Sailor Moon
Hey everyone! We've reached the end of the Nephrite arc and my least favorite episode of "Sailor Moon." In fact, as I write this I'm in comment back and forth with someone about the shitty, toxic relationship at this episodes heart. Fun!
"Wish Upon a Star: Naru's First Love"
Sailor Moon: "Hold it right there! How dare you take advantage of a young girl's love?! I'll arrest you for your sneaky scam."
Nephrite: "You'd better back off!"
Sailor Moon: "I am the pretty guardian who fights for love and for justice! I am Sailor Moon! And in the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
Naru is fully obsessed with Nephrite's civilian identity, Masato Sanjouin. When Usagi finds out that she believes she's in love with him, the Guardians decide that Usagi has to warn Naru. With a push from Motoki and Mamoru, Usagi does just that. Nephrite believes the Legendary Silver Crystal is in Naru's family's jewelry store and uses her love for him to get her to retrieve it. When Sailor Moon intervenes, Naru stands by her man. Can the Guardians defeat Nephrite without hurting Naru?
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| This is not example of women supporting women. |
Ugh. Seriously. I hate this whole arc and I hate the people who apologize or make excuses for it. Nephrite is a grown ass man who is manipulating and lying to a 14 year old girl who clearly has feelings for him. It's gross. We'll get into that more the next episode, bu still.
I want to be clear, that none of this is Naru's fault. She's fourteen. Her brain hasn't fully developed and infatuation can feel like love, especially when someone is playing on that. Of course she feels that she's in love and he loves her. Why wouldn't he?
I really want to give it up for Usagi this episode, but she makes it so difficult. When the Guardians have their meeting about what to do about Naru and Nephrite, I think that Usagi has it right when she's trying to decide what to do. It's not black and white. The other girls and Luna are convinced she's going to fuck it up but at the same time they are pressuring her to make a decision. Come on, gals. It made sense to me that Usagi would go to Motoki and by extension Mamoru. She wants the male perspective on this and them reinforcing that he sounds like a creep and she should talk to Naru. Then, she goes to Naru, dumps everything on her and takes off without staying to console and talk to her friend. You were so close, Usagi. So. close.
It's too late anyway, because Naru is in too deep. She goes and steals the gem which isn't the crystal, and then stops Sailor Moon from attacking Nephrite, convinced he's a stand up dude even though he's literally trying to kill a super hero. Sigh.
Grade: C-
Naru's Tears: Nephrite Dies For Love"
Sailor Moon: "What am I going to do? Luna's going to be so mad at me?"
Tuxedo Mask: "You're a smart girl. I'm sure you'll figure something out. Farewell, Sailor Moon."
Sailor Moon: "Thank you for coming to save me."
The walls are closing in on Nephrite. Queen Beryl has given him one more chance to retrieve the Legendary Silver Crystal and Zoisite and his trio of youma are on his tail. The dark crystal leads him to Naru, who he initially believes has the LSC inside her. When it doesn't, he uses her to draw out Sailor Moon, believing she is friends with Sailor Moon's civilian identity. But Naru is still a girl in love and can her love redeem the irredeemable?
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| Silhouettes. |
The answer to that question is no. No it can't. Nephrite is irredeemable. Naru's love isn't real and is built on a tower of lies and manipulations he's told her. None of Nephrite's arc leading up to this hints that he was thinking about turning on Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom but suddenly he does and we are expected to believe it's because this girl who he has shown nothing but disdain for up to this point loves him or sees goodness in him? It's a no from me, dawg.
This whole thing is so contrived. The show clearly wanted to use the "love of a good woman turns a bad guy around" but it is just so, so contrived. This episode contains some of the worst dialogue present in the "Sailor Moon" series. I'm of course talking about the parfait conversation between Naru and Nephrite. It's so cringe-y and bad and just really reinforces how inappropriate this relationship is between a 14 year old girl and a man who looks, graciously, in his mid twenties. I hate it. They cut this out of the original American DiC dub and while I hate most of the changes, I heartily endorse this one.
I think a lot of the times the messages that "Sailor Moon" imparts are good ones, but in this case the message of "keep loving someone no matter how badly he treats you and eventually he'll see the error of his ways and die for you" is sloppy at best and dangerous at worst. Really, dying for Naru is the very least Nephrite can do and it doesn't make him a good guy or redeemed. This whole thing is gross and I really want to just stop talking about it and move on.
Grade: F
Next up, Usagi tries to confront Naru and we meet the next Sailor Guardian.
You know, normally I want your comments but this time I only want them if you hate this ship as much as me. Thanks. :-)
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