cute and fun (with just enough broodiness), and Michiru is kinda perfect and when we focus on her things are kind of bland and/or uncomfortable.
Now at this point if you aren’t already into Michiru, you’re really in trouble, because here’s how she fares in the next few episodes. Again, I’m intentionally keeping this to a very surfacey level.
94: Fighting Tuxedo Kamen while Uranus struggles with Moon and gets to vocalize the lion’s share of their moral dilemma. All Neptune gets to say is “It’s our duty!” which is again really just repeating what Haruka said (further emphasizing that Michiru is there to just underscore Haruka).
95: Being the subject who simply stands there while Haruka proves how she’s the romantic bomb. I mean Haruka gets her infamously dorktacular speech that ends with this shit:
While all Michiru gets to do is follow Haurka out and say:
(PS: Holy crap I want to revisit these episodes knowing what I do now, because I HAVE SO MUCH TO SAY ABOUT THIS.)
96: Haruka is pretty much dominating the shit out of this episode. If you aren’t already incentivised to be paying attention to Michiru, you aren’t going to start here.
97: Now Michriu is fucked, because holy crap. Oath, you wondered where the Mean Girls version of Michiru is coming from, it’s right the fuck here.
Everything about this is so deliciously Michiru, and there is SO MUCH to learn about her character in how she handles this (or completely fails to handle it as the case may be). But if you aren’t looking for that, all you really see is poor Ami in the midst of an emotional meltdown trying to be nice and Michriu being “FUCK YOU AND YOUR SAD EYES” about it.
That’s really, I think, the death knell for anybody who wasn’t already on-board with Michiru, or at least keen to learn more about her character. I mean she just picked on Ami. ON AMI. Michiru just made Ami run away looking like this:
It’s pretty much a kiss of death.
Then, just to wrap up the whole thing, we have
98: Which literally throws Michiru off a cliff to give Haruka crucial development time with the titular character.
That’s the first NINE episodes. By that point, if someone wasn’t already naturally drawn to Michiru and thus already seeing everything she has to offer, the odds on her catching their eye is pretty much nil. What focus she HAS had only comes bundled with making characters they already love feel like shit (first Usagi, then Ami), and the rest of the time she appears to just be Haruka’s prop, as the episodes seem to keep saying that Haruka is more important.
Michiru doesn’t even get her name in the title of what is the closest thing she has to an origin story (at least up to where I am in my rewatch), and she appears on the surface to only be mooning over Haruka during it. Then we finally get to the climax of the Talisman storyline, and Michiru dies for, of course, Haruka. By the time you reach this point, if you aren’t into learning more about Michiru already, your view of her is going to be pretty well set. Anything that comes later that seems to contradict that view (such as say her entire appearance in the SuperS special) would likely just be shrugged off as poor or inconsistent characterization. (THE IRONY.)
So while I vehemently disagree with those ideas, of Michiru as either a Mean Girls archetype or a weepy damsel in distress, I also don’t think it’s too unfathomable to see where they come from. The first, as we see, stems from Michiru’s own associations with the Inners (aided in no small part by a lot of negative stereotypes revolving around her beauty and talent and the fact that Michiru is, let’s face it, kind of haughty). The second is I think a branch of the idea that Michiru is merely Haruka’s accessory, and so once that idea is in place, she only exists to emphasize some quality in Haruka.
These poor people. Let us pity them, for they do not know what it is they are missing.
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