Tsukino Usagi - Blog Posts

It’s been a while, huh?

I just wanted to share this piece because I’m really proud of it.

“Tell me Atlas,

What is heavier;

The world or its people’s hearts?”

-  Darshana Suresh, Howling at the Moon

I’ve always loved Sailor Moon when I was young. It being what inspired me to have the name “Darien” with such pride even after all this time.

But I looked again from another perspective; though it is a cutesy fun anime… It’s also full of so much tragedy. A history of pain and death wrapped in pastels.

Saddling a teenager with the fate of the whole universe itself surely should have some consequences. Especially an apparently young, clumsy, immature girl with all of her family and friends and beloved on the line - making her sacrifice them again and again and again.

Reminding her that her family isn’t even her own, that she was an alien, someone just placed on a planet she doesn’t belong… Seeing and fighting things that are beyond most regular people, even those her age would hope to never encounter.

Just for it all to reset and another danger to be introduced and hope that the weight of worlds she carries on her shoulders won’t crush her this time.

So many things for just a girl to go through…

Has she ever had a moment to let those feelings out?

… Even had a moment of serenity?

~ Dari

Got inspired by a doodled I saw on Pinterest

In Defense of Diamond - In Defense of the Prince

Hey yo, Tumblr, Ima let you finish, but prince diamond was the most believable villain in all of sailor moon, and potentially one of the best villains in anime- period.

Rant mode initiated.

DISCLAIMER

First off, let’s kick this off by saying Diamond in the manga and Diamond in the anime are two very different characters. While both had legit motivations, manga D is presented as a much colder character than Anime Diamond. In youth I read all the manga and watched all the episodes in both English and Japanese but I am most familiar with the anime, and that is certainly reflected in this rant. Sorry!

Also, a point I want to 100 percent drive home that forcing yourself on another person is disgusting - no justification, no excuses.

DISCLAIMER

Alright, let’s go!

A lot of the hate I see directed at our white prince pertains to the notion that he is a pedophile and or a pervert.

Initially, Prince Diamond fell in love/obsession with Neo queen serenity- a centuries old “goddess”. When presented with the opportunity to, “claim?” (eek!) her as teenage Usagi, he bit. As mentioned above his behavior of kidnapping, possibly undressing her(we don’t know if he did it himself but yea he probably did) , and in the manga-verse kissing her and in the anime verse almost kissing her, no matter the age, yes , the force involved in all of it, is disgusting.

But is Diamond a pervert or a pedophile? I don’t think so.

How old is Usagi? My memory as a Moonie since youth leads me to believe that she is roughly 14 years old in the R series? Possibly 15. Too Young. However you can’t fault Diamond as a pedophile and not apply the same term to Darien. Darien is roughly the same age as Diamond if not a year older. Diamond is stated to be 18, and Darien is stated to be 18/19. Darien kisses Serena at 14. I’m rusty with the series but I recall there being jokes about making out (in the anime at least). I recall a scene in the R movie where Darien painstakingly investigates a flower shop so nobody sees him kiss Serena in public. I recall an episode of the dub where Serena’s dad flipped out because Darien was way too old for her. Bam. Not excusing the age inappropriateness but just saying if Diamond is a pedo-prince, so is Darien. You can’t jeer one and cheer the other

But OG- Serena, yes I can! Because Darien’s relationship with Serena is consensual!

Touché! But a pedo-prince is a pedo prince is a pedo prince is a pervert.

But OG Serena, Mamoru and Usagi were together in their past lives, when they both were of age.

Maybe! But I bring this point up as a strange crook in this situation. Again the question comes into play:

How old is Serena/Usagi. 14.

How old in Serenity…. Yipes. We don’t know. Centuries old? 19 ? It’s a tough call.

When you think about her age as 14, both Darien and Diamond are certifiably “creepy”.

I don’t like to bring conjecture into rants like this, but we can assume from King Endymion’s history , that since Serenity rules 30th century Crystal Tokyo post a deep earth freeze, that she has eternal life, or longevity that far exceeds your typical human (in fact I think in the manga this is addressed directly. Wasn’t there something about Rini being super old, but forever trapped in a child’s body? Sorry guys I’m so rusty. ) This then, leads me to believe that Diamond has probably regarded her(Serenity) not as a human being, but rather a literal, ageless, goddess.

To call someone a pedophile is to insinuate that they feel sexual attraction to children. In the case of Diamond, and Darien as well(although Darien did express attraction to her before he knew anything about her) it’s not the child Usagi that they are attracted to. In Darien’s case he is in love with his love from a past life , and in Diamonds case he is in love with an ageless entity from the future.

The psychology of a pedophile plays little role here.

——

So what’s so bad about shipping Demando x Usagi?

Let me start by explaining why I at least loved/LOVE this pairing. I was like maybe 10 or 11 when these episodes aired, so maybe it shows what a twisted individual I was even back then, but I always wanted Serena or rather Serenity to end up with Demando. Here’s why:

Darien. Treated. Serena. Like. Shit.

ESPECIALLY in the R arc in the anime. (Manga Mamoru was much nicer)

Oh Serena, I’m having these crazy nightmares about you getting hurt if we stay together… Let’s break up.

Seriously, if you love someone, and have loved them, lifetime after lifetime …

If you love someone and have gone to hell and back, LITERALLY, for them… and they have done the same for you….

A few bad dreams are going to make you break up with them?

Even as a kid I couldn’t buy it. It was the R arc that made me really start to dislike Serena x Darien as a couple. If someone is your soul mate and the love of your life, right from jump, you should sit this person down and talk to them about what is going on.

“Hey babe, I’ve been having these crazy dreams where the Earth crumbles from under you and you disappear in a sea of white.

But Darien, isn’t that an orgasm?” XD I digress.

Um but, yea, you talk it out with a person. If the trust between Usagi and Mamoru was genuine - then honesty certainly would have been the best policy. I don’t care how much you love a person - you don’t hurt them to “protect” them unless they’re a drug addict. That entire arc, we watch as Darien plays hot and very cold with poor Usagi over something he easily could have explained with words.

"Hey babe. Love you a lot but until we figure out what’s going on, let’s spend some time apart.

"No Darien I love you! I’m not going anywhere!

"Love you too, but I’m locking my door now. Kay Thnx Bye. "

Or how about

"Serena, I’m having these nutso dreams where this voice is telling me to stay away from you so you don’t get hurt…so you know what. I’m going to keep you even closer to me to make sure that doesn’t happen."

I mean for the second half of the season that’s basically what happened, so why couldn’t he have done that from the start?

It’s stupid and illogical.

After all, if a few bad dreams were all it took to get Darien to drop Serena, maybe Diamond should have diverted to that tactic himself.

AND FURTHERmore!!! When has it ever been okay to test someone’s love?!

In fact, testing someone’s love is one of the worst things you can EVER do in a relationship. It shows a major lack of trust. It’s insulting to your partner, manipulative, and shows that you yourself cannot be trusted.

So why the King would take such a course of action in the first place is hella sketchy.

He explains his reasoning saying, 'the overlords of the Negaverse will try to turn you against each other' and he needed to test their trust.

So anyway, after like what, 14… 15 episodes of watching Darien treat Serena like crap, they get back together and then in comes this wicked sexy prince. He’s got that bishi swag, wine glass in hand, laid back, legs crossed on that hideous blue/green throne…

Now, I’ve already listed the ways in which Diamond behaved awfully (kidnapping, forceful kissing, creepy comments) but his obsession with Serenity was well juxtaposed against Darien’s season of assholetry.

Yes he was creeptastic and intense… or sexy and passionate (sorry my fan girl slipped out) but after seeing the door slammed in Serena’s face, seeing the girl abandoned in the grocery store, seeing her played by Darien when Andrew’s sister was on his motorcycle… ugh, the list goes on… it was interesting to see someone who actually gave two shits about Usagi , verses claiming to love her while continuously mistreating her. .

But OG Serena-Chan, Diamond did not Love* Serena, he simply was obsessed with Neo Queen Serenity. She was an obstacle for him to conquer.

To some degree yes and totally. However what is really dynamic, and maybe this only applies to the anime, is that by the end , that fool loved her because he died for her. And he did not die for Neo Queen Serenity. He died for Usagi/Serena. He didn’t know her? Well he went on about her big heart and kind soul. He talked about wishing to learn from her. He watched her like a Big Brother After Dark episode so he probably knew a lil more about her than we see. I mean…You can 100 percent debate if it was love, but his, “sorry I lied” and his ultimate sacrifice…. seems legit.

Now, for those who say this is a bullshit rant and have already begun searching my Tumblr for pictures of crack pipes and bath salts, call off your dogs! The Negamoon family was influenced and effected by the dark crystal. We know with Emerald, it boosted her jealousy. We know with Wicked Lady, it encouraged her hate. Is it such a stretch to assume with Demando, it ramped up his need for power and control? So much to the point of having him kidnap and I don’t know try to forcefully kiss someone?

Bullshit you say? Still inexcusable.

Any character who would raise his hand to another woman is just as unforgivable, whether under the influence of “negative” energy or not?

Got it.

——-

Now let’s get to my most outrageous claim.

That Prince Diamond/ Demando is one of the most intriguing character in all of Anime. He is. Here’s why (and I think Naoko Takeuchi did this on purpose)

The story we get about the Black Moon family is so Orwellian, it’s unreal. Since these people refused “cleansing” they were banished to a “planet”, called nemesis (dude did you guys flip your shit when they discovered Eris(cough Nemesis) in 2005???) as far as far can get from the Sun.

This is why I love this arc. That story alone is so open to interpretation. Imagine some cult or some Aliens from the moon take over Earth and the leader comes to you and says, hey you, if you want live here, you need to let us…. cleanse you.

UMMMM…..

So many other stories and anime’s come to mind (1984, Naruto, Berserk, Elfen Lied, Ghost in the Shell, Stepford Wives ) but the one that stands out most in my mind in relation to this issue is a little anime called Psycho-pass.

I won’t spoil anything, but the villain’s motivations in that show are really an embodiment of the Nemsisian people’s plight. When you find out why that person is doing what they are doing… they become a very empathetic character. While you may not agree with his methods, you could talk for hours about the moral ambiguity of the situation at hand.

In relation to Sailor moon, who are Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion and or the Scouts to determine that people need “cleansing” from the silver crystal? That is a part of this story that I NEVER liked. It’s almost like getting some kind of care bear lobotomy. A wave of the wand and you’re all light and goodness?

No.

What makes humans , human are our hearts and our minds and all the good and bad things that come along with them. This notion that people who refuse “cleansing” are banished to another planet is crazy. It’s so Stalin. It’s so Putin. It’s so Mao. It’s so Hitler. It’s so cult. It’s so disturbing! (I don’t say this to minimize these dictators’ evil, but to express that the notion of, “be cleanse or GTFO” is a totalitarian tactic. so no offense intended everyone)

I think this is why people like or rather love the Negamoon family or hate them. Most fans I know are pretty polarized on the issue. They stand for humanity. They stand for purity, and not in the way Serena does. They are REAL, as in real characters, with real flaws and passions. Demando is love struck and power hungry to the point of delusion. Emerald is love struck, insecure and jealous to the point of conceit. Saffir is brilliant but throws his infinite wisdom aside due to love for his brother. Rubeus is a master manipulator out to prove himself. They aren’t heroes but they are human* and that’s what makes for a great story.

The Black Moon family isn’t just out to take over Earth because they are “evil” . It was at one time their home. Simply because they rebelled against the powers at be they were sent away; punished for wishing to remain pure. There is duality in their story. I feel like you can relate and get behind their cause, especially with so many plot gaps left between the present and the future storyline.

They are “villains” you can get behind.

Rebels.

Underdogs.

Outlaws…

——

Why I ship Usagi x Diamond?

Innocence vs. Corruption This theme is one of the most common and classic pairing in Literature. From the moment we meant Diamond he was virtually dripping with sex. He is lusty and suave, classy and a (dastardly) gentleman.

He has that whole vampire allure about him. While we can’t assume anything I imagine he doesn’t typically have to force himself on any chicks, cause he doesn’t have to! Prince Diamond is a powerful dangerous dude, with a serious hard on for Usagi. There is allure in dangerous men. Point blank. period.

In addition to the Innocence vs Corruption thing, they’re actual personalities would be a blast to write/read in fanficton and imagine. It’s a fic I’ve always meant to write, but if I don’t finish the Naruto fanfics I’ve started , the entire fandom might kill me. Imagine Diamond actually getting to know the real Serena vs Serenity. She is brash, unpolished, unrefined ; everything her future self is not. There is a plot of gold there.

Then there’s the whole her positive influence on him… teaching him about life and love etc. It’s cute.

There is the underlying hate/ tension of her being Serenity.

There are a billion reasons to ship the two!

In summary, Prince Diamond did some awful things while under the influence of Wiseman and the Dark Crystal. Would he have done the same without being under than influence we don’t know. I can understand and respect anyone thinking him awful or a horrible character, but it’s just bad decorum to go around hating on anyone’s fandom. However, everyone does have the right to say wtf they want. Darien did some messed up shit too under the influence of negative energy, and I don’t see him getting half the hate Diamond gets.

So I say in defense of the prince, chill the fuck out peeps. It’s not so unfathomable that people like Prince Diamond…

whew….