APPEALING SPARTAN SAILOR COMPACT MOON

Compact Appeal

The thing I love about Naoko's great work is that all of its characters and details are rooted in some greater mythol;ogy or archetype. This makes it quite meanuingful to me where other anime such as Fushigi Yuugi, which has nothing in it that draws from history or any other real life thing, leave me dry. So, seeing that it is my most favorite asect, and coincidentally the most important one, I'm going to discuss how it applies to Chibi Usa.

All characters in Sailor Moon have an archetype. This makes things much more efficient than having characters that deviate from our programmed templates, as it allows interaction on a psychological scale. Usagi is the Great Mother, Setsuna the Wise Crone, Jadeite the Unknowing Pawn, and Hotaru the Living Visage of Death. Chibi-Usa seemed, for awhile, to be the dancing, sometimes naked epitome of youth, childhood and innocence. But, by looking deeper, one can see that there is much more to her than pink frills and lollipops.

Pink frills indeed. Presently the common notion is that the color pink is that of childhood, of innocence, of sweet girliness. Little does the common neanderthal know that pink was once the color of sexuality. While red was full-blown sexuality, pink was watered-down, hidden, blushing sexuality. Note that not only is pink Chibi-Usa's primary color, it is also the color of her hair and her eyes are red.

Now, Japan is not full of pedophiles, it's just full of men who like to see little girls take their clothes off, and I think there's nothing wrong with that. But Chibi-Usa is not merely Naoko's visulation of that innate japanese desire. No, the Compact Moon is more. For she grows into Devil's Harlot [known by some misinformed types as Black Lady] when the Black Moon captures her and undresses her. I think this means something.

Obviously Chibi is not just a pun on a lighthearted japanese hobby, but a deep and meaningful metaphor for the sexuality of a child becoming the sexuality of a woman. In fact, consider this: In the manga, Chibi-Usa is five hundred years old. She has that sexuality through the entire show, but can unleash it only through her taller, supine body. I think about this a lot.

In fact, look at her lust for her father. That is no ordinary childhood crush. That is the love of a woman who knows no other man. See how Mamoru plays with her, with his puppet? He is presenting her with a lover that suits her body, but he understands not her mind.

The anime directors have always had a problem presenting some aspects of Chibi-Usa's sexuality on the show [save for Ikuhara]. Chibi-Usa's true transformation sequence, a seven veiled dance of infant sexuality, was not unleashed until the S Movie, even though it had been seen in the manga countless times by that point. But the censorship of Japan matters not - Naoko has succeeded in delivering her message, a message that we all must embrace the early spring of a maiden's life. And I will.