At least the manga is. I know how everyone likes to talk about Madoka being the first deconstruction of it's kind but I feel Sailor Moon long proceeded it. Everything that's revealed in the Stars arc at the end of the manga about all the characters fates that they'll never be able to escape is downright depressing. The ending itself is bittersweet at best and tragic at worst. The whole concept of Chaos and the Galaxy Cauldron is basically proto-Entropy as well.
By the end of the manga you don't leave away with a sense that these girls gained something by being Magical Girls, you leave with the sense that it's made their lives objectively worse. They are forever beholden to their duties as Sailor Crystal carriers and can't even escape their fate after death, since as Sailor Crystal carriers they'll continue to endlessly reincarnate repeating the same cycle of fighting again and again.
Mamoru and Usagi are to forever be stuck together because they are the keepers of both the Silver and Golden Crystals and so they're naturally drawn together.
The Inners will never be able to pursue their dreams and the Outers will never be able to live as a peaceful happy Outers family because they will always be Senshi at their core.
Sailor Moon is a grim and bleak take on the Magical Girl genre and I really hate that only Madoka only ever gets credit or acknowledgement for this. Don't get me wrong it's a good anime but Sailor Moon started this whole "being a Magical Girl is suffering" concept first.
The Live Action, while having a happy ending is also similarly depressing and plays around with how horrifying it is that these identities from the past are trying to consume these girls whole and wiping out their present identities, make no mistake PGSM dives deep into the repercussions of having a past life and destiny thrust upon you and I [BLEEP]ing love it for it!
Even the 90's anime, though it eventually plays it straight in later seasons plays around with this idea in the first season at least. By the end of the DK arc Usagi has the realization that she, the girls and Mamoru were honestly better off before all this Magical Girl and past life business entered their lives and makes a wish that they could all be free from it. The ending also ends on a sort of bittersweet note but I personally find it the happiest ending of the series since everyone really and truly is free from the past and allowed to create their own destinies and live as normal human beings.
What do you all think? Was Sailor Moon the first Magical Girl deconstruction series or not? I think Naoko clearly intended it to be what with her notes on how she wanted the series to originally end, the Stars arc and it's ending (in the manga) I feel was basically a "[BLEEP] you!" to how Toei eventually tried to play the series straight.
By the end of the manga you don't leave away with a sense that these girls gained something by being Magical Girls, you leave with the sense that it's made their lives objectively worse. They are forever beholden to their duties as Sailor Crystal carriers and can't even escape their fate after death, since as Sailor Crystal carriers they'll continue to endlessly reincarnate repeating the same cycle of fighting again and again.
Mamoru and Usagi are to forever be stuck together because they are the keepers of both the Silver and Golden Crystals and so they're naturally drawn together.
The Inners will never be able to pursue their dreams and the Outers will never be able to live as a peaceful happy Outers family because they will always be Senshi at their core.
Sailor Moon is a grim and bleak take on the Magical Girl genre and I really hate that only Madoka only ever gets credit or acknowledgement for this. Don't get me wrong it's a good anime but Sailor Moon started this whole "being a Magical Girl is suffering" concept first.
The Live Action, while having a happy ending is also similarly depressing and plays around with how horrifying it is that these identities from the past are trying to consume these girls whole and wiping out their present identities, make no mistake PGSM dives deep into the repercussions of having a past life and destiny thrust upon you and I [BLEEP]ing love it for it!
Even the 90's anime, though it eventually plays it straight in later seasons plays around with this idea in the first season at least. By the end of the DK arc Usagi has the realization that she, the girls and Mamoru were honestly better off before all this Magical Girl and past life business entered their lives and makes a wish that they could all be free from it. The ending also ends on a sort of bittersweet note but I personally find it the happiest ending of the series since everyone really and truly is free from the past and allowed to create their own destinies and live as normal human beings.
What do you all think? Was Sailor Moon the first Magical Girl deconstruction series or not? I think Naoko clearly intended it to be what with her notes on how she wanted the series to originally end, the Stars arc and it's ending (in the manga) I feel was basically a "[BLEEP] you!" to how Toei eventually tried to play the series straight.