LGBTQ+ Character Appreciation Thread

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Sep 6, 2014
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#21
I have never seen Usagi a even bi-curious. The whole Rei is so pretty was admiration and is pretty common trope in anime. With Haruka and the rest of the senshi to be honest she felt attraction that can be considered romantic, but for me it was just some sort of force that connects them. I dubt she ever had any romantic feelings towards anyone but Mamoru, at least in the manga.
Did you...just skip the Infinity arc?
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
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#22
Did you...just skip the Infinity arc?
She was attracted by Haruka, because she is a senshi and she felt some attraction to everyone of them. At first she thought her to e a guy and she was confusing the feelings. Haruka basically kissed without consent which confused Usagi for a short period of time, but to call her bisexual over that is a bit exaggerated. Her attraction to Haruka wasn't romantic nor sexual. Her comments about Rei were just pure wide-eyed admiration.Everyone is free to see it however they want, I just think some people want her to be part of the LGBT waaay to much and start seeing and over thinking stuff.
 

lord Martiya

Aurorae Lunares
Dec 11, 2015
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#23
She was attracted by Haruka, because she is a senshi and she felt some attraction to everyone of them. At first she thought her to e a guy and she was confusing the feelings. Haruka basically kissed without consent which confused Usagi for a short period of time, but to call her bisexual over that is a bit exaggerated. Her attraction to Haruka wasn't romantic nor sexual. Her comments about Rei were just pure wide-eyed admiration.Everyone is free to see it however they want, I just think some people want her to be part of the LGBT waaay to much and start seeing and over thinking stuff.
Except the very first arc establishes her as having a reputation at her school for being bisexual, if, just a few days after becoming friends, Ami knew she could get her in a determinated place by telling her there was a good-looking girl.
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
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#24
No, Ami just knows Usagi is impressionable girl. This is a very common trope in anime and part of Japanese culture - girls admire '' yamato nadeshiko", especially when younger. Exaggeration much.
 
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lord Martiya

Aurorae Lunares
Dec 11, 2015
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#25
No, Ami just knows Usagi is impressionable girl. This is a very common trope in anime and part of Japanese culture - girls admire '' yamato nadeshiko", especially when younger. Exaggeration much.
I find more believable that Usagi is bi and known for that, rather than convoluted theories on admiration that are proven only with Minako.
 
Apr 9, 2019
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#26
I personally view Fiore as queer, but I know that's a matter of some debate for people. Other than that, I totally agree with this list. I like some shippings but realize they're not entirely canon.
 

Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#28
As mentioned in my list, Kunzite is bisexual in the anime, Zoisite may or may not be bisexual in the anime (he mentions having girlfriends in an audio drama; take that as canon as you will), the Amazon Trio members are *possibly* bisexual, at least in the manga, and Beryl is bisexual in the La Reconquista novelization, which I have mixed feelings about.

On the one hand, as someone who ships Beryl and Setsuna, I love having Beryl be officially queer in at least one version of the story, but on the other it's a detail that comes out of nowhere and isn't at all explored, her having feelings for Princess Serenity is really blah to me and honestly, for all we know Serenity's the only woman Beryl has ever and would ever be attracted to, and the recollection of her feelings for her come in her final scene where she realizes she's doomed to always be unhappy and just allows herself to be killed by Metallia, thus feeding into both the kill-your-queers trope and the tragic-queers trope, so...it's problematic.

(And, for those interested in the exact quote, here you go:
クイン・ベリルは思い出した。はじめて月から来たプリンセスを見て、心ときめかせていた自分を……。そうだ……私はこの月のプリンセスに……ずっと憧れていたのだ……
Queen Beryl remembered. "From the first time I saw the princess who came from the moon, my heart raced achingly... That's right... I have longed for that princess of the moon...all this time...")
 
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Jun 6, 2006
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#29
As mentioned in my list, Kunzite is bisexual in the anime, Zoisite may or may not be bisexual in the anime (he mentions having girlfriends in an audio drama; take that as canon as you will),
Canon or not, just because a gay man had girlfriends in the past doesn't mean he's bisexual. Most guys I've dated used to have girlfriends or had sex with women before they were comfortable enough to come out.
 

Nadia

Aurorae Lunares
Jun 30, 2010
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#30
Is bisexuality even represented in the series? Besides hints.
Indeed, it's not, with maybe the exception of manga Usagi.

That whole being in love with Rei's beauty is a Japanese cultural trait and isn't meant to be taken romantically. It's more like fangirling, the sort of immature girls' love teenagers Usagi's age are supposed to experience then grow out of.

It is debatable as to whether Usagi's attraction to Haruka in the manga is a sign of bisexuality. She's attracted to Haruka as she sees Haruka as a man...but that she doesn't break away upon the possibility of Haruka being female is a hint.

However, the anime went out of its way the not only avoid bisexuality, but to be not-so subtly biphobic in a lot of instances. Mako possibly having feelings for Haruka is interpreted by the others (and not so subtly the narrative itself) as "giving up on men." Even if one makes the reaching argument that Mako's crushes are intentionally unrealistic and unreachable as an escape from her actual attraction to girls, to make her attraction seem like a binary choice is many levels of wrong. This is the same anime that was unintentionally progressive by changing the Starlights into male-passing forms in civilian mode; this was obviously done to avoid Usagi even possibly falling in love with a cisgenerdered female, but unfortunately, the people in charge didn't realize, that by making this change they opened a brand new can of worms.

It's another way in which Sailor Moon, for all of it's LGBT brownie points really falls apart when you look at it with rose-colored lenses. Just because it had some good points doesn't make it above criticism.
 
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Memento

Stella Nova
Mar 8, 2012
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#31
That's true, but it seemed like he was dating these girls while he was also dating Kunzite, so who knows. It was definitely a silly, throwaway gag line, but it makes me a bit curious as to how the anime staff really viewed his character. Then there's the PC Engine game that's pseudo Canon to the anime and include the SenxShi pairings right? Did Another Story include them too? Kunzite and Zoisite's sexualities are a bit muddled. I guess just calling them "queer" would be the safest bet.
 
Sep 6, 2014
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#32
Indeed, it's not, with maybe the exception of manga Usagi.

That whole being in love with Rei's beauty is a Japanese cultural trait and isn't meant to be taken romantically. It's more like fangirling, the sort of immature girls' love teenagers Usagi's age are supposed to experience then grow out of.

It is debatable as to whether Usagi's attraction to Haruka in the manga is a sign of bisexuality. She's attracted to Haruka as she sees Haruka as a man...but that she doesn't break away upon the possibility of Haruka being female is a hint.

However, the anime went out of its way the not only avoid bisexuality, but to be not-so subtly biphobic in a lot of instances. Mako possibly having feelings for Haruka is interpreted by the others (and not so subtly the narrative itself) as "giving up on men." Even if one makes the reaching argument that Mako's crushes are intentionally unrealistic and unreachable as an escape from her actual attraction to girls, to make her attraction seem like a binary choice is many levels of wrong. This is the same anime that was unintentionally progressive by changing the Starlights into male-passing forms in civilian mode; this was obviously done to avoid Usagi even possibly falling in love with a cisgenerdered female, but unfortunately, the people in charge didn't realize, that by making this change they opened a brand new can of worms.

It's another way in which Sailor Moon, for all of it's LGBT brownie points really falls apart when you look at it with rose-colored lenses. Just because it had some good points doesn't make it above criticism.
I just want to point out by sheer incompetence the Cloverway/Optimum dub suggested Raye is bisexual. Why would Chad have any reason to feel threatened by Amara if he didn’t think Raye went both ways? Chad’s dumb but I can’t imagine he would jump to conclusions unless he already knew Raye liked girls too.

And Kunzite is bi. He talks about how beautiful Reika is.
 
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Jun 17, 2019
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#35
Sailor Moon, along with Cardcaptor Sakura, was groundbreaking for really being the first kids aimed media to feature prominent LGBT representation and queer themes.

I guess I'll start off by posting off my queer headcanons for the Senshi as well as the canonically queer villains.

Usagi: Bisexual, Panromantic and polyamorous in all versions.
Ami: She's kinda hard to categorize, most would go the ace route but in early manga chapters she was shown to have an attraction to Motoki, and then of course there was her whole relationship with Greg/Urawa in the anime and she even seemed to have a crush on Usagi in PGSM. I'm just gonna go with Fluctuating/Evolving for her, she's too hard to pin down.
Rei: Bi in the 90's the anime, lesbian in PGSM and a demisexual panromantic in the manga.
Makoto: Established as canonically bi in the 90's anime but is interestingly enough one of the straighter Senshi in the manga and PGSM. So she's really only queer in the original anime.
Minako: Bi/Pan and poly, she's the Goddess of Love for Venus's sake! I also think she might be aromantic, or at the very least demiromantic which is ironic cause people usually think to assign that label to Rei, but to me, if you really look at it Minako fits it better.
Chibs: Bi
Haruka: non-binary lesbian, is there any other option?
Michiru: In the manga I headcanon her as a demisexual lesbian, however in the 90's anime I see her as bi or maybe homoflexible (still demi though) since she did flirt with Seiya before knowing about their female Senshi form. I know it wasn't serious but lesbians never flirt with men, even as a joke.
Setsuna: In the 90's anime I think she's ace and aro, in the manga and musicals she's demi and pan.
Hotaru: Bi in the 90's anime, lesbian demi in the manga.
Mamoru: Demisexual panromantic

The Starlights are all canonically genderfluid/some manner of trans in the anime and Seiya's feelings for Usagi so they're all queer there by just default, I headcanon that only Seiya is a lesbian in the manga though.
pro
Kunzite is bi, Zoicite is gay in the 90's anime and bi in the manga and musicals.

Nephrite, oddly enough might have some trans leanings if you go by the manga?

I headcanon 90's anime Fish-Eye as a transwoman, sorry not sorry, the DIC dub was right to change her pronouns, fight me!

Hawks Eye (and possibly Tigers Eye?) are the trans ones in the manga though.
 
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Apr 9, 2019
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#37
Canonically speaking, I don't see any of the Senshi other than Haruka, Michiru and Seiya as anything more than heteroflexible/bicurious. BUT... I do totally respect the opinions of people who interpret them differently, and I do admit to liking certain ships... such as UsagixRei in the 90's anime or ReixMinako in PGSM/manga.

I wanted to mention something though. Back in the 90's and early 00's, it seemed like people would get EXTREMELY offended if you insinuated that any of the senshi other than Uranus and Neptune were anything but straight. I never understood that because it's like... 1. art is open to interpretation and 2. sexuality is fluid. I guess it's a reflection of how perspectives of sexuality have changed over the years, back in the day people used to view sexuality as rigid i.e. you're either gay or straight, no in between, whereas nowadays sexuality is viewed as more of a spectrum.
 

MariaTenebre

Systema Solare
Jul 22, 2009
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#38
Sailor Moon, along with Cardcaptor Sakura, was groundbreaking for really being the first kids aimed media to feature prominent LGBT representation and queer themes.

I guess I'll start off by posting off my queer headcanons for the Senshi as well as the canonically queer villains.

Usagi: Bisexual, Panromantic and polyamorous in all versions.
Ami: She's kinda hard to categorize, most would go the ace route but in early manga chapters she was shown to have an attraction to Motoki, and then of course there was her whole relationship with Greg/Urawa in the anime and she even seemed to have a crush on Usagi in PGSM. I'm just gonna go with Fluctuating/Evolving for her, she's too hard to pin down.
Rei: Bi in the 90's the anime, lesbian in PGSM and a demisexual panromantic in the manga.
Makoto: Established as canonically bi in the 90's anime but is interestingly enough one of the straighter Senshi in the manga and PGSM. So she's really only queer in the original anime.
Minako: Bi/Pan and poly, she's the Goddess of Love for Venus's sake! I also think she might be aromantic, or at the very least demiromantic which is ironic cause people usually think to assign that label to Rei, but to me, if you really look at it Minako fits it better.
Chibs: Bi
Haruka: non-binary lesbian, is there any other option?
Michiru: In the manga I headcanon her as a demisexual lesbian, however in the 90's anime I see her as bi or maybe homoflexible (still demi though) since she did flirt with Seiya before knowing about their female Senshi form. I know it wasn't serious but lesbians never flirt with men, even as a joke.
Setsuna: In the 90's anime I think she's ace and aro, in the manga and musicals she's demi and pan.
Hotaru: Bi in the 90's anime, lesbian demi in the manga.
Mamoru: Demisexual panromantic

The Starlights are all canonically genderfluid/some manner of trans in the anime and Seiya's feelings for Usagi so they're all queer there by just default, I headcanon that only Seiya is a lesbian in the manga though.
pro
Kunzite is bi, Zoicite is gay in the 90's anime and bi in the manga and musicals.

Nephrite, oddly enough might have some trans leanings if you go by the manga?

I headcanon 90's anime Fish-Eye as a transwoman, sorry not sorry, the DIC dub was right to change her pronouns, fight me!

Hawks Eye (and possibly Tigers Eye?) are the trans ones in the manga though.
I am sorry but this isn't accurate. In the 90s anime atleast Usagi seemed heterosexual she was over all weirded out by Haruka flirting with her. Likewise for Minako she is straight. She mentioned she lost all interest in Yaten once she found out Yaten was truly a girl. There is pretty much no evidence of any of the Senshi being anything other then straight aside from Haruka and Michiru along with Seiya.
 

Nadia

Aurorae Lunares
Jun 30, 2010
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#39
I just want to point out by sheer incompetence the Cloverway/Optimum dub suggested Raye is bisexual. Why would Chad have any reason to feel threatened by Amara if he didn’t think Raye went both ways? Chad’s dumb but I can’t imagine he would jump to conclusions unless he already knew Raye liked girls too.
Agreed. Then again, for some reason Cloverway went out of its way after the episode that introduced Amara to make sure all of the supporting characters instantly knew her actual gender. Even Sammy recognized her voice as a girl's voice, I do believe. It was as grating to me as the "cousins" deal because of how forced it was.

Let's also not forget Rini's crush on the tea "girl" that season, although at least that falls under admiration (and that character did look like a girl).

Then again, Cloverway in its incompetence also made Fisheye trans by including the barechested (as well as bare-legged, unlike Zoisite he did NOT have "girl hips") scene in tact in episode 140 while having the character use female pronouns all the while. Even in the original Japanese (assuming I'm not reading some awful subs), Fisheye explicitly said he was dressing up as a man this time, and many other dubs followed suit (even ones that had Fisheye as female; this was a one-time deal). There was an "out" built in the actual narrative, but the dub ignored it. On the other hand, by making the character trans, the character is still problematic, but ironically less so than in the original version. Yes, there's still the unfortunate "trap" baggage, but if the character is female and is presenting herself as such, that's fundamentally less dishonest than a male character dressing up as female because he knows the character will only show romantic interest towards women...who then trolls the victim by emphasizing his male nature after the reveal, no less.

So in its clumsy attempts to censor the anime, in some places, the Cloverway dub unintentionally made the show more forward thinking than it was originally.
 

sapphire91

Stella Nova
Jul 6, 2018
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#40
In Cloverway defence, they were not the only one to do that. In German Fish eye is female and still got the barechest shot intact and in your face. As for Cloverway somebody told me it was edited out for the tv broadcast and the issue is present only in the uncut dual audio dvd.