Otaku Magazine ISSUE #11 January 2015

► What To Watch!

► What To Watch!

        Childhood.

        Now, some might say that it's the happiest time of your life. As someone who has recently been a child and still has memories of school, I'm inclined to disagree. What I will say, however, is that it's definitely the most fascinating. When I was small, I spent rather a lot of my time hanging out with my next door neighbour. During the ten years that I lived next door to her, we managed to:

1. Make an entire thirty minute movie using only a small video camera, torches, an old Yamaha keyboard and some sheets of cellophane.

2. Completely destroy her mother's kitchen several times and use up an entire bottle of Cillit Bang on 'experiments', most of which resulted in some extremely clean coins.

3. Make ridiculous amounts of jelly, only to have her brother eat nearly all of it before we even got down to check on it.

4. Develop a dangerous addiction to Welch's purple grape juice, individually wrapped "Gumi" sweets from Wing Yip and oddly enough, the Sims.

5. Watch Doraemon in Japanese with no subtitles. I still have no idea how I managed to work out the storyline of half of those episodes.

        Of course, being friends with a Japanese girl for so many years and living somewhere fortunate enough to actually have cable before the mid-2000s, I was exposed to anime from a very young age. Dragonball Z, Pokemon and Digimon were , of course, my first loves. However, after a while, I decided that I needed something a little more girly in my life. So, like many girls my age, I turned straight to the beacon of sparkly hope that was Sailor Moon.

        And, unfortunately, I was completely put off by that stupid guy in the mask who kept throwing roses everywhere. Eight year old me had absolutely no idea what that was about, so eight year old me promptly switched back to Dragonball Z and started crossing her fingers in hope that a female super saiyan might make their way to the front and centre sometime soon.

        Eight year old me got Videl eventually, but eight year old me was still disappointed. Where were the action girls? Where did they go? Come to think of it, why did action girls always have to stand around shouting attacks at one another? The more I tried to like Sailor Moon, the more I couldn't stand it. Where were the tough tomboys like Videl? Where were the kick-ass symbols of femininity? I just didn't get it. I didn't get it at all.

        Now, many years of Internet later, I discovered that Sailor Moon was getting a reboot. So, of course, in the interests of science, twenty two (or twenty three, depending on when you read this) year old me decided to give it a go.

        And boy, did I finally realise what I'd been missing out on during my years as a stubborn tomboy. Boy, did I ever.

        So, from a girl who saw it the first time around and hated it, here's why you should give Sailor Moon another go.

1. Usagi, or Serena as some of you will remember her, is a FANTASTICALLY flawed heroine. In fact, some might say that she doesn't even deserve to be one. She's stubborn, over-dramatic, too focused on romance, a glutton and actually nowhere near as competent as any of the other Sailor Scouts. You know what I say? Amen to that. I've had enough of perfect heroines who can do no wrong. Let's see a girl get it wrong, learn from her mistakes and move on. 

2. Mamoru and Usagi's relationship is nowhere near as annoyingly tsundere as it was in the original anime. Also, Mamoru (Tuxedo Mask) is just about the perfect male lead. While Ikuto Tsukuyomi from Shugo Chara! slides well ahead of him on the Edward Cullen 'oh no, there is a hot guy stalking me, wat do' side of things, there's definitely something to be said for having a regular guy as the romantic lead. Yep, a regular guy. An intelligent guy, but a regular guy. Plus, you can clearly tell that he really loves Usagi...and coming from a person as cynical as me about love, trust me, you'll want to hold on to that thought.

3. The whole anime has an interestingly fluid idea of gender and sexuality, while still actually being a kids' show. Yes, you heard me. There's genderqueer characters (and not played for laughs genderqueer either), plenty of Les Yay (watch out for Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus later on) and an actual lesbian couple. Yes, really. There's a lesbian couple. In a kids' show. Yes, it's never explicitly stated, but it's progress...and if it manages to get in the dubbed version this time, it's even more progress. When it comes to non-binary genders and non-heterosexual relationships, Sailor Moon knows what it's doing.

4. IN THE NAME OF THE MOON, I PUNISH YOU! Seriously, does it get much more awesome than that? Calling out your attack names may be bad strategy and fighting in school uniform may lead to a lot of upskirt issues, but who cares? If you want to know where a thousand anime tropes you know and love spawn from, you really need to take a look at this show. Sparkly transformations, check. Magical girl warrior teams, check. Ditzy female lead, MASSIVE CHECK. In one episode, you'll know exactly where it's going...and you won't care where it ends up, so long as it ends in a cloud of glitter.

5. Come on. How many shows have you seen on TV recently that include action and are actually aimed at a female audience? It's about time we saw some pretty girls kicking ass while simultaneously being irritating teenagers who constantly squeal over boys. It's about time we had a girl-only team destroying monster butt in completely impractical outfits. It's about time we had a show written about girls, by girls, for girls that isn't some kind of lame romantic comedy out there again. God knows that the boys get enough screen time as it is. Let's give the girls something to fight about!

        And on that note, I'm off to...ahem, talk to my cat slippers, transform into a magical girl and save the world. Probably.

        Anyway, if you've got the time, check out Sailor Moon. There's only 12 or so episodes to catch up on right now, so grab the potatoes while they're hot. Or something. I was never very good at analogies. Oh well. Doesn't matter. Who needs analogies when you have a magical tiara boomerang? Not me, that's for sure.

        Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a city to save!