Thank you for this wonderful ask!

I adore the dark aspects of Sailor Moon so so much, but I couldn’t agree with you more that, to me, Sailor Moon is essentially about finding hope even in a seemingly hopeless world. Finding meaning and strength through the connections and experiences you share with the people around you.

That is why the most important aspect to me in sm is the friendship between the girls.

I want them to be silly, to tell each other about the newest pop idol, to joke amongst themselves, to learn how to grow ever so comfortable with each other, to make each other smile through stupid gestures, to tease each other like friends do. To simply share regular memories like watching a movie together or going shopping. And even as adults, I want them visiting each other’s houses just to be together and hang out, I want them to still be silly and joke/tease each other and get into dumb and embarrassing situations and laugh or argue about it.

That’s why them being casual even when in uniform is such a comforting picture to me. These are just girls, despite what their powers and uniforms make you believe. They are still learning and growing from each other and the world around them, they make mistakes, bad judgments and they can be as irritable, rude and petty as anyone else. Sailor Mars complaining to Venus that a burger she paid quite a lot money for sucks, despite both of them being beat to shit and cold and tired in the middle of the night, is important to me despite how meaningless the moment seems.

The dark stuff in sailor moon to me works to elevate the importance and meaning behind even the most meaningless gesture, like one of the girls smiling at each other, a pat on the back or a simple hug or glance. These girls don’t simply just want what’s best for the world, but they want the best for each other because they love each other and they want to see each other happy.

Usagi’s endless hope and positivity is a trait I deeply cherish. That despite all the suffering, all the terrible stuff she has seen and saw her friends and people around her experience, that she still believes in the best from people. That is not just innocence or stupidity, it is pure unbridled hope and love.

Maybe the world will never be a kind place, but I will be a kind person.

That is Usagi right there.

It doesn’t always work, it’s a sentiment that gets challenged over and over, but it never breaks. In fact, it only works to make it stronger.

That is also why I love Makoto so damn much, she shares that same sentiment even if her beliefs around it are different. True positivity is perseverance and strength.

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It’s so incredibly delightful to hear you personal experience with how you believe sailor moon has helped you grow up as a better person. I’m sure so many people, including myself, can very much relate.

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Also you analysis on my pieces is fantastic! thank you so much!! I saw you posted another ask so I’ll talk more about them when I answer that one. Thank you again, this was so wonderful!

Of course you can!

You don’t even need to ask me, I don’t own the idea and the pic isn’t even mine. You absolutely can and you don’t even need to link me unless u rlly want to. You’re tot fine.

Here’s the pic for anyone curious (so you don’t have to go to twt.. stay away from that place)

It’s not mine btw, I jut come across it on Pinterest quite often and it makes me think of Michiru.

I don’t have much time today, but I do really wanna make time soon to go through this ask properly, not as a heated response, no. I want to give my absolute best shot at explaining why the friendship between Usagi and the girls works for me in the 90s anime but does not in Crystal.

I doubt this person will stick through to listen to what I have to say, and even if they do they’ll most likely just ignore it, but I still do wanna properly write WHY in one, concise and cohesive post.

For this ask though I will simply state this.

I’m being fair to you, so all I ask is that you are fair to me. By that I mean stop using the term ‘nostalgia’ as an all encompassing excuse to yourself and others on why people generally enjoy the 90s anime over Crystal. Just stop.

I read the whole manga before I watched one full episode of the 90s anime. I HAVE STATED THIS BEFORE. I was POOR, I was poor as fuck growing up in Italy. We could not afford cable, and dvd or vhs of the show were impossible to find. So, I downloaded and read the manga online because it was free, only years after that I finally got ONE dvd of sailor moon which I still own today.

I REPEAT: I have watched the whole 90’s anime around 2017-2018, when I was 17-18 years old. At that point I had read the WHOLE manga AND watched a good part of Crystal every week. The only 'nostalgia’ I hold in regards of the 90s is the VERY few clips of the show, the Italian theme song we had on cd and some pngs I had on my pc of the characters. That is all.

So STOP.

This statement is just so extremely pointless and it makes any argument lose any good faith. It really does. Even though people who say this are usually NOT interested in a conversation, they just wanna bitch, but wtv.

I hope you realize what you are doing is basically saying

“You dummy dumb old person only like it because you have good memories tied to this. I, on the other hand, the intellectual person, can distinguish my personal attachment to a property from its actual quality while you cannot. I do not allow my judgment to be clouded, unlike you. You are dumb.”

You are calling people dumb when you blindly pull out this statement and then you wonder why the other party refuses to engage in a conversation with you.

You scared me for a second lol. I initially read that very differently.

I don’t like super HATE Crystal. I would not watch it again nor recommend anyone watch it. I watched season 1 and 2 in full. Started watching season 3 normally then absolutely gave up, ended up skipping episodes and watching the last few at 2x speed. I watched the eternal movies at 2x speed while half paying attention and I just have no intent on watching Cosmos. I’m just done with it.

I don’t have super strong feelings about it at this point, just disappointment. But if people enjoy it, genuinely more power to them.

I’m at peace with the idea that sailor moon as an official franchise has run its course, at least for me. There’s never going to be anything original that is made with love and passion about it anymore. I think Crystal and co. was the end of it for anyone involved, especially Toei. The few things we’ll see here and there are rehashes of the same plot in different formats and more casual overpriced merchandise.

The only cute thing I see of it now are the genuinely delightful and passionate actresses for the musicals, they are ALWAYS a gem to see in pictures.

And with that I’ll gladly take your hand to walk into the sunset together, ty <3

I have said most things about her here in and there, and while I do wanna keep some things about her to myself, I’ll go over some stuff I have previously stated.

Mostly, Pluto isn’t like all the others, she’s seemingly ever-present and all knowing. Is she actually? Who knows, but she seems to ALWAYS be there when needed. She has also been shown to be somewhat immortal. Sometimes the senshi have witnessed her sudden death just for Pluto to reappear some time later like nothing ever happened. If confronted about it, she most always stays silent or politely refuses to engage in the conversation.

For people who are able to read through her though, they see that she KNOWS something if not everything. Especially to most Neptunes, Mars and Venuses. And that’s why they always distrust her or even despise her at the worst of times. She COULD do something or worse, she could have done something. She just chooses not to, at times explaining if needed how some things are out of her control. There’s rules she’s not allowed to break, she never specifies any of them, why they matter or where they even came from so most people assume she’s just lying.

She’s always polite, keeps an air of professionalism which often gets translated as detachment, but she can be extremely pleasant to be around. She offers solid, comforting if sometimes nonsensical advice, but it always reads as genuine. Even to Michiru, who hates her to her very core. She can’t tell if Pluto is genuinely remorseful or empathetic, but given her seemingly otherworldly nature she reads it as Pluto simply being patronizing to her and others around her. It disgusts her. Pluto showing signs of genuine emotions behind her actions makes her infinitely more terrifying, vile and ironically, inhuman to Michiru. Are the emotions real or a front, who knows, but they seem genuine to others.

Also it can be seen in a few of my drawings but Pluto is tall, like very tall. Still humanish tall (unlike QS), but tall enough to read as unsettling. She stands out above the crowds, she often needs to bend down to pass through doorways and does not fit naturally in most cars, seats or spaces meant for regular people (at best she always looks extremely awkward and uncomfortable). Just something more subtle to kind of read as “this space is not meant for her”. It’s not her home.

Last thing I mentioned I think once, the same way Sailor Moon is not really Sailor Moon, Sailor Pluto is not really Sailor Pluto. The circumstances are VERY different but Sailor Pluto has perished a very long time ago, before QS even came to the solar system. Pluto merely adopted the title.

I actually had this cute (?) lil awkward scene between her and Usagi in an elevator, which kind of shines a light on her character in some ways:

/

Usagi likes her, but is slightly intimidated by her. She’s not an enemy, she’s on their side and often helps them, usually she mostly focuses on rescuing and guiding bystanders to safety, but she seemingly acts on her own motives. Her unwillingness to participate as a team and seemingly extremely powerful nature causes everyone on the team to keep tabs on her when possible and to keep a level of distance/skepticism towards her and the advice she offers. So it’s just Sailor Moon and Pluto going together on quite a long elevator ride. For a bit they just stand silently side by side, but it starts getting a bit awkward and Moon starts doing some typical fidgeting/looking around. After a bit longer Moon attempts to break the tension by asking Pluto in the typical Usagi way

“Sooooo, you got any hobbies?” without looking at her. Just silent for very painful few seconds and Moon looks up tentatively at Pluto who has been unmoving since getting into the elevator, eyes facing straight forward and her usual deadpan expression. Even more seconds pass and Moon just swallows loudly, mostly from a mix of tension, awkwardness and perhaps a tinge of intimidation, and just returns to looking forward and fidgeting more subtly.

“I enjoy knitting. Although I have not finished anything in a long time.”

Moon looking up to see Pluto still in the same pose, although she got the impression that her expression slightly softened. From a surprised expression, Moon flashes a small smile looking up.

“Well. Next time time you do, I’d love to see what you make. I know showing someone my works in progress always helps motivate me to finish them.”

Pluto now having her features significantly softened, a small sincere smile present as she looks down at Moon.

“I will keep that in mind.”

/

No, I’m still working on them.

For the moment I’m stuck in a liminal space myself, I need to get out before I can finish the next one.