Suburban Senshi Entry #2432 - “Taking it seriously! A thematic exploration of Sailormoon Cosmos!! (Kinda)”
#2432 “Taking it seriously! A thematic exploration of Sailormoon Cosmos!! (Kinda)”
@spritflame
*** welcome to #suburbansenshi-backrooms Log excerpt starts - 26 August 2024 12:38PM
@[ DR. XADiUM ]
So now that we're about two days out from the experience that was Sailormoon Cosmos, I was thinking we try to decode what was going on in those films
@SpeedRcrX
You mean other than "Takeuchi-sensei does a snuff film?"
Mizunomics01
And other than "watch as she completely flanderizes the Sailor Senshi?"
@[ DR. XADiUM ]
Yes. Yeah I mean taken on its own terms as a psychological narrative.
[gTV]Red_Crow
She's nuts. The end.
Number Three Animamate my ass ☠
@[ DR. XADiUM ]
SERIOUSLY you guys
FireFly_9
I'll bite.
Purely on its own terms, as presented, Cosmos is a nihilistic tale of confronting the abyss and what it means to live in the face of that.
Both Galaxia and Usagi are mirror reflections of trauma response.
Galaxia, it was heavily implied, suffered a great deal of abuse and possibly even physical violation in her youth. This caused her to awaken her power as a senshi, and from that moment on she embraced a path of violent subjugation and destruction with the goal of enforcing peace-through-domination, and crushing Chaos by enforcing her own form of order.
Usagi, on the other hand, is forced to experience extreme loss and trauma by the hands of Galaxia and her minions, and as opposed to her usual cheerful and optimisitic self, is broken to the point where her future self, now completely demoralized, believes the only way forward is the peace of the grave. That the only way to stop the endless cycle of violence is to kill everything via destroying the Cauldron.
In a very real sense, this represents ultimate death.
@SpeedRcrX
Which is why she was thinking of you LOL
FireFly_9
...I'll happily introduce you to the concept if you're curious, Haruka-poppa :P
@SpeedRcrX
Silly 'Taru you know I'm banned from the afterlife because Enma-daiou doesn't want to do all the paperwork taking me in would entail.
FireFly_9
That just means I can keep killing you over and over and over and over :3♥
@SpeedRcrX
...
FireFly_9
Anyway, in the story we are also presented with a secondary theme of what "existence" means in the context of beings with an immortal soul (as represented by the Sailor Crystal). If we take that concept as a stand-in for reincarnation, the philsophical question is "what does your life right now matter, if it's just a disposable thing that your soul uses to interact with the world?"
This gets hammered on a LOT when Sailor Phi and Galaxia go on and on about how the Senshi's bodies don't matter, since their essences are immortalized in the Sailor Crystal. That Usagi shouldn't care about the deaths of her friends because their bodies were meaningless and their souls still exist.
It's a perversely hopeful sentiment for those who cling more strongly to the concept of things being better in an afterlife or "the next life" versus what they have now.
Usagi even has a choice at the end, presented by the cauldron, to reincarnate everyone again, or to go back to the current life, filled with its possible travails and difficulties.
Ultimately, she chooses to endure the slings and arrows of the current life, affirming the importance of who we are in the here and now, even if ultimately it may end up being just a footnote in a longer metaphysical history. That the moments and struggles we share with one another at the present time are important and precious, and worth fighting for / enduring.
She explicitly rejects self-destruction and external destruction.
@Sakura X. Aino
Okay but how does that track with her definitively deciding to drop and dissolve in the Cauldron?
FireFly_9
Because, Sakura-chan, that was a leap of faith in service of continuing versus a suicidal leap. And if you permit me, taking symbolism into account, her dissolution represents the dissolution of her doubts and fears, and the dread that led to the mentality of Sailor Cosmos. She threw "herself" - her doubting, conflicted self - away, and emerged fromt he Cauldron reborn, reforged and ready to take on the future anew.
So, there is a story worth telling there. It's just too bad she decided to murder all of us to tell it. :P
// J_Daito //
She writes a story where we all get murdered viciously and gets paid for it. But if we write a story where she gets murdered viciously, suddenly the police are all involved and it's arrests, lawsuits and dunks on social media for decades.
IF I HAD ANY REGRETS ABOUT WHAT I'M GOING TO DO TO YOU I CERTAINLY DON'T NOW
@SpeedRcrX
Say again 134340?
setsy_meiou
*** setsy_meiou is away YOU JUST WAIT. YOU F[BLEEP]KING WAIT
@Sakura X. Aino
...and this, kiddos, is how timelines get f[BLEEP]ked riiiiight over.
@SpeedRcrX
Okay let me try AGAIN
Transformers bulls[BLEEP]t
@Paisley Pythia Peinforte
Oh the stuff X wastes all my money on
@[ DR. XADiUM ]
I WORK
@Paisley Pythia Peinforte
...At spending all my money.
@SpeedRcrX
So they wanted to do a Godzilla Minus One crossover
So they predictably retooled existing toys because who's going to spend all that cash making brand new molds for a niche crossover
So this is Optimus
Bland color scheme in robot mode and weird paint job on the truck but w/e
BUT THIS IS GODZILLA
(Supposed to be Megatron)
@[ DR. XADiUM ]
That... is the laziest repaint ever
@SpeedRcrX
ikr
Like... it's such a ripoff. The Shattered Glass Trypticon repaint had more work put into it
I mean they put some detailing ont he head. SOME
But like... this is not godzilla at ALL. IT's Grimlock with bad teeth after sticking his head in a Coal-fired oven.
// J_Daito //
@SpeedRcrX
YES! This "Megatron" doesn't even have a f[BLEEP]king arm cannon, and for GODZILLA, who shoots BEAMS from his FACE the Beast Wars design would have been PERFECT
Godot
So you Sailor Senshi people can shoot energy beams from your hands, right?
[gTV]C'est_la_V
Yup!
Godot
So can you shoot energy beams from your face?
[gTV]C'est_la_V
...
BIG_Green
I can.
@SpeedRcrX
ARE YOU A SAILOR SENSHI
BIG_Green
No.
@SpeedRcrX
THEN SHUT UP
Godot
Well, Haruka, can you?
FireFly_9
No please don't go down this road
@SpeedRcrX
* SpeedRcrX drinks several six packs of beers *
// J_Daito //
I hear her screaming
@SpeedRcrX
GUYS I TRIED TO SHOOT THE PLANET POWER OUT OF MY EYES LIKE SUPERMAN AND I THINK I'M BLIND
Mdm_Maestro
That's just the alcohol poisoning
FireFly_9
If you're blind, how did you type?
@SpeedRcrX
VOICE DICTATION YOU LITTLE SNOT
HELP ME
FireFly_9
I'm Forty Three Years old
@SpeedRcrX
NO YOU'RE NOT YOUR F[BLEEP]KING AGES CHANGES EVERY TIME WE SEE YOU
THIS IS WHY YOU CAN'T GET A DATE BECAUSE A GUY COULD WAKE UP NEXT TO A FIVE YEAR OLD AND THEN IT'S CHRIS HANSEN TIME
FireFly_9
....I can't help it that my age spontaneously varies T_T
But I was born in 1981!
@SpeedRcrX
ANYWAY I'M BLIND PLEASE HELP ME
// J_Daito //
*** // J_Daito // is away I'll help you... to reduce the weight of your wallet
@SpeedRcrX
NO HE'S GOING TO ROB ME AND I CAN'T FIGHT BACK KAMI-SAMA I SUMMONED THE SPACE SWORD AND JAMMED IT IN MY FOOEREWRDFDSFZDCcxop'
Mizunomics01
...I'll get the hospital on the line.
@spritflame
Log excerpt ends - 26 August 2024 10:33PM Thanks to SenshiGuardian for the hot tip on the janky Godzilla x Transformers Merch!