Life Goes On
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Naru is always bright and cheerful... like the sun. I keep making a dork of myself, and I probably don't deserve her. Why is she with me? It might just be God's whim. I'm just happy to see Naru's smile. She has the smile of an angel. For the sake of that beautiful smile, I would give up my life. - Umino Gurio, Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon episode 95 |
Uminogotchi, your virtual boyfriend! |
When Nephrite died, Naru was heartbroken. However, of the many truths that become obvious when you lose someone you love, one of the most pressing is that although they are dead, you are not. You have to go on. (And hide the blue diamond from your beastly fiancé - no, wait, that's Titanic.)
And Naru, with typical courage, has gotten on with her life. Which brings me to a rather interesting subject: Umino Gurio. My theory is that at some time in her life, Takeuchi Naoko was traumatised by someone with bad hair and thick glasses, and has attempted to exorcise the experience by ridiculing him through art. Either that, or she just thinks nerds are funny. (DiC sure do. Their Melvin, voiced by Roland Parliament, is one of the jewels of the Sailor Moon dub. Or maybe I just think so because I love people who say 'Hi-de-ho!' and 'Cheery-bye!')
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It can take a while to appreciate a boy like Umino. |
Among Aino Minako's classmates in Code Name wa Sailor V, the forerunner to Sailormoon, is a boy called Amano who looks uncannily like Umino. He has a crush on Minako, not unlike Umino's initial crush on Usagi, and gets caught up in some of Sailor V's adventures. And if you check out the Chibi-Usa's Picture Diary manga side story, you'll see that there's a younger boy called Sorano built on much the same lines. These boys are always a source of gossip and information for the heroines. I just find it weird that the same character type keeps cropping up... |
Although the manga Umino is limited to being comic relief and conveniently knowing useful stuff, in the anime Umino gets to be more than a geek archetype. In episode 26, he and Usagi go to Naru's house to try and cheer her up - she hadn't been to school since Nephrite died. Of course, Umino didn't know the full story, and the conversation at Naru's went
Umino: I thought you were sick, but maybe you just had a broken heart.
Usagi (quickly hits Umino): Can't you think of anything else to say?
Umino: Let's go out for chocolate parfait! (gets whacked by Usagi again)
A Fawltyesque level of tact there - don't mention the war! Later, the three went to Chinatown in Yokohama, and wandered into a Catholic cemetery. Umino wanted to hit the restaurants, but Naru mused 'There are so many tombs here... but Nephrite doesn't have one.'
A young priest was in the cemetery, and Naru talked to him about what had happened: 'He suffered so much, but I couldn't help him.' She was still carrying around the bandage she had torn from her pajama jacket. The priest tried to reassure her that she could not have done any more for Nephrite, and said he was sure he was saved. Naru said she felt she had nothing left.
'Someone will come along,' the priest said.
Cue Zoisite. (I don't like him one little bit, but I'll admit his timing is impeccable.)
Naru recognised Zoisite, and when he produced the kurozuishou in order to transform the priest (a crystal carrier, of course), tried to take it back from him. At this point, I can't imagine her pain - face to face with Nephrite's murderer, seeing him use something of Nephrite's to do still more harm. Naru, of course, couldn't fight someone like Zoisite, so it was a good thing Sailormoon turned up.
In the ensuing dust-up, which I have to say was pretty stupid-looking given the nature of the priest's demonic form - half boxer, half giant chicken - Naru could have been injured, as Boxy (cute name) attacked her - but Umino managed to bear her out of harm's way. (Yay!) The fight was eventually won, with help from Sailorjupiter and Tuxedo Kamen (no, I'm not going to describe it more fully, I'm a very bad battle reporter), and the priest was returned to human form.
Back in Normality, Naru and Umino found that he had hurt his arm saving her. Naru bound it with the pajama bandage. 'I'm sorry I made you worry. I'm going back to school tomorrow.'
(Based on a summary from Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon)
I suppose there's an agreeable absurdity to the idea of Umino taking Nephrite's place so symbolically, but there's also a real sweetness to it. This brings me to another of my recurring obsessions, the anime versus the manga. In the first issue of MixxZine, Takeuchi Naoko says she thinks 'the anime has a slight male perspective to it, since much of the staff was male. My original version was written by a girl (me) for girls...' Looking at the most significant ways in which the anime differs from the manga, it starts to look as though the 'male perspective' takes the form of two attitudes:
1. It's worthwhile to give people a second chance. Forgiveness is valuable, and even apparently really bad people can be redeemed. Consider the treatment of characters like Nephrite, Cooan, Sapphire and Fish Eye. In the manga they are all straightforward villains who are destroyed without mercy. The anime has greater scope for character development and moral ambiguity, and uses it very effectively in these cases. For me, these stories of redemption through love are among the most moving and well-made in the whole series. The concept hardly exists in the manga.
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2. Ordinary people can be pretty cool, and in fact may be valuable because of their ordinariness. Look at Umino - he's not heroic, he can be pretty dorky at times, but he is truly good-hearted. One of the best episodes for Umino fans is Sailormoon #32, in which he tries to act as chivalrous protector to Naru. Three words, people: Tuxedo Umino Kamen. The results are predictably awful, and Naru, who at this stage is unwilling to admit that Umino is actually her boyfriend, is annoyed and embarrassed. However, in the end she's impressed by his devotion. You gotta love a person who faces down a youma armed only with fried shrimp. It's that quixotic combination of the ordinary world and the heroic spirit that's so cute about Umino! (Yes, I like Joxer too. Why do you ask? *^.^*) |
'Umino, are you out here LARPing again?' |
Hmm. I'm not sure why this should be a 'male perspective.' Maybe I've misunderstood, and Naoko-sensei was talking about the panty shots... *^.^*
In Sailormoon S #95 it's revealed that Umino, like Rei's Yuuichirou, has a 'pure heart.' This is a sweet, goofy episode that really sums up what Umino and Naru's relationship is all about. You'll find an illustrated summary at Castle in the Sky - Sailor Moon, which I warmly recommend.
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Aww *^.^* |
That Naru has really accepted Umino as her boyfriend, and that she loves him, is proven in Sailormoon SuperS #131, in which she's courted by the handsome but shallow Tiger's Eye of the Amazon Trio. (Of course he's only interested in one thing. I mean her dream mirror - what were you thinking? *^.^*) Naru feels sorry for Tiger when he claims to be terminally ill and asks her to be his girlfriend for his remaining three months of life, but it's Umino she cares about. (Tiger simply can't believe that she could prefer ordinary ol' Umino to his beautiful self. Indeed, Tiger's Eye looks a little like Nephrite, although his hair is more red-gold than auburn, and he's a heckuva lot dumber.) |
When Naru explains the situation to Umino, he says of course she must comfort Tiger (believing that this must be what Naru really wants to do) and runs off in floods of tears (I didn't know anyone but Usagi could burst into tears like that) to drown his sorrows in milkshakes. Fifteen of them.
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And Naru, to her credit, goes back to Tiger's Eye and tells him she doesn't think this is a good idea. When he tries to kiss her, she pushes him away. Well, you can only hurt Tiger's Eye's pride so many times before he gets nasty. Fortunately, the Sailor Senshi are able to save Naru from him, and the next day she goes to see Umino, who is not at all well following his overindulgence. She brings him a present - another milkshake! (Sadist *^.^*) You can see an illustrated summary of this episode at Sailormoon SuperS Online - highly recommended! (For people who don't hate SuperS, anyway.) |
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In a perfect world, of course I would like Naru and Nephrite to be able to be together. But as things stand, I think she's enormously lucky to have Umino. He's ordinary, he's real, and he truly loves her. Her acceptance of him marks her return to the ordinary world, after a brief soujourn in the world of the heroes and villains.
I've also heard that Naoko has gone on record as saying that she thinks once Umino grows up a little and stops wearing such awful glasses (and, I might submit, finds a parting in his hair) he'll really be a bit of all right. So all those who feel Naru is getting short-changed in the looks department, just give him a few years, some decent-looking frames or contact lenses, and you may have to revise your opinions!
'He may be an embarrassing goober, but he's myembarrassing goober and I love him.'