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A while ago now, someone started a discussion on the Sailor Moon Fans LJ about a scene in S - the one in the top three pictures, when Michiru and Haruka are first introduced. Minako ask Michiru, “Are you Haruka’s lover?” with Michiru replying “no”, and the person was interested in why. My theory is kind of strengthened by this later scene.
For starters, in that scene, the question wasn’t quite so straight-forward. Usagi added the restriction, “Please answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’!”. So, it’s different from Michiru just flatly denying they were in a relationship; she was denying that they were lovers. When given a choice between “yes” or “no”, “yes” means that they are only lovers, but “no” is the only one that can mean “we’re much more”.
In the next scene from a later episode, if you’re not familiar with it/have forgotten, Haruka and Michiru have entered a gaudy “true love” sort of contest/live game show (I’m not sure why; possibly they are vampires who feed off others’ imperfection). In this part of the game, the men (“men”) were asked to identify their partner from only their hands. When Haruka chooses Michiru’s hand, the announcer asks her to shout out her lover’s name, to which Haruka takes offense. She’s not trying to deny that they’re a couple so much as she is objecting to the idea that her relationship with Michiru can be defined by something as mundane as “lovers”. The word in Japanese - koibito - just means “person you love”, and it’s not as intimate as the English term “lover” is; more comparable to boyfriend/girlfriend/sweetheart/etc. I think Michiru and Haruka believe that they are fated to be together, linked by destiny, that their relationship is unique and special and goes much much beyond just “this is the person I love”, and becomes “this is the person whom I am destined to be with, by fate and duty, in our past life and our next”. So I think both of them laugh internally at the idea of describing themselves as “lovers”.
Anyway, so that’s why I think Michiru said ‘no’.
Usagi: Cracks the biggest, cheesiest grin. It looks silly but it makes everyone laugh, including the photographer.
Ami: They all turn out perfect but rather identical.
Makoto: Super nervous in front of the camera. Can’t relax and isn’t a good enough actor to fake it, so all her photos end up with a weird, uncomfortable smile.
Minako: One of those people who does a fresh manicure, haircut, face mask and makeup routine for school photos, resulting in her looking really nice but almost entirely unrecognisable. All her school photos look like strangers. Photographer eventually gives up trying to make her not flirt at the camera.
Manga!Rei: Turns up on the day, says “Oh, was today photo day?”, sits down and gets it perfect first time.
Anime!Rei: Same as above, but secretly spends all night practicing even more than Minako.
Sailor Moon Scenery; Azabu Jūban, Toyko
Sailor Moon A to Z, MoTD Style: Kyurene
Hey! Remember that A to Z thing I was doing a while ago? With the monsters? That I stopped? I didn’t stop! I just took a very long break.
For K, here’s Kyurene, one of my favourite MoTD from one of my favourite episodes ever. It’s just got such a cool, gritty, “film noir” feel to it. Kyurene herself is also super cool, though aspects of her actual design may have left a little to be desired.
Kyurene’s initial task was to take a cassette tape, embedded with Jadeite’s special energy-draining sound waves, and place it in the recording equipment of the Jam Records studio, causing all music recorded there to carry the deadly frequency. Unfortunately, a woman named Akiko mistook the tape for a demo by jazz pianist Yusuke Amade, and gave it “back” to him - thus Kyurene’s mission became hunting down Yusuke to steal the tape back, lest Jadeite destroy her.
Kyurene’s design was obviously based on a bat, and she had several bat-themed abilities. Apart from speed and flight, she could summon hordes of bats, extend her fingernails into rapier-like talons, and volley destructive sonar blasts from her expanded wings. After an unsuccessful attempt by Kyurene to hold Akiko hostage, Jadeite’s tape was destroyed, and Kyurene fled for her life to a nearby concert hall, Sailor Moon close behind. After some quick thinking, Sailor Moon threw a microphone into Kyurene’s destructive sound blast; amplifiers shot it back two-fold at Kyurene, weakening her and allowing her to be finished off by Sailor Moon’s tiara.
TRIVIA: Kyurene was a minor level boss in the Sailor Moon arcade side-scrolling beat-em-up game, appearing in the same junk yard where she communicated with Jadeite through a pile of old TVs. When the player came close to defeating her, she would escape to a nearby Tokyo Tower-like building, where the second round would begin.
