Ah yes the long awaited topic on the homosexual couple in the Sailor Moon series. Let me give you some back info here, so in “Sailor Moon S” we are introduced to some new characters Haruka Tenou and Michiru Kaio (Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune) who are genius high school students who excel in the actitivies they are passionate in and are ALWAYS together. These characters are known to the Sailor gang as just the most beautiful people they know.

Neptune and Uranus

When we see the characters first appearance out of fighting uniform, Haruka (blonde, short hair) is wearing a boys school uniform and refers to themselves with ‘he’ pronouns.The Sailor crew and the audience go wild for him! Then, it’s revealed that Haruka is actually biologically female and this completely shocks the crew but for how long? Literally a few minutes and then Haruka’s gender is pretty much never mentioned again. The unfortunate side here though is that even though Haruka prefers to wear mens clothing and refers to himself with male pronouns, when he transforms into a Sailor Soldier, he is put into the same uniform as the rest of the soldiers. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable he felt wearing that.

The relationship between Haruka and Michiru in the Japanese version only hints to the two’s intimate relationship with each other. We never see them kiss, but they profess quite a few times the type of love they feel for each other and even showing jealousies towards other women or men who flirt with them.

So, how did their relationship change when brought over to America?

LET’S MAKE THEM COUSINS INSTEAD!

*headdesk*

Dark blue states represents legal first cousin marriage

Well when you think about it, that makes sense to change a homosexual relationship into an incestial relationship because marriage by incest is legal in more states than marriage by same sex. Still though, a lot of young kids who were watching the American version scratched their head at this because if these two were cousins then they were REALLY, REALLY into each other and in my opinion, that made me MORE uncomfortable than the version I was watching from Japan.

Cousin Marriage source

The only thing I’ve noticed thus far is the anime seems to be very self-aware. The first example of this comes when one of the character’s is talking to another about the new girl in class, to which the main character says something very airy and plot-driven, to which another replies, “You’re acting like a character in an anime!”. Later, another brief moment of self awareness is brought to the table when they meet one of the magic girls, dressed in her changed clothes. One of the girls turns around and says, “What’s with that girl? Now she’s attacking people in cosplay!” The mention of both of these proves the show is at the very least aware of its audience, and I’m hoping this shines through more as the series progresses.

In terms of proper artwork, I think the animation style in this one is pretty unique. The  girls encounter what they call a “witch”, and the animation style overlaps typical “anime” style animation with drastically different art styles, very abstract and defined. I am curious to see how they play with this. By that I mean, if they are going to use the same type of abstract art or if they will play with various art styles in those scenes.

The characters are fairly concrete, Madoka being innocent but thoughtful, Sayaki being tough and protective, Homura being mysterious and lofty with an agenda yet unknown. I’m interested to see these characters develop.

My only concern for this series is the same of that I had on my original watch of Sailor Moon. I don’t want to watch something that gives the main character something new to fight every episode for the sake of episodes, and lacks deep and thoughtful plot development. (To clarify here, I’m not saying Sailor Moon lacked plot development, just that that was the impression I received from it.)

PPG

Sailor Moon!

So not only was Powerpuff Girls a huge hit in the states, by no surprise, it also became very popular in Japan as well.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Unfortunately the day came where the Powerpuff Girls was cancelled over here. However, I don’t think Japan was ready to let go of them yet so what did animators in Japan do?

Powerpuff Girls Z!

That’s right. They went ahead and made their OWN version of Powerpuff Girls. Renamed it to “Demashita! Powerpuff Girls Z” (which roughly translated means “They Appeared! The Powerpuff Girls Z!’) and they totally added the missing ingredient that the American version did not use. In the American version, the Powerpuff Girls are just always strong, they were born that way. In the Japanese version however, it’s very hard to make an anime about super strong girls and NOT give them the most famous ingredient in the formula that is magical girl animes: THE TRANSFORMATION SCENE.

Click here to view the embedded video.

You hear a lot about anime within our culture that Japan has imported over to us but the cultural exchange happens with some successful cartoon shows being brought back over there and in this case, taking and making it their own thing. I really love this exchange.

Obviously we will start with the Japanese version. In the Japanese version, the theme song is actually called “Moonlight Densetsu” which translates to “Moonlight Legend”. So this version I am posting right now is the English translation of the original Japanese song. The video I have provided for you is the first season opening of the show with the original Japanese lyrics:

Click here to view the embedded video.

I’m sorry, I’m not honest
I can say it in my dreams
My thoughts are about to short circuit
I want to be with you right now

The moonlight makes me want to cry
I can’t even call, it’s midnight
But I’m so innocent, what should I do
My heart’s a kaleidoscope

We are lead by the light of the moon
We meet by chance again and again
The countless shining stars above us foretell love’s whereabouts
Born on the same Earth
A miracle romance

So, reading the lyrics, the song doesn’t explain a whole lot about what this show is going to be about. It’s pretty subtle and if you are a big fan of Sailor Moon, you can see in certain parts of the song that there are some hints of what the shows basic premise will be like. Overall, I think this song is really beautiful and I love that it sings about inner conflict and feeling lost, yet having the opportunity to meet with someone again and how basically we are all human beings.

Now, let’s take a look at the American opening and lyrics.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fighting evil by moonlight
winning love by daylight
Never running from a real fight!
She is the one named Sailor Moon!
She will never turn her back on a friend
She is always there to defend
She is the one on whom we can depend
She is the one named Sailor….
Sailor Venus!
Sailor Mercury!
Sailor Mars!
Sailor Jupiter!
With secret powers
All so new to her
She is the one named Sailor Moon

Fighting evil by moonlight
Winning love by daylight
With her Sailor Scouts to help fight
She is the one named Sailor Moon
She is the one named Sailor Moon
She is the one . . . Sailor Moon!

Wait… Who is this song about? What’s her name?

As you can see and hear, the American version of the song and the opening animations alone have changed a lot from the original version. Obviously the biggest change we hear is that the American lyrics are much, much more straight forward. They really throw in our faces that Sailor Moon is our protagonist and even introduce the supporting characters, when in the first episode, the supporting characters are not even there, we don’t even get to find out their names until later episodes. The song alone sounds a lot more like a rock and roll song with the addition of an electric guitar solo in the middle of it. (WHHHHYYYYY???)

As far as what the eyes see,  they use the ‘Star War’s opening with the words flying backgrounds that is not included in the Japanese version (and really those words seem so unnecessary.) Then sprinkled about in the opening, they started showing actual clips from the show with a very colorful 90′s background. They show all of the characters that will be introduced in season one as well, which to me takes away the magic of the unveiling of the different cast members and yes, I understand that in the Japanese opening they show Sailor Mercury and Mars but with no real implication of who they are or what “element” they will be based off of. Sailor Moon is an incredibly repetitive show, but when they throw in episodes of introducing new characters or new major enemies, it makes up for it’s repetitiveness.

Another thing that the American version does is it takes away is the excitement for the transformation sequence by showing it in the theme song. In the first episode, when Sailor Moon first transforms, it’s kind of a huge deal! Then after that, you really don’t wanna see the transformation sequence anymore because they’re gonna start using it in every episode. With the American version, I will now be somewhat forced to watch that transformation sequence again and again and again. The transformation sequence is what makes the “Magical Girl” genre (in my opinion). Below I have embedded a video of Sailor Moon’s first transformation sequence that she ever did and yes, that is a talking cat. The video underneath that is the American version.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

(I will most likely further discuss the transformation sequence at another time.)

Lastly, my other issue is that not only do they show Sailor Moon’s most powerful weapon in this season (the Crescent Moon Rod) but they also show her DEFEATING the main antagonist of the show! This opening song is FILLED with spoilers!

Overall, I’m sure it’s obvious which one I prefer, but remember, I am more than happy to admit that I am bias. The Japanese ‘Sailor Moon’ is what I was raised on, that’s not to say I didn’t watch the American version! I was happy to! I know that there are a lot of other girls who were raised on this show and hold the American version near and dear to their heart and that is great! I’m not trying to start some sort of war on which version is better, you have your opinions and I have mine.

Initially, I found the main character to be incredibly dull (what was her name, even?). Very much like a placeholder character in an otome* game, she had not particular qualities which stood out. Combine that with a sick spell in the first ten minutes, and I am already concerned about the way the show is going. I can tell she’s gonna be one of those, “oh no, who will save me?” kind of characters, but I want to give it a chance. Maybe they will surprise me and make her a tsundere* character in the end( even though that is definitely not going to happen).

The number of male characters in this is massive as well. The main love interests are obvious, only because they point out who to look for before they even introduce any of the characters. I’m not sure if the cast could be much more bland. I can absolutely see that they are most likely going to have the main girl have an episode for each guy, having little moments with each to see their softer sides, saving the main love interests for the last couple episodes and rushing their love stories to the point of unbelievable. It is a reverse harem, so I’m gonna give it a couple more episodes to show me if it is gonna be worthwhile.

I’d quickly like to clarify my bias. I don’t admire the type of character portrayed in this. I also don’t like a rushed love story. I’d recommend giving it a watch at some point if you enjoy reverse harem, as it follows many of the same patterns.

*See Otome and Tsundere on wikipedia by clicking the links :3