?Sailor Moon? ? both the adapted anime and the original manga (albeit translated) ? entered my life exactly when I most needed it: during my middle school years. Everyone can relate to coming of age; the fear, the confusion, the anticipation of what?s to come, and will my crush finally notice me? It?s a time when kids can feel extremely anxious or self-doubting, because everyone is going through crazy hormone changes and nothing seems to make sense, no matter how much our superiors promise us for the future. I think it?s a fear of the Unknown ? caused by this great change we go through ? so it?s important to have something to depend on. Friends. Family. ?Sailor Moon.?
It?s now been well over ten years since the television show first came into my life, but it remains a huge part of me. The bond I shared with ?Sailor Moon? and the knowledge it gave me to help shape myself was tremendous ? and vital. I could never negate the imprint it left on me. I could never not consider it an important aspect of my life. And with re-translated manga and a new television series coming in the summer of 2013, I?ve sort of been thinking about it a lot lately. So, now: a tribute, to a pop culture phenomenon that helped make me, me. Here are the six things I learned from ?Sailor Moon.?
When I first got into ?Sailor Moon,? I was a part of an inseparable group. There were five of us ? just like the five sailor senshi (or scouts, for those English anime fans) ? and we were so close, sometimes they seemed like family. In fact, as an only child, I considered my very best friend my sister because we hung out together so often. We did everything together, the five of us. And by ?everything,? I mean we?d haunt the Gardens Mall and prowl the DuBois Park at every opportunity ? the gist of activities for girls our age in Palm Beach.
If there?s one lesson that strings ?Sailor Moon? together, it?s the power of love. Sometimes it?s a romantic love, but the series focused a lot on the friendship between the five inner senshi. They made sacrifices for each other. They depended on one another. When they were a team, they knew they could achieve great things. Together they would laugh and cry, send encouragement, and serve as the inspiration for each one to reach their potential. It?s funny (in a sad way) how rare it is to see strong, beautiful friendships between women depicted in any form of fiction. There?s so much cattiness or overbearing talk of boys that gets in the way. And although the relationship between the five girls is not always perfect, you know ? at the end of the day ? that they?re always there for each other. And a little loyalty can go a very long way.
I know it?s typical to have a clumsy heroine, but Usagi ? a.k.a. Sailor Moon herself ? had more ?imperfections? than that. She would practically binge whenever stressed out. She was perpetually late; like it was a disease she couldn?t shake off rather than a bad habit. She typically did not perform well in school. She was short. Her friend, Minako (a.k.a. Sailor Venus, a.k.a. who I wanted to be when I grew up & I still haven?t recovered from it not happening), had a hard time balancing her passions with her obligations. She was also incredibly, ironically, unlucky with love. Rei was hot-headed (no pun intended). Even so, these afflictions never set the girls back. If anything, I think it caused them to focus more and try harder.
I am not a perfect person. (Who is?) In my younger years, I wanted someone to admire who was flawed yet cool ? even if that someone was an anime cartoon. Like Usagi, I was (and still am) short. I had braces and even had to wear a ghastly headgear at night. My math skills were little to nonexistent. It?s really easy to focus on aspects of you that you don?t like or things you?re not good at. What ?Sailor Moon? taught me was to flip it around and celebrate what you excel at doing. Alright, Usagi might trip over her tiny legs while shoving a pork bun in her mouth and being late for school, but she was the most caring person you could ever meet; she had a heart of gold. She could adapt to any situation. She could relate to anyone. She was very human, flaws and all. And so was I. Where I lacked in some fields, I was awesome at others: my martial arts background, the respect for teachers (including our science teacher, whom no one liked or was kind to)? I even prided myself on being the only agnostic to graduate middle school, which was kind of a big deal considering it was a Catholic school. I knew it meant thinking critically, and that differing myself from the pack was incredibly human. That?s what ?Sailor Moon? always taught: being the best version of yourself.
I didn?t grow up thinking women were weak creatures or anything. I thought my mom was awesome, because she is, and my closest friends were all strong females. Still, it?s hard to avoid the inundation of how women are handled in the media. We?re often touted as being subservient, bitchy, romance fodder, fodders of romance, belonging to the kitchen, or any other host of vicious stereotypes ? including weakness. It?s our duty to be the fine, fair friends of those burly, righteous men whose purpose is to take care of us? right? Wrong.
The women in ?Sailor Moon? get shit done. It?s not always easy and it?s not always grand, but they are all hard-working individuals who have a mind to see their goals realized. Even the baddies ? and there are a lot of villainesses in the series ? have an admirable strength to them. Of course, I didn?t need that taught to me, really. In middle school, I had obtained a brown belt in taekwondo and even sparred with Olympian silver-medalist, Juan Moreno. I was actually so good at sparring that my instructors wanted me to compete on a national level! So while ?Sailor Moon? didn?t teach me that women specifically could kick ass (especially little women), it did reenforce the power inherent in all of us. Physically, and mentally. Especially when we?re fighting for a cause we believe it ? whether through brute force or compassionate outcries ? we ladies seriously kick ass.
Growing up, I really didn?t have any contact with anyone in the LGBT community. To my knowledge, none of my parents? friends were gay/lesbian. I have no gay/lesbian family members (perhaps unbelievable, but my family is also very small). No one at my school identified as such at the time, which was understandable, considering our age; now, I know a few of us came out batting for the other team (or both teams). Needless to say, my exposure to ?queerness? at a young age was very, very minimal. It was limited to the media, which can be a terrifying prospect. Terrifying? unless you?re into ?Sailor Moon.?
Unfortunately, the English adaptation of the anime series does take out a lot of the same-sex relationships. Fortunately, I was so into the show that I would actually download the Japanese episodes ? with English subtitles ? and enjoy them as they were meant to be enjoyed. There, nothing was watered down. Michiru (Sailor Neptune) and Haruka (Sailor Uranus) were no longer cousins; they were in a very loving, devoted relationship. It wasn?t explicit; just pure and honest and beautiful. As a kid, they were my first exposure to lesbians, and I thought they were really cool (I especially admired/also wanted to be Michiru). Beyond them, the first couple I actively ?shipped? was a? well, half-lesbian couple. Let me explain: Seiya (Sailor Star Fight) was born and identified as a woman on her home planet; however, upon coming to earth, she and her two mates transformed into men, formed a band, and sought to seek out their Princess via popular song. (I know it?s weird. It?s anime we?re talking about here, so don?t act surprised). Seiya?s relationship with Usagi was some of the best stuff to come out of the entire series. Although most of their interaction happened when Seiya was a man, I desperately wanted them to work their problems out and be together. To me, Seiya?s sex didn?t matter at all. It was her love and devotion to Usagi ? not to mention their chemistry, laden with laughter ? that spoke to me most. Remember: Seiya might have hid her identity while on earth by switches sexes, but her gender (as far as I know) was always female. She identified as a woman. She loved as a woman. And I wanted her and Usagi to have a happy ever after together. Sex and gender didn?t matter if two people were (/are) in love.
I?ve always been a ?creative? child, drawing and even reading/writing at every opportunity. At my parents? dental lab, I would watch The Lion King on repeat and draw my version of film cells with pastels; still images taken from any random scene throughout the movie. In elementary school, my favorite part of the day was art class and the after-school crafts program I enrolled in every semester. I don?t remember how old I was when I wrote my first short-story, but I do remember it was about being lost in a cave. Later on, I wrote a longer (yet-still-short-)story about a feral child living in the woods. But it was ?Sailor Moon? that ignited my passion. It was the first instance of me not just dipping my toes into the sea of creative writing but bathing in it.
Actually, ?Sailor Moon? tossed me into full fandom mode in general. I was constantly drawing characters, creating my own (Sailor Star Kiss!), and watching fan videos self-published on questionable free web hosts (before the age of YouTube) while wishing I had the talent to do similarly. I was writing fan fiction, including one that was written in a screenplay format and another that was a long-running, multi-chapter story. Both of them featured Usagi/Seiya as the main players, though I could not even begin to tell you what either plot was anymore. (All I remember about the ?screenplay? was a scene at a movie theater, and that it was so absurdly plotted that it probably read like a soap opera. Luckily, I never published that one; however, the series was ? and could still be ? online somewhere.) From ?Sailor Moon? onward, I don?t think I?ve ever stopped writing. I?ve taken breaks here and there, of course ? including two entire years after graduating college with a writing & literature degree ? but it?s always remained close; it?s always on my mind. ?Sailor Moon? not only encouraged me to be creative and to explore my talents, but it taught me of the responsibility that comes with it. Words hold a lot of power, and it?s my duty to use them for great purposes.
If at first you don?t succeed, try, try again. Just last week, my life felt littered with disappointment. A job rejection email caused me to be crestfallen because it was 100% my responsibility to deliver and sell myself. For an entire day, I wallowed and wept and felt sorry for a girl ?going nowhere.? At one point, I pulled up my blog, cracked my knuckles to ready myself for an inane ramble about feeling inadequate, but ultimately opted to shut down instead. [System failure.] Applying to jobs and getting regularly turned down is tiresome enough, but it really does put a heavy weight on your shoulders. The thing is, though, that you can?t let it keep you down. Although I spent a majority of that Thursday making like a hermit, by the end of the day? I was scouring the web for internships yet again, knowing that I needed to severely beef up my r?sum? if I wanted to impress anyone enough to call me in for an interview. I carried that weight, and I made myself stronger for it.
A never-give-up attitude permeated the ?Sailor Moon? series. It didn?t matter the medium; whether the story was being told in comic form or on a television set. Language was not a barrier, but a carrier of values and lessons ? and inspiration. How many times did the sailor senshi sense defeat throughout 200 episodes or an entire manga series? I can tell you, at least during every Big Battle, there was a moment of doubt: ?Can I conquer evil?? ?Can I save my friends? the world?? ?Do I have it in me to be a hero?? Sometimes the five girls faltered. Sometimes they even died. Sometimes, in desperate measures or in those times when they also felt inadequate (we all have those moments), they would temporarily step back and forfeit. But conceding is not an answer? not for them and not for me. When Sailor Moon was in trouble, she found the means to press forward again. At times that meant waiting for someone to lend a helping hand, or talking out a resolution, but I think it mostly only required her to look within herself.
The beauty of ?Sailor Moon? and an aspect that makes me cherish the franchise to this day is how relatable it was. Every person on this planet has experienced failure; we?ve felt regret; we?ve questioned whether or not we have the strength to carry on. Here is the simple truth: we do. Within all of us, there is an unspoken ability to achieve great things. In one episode, Minako entered an idol competition to see if she had what it took to be a pop superstar ? and she did. It was something she almost missed out on trying because of doubts, but (because of her friends? insistance) she learned that she had the potential to make her dream come true. ?To realize your dream is important,? she said. Going after something you?re passionate about can often be risky, but isn?t that risk worth it? What if you never try and instead give up? How do you know what could have been? If you admit defeat and do nothing to better yourself, you?re going to rot in stagnancy. Instead, rise up and make a name out of yourself. Work hard, even if it?s on small levels? like me now looking for unpaid internships, despite being a college grad, because I know it?ll help me improve myself. Eventually, the efforts should pay off in some way. Know that you?ll always have a dream to chase, even if it changes over time or (if you?re lucky enough) you already reached it. Carpe diem, every day.
?Sailor Moon,? always about second and third and forth chances. Always about being true to yourself. Always about being honest, kind, and loving. Always about being a fighter. Always about encouraging dreamers to dream. If you think you can do it, you probably can, so never allow yourself to give up. Try, try again? just like me, just like my fight for Pixar.
Source: http://dizzyspell.net/pop-culture/six-things-i-learned-from-sailor-moon
california earthquake tyson chandler tyson chandler stephen hill draft tracker the pirates band of misfits cleveland browns
Order a Sparkling White Smiles Custom Teeth Whitening System online and get BIG SAVINGS!
ReplyDelete* 10 shades whiter in days!
* Professional Results Guaranteed.
* Better than your dentist.
* Same strength as dentists use.