Lisa on Visual Culture

Sailor Moon

If you haven't at least heard of Sailor Moon, you must have died in 1991. The most well known of all magical girls, Sailor Moon is a world-wide phenomenon that is very much still alive. (Nana Kitade did a cover of "Moonlight Densetsu" on her 2006 CD Cutie Bunny.) I hope that Kodansha will again license Sailor Moon in the U.S. now that they are opening an office here.

Many people diss Sailor Moon. The watered-down, edited for political correctness, purposely mistranslated version shown on U.S. television does encourage that. But consider:

An air-headed highschool girl discovers she has super powers, enlists the aid of a few fellow students and jumps full tilt into the war of good against evil, a war which good will ultimately loose; and even when good wins a battle, the price is often heavy. Along the way they pick up a number of sometimes problematic, mysterious and not always human allies, including a young girl who is actually from an alternate reality. Sound familiar? It should, because that is exactly the plot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

My favorite story arc is Sailor Moon S, the third season. I admit that a large part of the reason is that the slightly older Sailors Neptune and Uranus (Michiru and Haruka) play a major part in this season. It is made quite clear that they are lovers, though they always deny it when asked. We also meet Sailor Saturn (Hotaru), a deliciously dark figure, and see much more of Sailor Pluto, the Guardian of Time, who is a college student. Yes, this is a kids show, but... When four of the pretty sailor soldiers were shown as dying in the penultimate episode of season one, the audience reaction in Japan was intense. Public announcements had to be made that the series would in fact have a second season—which had not been planned—as a hint that Sailors Venus, Mars, Mercury and Jupiter would somehow be okay. (This ending battle was not shown in the U.S. version.) One of the most famous Buffy episodes is "The Gift," in which Buffy dies.

I realize that many adults don't like cartoons but, please, don't simply dismiss them as being fluff. Remember that even in the U.S. there has been adult programming in cartoons that is also enjoyed by all ages: The Flintstones, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner, and more.

That's what I think, here in Lansing MI on 2008 August 16.

Index  /  Previous essay  /  Next essay