I’m rewatching inuyasha and have no one to talk to about the fact that Kagura should have lived and by doing so the entire Sessh/Rin weirdness could have been completely avoided. Like I have trouble picturing Kagura pregnant but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen and half the time in fairy tales of all locales the kids pop out of the dad’s migraine or some shit and honestly they’d also make amazing godparents (or whatever the equivalent is) to a half dozen adopted mortals and their bloodlines. I’m mad about it and commenting on ao3 fics for this fandom is like screaming into the void.
How much he does? He throws a flower and talks.
There are so many times where the Scouts would straight-up die and/or Negaverse cronies would win the day if he didn’t show up, throw a flower and talk. Enough times to the point where I wondered “Hey, wtf is the message here exactly?”
The message is “we need a deus ex machina right about here.”
Yes, but in a show with major themes about women’s empowerment it’s a weird device to lean on that much.
To be fair, the manga is much better in that regard. Tuxedo mask is actually very useful and might have a better character arc than Usagi herself, being that he starts out as a guy who just dresses up to someone with some powers who still feels inferior to his super badass gf whom he feels he is only holding back, to actually having a crystal of his own and some deep shit crazy powers. I’m not so sure it was supposed to be about empowerment as much as we want to read onto it. Same with all the sapphic views on it, claiming everyone there is gay or at least bi. Have it your way and read into it what you want, but I don’t think it was the actual intention of the creators, neither Naoko nor the anime studio.
I mean they literally give the girls manicures in their transformations, although they wear gloves - simply because the executives planned to market nail polish.
Both the seshi and tuxedo mask have episodes where they are vital though. I hate when he is called a damsel in distress as much as when the senshi are reduced to bystanders. Within the format and with the target audience, with the ease of production goals, I honestly think it is ok to not have them all kick ass every episode.
Sincerely, a huge Sailor Moon fan who is currently rewatching with their daughter. (The pegasus storyline is awful in the anime so far but it might be the best one in the manga.)