based on Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon episode 45: Sailor Senshi shisu! Hisou naru saishuusen.Well now, don't I feel foolish. One of the most important moments of Y&R History and I never knew about it when I opened the shrine. The only excuse I can offer is that I have not yet been able to lay my hands on a copy of this episode in the original, and have only gotten to see DiC's version, which is actually episodes 45 and 46, condensed and stuck together, so no wonder a lot got lost in the edit. (My general policy is not to bother getting mad at DiC because it's a waste of good bile, but I really wish they wouldn't have done this.) Moreover, for whatever reason, this incident is not reported in the summary posted on Hitoshi Doi's page, a rare lapse in his usual reliability. I learned of it only through the kindness of visitors who e-mailed me. This is what Kotori and Maendarin (arigato, you two!) tell me happened. (I got the two screenshots at Sailormoon Sailor Stars Screen Shots R, which sadly no longer exists.) As you probably know, this is the first of two episodes that mark the final climax of the first series of BSSM - and it's worth remembering that at the time, a second series was not yet planned. It's fair to assume that ideas presented in this episode were at that time the final word on issues confined to the anime. A portal opens into the Dark Kingdom and the Sailor Senshi prepare to enter and confront the evil that lurks within. Naturally they are nervous; are they ready for such a fight? Of the five who walk in, how many will be able to return? This is truly the Sailors' D-Day. (At least they won't have to save Private Ryan afterwards.) And the
whole thing is secret; if they die, no-one
will ever know what happened to them; if
they win, no-one will know what happened
anyway. Usagi has tried to say good-bye to
her family without saying good-bye, by
cooking them a special dinner. Now she
asks Rei whether she kissed Yuuichirou
good-bye, 'just in case.' Rei indignantly
replies (at volume number 11) 'There is no
"just in case"!' I realise that some of the things I say about Rei are not highly complimentary, but I definitely admire her defiance in refusing to admit the mere possibility that she may not be victorious. To hell with dying! It's
this very defiance, this confidence and
spunk, these qualities that, for me, are a
large part of what make Rei lovable, that
make her death later in the episode so
very tragic. After Sailorvenus' death,
only Sailormars and Sailormoon are left.
Sailormoon is distraught, despairing,
emotionally battered and unwilling to go
on. But the youma keep coming; someone has
to fight them, if Sailormoon is to reach
the heart of darkness and make a last
strike against the evil queen. Preparing
to go, Mars says 'I know we fought all the
time, but I really enjoyed the time I
spent with you. I had to say that, just in
case.' 'You
said there'd be no "just in case"!'
Sailormoon wails. It's too late. With
faith in herself and in her friend, Mars
goes to her destiny with fingers blazing.
And as she lies broken on the ice
afterwards, among her last thoughts is
regret that she didn't kiss
Yuuichirou. *wipes eyes* Well, what can I say? I suppose I can point out that this reinforces my theory that you can analyse Yuuichirou and Rei's relationship through its parallels with that of Rei and Usagi. And this is a clear, explicit sum-up from the anime staff of what they believe to be Rei's feelings about Yuuichirou. She does love him, in the romantic sense. She wishes she had done something about it, if only to make an ending, to give him something to remember her by if she can never see him again. Although it is the sacrifice of all the Senshi's young lives that moves Sailormoon not to kiss Tuxedo Kamen goodbye when he lies dying in episode 46, since she recalls that the other girls didn't get to kiss their first loves (Ami's Urawa Ryo, Makoto's sempai, Minako's Alan) before they gave up their lives for her, I think this conversation with Sailormars must have influenced her particularly. In episode 46, too, she has a brief flash of each of the Senshi saying something to do with love. Rei says 'Don't get me wrong, Yuuichirou means nothing to me' - but she blushes as she says it. Of course, that wasn't the end. The Senshi, like Tuxedo Kamen, were restored to life, with no memory of what they had endured as warriors (query: since Yuuichirou's arrival at the shrine was bound up in Dark Kingdom-related events, does this mean Rei can't remember how he got there?), by the power of the Moon Princess' ginzuishou. The story went on. And however weird Rei wants to be about the whole thing, we'll always know how she really feels. *^.^* Yuuichirou-Spotter's NoteView the screenshot album for this episode (opens new window)Yuuichirou makes one other appearance in the first season of BSSM that I only noticed recently when I was at home, sick, and watched all my old DiC tapes again, so hooray for the common cold, it makes you feel like crap but it gives you an excuse for this sort of thing. He doesn't affect the plot, but it shows that the animators don't forget about him in between Y/R relationship episodes. In episode 41, beloved of Sailormercury fans as the one where she kicks the evil Tuxedo Kamen's brainwashed ass, there are a couple of wintry establishing shots of Hikawa Jinja, where the Senshi are discussing what to do about Endymion rounding up the rainbow crystal carriers again. First you see Phobos and Deimos perching on the stone sign at the gate, then a shot of the yard, where, for your viewing pleasure, Grandpa and Yuuichirou (wearing dark jeans and a jacket, rather than his blue-and-white uniform) are diligently shovelling snow. Well, Yuuichirou's shovelling, Grandpa's sweeping; guess only one of them has the back for it. (Yuuichirou definitely has the butt for those jeans.) 
After the girls' conversation, Makoto and Ami leave together to look for Ami's friend Ryo, and as they walk out of the house you can see over Mako's shoulder that Grandpa and Yuuichirou are now having a snowball fight! You can't see it terribly well in this image because Mako is inconsiderately hogging the shot, but that's Yuuichirou just to the right of her hand, apparently having just biffed a frosty missile. 
I love silly background detail like this, and it's cool to see them having fun. Yuuichirou shouldn't have to be the dogsbody all the time! And we might've known that two guys like Yuuichirou and Grandpa couldn't stick to grunt-work for long without looking for a way to cut loose. The pictures come from the now defunct Sailor Moon Cel Gallery. |
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