Supplemental 2Based on Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon R episode 63: Onnaha tsuyoku utsukushiku! Rei no shin hissatsu waza. View the screenshot album for this episode (opens new window) Acknowledgement: the first two screenshots in this synopsis are used with kind permission from the webmistress of eternal-moon.org. If you want to use them for something else, ask her - politely. 'You
know, you can buy magazines for
that.' Yuuichirou
plays only a minor role in this episode,
which centres on Rei and her Grandpa. But
you know where Grandpa is active,
Yuuichirou will be too - such is the duty
of a loyal sidekick. This is the episode
in which Grandpa sets up a women's
self-defence training centre at Hikawa
Jinja, mainly because he likes looking at
girls in leotards. Yeesh...
still, this episode is rather fun. Grandpa
and Yuuichirou go out on the street trying
to recruit women for the centre. Grandpa
can't persuade anyone to join up; all the
girls he approaches think he's a horrible
little man. Well, he is! He's reduced to
letting Chibi-Usa join. (She wants to
learn how to beat Usagi up, in revenge for
a spanking administered that morning.
You've gotta love her for being so evil,
so young *^.^*) Suddenly there's a thunder
of approaching feet and a jubilant
Yuuichirou appears at the head of a crowd
of enthusiastic girls. He does have a
certain charm, doesn't he? Even though in
this scene he's wearing what he must think
are his good clothes, a powder-blue suit
with a skinny tie. 'EEEEEEEEE!
He's so CUUUUUUUTE!' Later
on, Cooan (Catsy, DiCers), who has come to
the centre with a youma in tow, challenges
Grandpa to get involved in the wrestling,
although only Yuuichirou was supposed to
be the coach. Grandpa, of course, is
tempted. Rei sticks up for Yuuichirou,
pointing out his loyalty to Grandpa, but
the lure of lycra proves too strong and
Yuuichirou leaves, crestfallen. Rei is
furious, saying she's lost all respect for
her grandfather, and it is only when she
realises he is in danger that she can put
her anger aside to rescue him. As I said,
it's about Rei and her
Ojii-chan. Throughout this episode, Rei comes in for a lot of teasing from Usagi, who keeps insisting that her concern about the centre must be because Yuuichirou, 'the one you love,' is getting a raw deal. Rei denies this categorically, of course. It's also a good episode for ogling Yuuichirou, who is revealed to be very nicely packed in his wrestling tights and leotard - previously, we've only seen him in jeans or shrine robes, so for all we know he could be quite flabby and unappealing, but this episode reveals the physique of a fit and muscular (but not musclebound - yuk) young man. In my obsession with detail, I note that Yuuichirou has a little hair under his arms, which disqualifies him from true bishounen status, but I like biseinen better anyway *^.^* One likes to have a certain assurance of the presence of testosterone. Isn't
it odd how the same pose can be so much
cuter on a different person? I guess
Chibi-Usa just doesn't do it for
me. It's nice to see Yuuichirou's popular with the ladies, and I was glad to see Rei defending him. She'll do it again before the R season is over! True LoveBased on Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon R episode 70: Ai no honoo no taiketsu! Mars vs. Cooan. This is one of the great Rei-and-Yuuichirou episodes, besides being one of a sequence dealing with redemption through trust and love, one of my favourite themes in BSSM (and one that is present to a much lesser extent in the manga, another reason for my anime preference). I know it's partly because in a weekly TV series you just have more time to play with characters than in a monthly comic book story, but I really like the amount of attention supporting characters like Naru, Umino, Motoki and of course Yuuichirou get. And this development can lead to great things, like the story I'm chronicling here, or the beautiful, bittersweet tale of Naru and Nephrite (see Greenstone). When I first got to read the manga, I couldn't believe that story wasn't in it! And in the manga, if you're a villain, you get killed. No chance for redemption, no mercy. Very Old Testament! But I'm getting way off track. Let me synopsise. Who
doesn't like shopping? It must have been a
good day for it, because both Cooan and
Rei were undergoing intensive retail
therapy. Rei had Yuuichirou in tow,
labouring under a huge, teetering pile of
boxes and bags, while she carried her
purse. Oh well; I guess if someone gives
you the opportunity to exploit his good
nature, it's churlish to refuse, right?
Unfortunately, Yuuichirou couldn't see
where he was going, leading to a head-on
collision when Cooan, dressed in ordinary
clothes, stepped out of a shop doorway
carrying her own loot. Cooan tore a strip
off Yuuichirou, who was apologetically
picking up all her stuff, and gave it back
to her. She stalked off, thinking 'Loser!'
I think she meant 'gentleman.' Both
Yuuichirou and Rei recognised her as the
strange woman who had made trouble at the
self-defence centre; Rei, especially, felt
suspicious. 'She
went thataway.' Cooan, of course, had her own relationship problems - like Yuuichirou, she was knocking her brains out to please someone who seemed not to appreciate all her trouble. On returning to the Dark Moon spaceship, she found Rubeus waiting for her with a mission, to intercept the Rabbit at Hikawa Jinja that afternoon, according to the Wiseman's forecast of her whereabouts. Cooan had brought him a present, a small bottle of perfume. (The look on her face as she offers it to him is very sweet.) Rubeus looked at it blankly before crushing the bottle in one hand, and dropping the pieces contemptuously. Poor Cooan only wanted to make him happy. (Sorry as I am for her, I have to wonder what Cooan saw in Rubeus. I always thought he was a prat, even by villain standards. His hair grows straight up.) Back in her street clothes (so much more flattering than that astonishing turtleneck-tutu outfit she wears for fighting), Cooan made her way to Hikawa Jinja, where she bought a fortune paper from Yuuichirou. (It would have been difficult not to buy something, given his, uh, enthusiastic sales pitch. Another reason I love Yuuichirou: he always does his best, and he is not just hanging out at the shrine to ogle Rei, he's doing his job.) It told her she would be lucky in love; 'long-awaited' feelings would come through. This perked her up no end, and when she checked in with Rubeus via a communicator hidden in a powder compact, he encouraged her to do her best. On lowering the compact, Cooan was treated to the lovely sight of Rei pursuing Yuuichirou, wielding a yard broom, fixing to beat the crap out of him for not having done his chores yet. She wondered why he would go through so much for a girl who didn't care for him. Stupid, right? She'd never let herself get jerked around that way. Later
that day, while Usagi and Rei were reading
manga and sniping at each other in Rei's
room (Rei, pretty reasonably, objects to
Usagi showing up uninvited just to read
the comics that she can afford to
buy because she saves her allowance for
them, rather than blowing it on video
games and junk food), Cooan turned up
disguised as a cosmetics saleswoman, and
they came out onto the verandah to peruse
her wares. 'Most
amusing!' (There's a lovely gag here that would have been hard to translate in English - I only understand part of it in Japanese. Cooan makes some flattering remark to Rei and Usagi, possibly similar to the dub line 'you could both be models,' and they're like 'Do you really think so, oba-san!?' She sweatdrops slightly and repeats 'oba-san?' The joke is, in Japanese, if you're speaking politely to a person older than you whose name you don't know, you'll probably pick a family title to call them by. If it's an older girl or young woman, you'll call her onee-san, 'big sister.' If it's a woman in the same sort of age group as your mother, you'll call her oba-san, 'aunt.' So, although Rei and Usagi are speaking politely, they've unconsciously insulted Cooan with the implication that she's old enough to be their mother. Jokes really aren't funny when you explain them, are they? Oh well, I laughed when I was watching it.) 'Will
this make my eyes look bigger?'
What
better opportunity for a little girl talk?
While she demonstrated products, Cooan
asked the girls if they had boyfriends,
and Rei seized the opportunity to point
out that Usagi's relationship with Mamoru
was more or less down the toilet. (This,
to refresh your memory, was during his 'I
must dump you from a height without
explanation for your own good' phase.)
Usagi said that she loved Mamoru, and
still believed in him. (Awww!) Tangent: Here I notice a really weird and biased discrepancy between the original and the DiC dub. According to Doi, Rei agreed with Usagi that believing in the person you loved was the most important thing, and encouraged her to have faith in herself, too. DiC's Raye launched into a bitchy little spiel about how Serena had 'treated Darien badly' (when, precisely? That's not just out of character, it's poor continuity) so it was no wonder he'd dumped her. Does Raye give anyone else the impression of suffering from PMS thirty days a month? A perfectly good opportunity to show the kind, supportive side of her character and they deliberately discard it to have her say something hateful. You've got to wonder about these people's agenda. Okay,
tangent over. Cooan disagreed with Rei,
and said what really mattered was how much
the other person loved and worshipped you.
Rei and Usagi were a little weirded out by
her vehemence, and Rei said she didn't
want to buy any makeup. (And may I just
say that she is perfectly lovely without
it. Fourteen-year-old girls who wear more
than the lightest touch of makeup - e.g.
tinted lipgloss - generally look dreadful
and trampy anyway.) Cooan asked if there
was a little girl in the house, since she
had a special line of products for them.
Rei said 'no,' and Cooan left, resolving
to lie in wait for the Rabbit. 'Uhh...
you've scared my friend and made her face
go weird. I'll have to ask you to
leave.' As Usagi left the shrine, Chibi-Usa arrived to play with Rei. They met on the steps, and Usagi warned Chibi-Usa not to wander around where she wasn't wanted. Chibi-Usa pointed out she was an invited guest , unlike some bunnies she could mention, and pulled a face at Usagi, who fumed at her and called her 'kawaiikunai' - that is, 'You're not being cute, you know!' 'Get
away from her, you bitch!' </Ripley> Usagi,
however, had to run to catch her bus, so
Chibi-Usa reached the top of the steps by
herself, making it easy for Cooan to
pounce and grab her. Of course, you can't
do that sort of thing in a well-run Shinto
shrine; Yuuichirou saw what was happening
and whacked her with the yard broom. (You
go, Yuuichirou!) No
doubt attracted by the sound of blows
falling and cries of pain (I'm just being
mean here!) Rei came running, and Cooan
shot a gout of Dark Fire at her. Rei
dodged, but stumbled and fell. Cooan
flamed at her again, but as he always
does, always will, Yuuichirou threw
himself in the way and took the full force
of the attack. 'Hey! Only I abuse the beatnik!' (There's
a great little sequence of action-still
shots of Yuuichirou and Rei being thrown
about by the blasts. In one, Rei is up in
the air over Yuuichirou's head, so he has
an excellent clear view of her bottom
[she's wearing shorts, get that look
off your face] and judging by the look
on his face, he's noticed *^.^*
Gotta love it when the animators throw in
stupid little details like that.) The two
of them collapsed on the ground;
Yuuichirou was battered and shaking.
Cooan, incredulous, asked 'Why do you do
that for a girl that doesn't love
you?' Yuuichirou
said 'Because I love
her.' Scuse me while I blow my nose. Cooan couldn't believe Yuuichirou would take this punishment to protect someone he loved. Yuuichirou lost consciousness. There's a nice, simple equation that villains would do well to learn: Yuuichirou's passed out = Rei's pissed off. Ooh, Cooan's gonna burn. Fight fire with fire, right?
Mars Power time. Burning Mandala vs. Dark Fire didn't get them anywhere much, so Cooan went back to basics and whacked Sailormars, knocking her down, then flew up in the air to scorch her opponent from above. Sailormars managed to protect Yuuichirou from this blast, but one of her legs was badly injured. Cooan scoffed at Mars' attempts to keep Yuuichirou safe, but she replied that Cooan would understand if she knew what it was like to love someone. If she knew...? Rei, are you saying...?
'Yuuichirou and I love each other as friends!' Shyeah, right... Unfortunately, my speculations were cut off by Cooan remembering Rubeus, turning her back on Sailormars, and heading over to the unconscious Chibi-Usa, planning to finish her off. Tuxedo Kamen got there first, scooping up Chibi-Usa and boinging away (how does he jump like that? Is he part kangaroo?), and when Cooan tried to give chase, another Burning Mandala hit her, knocking her to the ground. As she struggled to get back up, Rubeus appeared, wanting to know whether the Rabbit was dead yet. (Bosses can be so picky about deadlines. Hey! Rubeus is a Pointy-Haired Boss, like in Dilbert!) Cooan explained Sailormars had stopped her, and expected that Rubeus would help her. Poor silly Cooan... you can't put your faith in a man like that. Rubeus saw no reason to help a failure. Cooan had thought that he loved her; now he said he would never be so stupid as to love anybody. (D'ya think it would have been overkill if he'd spat on her a little at this point?) In a cold twist on her present to him, he gave her a 'present': a bomb, with which to kill the Rabbit. (Well, Chibi-Usa can be very tenacious. It probably would take a couple of sticks of gelignite to shift her.) Broken-hearted,
Cooan accepted the only thing Rubeus would
give her, despite Sailormars' pleas to
throw it away. Suddenly the bomb was
whipped out of Cooan's hands by the Venus
Love-Me Chain, and harmlessly detonated in
the air by a blast of Sparkling Wide
Pressure. (I always wonder about the
'wide' part.) The other Senshi closed in
around Cooan; with no way out, she
attacked them desperately, wildly.
Sailormars, watching her from the ground,
pitied her. As Sailorjupiter delivered a
vicious kick to Cooan's midsection, to
everyone's astonishment, Mars flung
herself in the way, shielding Cooan with
her own already-injured body. 'Aren't
you that chick that tried to, like, kill
us?' Lying
huddled on the ground with the enemy who
had chosen to protect her, Cooan asked
why. Rei said 'Because you know love.' She
offered Cooan a second chance, to be her
true self, and to have friends. Cooan
accepted, and was healed by Sailormoon's
ginzuishou, regenerating into pure human
form. After
that, it looks like she really did become
an Avon lady! Yuuichirou, swathed
mummy-style in bandages from head to foot,
recognised her on a return visit, but Rei,
on crutches, reassured him that everything
was fine. Another sweet episode, ladies and germs. Stronger hints than ever that Rei truly loves Yuuichirou; I guess the eternal question is why she does nothing about it when no-one is trying to incinerate him. Perhaps she just doesn't feel ready; avoiding romance, like her manga incarnation, because she can't trust a man with her heart. Or is it true that she believes their love is simply friendship? At least she admits there islove between them, and friendship is a healthy root from which deeper love and companionship can grow. When you love someone, you make yourself vulnerable to a world of pain as well as joy. If Rei is afraid of this, I can't blame her; this whole episode demonstrates it, as does the series as a whole, through the story of Usagi and Mamoru, or that of Luna and Kakeru in the Sailormoon S movie. The question is, does the good outweigh the bad? Usagi and Luna both thought it did, and went for it no matter how much it hurt. Rei has a tendency to see life in terms of absolutes; perhaps when she grows up a little more she'll have a greater appreciation of the need for balance and compromise. |
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