The two latest episodes of Sailor Moon S were added to Hulu and Neon Alley\ this morning. This week we look at two great romances in the series. First we have a look at Minako’s past as a volleyball player as her relationship with Artemis blossoms and then it’s Usagi’s birthday and she’s furious at Mamoru for not remembering it!
Episode 100, I Want to Quit Being a Sailor Guardian: Minako’s Dilemma, gives us a look at Minako’s past from even before she was Sailor V. The target this week is Tsutomo Asai, a classmate of Minako’s who she used to play volleyball with. She has a bit of a crush on him, and is a bit devastated to learn that although he used to feel the same way, he now has a girlfriend. Minako is troubled as she begins to miss her old simple life, before she had to start saving the world and such. She very briefly contemplates quitting being a Sailor Guardian, as the title suggests. Is this even an option? While fighting the Daimon of the week Minako does a signature volleyball move which Tsutomu recognizes. The lack of costumes fools everyone but you can’t hide volleyball techniques from a real pro! Following the fight he asks Minako to thank Sailor Venus, knowing fully well who Sailor Venus really is. He’s one of the few people in the series to learn a Sailor Guardian’s secret.
Minako is heartbroken by the episode’s events but then her true love Artemis appears in a tree, offering her flowers and inviting her to go on a date with her. She’s flattered at the proposition, and looks at Artemis with loving eyes finally jokingly answering that she’ll think about it. Is there any doubt that Minako and Artemis are one of the great couples of the series?
Episode 101, Usagi in Tears: a Glass Slipper for My Birthday, has Usagi celebrating her 15th birthday! Usagi is excited to see what Mamoru will get her for her birthday only he’s completely forgotten it! Actually it seems he never actually knew her birthday in the first place. Indeed back in the mid 90s there were no Facebook or Google Plus profiles to tell us when someone’s birthday is. We had to remember, or forget, when someone’s birthday is. I suppose Mamoru also doesn’t know his daughter Chibiusa’s birthday, as it also happens to also be on June 30th. Mamoru seems to get a pass when everyone realizes that Usagi never told him when her birthday was but in months of dating, and knowing each other even longer, it’s kind of shocking that he never bothered to ask something so basic. It’s not as if they had only been dating for a few days or weeks here. Usagi is upset and wants a glass slipper to make up for it, which she gets but it turns into a Daimon. Oops! Kaolinite manages to steal Sailor Moon’s Cosmic Heart Compact and then Mamoru gets frozen into a huge glass crystal. All hope seems lost until … À Suivre.
The time span of the anime, which aired over a 5 year period, is questionable at best. We don’t have a ton of indications of the passage of time aside from occasional mentions of Usagi’s age. She is mentioned throughout the first season, including the first episode, and in the Sailor Moon R movie as being 14 years old. In this episode Usagi celebrates her 15th birthday on June 30th. Later in Sailor Moon SuperS she states that she is 15 years old and then in the final episode of SailorStars, episode 200, she states that she is 16 years old. Throughout all of this every season appears to go through an entire year by going through all of the seasons making it seem as if 5 years pass in real time. In the Manga everyone ages 5 years but here in the anime it seems to be more like 2.
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You have the most interesting choices in relationships to ship. Minako and Artemis, Rei and Mamoru. What others do you like?
I’ve always wondered about the time span of the anime. I don’t think the animators really cared, though. They changed so much in each series that the time span seemed like an insignificant detail.At least for SMC they’re paying as much attention as Naoko Takeuchi apparently did.
I don’t have anything against furries but is the blog owner a furry or are they being sarcastic in their comments about Minako and Artemis? It’s sometimes hard to tell with this site. The most plausible fan theory I’ve heard to explain the time issues is that the entire SuperS season supposedly takes place within Nehelina’s dream, which explains some consistencies like why Chibi-usa’s friend Momoko seems to have a different character design in SuperS than she did during the R season. On the subject of this week’s episode, I don’t understand what standard the original anime was using to determine who counts as having a pure heart. The show has no problem having Minako’s ex-boyfriend have a pure heart crystal even though he flirts with her while apparently already having another girlfriend on the side and he seems to dump Minako for the silly reason that she doesn’t play volleyball anymore. Yet at the same time apparently the original anime doesn’t seem to think Mamoru has a pure heart even though Mamoru has as much qualities for one as Minako’s ex does if not more so.
Maybe he has pure feelings for Minako despite himself and how much he cares for his girlfriend. As for Mamoru…well, he gets his Dream Mirror pulled out of his chest and then gets kissed by a guy while knocked out. I’m sure Mamoru is accepting of all orientations–he and the Soldiers work occasionally with the Outer Soldiers, after all–but even the biggest LGBT ally will feel a little upset if they’re kissed by someone of the same sex while they’re out.
As to the Minako/Artemis thing, that isn’t necessarily a furry thing. It can be, but remember that Artemis does have a human form. I would LOVE for a human Artemis/Minako love.
That said, shipping doesn’t always mean sex, or even necessarily romantic love. Artemis and Minako DO love each other very much. Their relationship differs greatly from Luna and Usagi, who do also love each other of course, but Minako/Artemis were together for quite some time before Minako joined with the others, making him her only confidant through an incredibly dangerous and difficult period of her life.
Artemis has a human form in the manga but he never gains one in the original anime and it doesn’t ever imply Artemis has one. *Spoiler for the S movie* Though Luna does gain a human form in the S movie, it seems to be caused more by the magic of the Silver Crystal and something she can only keep temporarily which seems to imply their cat forms are their true forms in the original anime.
Yes, that is true. But how many people base things like ships off of only one incarnation?
Besides, the other implication wouldn’t even be furry, it would be straight-up bestiality, because Artemis has no anthropomorphic form.
As far as I’m concerned, Luna and Artemis’ human forms are a result of their species (being from Mao and all) and, whether the anime showed them both or not, it’s still part of what they are.
you fools Oscar is Artemis’s lover
Not a furry but I have fun shipping these two mostly because it’s sort of ridiculous. Really if you are on board with Luna and Kakeru’s romance in the Sailor Moon S movie you should be on board with shipping Minako and Artemis!
As for pure hearts, they don’t show anyone not having one. Everyone seems to have a Heart Crystal. We are just looking for people that have Talismans.
I can never tell if these ships you have are tongue in cheek or the real deal. XD
Do five years actually pass in the manga? I used to think that, but wouldn’t that make Usagi 18-19 during the Stars Arc?
Maybe Crystal will make it more clear, though we’re not sure exactly how much time has passed since the Dark Kingdom Arc and Black Moon, I’d say less than a year, maybe even just around a month or so, and the entire Black Moon arc seems to happen over a period of days, maybe a few weeks at most.
A bit of both!