Fuck MakoAmi.
Fuck this glazed, glittered up, and glorified power imbalance kink passing itself as a wholesome “WLW” ship, it has coasted on undeserved and unexamined goodwill for far too long.
I can’t believe it took so long to really wrap my autistic brain around why this ship boils my piss in ways others don’t, I don’t even consider myself that invested in shipping in general, I vibe with some, not so much with others. But this one? THIS one? It absolutely makes me want to do regretful and sinful things even God will not forget. But why? I love both characters, but I cannot stand this ship with one single iota.
At first I thought it was just another surface level contrast, the “tall strong gurl” and “shy brainy gurl”, the lowest of low hanging fruit for ship fuel, and sure, that’s grating, but it can’t be the only thing that bothers me about this ship. And it’s only when I began to look at all the art, fics, moodboards, and opinion pieces does the entire fore come into play. Consistently, Makoto is portrayed as the “dominant giver”, and Ami as the “passive receiver”, Mako looming over over like a dominatrix and Ami blushing like a fragile little girl toy. EVERY. DAMN. TIME. Is every piece overly sexual? Not really, but there is an evident pattern going on, and I will not be gaslit into believing otherwise by the fandom at large. This ship proves that it’s running on little else than pure unadulterated monkey brained fetish fuel. I don’t care how you want to justify it, my common sense will filter any pseudo intellectual noise and hear the primate screeches and howls buried beneath the flowery rhetoric. I’m not mad that a ship runs on kink, I’m mad that it LIES about it, all while cheapening and flatten two great characters into tired tropes and thirst traps. Makoto, who is the arguably most kind, nurturing, and romantic of the Senshi, turned into some masculinized dommy mommy, Ami, who might actually be the most mentally tough and resilient of the Senshi, reduced into the “smol little good girl” who needs strong gf to protect and guide her. It completely rewrites Makoto’s already existing softness and Ami’s existing toughness while trying to pass itself as “balanced”.
People clutched pearls over the age gap between Usagi and Mamoru in the 90s anime, they moaned over the problematic nature of SeiUsa, and yet, remain completely SILENT over the blatant power play of MakoAmi. If Makoto was a dude, NOBODY would be gushing over this ship, it would be condemned as “toxic masculinity”, “controlling”, “power imbalanced”, “heteronormative”, and every other problematic label in the book, but of course, it’s two girls, it’s “queer”, it’s “WLW”, so it’s shielded and absolved in ways a straight pairing would never be in a million years.
The ship was barely even a thing in the manga, it’s only the 90s anime, where it’s so apparent at least horny staffer saw these two and thought “Oooo….that girl is tall and strong….other one is shy and nerdy….how….intriguing 😏”, and just COULDN’T help themselves. Couldn’t resist that primate brained driven urge to twist that contest into indulgence and foreplay, so we got that utterly contrived and forced tease in the 147th episode ““Destined Partners? Makoto's Innocence”, a set up that practically punished Makoto for being insufficiently feminine (“too scary” my ass, no man who isn’t insecure or weak willed could resist an Amazonian power house with the demeanor of a sweet housewife), made Usagi, Rei, and Minako look like unattentive and shitty friends for not noticing one of their own is in a predicament, all so the writers and artists could play with their dolls, indulge in their fetish, and have Ami be the “sweet girl who saves the day” to push the fantasy of “nerdy girl tames the Amazonian” fantasy. The fans went feral, of course, far too distracted with the fetishy….I MEAN….”cute” vibes to see the shameless character assassination that took place.
And Naoko caved, of course she did, so she gave the howling monkey brained fans foaming and drooling what they wanted, and teased MakoAmi in the last panel. This entire cumshow started with an anime staffer’s boner for height contrast and power imbalance foreplay, and the fandom has unquestionably swallowed the semen like night whores, FOR. THREE. ENTIRE. DECADES. The dogma and delusion is so strong, other Moonies act a gasp that I don’t like this ship, in fact, I DESPISE IT, and it’s absolutely baffling how fragile this fan base is when it comes to sacred cow ships, considering how many times I’ve been blocked and banned for criticizing it. This fanbase is so insecure in its own gospel it will nail down any person with the gaul to point out the Emperor’s lack of clothes, point out the elephant in the room that has been shitting all over the carpet for DECADES.
Fuck MakoAmi.
