My souring sentiments on Sailor Moon's manga

It'll be a surprise to no one who knows me even remotely that Sailor Moon was my everything back in my childhood. From the age of 9, I was utterly obsessed with it.

That was just a couple of years shy of 30 years ago.

Since then, I've often revisited the series. I watched the entirety of the Viz dub of the classic anime; all 200 episodes.

And I loved it all the same, if not more so than before. Because now I have context for why exactly the anime was the way it was, including its gradual diversion from the manga source material. And I respect the hell out of the staff who poured their life into this work, while concurrently running with the manga and doing whatever it could to not completely outpace it in the narrative.

Are there a lot of fillers in the OG anime? Yes. Too many? Well, not so from a functional standpoint (this show had to run weekly for 5 years), but there are definitely some fillers you could skip and miss nothing in doing so.

But a story like Sailor Moon honestly needed some breathing room in order to properly flesh out the cast.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, the live-action reimagining of the show, was phenomenal back then (despite looking low-budget even by 2003 standards), and having re-watched the whole series recently, I can safely say PGSM more than holds up and deserves way more love and respect than it gets. It's THE perfect example of reimagining the story of Sailor Moon while still respecting its roots and maintaining the soul of the franchise.

Which is exactly why I couldn't stand Sailor Moon Crystal. We knew from the off that it was supposed to be completely faithful to the manga, but one look through @crystalvsmanga will show you Crystal took shitloads of "creative liberties", and the amount of changes I could dare to call "good"? I could count them on one hand.

The animation is low-hanging fruit, because everyone and their dog knows how godawful it was for the first two story arcs. But more than that, I actually loathed the general art design. Yukie Sakou's style DID NOT closely resemble Naoko Takeuchi's. People kept saying it, but I couldn't really see it. The eyes especially are a far cry from Takeuchi's style. And Sakou's style did NOT facilitate the OTT cartoony expressions that were definitely present in Takeuchi's manga; everyone looked so goddamn soulless, like overly-expensive porcelain dolls.

My biggest gripe with Crystal was the story, of course. While a great deal came from just being from the manga (which I'll get to in a bit), the changes they made went a long way to actively make the manga's story worse. My main takeaway from Crystal S1-2 is that it took itself waaaaay too seriously.

That being said, I did like Crystal's third season a lot better BECAUSE Chiaki Kon had way more competence and held a lot more respect for Sailor Moon. Like, my god, for once it felt like there was a soul in this show! It can actually take the piss every now and then!

Some silly things kinda broke my immersion (such as the Senshi just being able to fuckin' fly and Chibi-Moon in particular was literally sky-stepping), but most of that can be blamed on the source material it was adapting. While I was fine with Crystal3, I definitely didn't feel it was anywhere near as good as Sailor Moon S. Outside of Hotaru/Sailor Saturn having more of a presence, there wasn't really much in Crystal's take on Infinity that I liked better than S.

But most of that comes down to the fact that I liked S more than manga's Infinity arc to begin with.

Which is a good segue to talk about the manga proper.

I have not yet watched Eternal or Cosmos. the movies that adapted the last two manga arcs, but it'd be redundant since I know ahead of time what they're going to be about, and so far I haven't heard about any of them deviating from the source material, so it'd be moot to talk about them even if I had watched.

When I first got my hands on the manga, which was when I was around 12-13 and thus got the crappy MiXxZine translations, I was fine enough with it. Thought it was too fast-paced and didn't care for 99% of the villains being one-and-done jobbers, but I was also reading it with my impressions of the 90's anime characters still intact. I was reading the manga like an extension of the anime, rather than the other way around.

It wasn't until many years later when I grew older, when the manga was properly translated, when I acquired the wisdom my teenaged-ass self lacked, and learned to look at the manga as a completely separate entity that I started to see the cracks in the manga's narrative.

Further rereads have left me in something of a mindfuck, as I experienced the manga the proper way. And I realized:

The more I read the manga, the more I disliked it.

The manga is lauded for having an infinitely better depiction of Mamoru, as well as his ~Miracle Romance~ with Usagi.

Objectively, the manga definitely spends lots more time giving UsaMamo attention as a couple than any other aspect of the story...

I'd say they're also more developed as individuals in the manga too, but usually the beats, uh...

... let's say they usually ring hollow, when these two (and sometimes their daughter) are the only ones who consistently get shit done across the series. Hell, on the rare occasion that the Inner Senshi weren't rendered into street pizza, Neo Queen Serenity basically told them to fuck off and let her daughter, past self, and past hubby take on motherfucking DEATH PHANTOM/NEMESIS BY THEMSELVES.

It's likely because my first exposure to Sailor Moon was via the 90s anime, which had more of a focus on friendship and comradery between Usagi and her friends than it did her romance with Mamoru. I mean, romance was DEFINITELY a prominent thing even in that iteration of the story, but that wasn't where my interest lied. I was, am currently, and always will be more interested in Usagi's galpals than I'll ever be interested in her love life.

And, well, I'm sure this qualifies as a hot take, but...

This one moment with Usagi and Mamoru in the elevator (hell, their interaction across this entire episode was great) resonated with me far more than any ultra-romantic declarations of eternal devotion that Usagi and Mamoru kept regurgitating at each other in the manga.

Granted, the manga had a FEW moments early on where their dynamic was more playful, but they were pretty much confined to the early chapters and this element of their chemistry pretty much died not long after this.

Some say 90s anime Mamoru was far too mean-spirited in his teasing of Usagi. And I mean, sure, he was kind of a douche at times, but he usually got some karmic blowback from it (I remember one time he made Usagi cry without even really meaning to, and she cried so loud in public that randos nearby were giving Mamoru the evil-eye or a scolding). But honestly, after R, Mamoru kinda became a bland, generic love interest, just as he almost always was in the manga. The only difference was that anime Mamoru was never granted powers that were literally equal to Usagi's. The manga gave him a GOLDEN FUCKING CRYSTAL.

There was that infamous break-up arc in R that, yes, was shitty in concept and execution. But if I had anything positive to say about it, it at least shook up the status quo. It didn't make him immediately fall into the bland, generic love interest he would soon become. And it gave us some of the most emotionally-charged Usagi moments in the entire anime.

Conversely, in the manga, we had THIS shit for our UsaMamo "drama":

(the former incident with Usagi literally accusing her boyfriend of falling in love with a kid, by the way, happened while MOST OF HER FRIENDS WERE KIDNAPPED BY THE ENEMY AND COULD'VE BEEN DEAD FOR ALL SHE KNEW AND YET SHE FUCKING HAD TIME FOR THIS STUPID SHIT)

Everything seemed to revolve around Usagi and Mamoru (sometimes Chibiusa too). It lowkey came off that way at times even in the 90s anime, but in the manga or Crystal? You'd be hard-pressed to find the girls engaging in their stated hobbies at most points in time, because they're usually all together and talking about their prince and princess.

Hell, even Haruka - Sailor Uranus herself - seemed much more interested in Usagi than she ever did in Michiru, her actual girlfriend.

So... am I just missing something? I've seen people say that as they grow older, they prefer the manga/Crystal to the 90s anime. But I've never seen anyone other than myself express the opposite sentiment.

But it's true - unless I completely leave my brain at the door, I have a hard time enjoying the manga for what it is. The characters I'm most interested in or attached to quickly get swept aside for the characters I have the least interest in. No more does that ring true than the Stars arc of the manga, where Naoko Takeuchi basically speedruns killing off literally the entire cast until Sailor Moon's the only one left standing. Most characters don't even get to go out in a blaze of glory or anything - it's got nothing on the finale of the 90s anime's first season in that regard. If you're lucky, you'll get a single panel where your entire existence is ripped to shreds - but sometimes you'll be killed literally off-screen!!

There's a number of questionable manga-exclusive aspects that rubbed me the wrong way as well, such as poor Sailor Pluto being assigned as a child to guard the Door of Time in complete and total solitude. While I appreciate more Silver Millennium lore that the manga provided (the anime hardly mentioned it past the first arc), it was more than a little uncomfortable knowing the OG Queen Serenity conscripted the Inner Senshi as small children to become Princess Serenity's guardians. Really casts Queen Serenity and her Moon Kingdom in a much darker light - like maybe Queen Beryl and Queen Nehelenia had a point in trying to take them down (though the manga I believe retcons all past villains as incarnations of Chaos, so that arguably removes all prior villains' agency?). Lots of little things that I didn't think twice about, but now that I look at them again, I'm wondering WTF Naoko Takeuchi was thinking.

Though I don't want to be too hard on her. Poor girl was working under stress far longer than she'd planned to (she'd intended on ending the story either by the Dark Kingdom or Black Moon arc), so it's no surprise there's a lot of clunk and clutter in the narrative.

I often wondered if Naoko Takeuchi really wanted to make Sailor Moon with a Super Sentai-esque setup in the first place. After all, her first big hit was Sailor V, which was exclusively Minako and Artemis fighting evil with Minako having her own masked love interest she ended up being at odds with and he eventually died. With a scant few secondary characters here and there.

It led to me thinking about what Sailor Moon would be like if Naoko kept the cast to a more Sailor V-like size. That, perhaps, the Sailor Moon she really wanted to make would be quite a different beast from how we know it to be today.

So this lengthy diatribe about my personal conflicts with my waning fondness for the manga versus my strengthened love for the OG anime and live-action show was actually a preamble to a bizarre AU I wrote an outline for over a year ago but never posted in public. I had considered posting it to Sailor Moon's Reddit back then, but I (probably wisely) held off, as my musing went way off the rails.

But I figured now's a good time as any to share it here, at least. Though it'll need to be its own post since I wrote so goddamn much in this post alone, wow.

On that note, I'll end with this: The only iteration of UsaMamo that I unironically enjoyed and rooted for is...

i just think its very silly how usamamo get a lot of flack for being reincarnated lovers ("they dont actually like each other its just their past lives/fate/blah blah blah influencing them to be together) but like. so are harumichi

I really like this scene, a very nice segue and setup into the main plot of this episode, while still letting Makoto and Ami have their moment before the attention shifts completely away from them.

Not only that, but now we see the layers of secrecy piling up!!!!

(1) Ami's gifts for the team (2) Makoto and Ami keeping Mamoru's engagement a secret

LOL PGSM really keeps emphasizing how Rei's not into guys, almost as if trying to emphasize live-action Rei is not 90s anime Rei. The translation of Makoto's line could actually be written as "I get it. Rei does get exceptionally critical when it comes to men."

Also with the secrecy: (3) Keeping Rei out of the loop with the Usamamo drama.

(4!!!!) Rei keeping the situation with Venus a secret from everyone!!!!!

Like this scene is so elegantly written, it just seems like a casual conversation catching up between two friends, and not one of them is overthinking about anything, BUT THE CRACKS ARE SHOWING IN THEIR DYNAMIC AND THEY ARE NONE-THE-WISER.

GAH I LOVE THIS SMALL SCENE SO MUCH!

Also, Ami's repeatedly the one to know where Rei is when the team's not together is just such a nice touch to also add to the effect of showing Ami being the lynchpin of Senshi's dynamic at this point of the show.

Yes - ultimately it's Usagi who brings everyone together, but Usagi's not the one who maintains it, Ami is.

Like a Fairy

Rating: Teen and Up Audiences

No Archive Warnings

Written for UsaMamo Week 2023, Day 6

An injured Usagi leads the nijizuishou to not only replenish her energy, but also form the Ginzuishou.

Note: I really wanted to write a calm, descriptive feeling surrounding the Ginzuishou and wings. Instead I'm on this Reveal AU kick. I hope this is still enjoyable!

“I am the beautiful sailor-suited Senshi, Sailor Moon! In the name of the moon, I’ll punish you! – AHHHH!” The Senshi of the moon started running haphazardly as the youma began hurling acidic projectiles her way.

“Supreme Thunder!”

“Akuryo Taisan!”

“I didn’t sign up for this!” Sailor Moon screamed, still running.

“You stupid Senshi,” Zoisite said, twirling a lock of his hair, the final nijizuishou in his grasp. “Now if only Cape Boy shows up, we can finally end this.”

A red rose flew right into the youma’s chest, causing it to scream and cease its projectile throwing. Sailor Moon doubled over in relief.

“I’m not giving up my nijizuishou, Zoisite,” Tuxedo Kamen said firmly as he went to Sailor Moon’s side. “Are you alright?” he asked.

“Yes, thank you, Tuxedo Kamen-sama.” She drew herself up to her full height. “Moon Tiara Boomerang!” she cried. Instead of disintegrating, the youma exploded upon impact, catching Sailor Moon full on.

“SAILOR MOON!”

Sailor Moon felt her fuku start to disintegrate, burning the injuries underneath. It was unbearable. “Forgive me,” she told her Senshi as she released her henshin, panting weakly. Before anyone could react, Zoisite had teleported to Usagi’s side, holding her like a shield, a hand holding her neck and the underside of her jaw, tilting her face upward.

“The nijizuishou, now!” Zoisite demanded.

Tuxedo Kamen was trembling, staring at the girl he knew all too well. His hand twitched in indecision.

“LET GO OF ME YOU JERK!”

Everyone, even Zoisite, fell to their knees at the ear-shattering noise, allowing Usagi to roll away from the Dark Kingdom General. “How DARE you use me as a hostage!” she shouted, clutching her torso in pain. The others raced to her side, shielding her protectively. Sailor Mercury was scanning Usagi swiftly while Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter looked ready to do damage. Tuxedo Kamen stood behind Usagi, ready to whisk her away at any moment.

“It doesn’t look good, Moon,” Sailor Mercury murmured. Usagi’s energy was draining from her wounds.

“It doesn’t matter,” Usagi murmured back, trembling with the effort to stand. “He’s not going to stop until he’s taken out all of us.”

“We should retreat-“

“No! I’m not letting Tuxedo Kamen-sama face him alone. And remember – I have nijizuishou, too. As Zoisite says, this ends here.” She took a deep breath before yelling, “Moon Prism Power, Make Up!” The magic enveloped her, coruscating in the night. Once again she was clad in her fuku, striking her signature pose, eyes glittering furiously at Zoisite. “For wreaking havoc and attempting extortion, I will not forgive you!”

“Big words from a little girl,” he said. “How old are you, twelve?”

“How old are you, with all of those wrinkles?”

“How dare you! I keep my face properly moisturized, thank you very much!”

There was a beat of silence.

“I didn’t know the Dark Kingdom had skincare products,” Sailor Jupiter snickered.

“Whatever it is, it’s not working,” Sailor Mars said with a smirk.

“SHUT UP!” Zoisite roared, flinging Dark Energy at them. All of them blocked; however, Sailor Moon, being already injured, fell to her knees. She was consequently cocooned in Tuxedo Kamen’s cloak.

“Stay with me,” Tuxedo Kamen murmured to Sailor Moon.

“I might not make it,” she gasped. “Just focus on yourself.”

“No.”

She blinked then looked up at him. She couldn’t make out his expression behind the mask. “Protect our princess, please,” she whispered, handing him her nijizuishou. “That’s all I ask.” She went limp, the henshin once again falling.

“Moon!” Mercury screamed as she ran to her friend’s side, having noted the critical energy levels.

“That’s one Senshi down,” Zoisite taunted as he started throwing more Dark Energy blasts at them.

“SAILOR MOON! WAKE UP! PLEASE!” The girls all screamed as they dodged the attacks. Then something miraculous happened. The nijizuishou appeared, hovering over Usagi, glittering with energy. She floated upward as the nijizuishou encircled her, like electrons around a nucleus, faster and faster, its magic reflecting off her pale skin. Then the nijizuishou coalesced, their colors mixing until a glittering crystal formed. The Maborishino Ginzuishou had formed at last. It lowered itself and disappeared into Usagi’s chest, the impact causing silver light to extend from every pore of her body. Then she was lowered onto the ground, slowly and carefully, back where she’d been by Tuxedo Kamen’s side, still sleeping, once again Sailor Moon.

“Her energy levels have stabilized,” Sailor Mercury said in wonder.

“MY GINZUISHOU!” Zoisite screamed, infuriated by this turn of events. He made to grab Sailor Moon.

“Supreme Thunder!”

“Akuryo Taisan!”

“Mercury Aqua Mist!”

Along with the three attacks, roses flew at the Dark Kingdom General. But he teleported, dodging effortlessly. A bubble surrounded Usagi; before anyone could stop it, she was back in Zoisite’s arms. With a sinister laugh Zoisite went to teleport back to the Dark Kingdom. Then a brilliantly bright light overcame them all, blinding them. The heroes felt the flutter of kisses brush their faces, energy caressing their forms. Zoisite screamed and gurgled, the power obviously overwhelming him. And then the light vanished. They blinked away the brightness. Sailor Moon, clad in wings, held a slumped over Zoisite in her arms. She lowered them slowly to the ground; the wings fading. The others moved to attack until Sailor Moon held up a hand. “He’s been healed,” she said simply; the others frowned in confusion.   

“The Ginzuishou disappeared inside of you,” Sailor Mars said.

“Way to state the obvious, pyro.”

“No need to be snarky,” Sailor Mercury admonished, scanning Sailor Moon.

“Sorry. It’s been a long day.” She turned to Tuxedo Kamen who still hovered worriedly. “So, I guess I’m keeping your nijizuishou,” she said wryly.

“So it would seem.” He looked at Sailor Mercury expectantly.

“It’s disappeared,” Sailor Mercury said with a furrow of her brows.

“And her injuries?” Tuxedo Kamen pressed.

“You still have some physical injuries, Moon,” Sailor Mercury said worriedly.

“What’s today? Wednesday, right?” Sailor Moon asked.

“Yeah,” Sailor Jupiter confirmed.

Sailor Moon cursed. “I need to sleep this off.”

“Can you get your mom to sign off on a sick day?” Sailor Mars asked worriedly.

“No. The best I can do is sleep in.”

“You always sleep in.”

“I’ll just go slow, you know. Not run. Not…bump into things. What’s one detention anyway? Or a few…however long this is going to heal.”

“Business as usual, eh, Moon? So, what are we going to do about Zoisite?” Sailor Jupiter asked.

“He’s healed,” Sailor Moon said with a shrug.

“So…”

“Leave him,” Tuxedo Kamen said shortly. “Healed or not, what he did was unforgiveable.” He looked Sailor Moon up and down.

Sailor Moon blushed. “I’ll be fine,” she said gently. “Let’s just go home – wha-” she gasped as Tuxedo Kamen picked her up.

“I’m not leaving you to go home by yourself,” he said firmly.

“We can get her home, Tuxedo Kamen!” Sailor Mars said.

“Yeah, she’s not telling you who she is or where she lives,” Sailor Mercury added.

“I’ll be alright,” she promised, a gloved hand reaching out to cup his face.

His jaw clenched. “Very well,” he said reluctantly, releasing her.

She turned towards the group, blinking slowly. Then the silver light radiated once more, and ethereal wings expanded outward. Upward she flew, gracefully, with a trail of sparkles in her wake, like a fairy. The others were stunned as they watched her go, before they quickly dispersed. Tuxedo Kamen broke their unspoken rule; he flew after her coruscating form, watching until she reached what he assumed was her bedroom window. He hovered on a nearby rooftop long after the lights went out, waiting for a sign that she was alright, relieved that she did leave her home – late as usual – but at a slow pace. He quickly backtracked until he met her at their usual place, but this time he didn’t collide with her; instead, expressing his worry, he walked her to school. He spent the rest of the day being kind and solicitous until she grew suspicious of his interest. Still, he refused to fight with her.

He would worry about the Ginzuishou and the princess later. He knew the Senshi and he were on the side of protecting the princess. He was willing to work through whatever needed to happen – no matter how long it took.

Meanwhile, a bewildered Zoisite, who had lived on Earth more than a thousand years ago and had no memory of his doings while part of the Dark Kingdom, was roaming the streets of Juuban looking for the other Shitennou and his prince. 

The End

We need to talk about the Stars Arc Part 1: Introduction

**This essay series will likely contain spoilers for the Stars arc of both the anime and manga.**

So this is potentially a sensitive topic. I do not want to upset anyone or be disrespectful and if I inadvertently am, please (politely) contact me and we can have a chat about it. Similarly, I am not a world expert in Sailor Moon, so I may have gotten facts wrong and welcome anyone who can better inform me.

Like most people I was extremely elated by the announcement of the Sailor Moon Cosmos movies. Now, I won’t lie to you, I was hoping for a full season. In my opinion, the Eternal movies were very, very good for what they were and what they had to adapt into two films.* However, there were things left out of them I was sad to see go and things included that I felt didn’t need to be there given the limited run time. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the movies immensely and in fact think the Stars arc lends itself better to this two movie format that any other arc of the manga.

So I am, like most of you, hyped!

…However…I must be honest, I am getting bummed out by the movie announcement sparking off a slew of comments that amount to negatively bashing the 1990s anime version of the Stars arc (subtitled as ‘Sailor Stars’).  

Now, I understand if there are things in that arc that people simply don’t like or didn’t take to. For example, I can understand how if you were invested in the show chiefly for the UsaMamo romance, you might dislike Stars for how Mamoru was written out and the SeiUsa romance.** Similarly, perhaps you just didn’t connect to the Starlights who were a major presence in the season.  

Fair enough.

But…folks…can we kindly stop critiquing, bashing or otherwise throwing shade at Sailor Stars for its differences to its manga counterpart?

Look, I understand the urge to compare the two versions. It is both natural (and even fun) to compare an adaptation to its source material. However, there is a difference between drawing comparisons for the sake of it vs. comparisons for the sake of critical analysis.  

If you are engaging in the latter, it is important for the sake of fairness that you put both pieces of media into context and meet them on their own terms. That doesn’t mean you excuse anything and everything in the story***, but it does mean you have to potentially adjust the criteria you apply to one version vs. the other.  

This is the case with the manga and anime versions of Stars. In fact, it is the situation with the anime compared to the manga in general; and indeed, the 90s anime vs. Crystal.  

*We are after all, talking about turning several monthly chapters that tell their own individual stories within the grander arc and turning that into 2 movies. So the narrative flow is inevitably gonna be a bit weird.

**The UsaMamo romance was a big part of why I loved the show and I actually feel the opposite way. In my opinion, the removal of Mamoru and having Usagi write to him every day whilst developing tempting new feelings for Seiya actually made the UsaMamo relationship more narratively relevant than it had been since R. Plus, I really liked Seiya and his/her relationship with Usagi, albeit not as much as Usagi and Mamoru’s.

***E.g. Frankly, I have never in 10 years heard a convincing defence of Mamoru kissing an unconscious Usagi at Princess D’s masquerade, regardless of whether we are talking the manga, anime or Crystal.

2020 Fanfic Year in Review!

@floraone and @nari20 encouraged me to participate in the Year-In-Review so okay, here we go!!

1. List of fics completed this year:

Completed (as in marked-as-completed) is only two!

Advice From Her Fairy Prince (which I actually wrote in 2019!) and

Swipe Right - A Tinder Tale

I also have two ongoing short story collections that I started this year and then two multichapters that will be carried into the new year, though Teammates Don’t Kiss is fully written and R is for Reverse is more than three quarters done.

2. Number of words written:

86,680!

Not bad considering I only started in August! (Do note that I’m only counting words that got posted, so since I work with buffer chapters this is a little less than what I’ve technically written!!)

3. Your most popular fic this year:

R is for Reverse, for sure! I’m so thrilled that the thing I’m most excited about also seems to be resonating with people.

4. Your personal favourite this year:

Definitely R! It’s such a delight to work on. There’s a reasonable chance I’ll be a bit lost when I finish it.

5. Your favourite scene:

Oh god... the more I think about this the harder it gets to pick just one!! There were so many scenes that I feel like came out really, really well.

I love pretty much every single moment of chapter 6 of R (so much UsaMamo!) but honestly I think the bit where Minako and Ami show up at Mamoru’s apartment might be my favorite? I ADORE writing Minako, she’s such a trip and honestly writes herself most of the time, and the way she and Mamoru play off of each other gives me a lot of really fun completely non-sexual tension. Plus, she’s the WORLD’S BIGGEST UsaMamo shipper and I love that.

Second favorite...I think the bit at the end of Chapter 4 of R, where Usagi and Tuxedo Mask talk after he defeats Leshy. That was totally unplanned - per my outline, Usagi was supposed to leave the tree and be gone when the battle was over - but thankfully she refused, and instead we got some really sweet bonding moments with the two of them. AND THEN HE GETS THE NERVE TO GIVE HER THE DANGOS and you can’t tell me that isn’t hella sweet.

OH and the bit in Chapter 7 of R where Mamoru totally panics over wanting to hold Usagi’s hand. I ADORE that and was so so happy with it.

6. A fic or scene that challenged you:

Pretty much ALL of the sexting scene in Tinder was HARD to write. It’s very personal to write someone masturbating, it turns out, and this was also my first major work of smut. SO there was a lot of alcohol consumed and hand-holding needed from my beta as I made my way through it.

7. A line of writing you’re proud of:

So the bit I’m currently most proud of hasn’t been posted yet (it’s from a later chapter of TDK!), so I’m gonna pick another one!

I skimmed several chapters and found quite a few bits that I’m pleased with. The bit in Chapter 7 of R where he tries to get up the nerve to hold Usagi’s hand comes to mind, but it’s pretty text-heavy so instead I’m going to specifically highlight the bit at the end of Chapter 6 of R:

The smell of her hair lingered in the hallway, her pink slippers lined up next to his black ones, and the dishes from her breakfast still sat, unwashed, on his coffee table. Hints of her presence were everywhere, and yet all he wanted, even moments after she'd left, was to see her again. The kaleidoscope inside him was back, but rather than fragmenting his emotions, this time it zeroed in on only one with crystal clarity.

Even if that rational part of him knew that this wasn't what he was supposed to do, he wasn't strong enough to fight it anymore. For the first time, he allowed himself to consciously think his dearest wish:

Maybe he could get her to fall in love with him.

Also, this one is from Advice From Her Fairy Prince, which is a Skip Beat! fanfic, but I CRACK THE HELL UP every time I reread it:

"Morizumi-san tried to throw you off a building?"

Yeah, I dunno. It’s a gloriously delayed reaction in context and I find it wonderfully absurd, so I wanted to shout that one out, too.

8.  A comment that touched you:

Oh my god, I’ve received so many nice comments this year??? I go back and reread them when I’m having a tough day and just glow. I’ve had a few people tell me things like something I wrote is one of their all-time favorites or that my writing style reminds them of another author I admire and I’m basically ready to crawl under my bed like “Who, me??” I also LIVE FOR the long, detailed comments in which people react to specifics from the story (I have several readers who do this for me and it makes me giddy every time).

One comment in particular does stick out as being far, far too kind and praised me in ways that made me feel insanely flattered and gave me a huge bout of imposter syndrome simultaneously, where they basically performed literary criticism* on one of my chapters and found all this meaning and value in my work that honestly left me a bit embarrassed in a good way. 

*Note: While I personally found this extremely flattering, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend trying this at home if you haven’t received a positive response to it before, because fic is meant to be fun, and unprompted literary critique (especially unsolicited ConCrit) can make some authors feel very hurt or defensive. YMMV of course!!

9. Something that inspired your writing this year:

So @floraone ‘adopted’ me into the fandom early this year, and spending so much time with a bunch of wonderful, creative, like-minded people not only saved my mental health in this shitstorm of a year, you all also inspired me to start writing fic again, including in several genres and events I might otherwise have shyed away from. So, I mean, that! You all! I’m so thrilled to be here and so wonderfully delighted to have found this amazing and supportive little fandom corner to play in. Thank you for inspiring me and welcoming me <3

10. Your proudest accomplishment (that one scene; finally finishing that one fic; posting your first fic; etc)

I’d say a toss-up between Tinder (writing a whole smutpiece where they are never physically in the same room together is an accomplishment, I’m just saying) and chapter 4 of R. Chapter 4 just came out so friggin’ well, and on the occasions I’ve gone back to reread it I feel very proud of it (whereas Tinder I’m more inclined to nitpick at upon reread). So, one of those!

11. Do you have any writing goals for the next year?

Oh man. I would love to finish R before my birthday (it’s in February so eh, we’ll see). And I’d love to like, not totally lose momentum and fall out of the fandom once I finish R! I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever feel quite this inspired again, so maybe finding something else that makes me want to write like this is a good goal for the year LOL. I’d also love to see if I can top my proudest bit of writing from TDK, and I think that’s a good thing to aspire to - but if I can’t, I get to put it in my wrap-up next year! Okay! So that’s my year in review, but I would love to see some other people do these! I’m not going to tag anyone because most of the people I would tag already have been, but if you see this and want to participate, consider yourself tapped in.

Here’s to the end of 2020, and fingers crossed that the next year runs more smoothly!!

Crit Post: How Usagi and Mamoru relationship development was handled in Sailor Moon Classic

I really thought I posted this in it’s full version on like I did on amino but for some reason I can’t find it on here. ( Just pieces of where this come from) 

So here’s the whole thing. 

I do have this lengthy  post which is kind of a crit on how Usa/ Mamo relationship was handled in first season only.  I remember reading a post on here giving their thoughts about Usa/Mamo attraction in the 90's anime and how they had a feelings for each which the post is good cause they make valid points.

I do believe they did have feelings for each other before the truth came out but how the 90's anime portrayed it... Not so much... Compared to Manga/Crystal and PGSM who when out it's way to make sure you knew they was falling in love.

So this what this post is about.

This is just me looking at the development of Usa/Mamo in a critical point of view. Not bashing because I love Usa/ Mamo across the broad but the 90's anime missed it mark on their relationship a lot and it all starts how underdeveloped it was before they even got together.

Hate at first sight....

With the 90’s anime, even tho you can tell they do have attraction for each other in the season 1, it gets lost in the shuffle with all the antagonistic behavior they have for the majority of the season. The 90’s anime didn’t understand in order for the whole “enemy to lovers” and slow burn tropes to work they had to have interaction where they are cordial to each other for more than 5 mins in one episode. Where they realized the other person is not that bad and start to have internal conflicted thoughts about that person. Yes you do have that in the painting episode but it still gets lost in the shuffle. You can’t have them being so mean and antagonistic to each other ( it was pretty much kindergartner bullying between a 17 and 14 pair of teenagers)and then being in love with little to no set up.

Save your cat and you're acting like that...

They had a few good gems(like the painting episode which I mentioned)  which would have helped but they come a little too late. One of them in particular in is the elevator scene in episode 35. The elevator scene was perfect for UsaMamo development since they was actually talking and being very cordial to the point they you could consider them flirting with each other but it come way too late. It shouldn’t been in the same episode where they are about to found out identities as Mask/Moon and Serenity/Endymion. They should have been knew(at least Mamo should have while Usagi had an inkling) who the other was by time that scene happened.

After 35 episodes they can be one place actually talking and not throwing insults...  

That's why you have so many Season 1 90's anime fanfics that try to fix what the 90's anime barely did when it came to Usa/Mamo.

Rainbow Crystal Arc had so much potential to develop Usa/Mamo relationship.

The Rainbow Crystal arc would have been so good to use for UsaMamo development if Mamoru knew that Usagi was Sailor Moon towards the beginning of it. If you thought that arc had drama with Moon trying to figure out what are Mask intentions are with the crystals and if he’s on his side. Lord throw in him knowing that she’s Moon and being conflicted by it but also want to spend more time with her as Usagi and figuring out they are really one in the same. That once he start being nice to her , he realizes what a wonderful person she is as Usagi and Moon. Which he starts to consider her as a friend and maybe something more which he never considered when he was teasing her. Oh lets throw this in that he starts to see the princess’s face in his dreams and that face is Usagi which is confusing the mess out of him since he’s getting closer to Usagi while his relationship with Moon is stalling…

THEN Not only Usagi being confused by Mask intentions, she start to see how nicer Mamo is to her which they start being more cordial to each other at the crown and start to question her feelings towards him. So her feelings for Mamo grows stronger as her while feelings for Mask start to wean. It’s get to the point that she can’t wait to bump into him so they can talk..

Which also throws a wretch since he supposed to be ‘dating” Rei but it’s going south fast but Rei is seeing the writing on the wall…

Yeah Not in the manga...

Don’t even get me started with the Rei/Mamo thing and Usagi becomes jealous out of the blue.. Especially the fact when Rei come on the scene she saw Mamo and thought he was cute ( also thought he could have been TM which she was right) meanwhile Usagi kept telling her that he was a jerk… Which I think she knew that Usa had a little thing for him she probably wouldn’t went out on dates with him but hey. She thought like most of the audience did that she hated him.. So when the truth come out, Rei had to basically get over her feelings since her princess is probably going to be with her prince. Even tho that said princess showed disdain for him for the majority of the time Rei knew her. Even tho Mamo wasn’t really interested in Rei in the first place but Rei never got that closer she needed. Hence why the next couple seasons , it always seem like she was bitter about Mamo and Usagi being together. Since her eyes Usagi never hold true interest to him until she found out he was Mask and then her prince.

The face of a guy that is not into you but would rather pick a fight with your" friend"....

In short, the whole  Rei/Mamo  dating sub plot which honestly was a waste of air time that could have been used to develop UsaMamo.

It never was a real shift between feelings so it did feel like she only tolerated Mamo when she found out he was TM and then the prince. Especially she didn't have enough time to processed that Mamoru being Mask before finding out he was Endymion so it was a double whammy for her. Bad enough she to has to process being Serenity and seeing him being taking away for her. Hell he had a little more time to process that she was Moon to take the Zoi's crystal for her but still not enough to process it all. Shit he's pretty much dead and then brainwash before he had a chance to  process being the prince and Usagi being Serenity. Unlike in the Manga/Crystal ( which I'm going to talk about in little) they both has a couple episodes to process that they were Moon/Mask before the other shoe dropped about them being Endymion/ Serenity. Honestly the writers did a better job writing for Mask/Moon then Usagi/Mamo.. So better working/professional relationship than personal one...

So that's why it felt like” Do you like Mamo for being Mamo or you finally like him because he’s TM?? The guy you been crushing on for 30 plus episodes but then hating his civilian form guts?” That’s why they did feel forced because it was no middle ground to truly show that they become friends. They try to do that in the Doom Tree arc in season two but he lost his freaking memory yet again. In all honestly instead of a breakup arc it could have been them learning how to become better friends which they starting to actually fall in love with each other. That’s why it’s a shitton of season one fanfics that focus on that standpoint with them having interactions that are not hostile and developing their feelings for each other.

This  is the reason why UsaMamo development gets criticized in the 90's anime cause it's not properly being shown and cultivated on screen in the first season. I'm not saying the attraction is not there because I agree that is there. What I'm saying with this whole post is the writers didn't do enough to bring the attraction to the forefront and would rather have them acting antagonistic for the majority of the season instead of shifting that behavior to at least friendly so it can be shown more.

I’m sorry but you can’t take the granddaddy of all tropes “ Enemies to Friends to Lovers” and develop the most important of that trope correctly ( the friendship), how do you expect people to not like feel like it’s forced??

It's like Pride and Prejudice.

Dracy and Elizabeth didn't like each other at first but once they spent time together on multiple occasions they realized that their prejudgment about each other was wrong.

Usagi and Mamoru didn't have enough time in the 90's anime to do such.

So in short ,the 90’s anime didn’t do as much to develop UsaMamo from the Enemies to Friends to Lovers stage hence why it does feel like they go from “ Oh You are a jerk” to “ Oh my love ” from zero to 100 in a matter of seconds because the truth come out. Hence why people say it felt forced.

The manga/crystal had 9 acts/episodes to work with and showed the shift between them better than that. It went from“ Why we keep bumping into each other feeling a instant connection to each other? Why we keep teasing each other?” to “ Hey! This is not bad at all. We been working together all this time anyway. Let’s be friends and see where this takes us. Maybe we can go on a date after all this Crystal business is handled” to “ Oh We were in love in the past. That’s just a added bonus since we were falling for each other anyway.” . I feel like Mamo was going to ask her out after they figure out the whole Dark Kingdom deal before they found out about their past. It was just a freaking bonus them being together in the past and explanation why they was so drawn into each other.

My re-watch of SM Crystal dub version just solidifies it.

I mean we got Mamo straight up confessing to Usagi that he went her BEFORE the truth comes out in front of her and Zoisite.

He was questioning why the hell he told her about his parents and the quest for the SC.

He was straight up like “Every day I learn more about you but I want to know everything there is that makes you who you are.” He was straight up crushing hard on her.

We got her pretty much knowing him like the back of her hand before she even know Mamo and Tux was the same person.

I mean seriously

Luna straight up knew that she was in love with him.

Her friends knew (especially Mako teasing her in episode 6) that she had a thing for him.

The writing was on the wall that he probably was going to ask her out on a date anyway which she was going to accept.

They fell in love being Usagi and Mamo and not being Serenity and Endymion.

Them being Princess and Prince with a tragic love story was just an added bonus.

The souls was already calling to each other which the two host didn’t know why but it felt right.

Crystal honestly did a better job solidifying their feelings for each other before the truth come out than the Manga,Naoko still did a better job to convey it than the 90′s anime.

Which had 30 plus episodes to gradually move their relationship from being antagonistic to friendly which is my main problem with the 90′s anime. They had more room to work with than the manga( since they were giving the manga time) but the manga honestly resolved more than things than they did. Maybe because the manga had one writer while the 90′s anime had an handful of writers.(Which I'm going to give them a lead way since the manga was still being written as the anime was going on but still )  They fell in love being Usagi and Mamo and not being Serenity and Endymion. Them being Princess and Prince with a tragic love story was just an added bonus. The souls was already calling to each other which the two host didn’t know why but it felt right.

PGSM really bought this on home where they clearly showed that she pretty much got over her crush with TM and was in love with Mamo with them actually hanging out and doing things for her to realized that he wasn’t that bad. That they really just started off on the wrong foot. Also him being in conflict with him still doing the right thing with marrying Hina or completely falling in love with Usa. It was like duty or love for him.

So in short, the attraction between the two because of the past was an added bonus in the Manga/Crystal and PGSM which Naoko developed a relationship around it compared to the 90’s anime.

Tl:DL So in order to make it look believable when the truth come out, that shift of feelings have to happen with interaction that is not an antagonistic which was the majority of Usa/Mamo relationship season 1 on the 90’s anime. You can’t just have the attraction pull all the strings cause it’s going to feel forced with no cordial interaction to back up that attraction.

P.S Like I said earlier,I  am Usa/Mamo shipper. I’m just critical when it comes to how the writers handled them in the 90’s anime which was dirty.

Thanks for listening to my TED talk. lol

If anyone wanted you to read some usamamo fic for feedback, would you? Even if its just an "its cute" comment ?????? 😶😶😶😶

Hi anon! I'm trying to think of how to answer you and please know that what I'm about to say is not on you singularly, I know you don't mean any harm and you can't know this.

See, I get messages like yours a lot. Like, you know, these:

From time to time (And more often lately) I get messages like this. And while on the one hand, I feel very very VERY flattered that there are apparently at least a handful of people who see me as someone whose opinion matters to them even if I am a stranger, on the other hand, I feel a little used.

See, none of these messages read like... Hi Flora I really like your fics because ______ and since this is a theme I also want to evoke, I would love to hear your opinion on ______. Could I send you a fic?

Or even, you know, best case:

Hi, I'm_____ and I wrote a fic on _____ and I think that's something you might enjoy based on your likes! If you want to check it out, you can find it here:_____ no pressure though!

(A way that this is phrased that I have never gotten but I would immediately click on the story to at least see if it IS something I would enjoy reading! I LOVE getting recs!)

Instead, to me, they read like, hey, could you give me your attention? And do so completely out of nowhere. It makes me feel a little used, to be absolutely honest, and I know individually you don't mean that at all, no one probably does who sends me these messages, but they make me feel like people feel they are entitled to my time?

I work a demanding job, 50 hours a week on bad weeks. All my free time goes to fanfiction, basically. And yes I do review the fics I loved because OF COURSE, and I do help a lot of people brainstorm and even beta more than I probably should, but it's my hobby, and I like to think I should have free choice in whom I offer to help or not. I love to help people there, don't get me wrong. But being asked so often and in such a way makes me feel a little used.

The culmination of this feeling is perhaps best illustrated in this anon ask on the topic that I got about a year ago or so, and that perhaps makes me a little biased on every request on something similar that I got afterwards:

See, I don't think it's anyone's obligation to review. I don't think anyone is entitled to my feedback. It's no one's obligation to read every fic out there regardless of their personal tastes. I'm not a fic critic. I'm here for my enjoyment. And I have limited time and every minute I spend on other people's fics, I will not be spending on my own. Obviously reading fic is still my hobby. But I'd like it to stay my hobby and not become an obligation or a favour I do for anyone?

And I can't read all the fics, I really just can't. And trying to would mean not writing anymore. And the way I see it, writing is what you like me for in the first place?

Maybe try to see it like this in order to understand what I'm feeling with these messages: If I made and prepared this big dinner party and invited you to it, it's not the politest thing to run at me with your own prepared food, put it on the table in front of me, and ask me to give my feedback on it without acknowledging mine that you just ate? Obviously I might LOVE your food. But it's not making me feel so nice eating it! Which isn't what you want, I think?

So yeah I'm sorry if this comes across rude or maybe hurts you, anon. Please know it's not you personally. But I'm not answering to messages like this in general. But, if people would phrase it in the way that I gave as more positive examples above, ways that make me feel less used, there is a higher chance that yes I will read it! I know it's hard to get your work seen sometimes especially if people don't always check the new fics on FF, and that if you want to build an audience you sometimes want to (and should!) reach out. And I am here for that. But please guys - not only you anon, again, you're just a (much friendlier!) voice on the top of an iceberg for me here - be a little more considerate of me and my time and regarding your tone. I'm just a person.

I’m so sick of this year already btw. With what happened for me back in late March with a co-mod/admin of an event I was going to help with (ended up leaving), the clusterfuck of a gift exchange that was the UsaMamo Spring one, and all of this drama going around with adults because I’m younger than them and that’s their justification for not wanting to be friends with me... I just want to leave everything behind forever. I feel like crying and just breaking apart at any moment. I feel so destroyed, lost and incomplete. And my creativity block is making me so bored. I’m so done with everything.

I just want to feel like a kid again and not feel the extreme pressure from other shitty people to know everything to do in life. I’m a child, I’ll live and learn. Unlike some people who are awful and adults who totally get a pass/no criticism for doing objectively distasteful and bad things. I just want to get a bunch of toys on my birthday in July and FEEL young again. I wish that life wasn’t so fucking awful. Sure, I may not have it as bad as other people, but that doesn’t make my struggles, feelings and sadness invalid. I wish I could go outside, have fun, feel like an actual person again and have my motivation for fics back. I only feel like doing originals now, and while I enjoy doing them, I just want SO badly to be able to write all the fics I want to write and gain popularity and have my fic-writing dreams come true.

Svtfoe ended and that’s good.

- This show was called “Star vs the Forces of Evil”. Basically there were no forces of evil. Never at all. Perhaps only... Glossaryck or every human being in the show. It’s not even the irony. - Every so called “villain” wasn’t really a villain, but some “positive“ characters were pictured as total a*****es suddenly. Why? Cuz obviosly the writers needed a temporary solution to the sh*t-we-got-no-villains-problem. Nicely done... by ruining some other characters totally. Like Moon. (Ludo who suffered from the abuse, Toffee who just was protecting his people but never betrayed his kind, Mina who was just an insane one who needed some mental help and was ignored betrayed by Solaria in the end; While the whole HMC were abominations, and Moon? No matter how hard you try to show through flashbacks that she’s good what she did in the end was so gross and completely OOC that I want to forget everything I know after the finale “arc”). Some people say “but that’s good!11 that means the things aren’t always just black or white, there’s always something in between“. I suppose some people don’t understand the difference between “not always b/w thingy“ and “bad writing/complete OOC/rushed endings/horrible examples of teens behavior and bad messages to the young audience“. - Magic as a source of all the problems/war conflicts? Yeah, sure, just as a nuclear weapon or any weapon that people use in wars to obtain power/ destroy the enemy in the real world, our sweet real human world. Oh, by the way, those worlds in the shows? Just collided. Is there any like nuclear Glossaryck to kill so the humanity might live happily ever after? - Like mewmans won’t fight with monsters in the future. Like there won’t be any fights/wars between real humans, mewmans and monsters. And don’t forget demons. WHAT A HAPPY ENDING. - Seems like Glossaryck wanted to commit a suicide all these years. - I just love how Solaria did not give a f*** about Mina.  - Those ghosts-queens never did anything except helping to destroy the magic in the end. Where were they? They could’ve helped their flesh and blood every time they’ve got stuck in the Magic Dimension. Ghosts-Queens were used in the end just as what, a good looking but totally senseless scene? Or just to make a point to the fans for buying useless svtfoe books? (Actually I prefer the books over the second half of the last season so they are not so useless tbh). - Where were the creators of the show with the “Toffee was right” when a lot of Toffee fans were attacked by the toxic part of the fandom? All this madness all the deaths of the mewmans/monsters could be avoided but Glossaryck never tried to talk out the things normally with others. But, of course, better to destroy all the audience who ever shipped Moontoffee with the “He killed my mother“ bs. Now we all know that Glossaryck was there all along knowing everything not telling anything.  - Svtfoe crew did see that people liked Moontoffee ship, nobody hated or was against the canon MoonRiver, we all were ok with AUs but... you know, you better treat your audience nicely. Instead the creators destroyed every reason to like those two characters, the shippers were treated by the fandom badly for shipping pairing that had an “abuse”. Kinda. Now it’s Moon is the baddy and Toffee is a gooddie. Lmao. - Oh, remember the time when we wanted to see more Janna and Jackie...and just to get them in the end for... I don’t understand for what.  - “The Marco Harem” thingy makes me wanna ship only yuri ships.  - The “shipping drama” you call it? Let’s call it a “shipping bs”. - All ships were ruined and butchered. Ecxept St*rco. Well, they were ruined too, and became most gross canon I ever know. Probably MoonRiver are close to it now too (does River even know?)... I suppose nobody hated the shipping more that the SVTFOE crew did. - All ships: Jantom, Manna, Tomstar, Kellco, Markapoo etc., were used to keep the audience till the end at least with something. Cuz the main story became such a huge mess that without shipping, the greatest distraction tool in the history, that was impossible to watch the show. - It’s good that Star is bisexual, it’s bad she still ended up with a guy. What is worse - with a wrong guy. Who, thanks to the wonderful writing skills of the writers, was a liar and cheater. - It’s good that Jackie got a girlfriend, it’a bad that’s wrong gf. It should’ve been Star. - In the end we got forced St*rco. But with at what price? Personally I can’t stand Marco and Star both now, after all the crap, lie and pain they caused to their exes and their families. I’ve been waiting for a latin lead character in a show like this for years and now both characters dissapointed me greatly. - The Beach Day episode had no sense. Two worlds collided JUST BECAUSE. And no apocalypse happened, no one got killed, nothing was destroyed. Two worlds should’ve been staying separately forever, as Marco and Star. But two cheating and lying teens wanted to be together so badly so f*** the logic. - The happy but bitter and well handled ending was possible. I remember “His Dark Materials”, trilogy of fantasy novels by Sir Philip Pullman, where in the end [SPOILER] Lyra and her boyfriend are separated forever, because it’s impossible for them to live in the different world/universe. But they promised to remember each other. The Beach Day photo and the memento point of St*rco love could be just as beautiful as in “His Dark Materials”.  - It is stated that Svtfoe takes a great resemble of Sailor Moon which had a lot of its own flaws. Instead of taking the best from SM, Sv takes the worst, like UsagiSeya love which was better and so more realistic than UsaMamo (Tomstar = UsaSeya; St*rco = UsaMamo), making even a worse copy of UsaMamo canon you can’t stand. - Want a better example? Miraculous Ladybug. The way this show handles shipping and caring for its audince is so better and different from Sv! And despite Adriaenette are the endgame and everybody knows that, it’s a good ship that isn’t rushed, which gets a proper development in every episode. And you know what? I can ship them and Alyaenette, and Lucanette and feel absolutely great about it.  - There are so many other problems with SVTFOE, I wish I could remember and mention it here, but there’s no point, the show is dead, thank goodness. I was kinda done with show after they butchered Toffee/Moontoffee, and now completely done after they forced St*rco and ruining them too, killing off all the amazing development of Tomstar. And, most importantly - destroyed a lot of characters (MHC, Gloss, Moon etc). - Tbvh, the show had so much potential and instead they just used the shipping and handled it horribly on every possible level. - Svtfoe was an amazing, great explosion of the ideas, beautiful designs, characters (Eclipsa’s family) and worlds. Now I can thank this show only for one thing: for the creativity of its fandom. Your OCs are magnigicent, people, and your stories about them are so much... better than the canon. - TEENS ARE NOT THAT DUMB. And I’m saying it as a grown up, dangit. P.S. That’s an opinion, and if you feel personally attacked by it - don’t, I wanted to rant, and so I did. You enjoyed the show? Good for you, don’t waste your time on trying to prove me being wrong. The show is dead, this opinion doesn’t affect anything or anybody from the crew. Cuz as far ad it seems to me, they’ve been/blind deaf enough all the time.  Also, if anyone considers it as a disrespect towards show creators - it’s a critical response nothing more, nothing less.

Fall Semester So Far

 It's been two weeks into my last Fall/Autumn Semester at my college so far, and already it's slowly becoming occupying. My professor in critical thinking reading level four class isn't too bad nor is the class. The workload of lectures, note-taking, online student class web-advanced print out assignments to read of passages, quotes, or articles and note-taking on haven't been too overwhelming. In a few weeks, I'll be given essays or research thought papers to write besides group presentation work and online thought journals to write for class before midterms happen sometime in the middle semester of October to be announced. So, reading articles and printing them out have kept me busy. Other than that, I've been keeping sane with coffee/tea drinking, knitting, and writing/working on fan fiction work in progress stories whenever I can.

Fanfiction stories wise, I am working on future chapters to Sailor Moon stories 'Safe and Sound', 'Knit One, Purl Two Odango', and Hannibal story series ' Raising Abigail Graham-Lecter'. Some work in progress chapters to those stories has been given to some of my fellow authors/writers to beta-read. Those stories will be updated on my accounts at Fan Fiction.Net and Archive of Our Own ASAP once I can get chapters/one-shot stories back from my Beta-Readers to look over, rewrite-final edit them to post up. I am also trying to find time to work on stories/writings to contribute to the Sailor Moon Smutember  Month for the Weeks and the Autumn "Fall" In Love UsaMamo Exchange 2019 in early November.  So, if you are a fan of my writings/stories please follow me here on Tumblr or at my author pages I link here from my accounts at AO3 and FF.N

Also, please go check out new stories/writings posted by my fellow Moonies/Fellow Authors @floraone @faulkner-blog and @queenrisa14  who have both put out new wonderful stories of Usagi/Mamoru!!!

Any tea for the discourse regarding the UsaMamo age gap?

Is there much tea to be had about this? I feel like pretty much everyone can agree that the age gap in the original anime/PGSM is bad and it’s fine in manga/Crystal. But sure, here’s my thoughts.

I think that to the extent there’s something there to criticize, you need to place the blame on the right people.

In the manga and Crystal? Mamoru is a kid just like Usagi is. He’s only two years older than her. Even when Mamoru is over the age of 18 and still dating Usagi, I still can’t even bring myself to care in the slightest, since they’d been together for years at that point and they’re destined moon lovers and jfc just enjoy the romance.There is basically no age gap to speak of. In the original version of the story, thought up by the 22 year old STEM-educated woman who wrote Sailor Moon, there is no objectionable age gap to even make tea over.

It was Toei and the 1992 anime team that made Mamoru a grown-ass man for absolutely no discernible reason. Mamoru already being in college adds literally nothing to the story. No episodes take place at his university. We learn nothing about what he’s studying. Not even a single filler episode has to do with him having an issue with a professor, or applying for internships, or anything. Maybe there’s a handful of throw-away lines relating to Mamoru’s university education in the entire 200 episode run time.

Pretty much the only important thing that comes from Mamoru being in college is when decides to go abroad to America, but that also happens in the manga! So again, there was no fucking point in making him a college student.

I hate the fact that they aged him up so much because it makes people hate his character. Not only did the show seem uninvested in making him a real character (especially, famously, Ikuhara) but then they had to make him a creep on top of it. They weren’t even trying to make him a real part of the show, and since the 1992 anime had an overabundance of episodes to work with, they could have easily squeezed it in among the pointless swimsuit episodes and Scooby Doo antics, but they didn’t.

To me, 1992 anime Mamoru isn’t actually Mamoru. He’s a completely separate character that I have to project manga!Mamoru onto in order to truly like. And that’s a shame, because he should have been the wholesome, supportive, loving, mature, tragic, lonely teenage boy that he was supposed to be. But instead, he’s a weirdo dating a 14 year old. Wow, thanks, I hate it. 

...maybe I had more tea to serve up over that topic than I realized. It kinda just turned into a rant about the original anime, lol. >u>;;;

gonna be insane abt usamamo for a second im so sorry esp to my moots who do not care about sailor moon my heart goes out to you

read more bc this is so much longer than was intended

i see a lot of the same "theyre only in love because of fate/their superhero alter egos/their past" takes A Lot (to be fair its usually directed at the 90s anime, to which i do agree n understand, however ive also seen it directed at the manga which is why im talking abt it) and i just Do Not Agree, so im gonna talk abt it in a twt thread bc im insane and twt is my outlet for my insanity. (this was originally written for twt but got too long oops.)

starting with the whole "theyre only dating because of past lives" because its the easiest to debunk, its just flat out not true. mamoru n usagi never really got the chance to officially get to together pre-past lives reveal in the manga but its pretty damn clear they were going to, probably the next time they met as civilians and swapped their different keepsakes that they have from each other.

theres also the whole "oh well their feelings are remnants of silmil" which i think takes away a lot of their agency as characters and also just isnt true and is also pretty easily disprovable, usagi likes mamoru for being there for her and supporting her when she needs it, and mamoru likes usagi for being this incredibly strong heroine but also being a normal cheery girl all at the same time.

which leads me to the next point! "they only like each other because of their alter egos", two rebuttals here, they dont exactly stop being tuxedo mask/sailor moon just because theyre out of costume that is still them but i do see why this is a popular criticism. my other thing is that its definitely not true for mamoru, whos usually the one criticized for not truly liking the Real Usagi™️ and only liking her for sailor moon (or serenity but we just went over that and funnily enough this criticism should be directed more to usagi but we'll get into that later).

for this lets go back to why mamoru loves usagi, according to earlier in this post i claimed it was because of the dichotomy between her and sailor moon, the crime fighting warrior, and usagi the happy-go-lucky school girl who always brings a smile to everyones face, thus showing that he loves /all/ of her not just one side over the other.

but me saying so isnt really enough so lets hear it from the boy in question: "its true... for a long time the crystal was the only thing i wanted... but now when i see her... angry one moment then laughing the next... the crystal? no thats not what i really want... usako youre what i want" - (crystal ep 7) so... yeah thats pretty cut and dry, oh yeah nows also a good time to mention that ill be pulling stuff from crystal too because of the nature of crystal having been more closely supervised by naoko and being a stricter manga adaptation, any scenes it adds are retroactively canon to the mangaverse (at least to me, but if youre looking for a similar line from the manga: "youre strong today sailor moon, everyday i feel like im seeing a different side to you, is there other versions of you ive yet to meet? i want to know everything, who are you really?" - (chapter 8) same idea as the crystal quote just a lot more vague lol)

also this is reflected in more than just words, its actions too, tuxedo mask is a lot more closed off towards sailor moon earlier on and its not until chapter 4 that he starts being a lot more openly caring and affectionate, and you wanna know what happens in chapter 4? he finds out sailor moon is usagi, and it doesnt take a lot of media literacy to put two and two together to figure out why that shift happens there.

now for usagi, remember when i said the whole "liking the alter-egos" criticism applies to her more but is never directed at her? well heres why, we never really see her civilian relationship with mamoru develop much on her end before the reveal, she is of course attracted to mamoru but on a way more superficial level (usagis pretty notorious for her immediate, but ultimately kinda surface level crushes on people: see rei).

she denies her crush but its pretty obvious she has one, for example when mako points out that usagis blushing after one of their interactions and asks about it and she insists pretty loudly that she "doesnt like him!" but never really explains the blush (earlier in the same scene when she sees mamoru she blushes and b-dmp! is written in the bg, keep in mind he hasnt done or said anything yet so its not embarrassment) and then theres chapter 3 where she recognizes that his profile sorta looks like tuxedo mask which she'd actively try to deny if she didnt like him like she says she does, so its pretty obvious she has a crush on mamoru.

but her relationship with tuxedo mask is what gets more development, she goes from that superficial crush she has on mamoru to liking him for deeper reasons than just: pretty guy! i.e. helping her, being there for her, and grounding her when she needs it. also in the same vein as her recognizing him in chapter 3 the reveal is her just recognizing him as tuxedo mask, which obviously she has to like mamoru quite a bit to do (even if the evidence was quite literally all around her) (in saying all of this i do think pgsm does a much better job at showing her genuinely falling for all of him but pgsm also skews more towards the 90s anime in terms of characterization so i wont be using that).

and finally "usamamo are only together/feel pressured to be together because of fate/chibiusa" short answer: no. long answer: noooooooooo. no but in all seriousness this flat out isnt true, if you'll remember the first 14 chapters of the manga are kinda. yk. dedicated to this. their fate isnt to "be together" their fate is to literally DIE if they dare attempt to be together again, they are together DESPITE fate, like i dont even know how else to put it because multiple characters comment on fate repeating itself when it comes to dooming usamamo, they werent reincarnated to be together they were reincarnated to be happy and live normal peaceful lives.

as for fate as in the future, thats pretty easily disprovable because its ALSO something the manga goes over, during the dream arc when mamorus suffering from nehelennias curse he starts feeling guilty and selfish for constantly being a burden on usagi to the point he asks her if she really does want a future with him, even saying that he feels horrible for potentially tying her down to a future she might not want, which yk would kinda not be a concern he would have if he was only with her for the creation of crystal tokyo (side note: nowhere does it say usamamo NEED to be together for crystal tokyo to exist, usagi could very well rule alone like queen serenity or with any other partner, its just that the current timeline has them together in ct) as for usagis response, mamoru falls asleep before he can hear it, but she says point blank that she can change the future if she wants. So. Yeah. dont really think i need to say much more than that on that front.

And the last part of the "fate saga", "theyre only together to have chibiusa" which is such a crazy and lowkey highkey misogynistic sentiment, but for arguments sake lets take a look at why its completely wrong, first off, again. "i can change the future as much as i want" - (chapter 40) she could have chibiusa by other means (for example the way queen serenity had serenity) but also, the reason they care so much about chibiusa is because she's a product of their love, they obviouly care about her as a person but they wouldnt just force themselves to be together just to have her and her alone (if that makes sense i have no idea how to phrase what im trying to say) in any case its a really gross thing to say because it insinuates a lot of really weird things!

if you made it through all that you deserve like a medal or something but thanks for listening to my silly little thoughts about my favorite couple right now

What does one do when you get a review that isn’t properly bad but isn’t good either? I mean, it’s not constructive criticism, nor a “this is bad writing” or “you went OOC”, but more like “meh, it’s something”. What kind of review is that? If you don’t have anything nice (or at least useful) to say, just don’t say anything!

Long rant ahead. Feel free to ignore, I’m just venting.

I am an architect-type of writer. I pick a plot, then build and plan, merge and re-plan and build more. I think an awful lot about my stories. Everything has a meaning and a purpose. Sometimes it’s to move the plot, sometimes is to move feelings. Telling a thing like that is almost offensive to me.

It comes only second to reviews that tell you “oh, it’s a good story, except you should have made this thing this way because I think my idea is better”. Like... no? Write your own story with your idea if you think it’s good, this is mine and I use my ideas. Are some of those unoriginal? Who cares? If the story works, the idea is fine. Also, if I write a fanfiction, it’s often because I want to show my own take of the original story, so, again, I make choices for exact purposes.

Other than that, when the fanfiction in question is a crossover, changes are necessary to merge the two universes and I must pick some decisions on how to work around some problems. Namely, in this case: I am writing a Sailor Moon/Boku no Hero Academia crossover. (I took the bone idea from another ff (with the permission of the original author) and I’m having fun writing it. The premise is that when the Inners came back from the future they ended up in the BnHA world merged into it, and Usagi found out she is All Might’s daughter. It was such a good idea and the original author wasn’t updating, other than she split UsaMamo (one of my very first OTPs before I even knew what an OTP was) and made Usagi a little too rough for my taste, so...) I started writing my take of it and before I realized it, I had a base outline and seven chapters ready. When the chapters became nine I started publishing it and slowly I gained a little follow, which is lovely, but not quite the point.

I’m not the kind fishing for attention, I write first and foremost for myself, but I like sharing my words and my ideas, eventually finding like-minded people, that’s why I post them online. Otherwise I wouldn’t even go throught the trouble of writing in English (which is only my second language), I mean, I am Italian and a literature student too, it would be so much easier to produce 3000/4000 words per session/chapter in my mothertongue instead of struggling for 1500/2000 in English, no? I am much more eloquent in Italian and I sure as hell wouldn’t make stupid grammatical mistakes, I wouldn’t struggle to find the words, I could use complex syntaxis like in latin and so on. My Italian writing is another thing.

BUT some reviews criticized my use of guillemettes (those: «») for dialogues, which is the standard for books here; they told me to use Grammarly for my mistakes (not even that terrible, once the damn programm checked it was moslty typos and a few improperties) and now this? A “you are improving, one couldn’t ask for more”? What the hell does that even mean?

I had to make a precise choice in order to write this ff in a way that was congruous to the original material: tone down everything. Lexicon, syntaxis, descriptions, emotions, everything is stripped to a minimum in order to not make it too heavy for the reader, but also for me. I did it this way to produce more scenes and more interactions between the characters, to move the plot faster than I usually do, because my normal pattern would have made my job longer and harder and the story itself would have been less enjoyable in comparison to the sources.

But sure, tell me it’s “good enough”. That my efforts to write in a language that I don’t hear and speak everyday aren’t enough. Tell me I have to adapt to your formatting instead of mine (which is ridiculous, because you’d never mistake thinking and speaking if I use different marks, while using only the “” is damn confusing). Tell me that the way I fix the holes the author created almost intentionally in a story still ongoing such as BnHA are “close enough” to the source that doesn’t clear it. Tell me I should have given a character I love and cherish and have known my whole life long different traits because it’d look better if she was battle-oriented when she never was.

Whatever. I’m writing this for me and for the ones who can appreciate it just the way it is. I did too many concessions already by tuning down my style and writing in a language that isn’t mine to begin with.

It amazes me the lengths people will go through just to bash UsaMamo...

It’s like what’s the fucking point anymore?

Every argument has been either disputed or agreed on fans would actually love Usa/Mamo. 

Age Gap- Disputed It’s only 2 years in the manga and 3-4 years give or take in the 90′s anime not 7 or more 

Mamoru being a 25 year old college student- Disputed He’s only 16 in the start of the manga and 17 in the start of anime which is under the age of minority which is 20 in Japan. 

He’s only with her cause of destiny and he doesn’t love her- Disputed cause if that’s the case, the those dreams in R wouldn’t shook him the way it did.

He doesn’t support her and thinks she’s childish- Disputed Lawd which version of Sailor Moon was you watching? He loves her child like spirit and how she can see the good in others. 

Mamo being a pedophile dating a 14 year old- Disrupted He’s only 16 in the manga or 17 in the 90′s anime himself  which the age of consent in Japan is 13 but in same places are 16 but if it’s determine that the two people are in a romantic realtionship with the blessing of the parents they are fine. Which we all know Usagi’s parents give their blessing. 

Mamo being a pedophile being around Chibiusa- First of all THAT’S HIS FUCKING DAUGHTER ! Second of All HE HAD A KINDLE SPRIT WITH BEFORE HE FOUND OUT SHE WAS HIS DAUGHTER! HE KNOWS HOW IT FEELS TO BE ALONE WITH NO FAMILY AND THAT’S WHY HE’S EXTRA PROTECTIVE AND AFFECTIONATE  OF HER!

If I list all the arguments this would be longer than all the lies Trump has told since he’s been in office which is an feat itself.. 

People act like people who ship Usa/Mamo follows it blindly and don’t criticized it which is a fucking lie. 

I mean how many times I have to said that I don’t like how season one held their realtionship?How many times I have said that I can’t stand the break up arc? How many times I have said that 90′s anime fucked up the imbalance of power worse than it was in the manga and did absolutely shit to fix it? 

PLENTY!! 

Shit I got tired of myself ranting about the break up arc and I know my followers did! 

Hell I know Blackmanta got many essays as me or more since she’s been in the fandom a little longer than I have and have seen way more than I have.

Usa/Mamo has been canon for 26 years and will stay canon. Nothing these people will say will undo 26 years of canon which has spanned over an manga, two animes plus movies, a live action show, musicals, games, drama cds, image songs, books,merch and etc.

NAOKO IS NOT GOING TO COME OUT THE BLUE AND SAY “ Well I’m not going to make my most popular couple in my manga not canon anymore cause part of my fan base don’t like them and rather see her with Haruka or Seiya.” 

SHE’S NOT GOING TO SAY THAT USAGI AND MAMO WAS A MISTAKE! 

THIS A WOMAN WHO HAS SHOWED IN THE HER MANGA THAT SHE’S A VERY ROMANTIC PERSON .

SO NOPE IT’S NOT HAPPENING! 

Usa/Mamo and Har/Mic are the two most popular couples in SM universe and Naoko is not going to break up cause some fans are salty about Usa/Mamo. 

They don’t have to like the ship but coming up with these petty ass arguments to hate on them is fucking old. 

My God 

If I bashed Seiya/Usagi or Usagi/ Dimond almost 24/7 on my blog , I will would get tired myself. 

So people need to stop and 

Cause it’s getting way past it’s expiration date. 

Honestly I have a theory: People aren’t actually mad about the age gap, it’s just that the UsaMamo ship was always unpopular so the age gap is just another thing people bring up when they rant about how they hate it and Mamoru. This is also why you don’t see the other ships in the series with far worse age gaps brought up as much as UsaMamo.

But the thing is that UsaMamo ship is one of the most popular ships in the Fandom..

So that doesn't honestly don't make any sense.

It's far from being unpopular but does have its share of critics.