The Cartoons That Made Us Gay: Sailor Moon
Added 2022-01-10 07:38:07 +0000 UTCA surprising number of queer sitcom fans have been rooting for us to discuss the LGBTQ themes on Sailor Moon and at long last, here it is: the 34th episode of the first season, “The Shining Silver Crystal: The Moon Princess Appears” and the first half of the subsequent episode. This covers the queer veneer that is placed over Usagi and Mamoru’s relationship, which only kicks into gear when they both stop lying about who they truly are, and then also the downfall of Zoisite, the Dark Kingdom gay whose gender was hidden in the original DIC dub and who dies because he really sucks at his job.
We tried really hard to make this one accessible for listeners who have never seen an episode of Sailor Moon. Let us know how we did!
Miscellaneous notes
- Yes, there is a substantial parallel between Sailor Moon and Buffy, though we’d hesitate to declare it more than a coincidence
- Kotaku’s post on the abomination that is the American pilot for a live action Sailor Moon remake
- Hello Kitty is not a cat
The logo for The Cartoons That Made Us Gay was designed by Jeff Hinchee, who’s great. Go check out his website and hire him to design your next logo.
Comments
Loved this and you did a great job!!!!! So fun. The rabbit in the moon mythology originates from China and the story of Chang E (pronounced uh). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_rabbit Thanks for such a wonderful episode.
Margaret Wu
2022-01-15 01:32:05 +0000 UTCThank you for all this!
Drew Mackie
2022-01-13 20:32:55 +0000 UTCLoved the episode! SO excited you're going to do multiple Sailor Moon episodes, as a queer lady who grew up with it, from age 4 when it first hit US TV, it's so near and dear to my heart. A couple clarifications on some terminology if you don't mind? bishounen - just the term for "pretty boy" so yes, Zoisite is a bishounen. boys love/BL - a market term for a category of media about m/m relationships (not just romance) aimed primarily at women (but of course has a MUCH broader and complex audience than that.) The term only got started in the mid 90s. Tanbi and june were popular terms before that. yaoi - an outdated term for (in Japan) amateur works whether or not they were explicit in content. In western fandom, it was used to denote more explicit works. BL is the common umbrella term nowadays. geikomi - manga aimed at a gay male audience. Increasingly in years, the lines between geikomi and BL have blurred. For example, when Prof. James Welker, in his research, asked male artists at a BL event if their manga was BL or geikomi, they didn't know how to answer him, because they were just drawing manga they wanted to. Also I jumped off your post on twitter to add what you might find some interesting context, I hope you don't mind! SO excited you'll do the R movie, my last rewatch, I was like, wow, this is REALLY gay.
Rachel
2022-01-13 01:41:52 +0000 UTC"He is Tuxedo Mask, I don't believe it." is a classic line for a reason, she's not really EXCITED that he's Tuxedo Mask, more like, just deadpan mortified, which was a common tone that she took at times with the character, I LOVED that line reading.
Danielle
2022-01-11 06:08:20 +0000 UTCEver since you announced this series, I have been waiting for you to talk about Sailor Moon. This show provided so many awakenings for me: the birth of my love of anime, my fascination with strong female superheroes, and of course my gayness. :D Like Glen, I was first introduced via the DiC version, but quickly read the manga and found bootleg versions of the complete series. The show is so empowering not only from a female perspective, but also a gay and trans perspective in future episodes. Not only are characters openly gay, but the other characters don't blink an eye regarding this fact. The gay characters are treated just like the straight characters. For a young gay man, this was a welcome, comforting portrayal that I will be forever grateful for!
Brandon Anderson
2022-01-10 15:39:59 +0000 UTC
