Pretty Guardian: Sailor Violet

"Chocolate Kisses Final Bit" - PART 3 of 3 (originally posted on Tiktok)

Fan Art comic/animatic of "The Freak Circus" by @nekoboydreams

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"Chocolate Kisses Final Bit" - PART 2 of 3 (originally posted on Tiktok)

Fan Art comic/animatic of "The Freak Circus" by @nekoboydreams

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I definitely agree with the privileged piece of her character, she is not only a princess in her past life (which comes with inherent like physical privilege) but also has many friends who always protect her to the best of their ability and are shown on several occasions to be willing to die for her. Despite the tragic end to her life as Princess Serentiy her life after reincarnation is full of love, she has a family who cares for her dearly and before we meet her in the story she has tons of friends, then she meets the other girls and becomes close to them and also has Mamoru. All of these people care for her deeply and she has never lacked love in her life. Especially when you contrast this with other characters who are shown to live lonely, isolated lives before being brought into Usagi's inner circle. (This is shown really well in the R movie where the inner guardians and Mamoru all explicitly state that they were sad and lonely before they met her). Mako lost her parents to a plane crash, Rei's mother died of a sickness, Hotaru's mom died in a fire that left Hotaru mutilated and on top of that her dad put an evil egg inside of her, Mamoru loses his parents and memories, Setsuna guards the time gate alone, etc. Usagi has a good life as Usagi Tsukino before all of the Sailor Moon stuff starts happening (And after too but obviously my girl suffers more during that), she had a good life as Serenity even though she felt stifled on the moon and even though the fall of the moon kingdom and Endymion dying was obviously very traumatic for her, and she is shown a really nice future where she has a husband, child, and all of her friends surrounding her. All of this being something most of the other characters don't have, or at least not entirely.

As for the selfish piece I don't completely agree with it. Not that it isn't a true, but I think it's something her character does get over within the story. One of the biggest reasons she can be read as selfish is that she has friends that are willing to die for her time and time again, and the system that was set up in Silver Millenium has her being guarded by the inner senshi. Another point is her suicide after Endimiyon dies and when Mamoru is possessed during the first act of the manga. I think Usagi is a selfish character, but in the way that all she wants is for all of the fighting and violence to be over so that she can just continue hanging out with her friends. One thing that bugs me is people saying that she is selfish because the inner senshi are her guardians, because she didn't choose that. I feel like Usagi is always around during pretty much every fight and on the rest of the girl's levels until we get to like a big important fight and then everyone is prioritizing protecting her. I would have liked in the story for her to challenge that system where she is more important than her friends, like an episode/arc where she made it clear to them that she is not someone held above them in status but an equal.

Like tell me if this is an out there take but I think her suicide as princess Serenity really wasn't that selfish. She didn't have much power to fight and try and save her kingdom (she def could have tried but I don't think she would have done much) she didn't even have the silver crystal because Queen Serenity was using it, she lost Endymion and she got swept up in everything happening and took her life. Now this made it more difficult for Queen Serenity to fight off Queen Metalia and might have cost the moon kingdom it's life, but I don't think it was particularly selfish of her at all. However, I think her suicide when Mamoru was possessed was kind of selfish (I'm sorry if that sounds bad) Like she could have tried to fight Queen Metalia with the Silver Crystal, things weren't so dire yet but instead she threw her life away because she couldn't bear it anymore. (I mean it worked out in the end but still she couldn't have known that). She knew the Silver Crystal was virtually the only way she could defeat Queen Metalia, that she was the only person who could actually use it, and that it was the world's only option, but she still chose to kill herself. And while she does get grace in the end, she is a 14-year-old girl in a really difficult and overwhelming situation it still reads selfishly to me.

But I feel like within the story we see her overcome her selfishness. I think the best example for this would be how she handles Mamoru being brainwashed in the first arc versus how she takes all of her friends being killed in the final arc. In the final leg of the manga, she loses everyone dear to her (All of the sailor guardians, Mamoru, Chibiusa, her future etc.) but instead of just rolling over and letting Galaxia and Chaos have their way she fights until the end. She is under the impression her friends are gone forever once the big spiky thing with all of the Sailor Crystal in it (sorry I forget what it was called) is thrown into the galaxy cauldron and she doesn't just admit defeat she decides to fight for the galaxy. She would NOT have done this in the beginning, but now she is prioritizing the universe over herself despite the immense grief she is feeling.

One more thing before I finally stop talking is a point I have seen a few times recently where people are mentioning how Usagi never really sees true loss. This is something that has always bothered me because like not once have we had a character close to Usagi die permanently (Correct me if I'm wrong obv but like at least all of her friends are just auto brought back to life) She never has to face real consequences for anything really. But I feel like that's where Sailor Cosmos comes in. She is a version of Usagi that has experienced this real loss and she feels hopeless. She is fighting something she cannot win because there is no end to it, and she has none of the people she used to love and rely on. Tying back into the selfishness piece, she comes back in time to compel Usagi to destroy the Galaxy Cauldron and all of life as they know it because she can't stand the fighting anymore. Now there is a little more to it than that, but I don't feel like I am misrepresenting the situation either. She now has seen loss where she can't just magically bring everyone and everything back to normal and she doesn't know how to deal with it, so she goes back to Usagi who also thinks she has lost everything and asks her to end it. But instead of taking the easy way out like she has done in the past she picks a solution that will end poorly for herself (If Sailor Cosmos is any indication) and saves the world instead. Other than the glimpse we get of Sailor Cosmos and her life we never really see Usagi lose anything in the entire manga, not permanently at least, and I think this plays back into the privilege her character has throughout the story. But her choice to protect the universe over her own comfort is another way she overcomes the selfishness that she has at the beginning of the story.

Sticking to the manga since that's the version that the post seems to be mostly focused on, I have no problems with Serenity's suicide. In fact, I really like it and I believe it fits the narrative of Usagi's growth.

I'm not sure what the unanimous consensus for the fandom is that caused them to often categorize Usagi as selfish, BUT I definitely know what my reason is. It is not for the circumstances out of her control, like if you believe her being the princess and being the indirect cause for her friends' suffering IS the reason she's selfish then Idk what to tell you. No, the reason I consider her a selfish person is because of her, for lack of a better term, obsession with her relationship with Mamoru. She straight up prioritizes her relationship with Mamoru over anything. Even her friends, despite very well knowing SHE is the cause for their hardship and despite knowing how tied to this shit they are because of her.

I will never be able to get over her second suicide at the end of the first arc, but most importantly I will never be able to get over the narrative never challenging the sentiment behind that action. I'm sorry, I really do want to try to be as nice and unbiased as possible writing this because I just do not like manga Usagi and I know there's people who do, but to me it is almost impossible to form an interesting deconstruction of Usagi's character and actions because I just.. can't. The source material does not want me to because it is not built for that.

Let's say I do try to explore her character and actions, let's say her suicide from the end of the first arc. It was indeed, fucked up. It shows she never did grow out of her Princess Serenity phase, she's still only thinking about herself like a spoiled princess who did not get her happy ending. Should she be distraught about her lover's death? Absolutely. I'm not trying to take away the importance of this bond for her, but look at the room and see there's at LEAST four other people who she claims to love and adore. Her friends who, not even arguably, have had a much worse upbringing than her and most importantly who are basically born to protect her. People who experienced REAL loss, grief and loneliness. Her present and loving family and her friends just.. tossed aside because Usagi cares more about this romantic relationship she had as Serenity.

I know in times of intense grief and shock we tend to do things we would otherwise not do and that makes for a really interesting, complex and challenging conflict that the narrative could put forth to challenge Usagi's character moving forward. Like, having her friends be upset, angry, having them question their roles and their loyalty to a person who's not equally loyal to them. Usagi perhaps after being revived feeling extremely guilty and apologetic, taking some time to really reflect on her responsibilities towards her friends and how she betrayed that trust, even if it was something she did while she wasn't of clear mind.

This is not about her loving Mamoru, HE is her lover, I understand that, but I also understand that Usagi, Sailor Moon as she stands, also has undeniable responsibilities towards the people she has dragged through this destiny (being willingly or not). She's 100% aware that these people cannot just walk away from this as much as she can't.

She's free to not gaf, in fact I personally see Princess Serenity being that way. She doesn't care about her role as princess (spoken from the lenses of an extremely privileged position, but that's for another day), or her guardians. I can see Serenity developing this incredibly meaningful and almost sacred connection with her lover because it is the only one single connection SHE made. Endymion was not someone her mother shoved to her as an arranged spouse, he's not a relationship that was forged through artificial bonds of loyalty, servitude or royalty. She MADE that, it was her decision and I can see that being SO PRECIOUS for her because he loves her for her. All her worries, insecurities, fears and loneliness vanishing when in the presence of a bond that makes her feel like she can be more than just Princess Serenity. So her killing herself, to me, is actually really compelling and tragic in a realistically flawed human way.

Usagi on the other hand, has been pretty explicitly shown to care. She cares about her friends, she loves them. She has formed those bonds herself organically, born from a desire to create meaningful connections first. She grows through the first arc to understand that, as Sailor Moon, The Princess and as Usagi, she has responsibilities not only to help people and stop the Dark Kingdom, but also to be there for her friends. Not only because they are her guardians and she is their princess but also because they are friends, friends who have shown unwavering loyalty to her. A loyalty and trust she broke when she repeated her actions of the past and killed herself. That despite this new life, meaningful organic connections and choices free from the shackles of obligations and royalty, she still put this relationship above all. That she has not grown, she's still Serenity, the sorrowful self-absorbed princess who cares nothing but for a life of peace with her lover. Even if the bonds and connections she has made as Usagi still matter to her, they don't matter as much as her past bond with Endymion. Also less important but still something to keep in mind, I do feel a little offended to be asked to care about this friendship between Usagi and the inners when Usagi herself (and the narrative) explicitly tell me through all of this shebacle that she does not even care enough to apologize to them. Not that they would care, which is itself insulting, but wtv... I still care so Ig the joke's on me.

But, yeah.. No one cares. The suicide happens, they both get revived and literally nobody gives a fuck. This whole giant introspective I just wrote is meaningless because I'm told by the story that there is in fact, nothing wrong with what she did. It was simply a spur of the moment dramatized parallel to Romeo and Juliet that I am not supposed to reflect on at all outside of feeling bad for poor Usagi. When both the narrative AND fanbase are telling me I am not supposed to think about it this hard then I just don't.

Is it fair of me to judge a character based on my own personal read of the events instead of reading it inside the established confines of the text? Maybe not, but I'm also not forced to like a character which I feel forced to read strictly through a predetermined lens.

Does Usagi objectively get less selfish through the manga? Yes. But at that point, it is already too late for me to care because the narrative never established it to be a problem in the first place. And it sucks cause I do really feel like Usagi is a victim of her own story's format. The latter being structured in a way where BIG emotional romantic metaphor like events and actions shape the characters and story. It has strong points! It absolutely does, even I, not being a big fan of the manga, recognize that. But characters are not one of the them for me and for Usagi especially, I feel like you either love or hate her based on your personal enjoyment of that type of format. (I've received ironic comments before like "mfw the romance driven manga is mostly about the romance". I get it. I'm not dumb, I know it is mostly about the romance. Doesn't mean I need to like it tho and most other adaptations aren't soo, I'm not really convinced it makes it exempt from criticism on that aspect. Especially since the franchise in itself has mostly become unanimous with friendship AND love. See how you can do both? Crazy right. Sorry this was mean but it is ONLY targeted at the people who commented that shit before. You know who you are, I see that stuff.)

People can genuinely do what they want, especially at this point I'm happy seeing others resonate with a story or character I personally was not able to connect to as much but I will say that it is a bit perplexing seeing the way sometimes some people in the fandom will try to have the cake and eat it too. (not referring to op here, they were actually really fair and on the majority of their talking points)

Also really quick, but this is not a manga vs anime debate, I do not care. Some of what I said can be mirrored to Usagi as a character from the anime, neither is perfect and it's, again, all subjective.