Ordo said:
The posters name is Seiya, you can find her comments on a bunch of threads in the Sailor Moon section. I don't know if she's paying attention to this one though
Necro-ing a bunch of old threads to argue this particular chestnut again seems like it'd be going beyond the pale. That said, I disagree with Seiya's interpretation.
Ordo said:
Looking through wikipedia and wiki moon, it looks like those people left earth because Usagi granted all humans 1000 year life spans and they found that unnatural so they moved to nemesis.
On a personal note, I cringed a little at the reference to Wikipedia and the Sailor Moon wiki. While I normally applaud reference wikis, I find that they're not very good at referencing anime in general and Sailor Moon in particular. I say that because I remember the brouhaha that erupted over Ian Andres Miller's changes to the Wikipedia article on Sailor Moon - his changes were all technically correct, but the fandom kept undoing them because they flew in the face of what they "knew."
Personally, I prefer to go to his website,
Dies Gaudii, for Sailor Moon information now (though it's silent on this particular issue).
That said, I do remember long lives being an issue, now that you mention it. It's still silent on issues of anti-brainwashing; it's also part of the manga, not anime, continuity.
Ordo said:
What follows is personal opinion.
I HATE dark interpretations of Sailor Moon. I dislike that information is either misunderstood or twisted in interpretation to justify casting USagi and Co as villains. The funny part is, I am not even a big fan of Sailor Moon but have come to hate these types of stories with a passion, partially because there are so many of them.
It's like what happened to Marvel/DC comics in the 90's. A person comes up with a Deconstruction of comic book heroes then everyone does it trying to be 'gritty' and 'mature'. They all miss the next logical step which is Reconstruction.
The following quote sums up my feelings on Sailor Moon Deconstructions at this point.
I understand your opinion, but I disagree. I say that largely because I see Sailor Moon itself (particularly in its anime continuity) as being so utterly black-and-white that it cries out for shades of grey that come from, to use the terms you introduced, Deconstruction.
There's a reason why that idea is so popular that it keeps being referenced in Sailor Moon, after all. Personally, I loathe the idea of unnuanced goodness. While evil can be irredeemable in its presentation, moral virtue strikes me as being overbearing if it's not self-aware, and self-awareness requires introspection, which necessitates that there be some sort of cause to start introspecting in the first place, such as doubt, insecurity, or anxiety as to whether or not someone really does occupy the moral high ground in the first place.
Sailor Moon doesn't have that. The protagonists never question their actions, motivations, or consequences. Even killing their enemies never warrants the slightest pathos. Moreover, the series never suggests that they're wrong to do so; their actions are clearly portrayed as always being virtuous.
The cast of Sailor Moon are, save for a lack of proselytizing about their cause, complete and utter fanatics. Hence, they are (to me) crying out for Deconstruction to be introduced.
Now, your dislike seems to be that this is never taken to its logical conclusion of Reconstruction. I can understand that, but there's no real impetus to do so within the context of what we're shown. Deconstruction can be presented as being separate from the character's view of themselves and the world - it can be the series of consequences that they never see/understand.
Reconstruction, by contrast, requires them to come to a realization about nuanced impact of their actions and what it means for themselves and the people around them. Without that realization, there is no turning point to begin Reconstructing themselves into someone that takes those details into account and so can actually occupy the moral high ground that they only thought they did before.
We see no such evidence of any sort of self-realization within the context of Sailor Moon. Ergo, purely with regards to analyzing the characters, setting, and story itself, you can't get to Reconstruction. (Though fics certainly can.)
...and that does fascinate me, the idea of putting Sailor Moon back together in a way that accounts for 'realism' but also shows how it could work as intended.
Again, I don't see her having that level of self-awareness that'd let you (easily) put the good guys there. It could work as a fic, probably without undue difficulty, but it's not what I see when I look at the series as it is.
Ordo said:
Considering the debates our society is having even now about cloning, stem cell research, and having a child to save another child I can totally see a group of people leaving because they find being 'granted' 1000 year life spans at the wave of a hand to be offensive. Some might site religion, others might feel that humanity shouldn't take a short cute via magic and should focus on accomplishing the same via science. There are interesting storylines to follow that do not require you turning Usagi into a villain.
Misguided heroism is not necessarily the same as villainy. It's the difference between a large splash of grey rather than inverting white into black.
That said, the idea you propose isn't a bad one, and it seems to play into the manga continuity well enough; if the people of Nemesis left the Earth voluntarily, then that sort of erases their sympathy as victims (which the manga doesn't really portray anyway).
It's much harder to make that case for the anime, which strongly implies that the people were basically benevolent and were very bitter about leaving the Earth, either due to being deliberately exiled, or at the very least pressured into having no real viable alternative.
Ordo said:
Heck, If I liked Sailor Moon a little more I would likely set a story in the future in which an expanding humanity under Usagi's guidance begins to bump heads with the Jurian Empire. I wouldn't even have to make either side evil, just imply that the Jurian colonist aren't happy about humanities rapid expanse, and the Human colonist are getting tired of the Jurians blocking their attempts to expand. This leads to the respective rulers of each nation (Usagi and Tenchi) to try and hash out an agreement that benefits both sides, while people within their own government (more radical or hawkish) work to sabotage their efforts.
I don't care for this idea, largely because the TM:RO continuity is a series which gives the protagonists so much power that it makes them virtually unassailable - marrying the two (unimpeachable virtue and unlimited power) strikes me as being hideously boring for lack of dramatic possibilities.