Asexuality in Sailor Moon
In the manga, Rei Hino (Sailor Mars) was depicted as not being interested in sex and as having a distaste for men. Not so in the original anime, their version Rei is very much interested in pursuing relationships with boys. Reiâs arc in the manga meant a lot to me as someone who identifies as asexual. There was a chapter that focused on Rei feeling confused and insecure that everyone around her constantly talked about romance, specifically romance with boys, when she herself wasnât interested in kissing men, or pursuing a sexual relationship at all. A villain took advantage of this and tried to convince her she had to kiss a guy and get into a relationship with him, even if she wasnât interested in sex or men, so she could fit in and be âtaken care ofâ. Â Rei fought off the monster, asserting her confidence in her identity. In another story, she told her friends she didnât need a relationship, and she was content with having allies who shared her purpose. The text didnât specifically say Rei was an aromantic/non-heteromantic asexual, but Reiâs story is the closest Iâve seen to solid exploration of the struggles of an asexual person in popular media. The fact that the point of Reiâs story is about the overcoming the pressure on her to be hetero-normative, and the fact it ends with her being happy and comfortable with her identity and with her disinterest in both boys and sex- these things were great to me. So I really want to see Reiâs identity and story represented in the new anime, not erased like it was in the original.
Iâm really sorry because I have no idea who wrote this! If you do know, please contact me!
But anyway, this is really interesting! I only ever read one volume of the manga so I didnât know this about Rei at all. Iâm particularly happy since Rei was *always and forever* my favourite Sailor Moon character, even though I didnât (consciously? ;3) know about this :3
This is really cool and I really want to read the whole manga now! :D
@ranjapiranha More bonus points for sailor moon. If only the anime dub didnât butcher it





















