Adventures in the Key of Shoujo

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 6 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

A curious thing happened to me the other night. After reading the sixth volume of Sailor Moon, I looked back over the earlier volumes of the series, and I came to the inescapable conclusion that the Sailor Senshi could be confused with a murderous vigilante gang. Now, before you laugh, let me explain it this way. In this volume, the girls find themselves tangling with the Mugen Group and their master, Pharaoh 90. The entire clan of bad guys all live in an evil-looking tower and seem to be happy drawing in unsuspecting minions rather than going out to destroy. Oh, and no, I’m not kidding about the evil tower part, several characters mention the fact that they get a weird feeling just looking at it. Therefore it becomes evil, the Trashheap has spoken on the matter.

As I was saying, the Mugen group are turning their students into monsters with the aid of some questionable science, at best, and then said monsters go on a rampage. The Senshi turn up and vaporize the bad guy and everything’s all right with the world. But if you viewed it another way, the Senshi have been going around destroying public property, causing mass panics and riots to break out, and killing any God’s amount of singers/idols/famous people because they were in league with that month’s chief villain. Isn’t anyone going to notice they’re, I dunno, dead? Or that there seems to be an abnormal amount of incidents around this particular part of Tokyo? Don’t get me wrong, I’m as OK with suspension of disbelief as the next person but does Takeuchi expect us to believe that nobody has noticed anything, at all? One of these days, I’ll get an answer, I just don’t think it’ll come from Sailor Moon. Not that I mind, because in this volume, we are introduced to Sailors Neptune and Uranus, two of the more interesting Senshi. I only know of these two by internet reputation so in that respect, I’m kind of trying to walk around spoiler territory for myself here. Haruka (Uranus) is interesting in that she is presented as a girl and a fella. There’s no ambiguity with her/him when they interact with other people. Strangely, the only person who is confused and states that she is confused is Usagi but that’s because Uranus kisses her in her male persona. There’s something familiar about Haruka to Usagi and it upsets her to think about it. Curiouser and curiouser. Michiru as Neptune is not as exciting but she definitely is more mysterious. I think because of her lower profile, I worry that Takeuchi will give all the revelations to Uranus, and that would be not so good.

Also, we are introduced to Hotaru Tomoe, a person whom I’ve heard about but know nothing about. Hotaru is a sick young girl whose father works for the Mugen group in their laboratory. He’s kind of like the Josef Mengele of the Mugen group insofar that nobody he knows specifically is being hurt by what he’s doing. In the meantime, eh, what do a couple of students matter? How do people like Professor Tomoe get college educations? Does nobody notice when his report cards read “COULD WORK HARDER. COULD APPLY HIMSELF. COULD BE LESS EVIL.”? Whatever his problem, Hotaru looks like she needs a friend, and she gets one in the form of Chibi-Usa. After stumbling into her in front of the Tomoe lab, Chibi-Usa decides to hang out with her. Is this going to end well? I don’t know but I’m happy that Takeuchi has decided to give Chiba-Usa something to do other than hang out with Usagi and Mamoru and monopolise their time together.

One of the wildest moments for me in this volume is the amount of bad guys who get vapourised by the Senshi. Sweet Christmas, they get enough time to say things like (and I’m paraphrasing here) “Sailor Mars! Sailor Jupiter! You won’t stop me or my master, Pharaoh 90! I’ll defeat-AARGGGHHHH!!!” before being turned into crispy critters. They even have their power levels displayed above their heads at one point and I was thinking going from head to head, “One round, one round, two round, end of level boss.” I am telling you, reading manga shouldn’t be this much fun. Every time a new villain is introduced to the series, I keep thinking of Col. Trautman saying to the Sheriff in Rambo that if he (the Sheriff) wants to send that many men to deal with the problem to not forget a supply of body bags. It’s almost like there’s no reason to give any credence to these lieutenants, they are literally not going to be in the book long enough to like or hate. Their job is to advance the plot or the characters or both. I’m not disparaging the practice, I’m just saying that you should be aware going into the series.

William Flanagan’s translation notes return in full and as always they are fun but not exhaustive. Things like naming structures and meanings of places and things always help me whenever I read manga so I was missing them in the previous volume. Kodansha continues to put out an excellent book with it being just the right size for me when I’m trying to find my groove at home (I would never read Sailor Moon out on the streets of Dublin. I value my life more!)

We are just around the halfway point in the manga and yes, we have a new villain who is in the Bwa-Ha-Ha mode again but this time, we don’t know if the new Senshi are friend or foe. This complicates matters and makes for an interesting interlude

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 5 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

I’m trying to put into words the ideas I’ve discovered with this volume of Sailor Moon. In this volume, the fight between Wiseman and his Malefic Black Crystal and our heroes reaches its crescendo. Some of our heroes are not going to be returning, I’m sad to say, and one character who only recently got introduced is for the chop. As I said, it’s not easy trying to explain the ideas I’ve had bouncing around since I finished the volume. I guess if we’re boiling it down, it’s the idea of infinity and eternity. In my mind, Sailor Moon and her friends embody the idea of infinity. The idea of infinity is that there is no end to it, stretching out into an endless horizon. The Sailor Senshi are that concept in action. On first inspection there seem to be limits to their powers. Even after three of them being captured, Sailor Moon still finds an unending horizon of strength to fight back against the power of Wiseman and his planet, Nemesis.

As the fight against Wiseman heats up to include fighting against one of their own, the team has to—has to—find the inner strength to defeat an enemy who just won’t stop. And in turning to eternity, we see the concept in Wiseman. Here is an enemy who has been waiting for so long to destroy Neo Queen Serenity, 30th Century Crystal Tokyo, and the Earth in general that he has been bleached by the universe until only the hate remains. He could wait forever for his revenge, he just doesn’t want to. In this volume, despite the team fighting their hardest fight, Wiseman and his cronies just keep coming.

The core of this volume is the maturing of Chibi-Usa into a girl who isn’t just the daughter of the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo. She drops the bratty act in this volume and becomes a person who has only an idea about who she wants to be. The people around her only want the best for her but if she doesn’t recognize that, events will destroy the people she loves. The way Takeuchi writes the relationship between Usagi and Chibi-Usa, initially I despaired that it would degenerate into catty, screaming sessions between them. But Usagi starts seeing her as her daughter rather than the Queen’s daughter (Usagi has, up until this point, been viewing Chibi-Usa as another person’s daughter and not hers) and this causes her to risk everything. The person who helps her see this, surprisingly, is Mamoru. Without his character taking the risk to trust Chibi-Usa, the way Takeuchi is going with this wouldn’t work.

That’s not to say there aren’t problems with this volume. The other Senshi get pretty much pushed to one side and I thought they were treated as kind of “We need Sailor Magic artillery! Quick, call up our reserves!” And after I’ve been introduced to them properly over the last little while, it felt a bit jarring. Another problem is Demande (yeah, remember him?). We’ve been given hints that he’s really unsettled by something about Wiseman. When his suspicions are confirmed, he quickly descends into madness. Completely. Totally. I really mean this, he just goes crazy and does the whole Andross from StarFox: “If I go down, I’m taking you with me!” After watching him be so measured for the last few volumes, his spiral into CrazyTown is positively Shakespearean.

The destiny angle comes up again in this volume and I must say, I’m trying hard to figure out if Takeuchi will ditch putting Usagi in peril anymore. The reason I say that is because we know she becomes Neo Queen Serenity, so putting her in danger doesn’t make any sense since we know she’ll be ok. Yes, I know that she could be put into a pocket dimension or into the far future but still, I would feel kind of insulted if the author tried to do this.

If nothing else, normally I should hate the fact that Takeuchi keeps trapping me in endless cycles of “New enemy! Even more effeminate than the last! Another Senshi is kidnapped! Another massive fight! Another defeat for the Senshi! Another stand-alone fight between the big Evil Cheese and Sailor Moon!” I really should be annoyed because she hasn’t changed the record once, but really the parts I like the most about the fights are the little moments when Usagi and Mamoru try and reconnect with each other. They’re the parts that reveal the most about these two lovers and the lengths either will go for the other. It takes skill to pull the wool over my eyes like that and still get me to come back. Yeah, like I’m that important, right?

No translation notes this time around but that’s OK, there weren’t really any moments that confused me. One thing I wanted to ask you guys about. A few of the pages in the book are blurry and smudged. Dialogue is also blurred, so it’s a printing issue. Is this affecting anybody else’s copies? Let me know, would you?

We are nearing the halfway point of the series and while I’m enjoying myself, the fact is that little voice in the back of my head is whispering “It’s almost half over!” This makes me a little sad because I don’t want the merry-go-round to stop. It has to, I know, still here I am. This is a fine entry and I can’t say anything more praiseworthy in life than that.

(After a two month hiatus, I’m back on the column! Apologies if you were wondering where I had gone. The Kurosagi Corpse Delivery Service MMF kept me busy so I decided to skip doing a column post for August. I’m up at full speed again and I’d like to know if there are any immediate recommendations you would suggest for after I end covering Sailor Moon.)

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 4 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

After my aggravation over volume 3, in this volume, things start taking on a more serious angle with the remains of the team trying to make sense of new villains (Black Moon), and the kidnappings of Sailors Mars and Mercury. Chibiusa’s backstory begins to be fleshed out and Usagi starts to buckle under the stress of having all her friends snatched away from her. I was really frustrated by the previous story’s lack of tension despite all the danger they were in, but Takeuchi re-applies the pressure by bringing more people in on the fact that the Sailor Senshi are missing. So now things are moving faster, and this is better for the narrative in my humble opinion.

I find that despite Usagi discovering her royal lineage, she proves she’s still a teenager with her jealousy over Chibiusa hanging out with Mamoru so much. But as we learn more about Chibiusa, we discover that Usagi and she are more alike than they realize. Turns out Chibiusa and Usagi are related to each other and Chibiusa is from the thirtieth century. Using the two girls as a sounding board, I often wonder what would happen if I met my future descendants. Would I have anything in common with them? Or more importantly, if they were in trouble, would I fight for them? It’s interesting to speculate, especially since I had previously derided Usagi’s somewhat childish behaviour towards Chibiusa. Does this completely absolve Usagi? No, she can still go over her boundaries into somewhat irrational territory but I’ll give her a pass from now on, within reason.

A little window gets opened in relation to Sailor Jupiter. Since she was introduced, I haven’t seen sight nor hair of the poor girl, except when she’s needed to defeat evil, blah, blah, blah. But I get an teeny tiny window into her thoughts and how important the others have become to her, and she then perfectly articulates why the rest of the girls and Mamoru don’t look (on the surface at least) to be all that concerned about their missing comrades. Also, we see her and Motoki have a tender, quiet moment only to have it snatched away without Motoki knowing it’s happened. Is this a comment on the attrition of war and its effect on its soldiers? It would be interesting if I could confirm this. The manga runs its usual wire-thin line between tragedy and comedy, so all bets are off in this volume as to where Takeuchi takes this.

In my quest to understand what theories you could derive from Sailor Moon, I’m looking at the concept of Black Moon as villains. For the most part, the individuals fall into the Dark Kingdom’s mold of villainy for villainy’s sake. But the overarching idea behind them (and I’m trying to stay out of spoiler zones here) is they are rebelling against the established order. They don’t want to simply accept that this is how society has gone and they won’t agree with it. The problem for them is, like all rebellions, there’s nothing inherently wrong with not wanting to go with the rest of society, just that once you get out of talking and protesting about your ideals, you reach an impasse. You can either accept that change will take time and get into the trudge of eventually changing things, or you decide more drastic measures are required. Black Moon falls into the latter category. So they murdered and maimed their way to the top of Chibiusa’s world and now want to do the same to the present. So in this way, I would surmise, the lesson here is you can get what you want, the only thing you’ve got to do is not mind stepping on people to do it. It would be fantastic to think Takeuchi was trying to say something about the manga industry but I fear I’m grasping at straws here.

Another thing that pops up is the idea of pre-destiny. For those who do not know, predestiny is the idea that all the major events in your life were pre-ordained before you ever existed and continue after you’re gone. Two people suffer this problem: Chibiusa and Mamoru. Mamoru is in a brief (and I’m stumbling for the next word) spiritual conference with his dead lieutenants—the ones who were Queen Beryl’s resurrected minions but who later came to see the folly of their ways. He wonders why he was even reincarnated if he can’t protect Usagi. Was he fated to fail? No, say his lieutenants, because you’re here means that Usagi will be Queen and you King. While Mamoru begins to understand from that point on, it’s not decided or explained by the author whether Mamoru’s men know this truth about him because it is a truth or because they have advanced knowledge. Is it predestiny if it’s imparted by a person outside the need for a personal destiny? On Chibiusa’s side, was she always fated to find Usagi and the Sailor Senshi? Is the fact that she’s related to Usagi a deciding factor in her arrival in our present? Again, no answers, just concepts.

I have to say this volume has me thinking, rethinking and over-thinking the plot and concepts it brings with it. We haven’t even talked about the amount of pressure Usagi—that she alone finds herself under by the end of the volume. Things get very grim for our heroes—decidedly so. While I’m sure there’s an inner light or a new spell to call upon, I find myself hammering away at the cogs of the machine rather than the machine itself.

Hey, I’ve a homework assignment for all of you, if you’re interested. Can you tell me what part of Sailor Moon got you thinking beyond the page? What ideas or theories did it throw up? If not Sailor Moon, you can use any shoujo manga you like. I’ll print whatever you send me in next month’s Sailor Moon post. If your comment has spoilers for SM, then I’ll ask Melinda to post them for me so I don’t read them ^-^!

After my blood pressure problems with dealing with volume 3, I should be equally angry with this volume, but that one conversation with Sailor Jupiter took the wind right out of my sails. So is the series getting better for me? Certainly, and my initial hangups about the series (it’s too girly, the villains are wishy-washy) have largely evaporated due to Takeuchi’s layering of plot on plot, dialogue over dialogue as we start to see the whole thing start to coalesce into something close to a concept in motion. This series, despite the occasional landmine, continues to shine and hold my attention.

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 3 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

Escalation and dissipation could be the by-words of this volume of Sailor Moon and oh, Lordy, is it interesting! To illustrate my point, I use science, specifically stellar physics. In some stars, after a star has used up its fuel, which it burns through Hydrogen to produce a nuclear fusion reaction, it will start to bloat as the star fuses helium to carbon and oxygen. The pressure within this star has been building since fusion stopped and now it’s reached its breaking point. Solar layer upon layer will violently blow itself off until all that is left is a white dwarf, a smaller, brighter version of the original, full of its own mysteries.

It is this analogy that works for me in my attempt to explain the events of this volume. We have the conclusion of the fight with the Dark Kingdom. Queen Metalia and Queen Beryl (how many queens can you have?) are in the ascendant. The team is desperately trying to save Usagi from a brainwashed Mamoru, who has grabbed her in an attempt to get the Legendary Crystal. Their attempts cause the team to travel to the frozen wastes of the Arctic circle.

For her part, Usagi is trapped inside the Legendary Crystal. After sacrificing herself to free Mamoru, Usagi finds herself in possession of a newfound energy with which to defeat the rulers of the Dark Kingdom. I have to say I like how it’s resolved—not in a rush nor ponderous fashion, just somewhere in between. Takeuchi ties up most of the elements from this arc, sets them into motion for the next arc, all while allowing fans who’ve wanted a resolution to get it without going “OK, show’s over folks! Goodnight!”

Now, I have problems with the next arc’s beginning. We are introduced to the new villains, Black Moon, who’s plan is to… I don’t have a clue. (Really, the villains in this series sometimes give the appearance of “Bwa-ha-ha-ha! Champions of Justice, fear me, for I am…!” being villainous just for the sake of being villainous) During a battle with the Senshi, they kidnap Sailor Mars. And then don’t do anything remotely villainous with her. Or attack the team again. Wait, what? I don’t mind the idea of dissipation, it’s just that the team lose all momentum. Even with Mars missing, they don’t seem that pushed, at least in my mind. They even deflect questions in school as to where Mars is. Doesn’t this girl have friends or family outside of the Sailor Senshi? Has anyone filed an APB or what? Am I being too critical? Am I only one who feels that this kind of dissipation after such an epic fight is kind of a letdown? I understand that we have a change of pace after the Dark Kingdom’s “Bwa-ha-ha-ha!” methodology but there’s no reason to suspect or even hint that the bad guys are mistreating Mars for their own purposes. At least, Beryl brainwashes Mamoru.

But the most glaring problem I have got is with Chibi-Usagi (or Chibiusa as she’s later to be know as). She’s a smaller version of Usagi who appears out of, literally, thin air, holding a gun (!) to Usagi’s head and demanding the Legendary Crystal from her. To top things off, she’s clingy towards Mamoru, brainwashes Usagi’s parents into letting her stay with them, has a magical key to something that nobody knows anything about. Luna says she’ll investigate but that she doesn’t suspect that Chibiusa is dangerous. Wait, what? Luna was intensely distrustful of Mamoru when he first appeared as Tuxedo Mask, and tried to stop Usagi from seeing him. But Chibiusa is just fine, no trouble. Oh, my brain hurts so badly. If Takeuchi’s plan was to confuse and annoy me, she’s been successful. Is this confusing to anyone else? What is the point of introducing a new adversary, knocking out a member of the team and then introducing a (frankly) baffling new character, inside half a tankoban? How does this help anyone? I am prepared to suspend judgement until I read the next volume but something has to give. I am starting to fray at the edges and I can only give so much leeway.

On a more positive note, the deranged second half also allows me to get some perspective on the overall view of the series. We’re nearly a quarter into the book’s run and we’re still no closer to even a hint at where the series is headed. I like this insofar as I can understand if Takeuchi wants to take time out to set up the next chess battle. Where I think the series’ strength lies is in the backstory. We now know that the Senshi and Mamoru are reincarnations of the People of the Moon and the Prince of Earth (Prince Endymion) respectively. But even after learning all that, we still don’t know their origins as Moon citizens (I never thought I would write that outside of a Gerry Anderson review). But the nicest part of the whole Moon Kingdom is when Usagi chooses to send all of them back to Earth instead of living on the now rebuilt Royal Castle grounds. They’ve got family who love them, back on Earth, so Usagi doesn’t want then to give that up. So it’s back to the only life they’ve known. It’s a nice touch, I like it.

It’s frustrating to read such excellent character development in one part and be baffled by another. I know Takeuchi isn’t doing it deliberately but I’m left asking why she makes her cast take on near insurmountable obstacles then act like total dopes the minute things hit easy street. And by the bye, things haven’t hit easy street because Sailor Mars is still missing!

Artwise, I still am impressed by Takeuchi and her ability to mix the sublime with the ordinary. Even if I don’t like Chibiusa, she’s an interesting character from a design point of view. She looks like a younger version of Usagi, naturally. But unlike more modern young characters in anime/manga, she’s not done from a fetish view. Maybe I’m just seeing what I want to see, but it’s nice to see someone have a higher sense of decorum (God, when did I start sounding like my parents?). Also, I’m happy to report that I finally am starting to be able to tell the difference between the Senshi! Maybe it’s me becoming accustomed to Takeuchi’s art style or maybe it was the handy inside pages at the beginning of the manga telling us who everyone is. I think Sailor Venus and Sailor Jupiter gave me the most trouble as they have similar hairstyles. But it’s becoming clearer—I’m starting to learn the importance of sticking with a series and its inherent value of having names to the faces.

Sailor Moon is great but this volume was trying for me, more specifically the second half with its stop-start-stop plotting. But that’s the nature of the beast, it seems. I’m learning pacing structure within a multi-volume series (something I could never be bothered to do before) and also that for every step you take forward as a reader you must be prepared to take a few steps back, occasionally, (or a lot, if you’re a person who has ever read Stephanie Meyer) at the behest of the author. With a few gripes, minor ones given my overall enjoyment of the series, I will recommend to you, Sailor Moon Volume 3.

In some respects, a white dwarf’s life is more interesting then its previous one. As a normal star it’s only concern is keeping itself going. But as a white dwarf, it faces an eternity as it burns brightly. It will fade one day as all things do. But until it does it will be a shining beacon in space, drawing in people as they gaze at it in wonder.