The Nerd Cave

But that did get me wondering, how old is Shingo? He is obviously still in elementary school, because he doesn’t go to Usagi’s Junior High school, which means he could be 6th grade, which means he could be as old as 12. But then I realized, at least within the show, we could determine his actual age.

In the Sailor Moon R movie, Usagi and Momoru meet for the first time as children. They are in the hospital, Momoru is there recovering from the car accident that killed his parents, and Usagi is there because *drum roll* her mom just gave birth to Shingo. So how does this help us? Well, I did some digging, and most of what I read said that the car accident that killed his parents took place on his 6th birthday (meaning Momoru is 6 at this first meeting). So now the question is, how much older is Momoru than Usagi? I stated earlier that they’re about 4 years apart, but I wanted to make sure that was accurate (because if they are 4 years apart, that means Usagi is 2 at their first meeting).

Now, we know Usagi is in her second year of junior high at the start of the series, and by season 3 Usagi is in her third year of junior high and she has her 15th birthday. So the majority of seasons 1 and 2 she is 14, but I would say she’s probably 13 in the first few episodes for a few reasons: Japanese schools start in April, Usagi is wearing her long sleeve uniform (meaning it’s probably not late spring and definitely not summer), and Usagi’s birthday is June 30th, roughly a month before Japanese schools’ summer break (which takes place in episode 20 of season 1).

A lot of sources I read say that Momoru is 17 at the start of the series, which considering his birthday is in August, that actually makes perfect sense. He is 17 at the start, and then roughly around episode 20, he turns 18, making him 4 years older than Usagi. Which means Usagi is only 2 when she first meets Momoru on the day Shingo is born (why is this 2 year old wondering around the hospital by herself?!?!).

So in terms of the shipping of Shingo and Ami, they’re only 2 years apart, which is less than the gap between Usagi and Momoru. Now, this particular ship does come from an episode (17) in season 4, which is a bit messed up in terms of the timeline. Season 3 obviously ends in winter (as it is snowing in one of the later episodes), and season 4 still has all the main girls in junior high, which means it all happens before late April, but in the episode where Shingo shows an affection for Ami, they’re all at the beach… in winter… yeah the anime creators really screwed up the 4th arc. In the manga they’re in high school by this arc, so I’m not sure why they didn’t do that with the old anime.

Anyway, to sum this up, at the beginning of the series, Shingo is 11, and then turns 12 in August or September (depending on how long Momoru was in the hospital after the car accident).

And because I know someone is going to ask, the other ages for season 1 (and probably season 2) are as follows:

Usagi: 13 for the first few episodes, and then 14 sometime before episode 20

Momoru: 17, 18 after episode 20

Ami: 13, 14 sometime after episode 20 (her birthday is in September)

Rei: 14 (her birthday is April 17th, meaning she’s the oldest)

Makoto: 13 (there’s a good chance she doesn’t turn 14 until season 2, as her birthday is in December, which oddly enough makes her the youngest)

Minako: 13, there’s also a possibility that she is 14 by the time she first appears, as they are all in their long sleeve uniforms again (her birthday is in October).

Season 3 would have them all one year older (as it is a new school year), and the outer guardians’ ages would be:

Haruka: 16, maybe 17 at the end (her birthday is in January, and it is winter at the end of season 3)

Michiru: 16 (her birthday is in March, so it’s unlikely she ages up in this season)

Hotaru: 12 (first year junior high) and instead of aging up on her January birthday, she ages down at the end of the season 😆 (it’s not clear if her “birthday,” is her first birthday or when she is reborn at the end of season 3, or if they happen to be the same day)

Setsuna: who knows lol. She’s not in school in the anime, and she’s not really shown having a life outside of being a guardian, so there’s really nothing to base her age on in the old anime. Her “birthday” is October 29th, but the 90s anime kind of gives off the impression that this Setsuna wasn’t reborn, but is the original Sailor Pluto who came straight from the door of time (which would make her really really really old, like thousands of years old 😅)

@sqwick just pointed it out in my mentions and—

THIS IS RYOU. CARRYING ICHIGO ON HIS BACK.

Before the premiere, I wanted to quickly jot down (in no particular order) some things I hope to see in this new season.

1: Parents. The whole time rewatching season 1, I kept thinking, “where are these kids’ parents?” 😆 Even when Ichigo is taken to Aoyama’s house as a cat, his parents are no where to be found. Mint and Ichigo at least mention their parents, but we never see them. Now, we do have confirmation that Ichigo’s parents will make an appearance in the first episode (about time!), but I really want them to explore the other girls’ parent situations.

2: More backstory for the other girls. We’ve gotten some for Mint already (but I won’t say no to more), and Pudding has at least had her siblings introduced early on, but we have virtually nothing for Lettuce and Zakuro. Those two were snubbed in the manga and OG anime too, so I really hope they don’t get the shorter end of the stick yet again. Give us Lettuce’s brother! Seiji got to be a prominent side character, why can’t Uri?

3: I want the follow up to the IchiRyou scene in episode 2!

Ryou has to walk her home (for whatever reason, it doesn’t really matter why), and he has to apologize, it was such a huge moment for his character development in the manga, and if they throw it out, I’m going to riot (ok , maybe not riot, but I will be very upset, and this version will lose points for me)!

4: I want a birthday episode. I know that’s really random, but I just want it 😆 Since this seems to start at the beginning of the school year (so like mid April in Japan), Ichigo’s birthday is out, and probably Lettuce too. The next birthday would be Ryou in June, which I think would be hilarious, because he totally seems like the kind of person that would like to ignore his birthday, and it would be funny to see the girls (and Keiichiro) make him celebrate it! 😆

That’s assuming we didn’t pass his birthday (because season 1 does seem to end around June, given the rain, and the fact the Mint only has a couple days to decide if she’s going to an American school), in which case, the next birthday would be Pudding. That could be a lot of fun!

5: More original episodes that help expand the story and develop all the characters better. In other words, I don’t them to try to finish off the series in this season, I want them to take their time, then they can wrap things up in a third season. There was so much build up to Mint using the Mew Aqua rod, that I feel it would be too fast paced if the other three all used the rod in the same season. The mid season climax can be Lettuce using the Mew Aqua rod, and then the season finale can be Pudding using it; season 3’s mid season climax can be Zakuro using the rod, and the finale would obviously be the fight with Deep Blue. Then we can have a season 4, where Berry actually gets introduced properly, and the story isn’t a rushed mess 😅 Maybe we can get a movie adaptation of the PS game and see Ringo animated. And then we can end the series with an expanded ReTurn; and since we start the series with them all (except Pudding) in high school, we can end the series with them graduating, and Ichigo and Aoyama actually getting married. In fact, I hope they don’t end the first series with the mock wedding, because I feel like an actual wedding would be a much better pay off (as much as it will hurt Ryou’s little heart 😭)

1. Parents. Well, obviously we got Ichigo’s parents, who have been fantastic in every scene they’ve appeared in, and I love that they got Saki (Ichigo’s original voice actress) and her actual husband to voice them. We also got BuLing’s parents backstory of how they met, not much of an explanation for how/why her mom died (again), but we did get a better reason for her dad not being around, he’s actually “working hard” to support his family (he’s not just a good for nothing father who left his kids to be a Pokemon master). And we also got BuLing’s prior voice actress to be the New BuLing’s mom! Then we got Ryou’s parents, who are adorable, and thankfully we didn’t get that awful manga scene with his mom running back into the burning house (like, is your son not important enough to live for?), they were already in the house, and she was unfortunately on the side of the debris that did not have an exit (RIP Mrs Shirogane). And Ryou’s old VA returned to be his father! I literally screamed when I heard his voice, I knew it was him instantly! 😭 And that’s all we got for parents 😒 Each girl got her own episode this season, but could we include Lettuce or Zakuro’s parents (I’ll excuse Mint’s since her brother seems to be filling their role in her life) and get to hear their old actresses cameo? Nope, apparently not. Lettuce literally goes on what is (at least to anyone on the outside looking) a date with an actual boy, her parents make no comment, not even an appearance. Disappointing.

2. Well, like I said, each girl got their own episode (and Ryou got a half a$$ed half episode), and while it did help develop their characters, only BuLing’s really provided any back story. I feel like New has given Minto a lot of growth, development and depth, but some of the others are being short sticked (again). Lettuce got some nice development, she actually got to confess her feelings, and got rejected, and handled it well enough that she can still be around Ryou without it being awkward (way to Lettuce!). BuLing has gotten about the same amount she got in the Old series. Zakuro is once again being snubbed 😒 No backstory, no family, just some weird rivalry with a photographer/director. One episode a piece was not good enough, in my opinion.

3. This is probably the most disappointing aspect of this new series. We went to all the trouble to include that first walking Ichigo home scene, to then NOT include the follow up scene where Ryou apologizes?!? What?!?!?!?! How you going to snub my boy’s character growth like that? 😡 Now he just looks like an A-hole who called her his ultimate weapon and never realized the error of his ways. This literally killed the season for me. I had such high hopes after season one, and this ruined it for me.

4. And yet, somehow we got a birthday episode? I know it wasn’t any of the main characters, but it was BuLing’s siblings, and it ended with a musical number! Complete with Ryou playing the drums 😆🥳 Honestly, I thought this was the most unlikely thing to happen of all my expectations, but here we are.

Before the premiere, I wanted to quickly jot down (in no particular order) some things I hope to see in this new season.

1: Parents. The whole time rewatching season 1, I kept thinking, “where are these kids’ parents?” 😆 Even when Ichigo is taken to Aoyama’s house as a cat, his parents are no where to be found. Mint and Ichigo at least mention their parents, but we never see them. Now, we do have confirmation that Ichigo’s parents will make an appearance in the first episode (about time!), but I really want them to explore the other girls’ parent situations.

2: More backstory for the other girls. We’ve gotten some for Mint already (but I won’t say no to more), and Pudding has at least had her siblings introduced early on, but we have virtually nothing for Lettuce and Zakuro. Those two were snubbed in the manga and OG anime too, so I really hope they don’t get the shorter end of the stick yet again. Give us Lettuce’s brother! Seiji got to be a prominent side character, why can’t Uri?

3: I want the follow up to the IchiRyou scene in episode 2!

Ryou has to walk her home (for whatever reason, it doesn’t really matter why), and he has to apologize, it was such a huge moment for his character development in the manga, and if they throw it out, I’m going to riot (ok , maybe not riot, but I will be very upset, and this version will lose points for me)!

4: I want a birthday episode. I know that’s really random, but I just want it 😆 Since this seems to start at the beginning of the school year (so like mid April in Japan), Ichigo’s birthday is out, and probably Lettuce too. The next birthday would be Ryou in June, which I think would be hilarious, because he totally seems like the kind of person that would like to ignore his birthday, and it would be funny to see the girls (and Keiichiro) make him celebrate it! 😆

That’s assuming we didn’t pass his birthday (because season 1 does seem to end around June, given the rain, and the fact the Mint only has a couple days to decide if she’s going to an American school), in which case, the next birthday would be Pudding. That could be a lot of fun!

5: More original episodes that help expand the story and develop all the characters better. In other words, I don’t them to try to finish off the series in this season, I want them to take their time, then they can wrap things up in a third season. There was so much build up to Mint using the Mew Aqua rod, that I feel it would be too fast paced if the other three all used the rod in the same season. The mid season climax can be Lettuce using the Mew Aqua rod, and then the season finale can be Pudding using it; season 3’s mid season climax can be Zakuro using the rod, and the finale would obviously be the fight with Deep Blue. Then we can have a season 4, where Berry actually gets introduced properly, and the story isn’t a rushed mess 😅 Maybe we can get a movie adaptation of the PS game and see Ringo animated. And then we can end the series with an expanded ReTurn; and since we start the series with them all (except Pudding) in high school, we can end the series with them graduating, and Ichigo and Aoyama actually getting married. In fact, I hope they don’t end the first series with the mock wedding, because I feel like an actual wedding would be a much better pay off (as much as it will hurt Ryou’s little heart 😭)

My ghost ship lives! Well, until this scene happened, and I could hear all the Mint/Zakuro shippers scream through the airwaves. 😆

Not going to lie, I thought they were going to kiss too.

The Ryou/Aoyama meeting lived up to my expectations.

I love how Ryou was just joking with Ichigo like he always does, and doesn’t even bother to acknowledge Aoyama until Aoyama forces him to; and then he purposely ticks him off. 😆

The cat shenanigans was about what I expected, although I was a kind of surprised they kept the bath bit 😅

I found it awkward, mostly because of how unrealistically buff Aoyama is 😆 Moving on.

Kitty Ryou was absolutely adorable! I’m not a cat person, but he makes me want a cat 😻 I have mixed feelings about the scene in which Ryou finds Ichigo. I’ll start with what I liked:

I love that they kept the rants from the manga, and that after they both get what they’ve been holding in off their chests, they’re completely fine, and not mad at each other anymore (nothing like healthy relationship behavior to keep my ship afloat!); sometimes you just have to let it all out, and then move on, and that’s what they did!

I also love that Ryou brought her a sandwich! Not only does this make us come full circle from the time Ichigo brought Ryou a snack, but it shows how much Ryou cares about her; he was legit out all night looking for her, with a sandwich in tow, because he knew she would be hungry and need a snack when he finally found her! Ryou is best boy! Aoyama didn’t even bother to look for her. And don’t give me this, “he didn’t know she was in trouble!” He found his jacket, that Ichigo had run off with, in a RIVER! She could have been dead in that river! (Which is pretty close to the truth!) He should have been searching that river for her! Instead, he finds a cat, and takes it home all happy and giddy, not even bothering to even call Ichigo to make sure she was fine after he found his jacket she discarded. 😒 I was starting to like the new Aoayam, but I’ve gotta say, he really dropped the ball here. Short rant over, back to the original topic!

What I didn’t like about the Ryou/Ichigo reunion: they left out the follow up from episode two’s scene. 🥺

Now, I hope it’s not being omitted completely, and they just decided not to put it there because there was already a lot happening in this scene, and that they’ll have it either in the next episode (unlikely, I think), or in the next season. I wouldn’t be upset if the next season starts with Ichigo realizing how much Ryou cares about her 😏 The only problem is, the second half of that scene in the manga was already thrown into this scene!

Ryou asking to kiss... I like the genuine look of curiosity on his face, like he is actually thinking about it in a logical way 😆 But the actual question, just doesn’t feel right, and he immediately says he’s joking. I feel like there should have been more of a pause in between him asking, and then saying he was joking. Whether he’s serious or actually joking, the response still felt to quick either way. Maybe he’ll ask again in season two? (I can dream 😝)

One last thing, after my annoyance with him in episode 9, Keiichiro has redeemed himself:

I’m feeling the feels! 😭

My boy is so sad! He was so upset, he left, and we didn’t see him the rest of the episode. Although, I was half expecting him to show up whenever Ichigo finally ran into Aoyama, but Quiche joyed us with his presence instead 😝 I am glad that it’s being made painfully clear that Quiche is psychotic and out of his flipping mind! 😆 The ship is not sea worthy 😅

Anyway, after Zakuro joined, the shipping pattern to the episodes continued (7 Aoyama, 8 Ryou, 9 Aoyama), but it looks like next episode will feature both boys:

And they’re finally going to meet face to face! 🤩

This is one of my favorite scenes in the manga!

I noticed that Ryou is smiling in the preview shot, which makes me think he’s about to do this:

Is he trying to make Aoyama mad? 😆 Or does he just want an excuse to touch Ichigo? 🤣

This will also be the first time Ichigo turns into a cat, which makes me wonder if we’ll get the follow up scene to Ichigo and Ryou’s episode two scene:

Or maybe we’ll get it in the episode after? 🤔 All I know is they better include it at some point! I don’t care if my ship is full of holes, I’m sailing on it anyway!

I’ll end this post with my disdain for Keiichiro’s indecisiveness in this last episode 😝

1. Leading this fleet of ships, we have the cannon ship: Ichigo and Aoyama.

They kind of had to at least show these two together at some point in this episode since they are the main couple, but for an episode called “Romance on the high sea” they got very little screen time together. 😅

I find it kind of funny that Ichigo doesn’t mention that two of her coworkers she’s going on this cruise with are guys, and one of them she’s seen shirtless, and then made him a snack after seeing him shirtless. 👀 But I guess it’s not technically lying if you’re just omitting information, right? 😆 That seems to be Ichigo’s philosophy in this relationship anyway.

Aoyama completely fails at asking Ichigo out; hey, maybe sometime, at some point, we can maybe, sort of, go to the ocean together, maybe. Dude, when you ask a girl a out, you need to have an exact day and time picked out, she has a very busy schedule, and she needs to know an exact time to pencil you in for (that’s why you haven’t been on a date since episode 3!). Get it together boy! We’re jumping overboard here.

2. Second in this flotilla, a non cannon couple in the original, but I’m starting to think it might be in this one: Mint and Zakuro.

I mean, it’s pretty hard to argue with giant letters that say, “I love Zakuro.” Now, I do believe that it is possible to love and admire someone without being “in love,” or wanting a romantic relationship with that someone, and I think in the original series, that was the case between Minto and Zakuro, but in this series, I’m not so sure. I’m still holding out for my own personal head cannon ship of Zakuro and Seiji 😆 I think if Mint was going to lose out to someone, she would be ok if it was her brother, because then she could really call Zakuro “Onesama.” And look!

My new boy is in the next episode! There’s hope for my ghost ship! 😁

3. The third ship in the convoy: Lettuce and Ryou. I feel like this ship is really pushed by all the Ichiyama shippers because it takes care of the Ryou problem; Ryou puts a kink in the Ichigo and Aoyama ship (because Ichiryou is just so much more natural and they’re freaking adorable together!), so they have to put Ryou somewhere, why not with Lettuce? She likes him! But does he like her? Well, he doesn’t not like her, I’ll give you that. He’s very nice to her, probably more to her than anyone else, but I think that’s because he knows she’s sensitive, and she wouldn’t be able to handle a joke like the others would. He knows she lacks confidence, and so he does what any good friend would do, and he tries to help build her up.

My first thought when I saw this: Ryou, you can’t give alcohol to a minor! Second thought: where’d you get Felix felicis?

A placebo? Clever boy 😏 Way to make that girl fall in love with you. Back to the question of does Ryou like Lettuce the way Lettuce likes Ryou...

The boy is oblivious! 🙄

4. Number four in this cruise line, and my personal favorite: Ichigo and Ryou! I was floating blissfully when these two were on screen together. I love the background jokes these two make with each other, I love how they both just end up staring at each other from across the hall, I love how gently Ryou takes her hand (he’s so timid 😭), I love how sweetly he encourages her (it’s not just Lettuce he speaks nicely to, guys!),

I love how naturally Ichigo just leans into him, I love everything about this scene, even the gut wrenching feeling I got when Ichigo hurt his feelings! 😭 He was so sad!

Ichigo, if you have to tell yourself you only have eyes for Aoyama, you don’t only have eyes for him 😆 Also, you’ve been on like two dates with him, it’s not like you’re married. You might just find you like Ryou more. 😏 Prediction for the next episode: Ichigo is now avoiding Aoyama because she feels guilty about dancing with Ryou, so the other girls set up a date for her. And if we’re really lucky, we might get to see Aoyama and Ryou meet for the first time 😈 I hope it’s as good as the manga meeting! Give me more fuel for my fantasy cruise!!!!!!

5. This is my second favorite ship from this episode: Pudding and Tarto (or should we call him “Tar Tar?”)

What can I say? They’re just adorable kids being adorable together! 😍 I love how soon we’re getting they’re introduction, because it means we’ll get more time develop their relationship. They definitely have the most hope of becoming the next full fledged cannon couple!

6. Brining up the rear of our armada: Lettuce and Pai. Ok, there’s not much to this ship, but I wanted to give the LettucePie shippers some hope anyway. Here we have Pai looking at Lettuce in a way that he hasn’t looked at anything else in the two episodes he’s been in so far.