Sailor Moon was the first Magical Girl Deconstruction

[GalX3]

I think Season 1 explores the relationship between being free and the sacrifices needed to maintain that freedom. PGSM makes this a central focus of the entire series. Sailor Stars (excluding the 90s anime) explores deep concepts of control vs chaos and the necessity of both. Too much chaos leads to meaninglessness, too much control leads to a static singularity which can never meet everyone's desires and makes mute hope and dreams. Finding a balance means everyone gets their turn, whether for better or for worse is perspective. In order to deconstruct something you ned to have something to deconstruct. While there is a magical girl genre I'm not convinced that at the time of Sailor Moon being written it was entreched, formulaic or cliched enough to deconstruct. Certainly prior to Stars this was not a chief goal in my opinion and where it did happen it happened by necessity.

Also, I think deconstruction can be very harmful to a fantasy series. It leads to "dark" versions and at extremes satire and 4th wall breaking, all of which can strip away at the suspension of disbelief. In fact, I'd argue that the art of a fantasy series is too prolong as long as possible the deconstruction of its core elements by exploring every avenue possible. Why make a new season of Sailor Moon when we all know Sailor Cosmos(es?) will never win and will be fighting Chaos for the rest of eternity, time travel aside, and I could write an entire article about why time travel should not and does not need to be part of the Sailor Moon universe.

 

[Tsundereshipper]

This is probably the most idiotic thing I've heard. Do you seriously think every magical girl show prior to Sailor Moon was all sunshine and rainbows? There's conflict in most of them, just like any piece of fiction. Every single heroine from Sally to Ranze to Mami has suffered from consequences in being a magical girl. I feel like a lot of fans throw the term "deconstruction" around to give themselves some shallow validation. "Oh no! I don't like just any magical girl shows! I like *deconstructed* magical girl shows!" I feel like I'm back in middle school where all my friends would brag about how anime "wasn't for kids" and was "so much better than American cartoons".



I can't speak for Wedding Peach, Tokyo Mew Mew, or Precure, since I haven't seen enough of them. By your argument, the first deconstruction of "magical girl shows" would be Mahou no Mako-chan, which predates Sailor Moon by a good 20 years. Mako is a mermaid who's given a magical pendant, and goes to the human world only to find it sucks. Half of the time her powers don't even work. Mako finds herself in the middle of discrimination, racism, teenage rebellion, suicide, genocide, revenge, substance abuse, etc. Mako has failed to save people on a number of occasions, sometimes resulting in death. Sometimes conflicts aren't resolved, and Mako just has to keep hope.

A similar narrative is used years later with Majokko Megu-chan. Even then, many other magical girls have had similar themes. Chappy can't expose her magical powers for fear of being burned at stake, or punished by her king. Limit is a cyborg who struggles to accept her humanity, or the fact she'll never grow up like other children. Yes, she has cool powers, but all she wants is to be a normal kid. Trust me, Sailor Moon's "dark themes" are nothing special, and certainly aren't a deconstruction.

The problem is is that as an American we never got these early Mahou Shojo shows sadly. Sailor Moon was likely most Americans introduction to the genre as a whole.

I agree that Utena is probably not mahou shoujo in the most traditional sense, but I still think it's worth a mention... It deconstructed a lot of tropes common in shoujo, including mahou, and explored a lot of similar themes before Madoka ever did.

One thing I will say in defense of Madoka... It may not have been the first deconstruction by any means, but maybe it's most unique or noteworthy for its presentation. Out of the series I've seen that are similar, I'd say it's definitely the darkest and most unrelenting of its kind. Going by tone and atmosphere alone, it's a stark contrast to what one typically expects from mahou shoujo. The stereotypical mahou shoujo image is cheerful and lighthearted whereas Madoka is much darker and more psychological in nature, more in the vein of something like Evangelion. Sailor Moon has some deconstructive elements, especially towards the end of the manga, but the series overall is lighthearted in nature and with an optimistic outlook. Madoka Magica is a much darker take on a mahou shoujo series, becoming very grim and almost nihilistic at times. Madoka is also much more narrow in scope and in what it sets out to do; the whole series basically takes one trope after another and turns it on its head. Whereas Sailor Moon is much broader in scope and storyline, the deconstructive element is just one part, in other areas it's closer to a regular mahou shoujo.

So I'd say Madoka is probably seen as THE mahou shoujo deconstruction for that reason. If Sailor Moon introduced the concept, Madoka went and ran with it. It does borrow somewhat from the Stars arc of the manga but I guess at least it does something interesting with it... Every idea has been done before, it's how a series presents it that makes the difference. Sailor Moon is better but Madoka is still pretty good in its own right, better than a lot of series out there.

You're right and I do still like Madoka and think it's good, don't get me wrong. I just think newbies to the Magical Girl fandom who only started with Madoka should acknowledge and respect Sailor Moon more because I very much believe that if Naoko hadn't wrote the Stars arc in the manga, we would have never had Madoka. The influence is as clear as day.

My position is that if Stars had been adapted into anime back in the 90s exactly like it was in the manga, then Madoka and Sailor Moon Stars would feel very identical.

While watching Madoka for the first time, what came to my mind immediately was the Stars arc of Sailor Moon, manga, of course.

I think Stars is the best arc of the Sailor Moon manga. While reading it, I felt really surprised with Naoko's ideas and how she wasn't willing to compromise the story she wanted to tell. She went as far as killing even the poor cats. Kindly notice that she finalized the Stars arc after the anime ended, so my impression is that she was free to do what she wanted.

Exactly! This is why Stars is my favorite manga arc as well, it was just so balls to the walls gutsy and turned the entire series on it's head as we knew it. I know the Dream arc tends to be the fan favorite darling of the fandom with Stars getting a more mixed reception and I've heard many an argument that the manga should've ended at Dream but I disagree. I'm personally really thankful that Toei pressured Naoko as much as they had to create more seasons up until the end of Stars, I think if SM had ended just on Dream it would've merely been a good manga, the Stars arc though is what truly makes the manga a masterpiece.

Stars was also the arc where you could tell that Naoko finally had the most creative freedom. She frequently talked about how she always wanted to make SM a dark series and to end it on a grim note and I think she just finally said "[BLEEP] it" and wrote what she wanted for Stars. I've heard rumors she was extremely fatigued at that point and wanted to end the series in a way so that there'd be no option open for sequels, I personally think Stars was just a big "[BLEEP] you" to her editors and Toei for attempting to reign in her ideas. I'm personally really happy for both her and the anime world at large that she managed to get her deconstructive ending at the end, it helped pave the way for series like Madoka after all and I very firmly believe that if we never had the Stars arc we wouldn't have Madoka.

 

[Tsundereshipper]

I think Season 1 explores the relationship between being free and the sacrifices needed to maintain that freedom. PGSM makes this a central focus of the entire series. Sailor Stars (excluding the 90s anime) explores deep concepts of control vs chaos and the necessity of both. Too much chaos leads to meaninglessness, too much control leads to a static singularity which can never meet everyone's desires and makes mute hope and dreams. Finding a balance means everyone gets their turn, whether for better or for worse is perspective. In order to deconstruct something you ned to have something to deconstruct. While there is a magical girl genre I'm not convinced that at the time of Sailor Moon being written it was entreched, formulaic or cliched enough to deconstruct. Certainly prior to Stars this was not a chief goal in my opinion and where it did happen it happened by necessity.

Also, I think deconstruction can be very harmful to a fantasy series. It leads to "dark" versions and at extremes satire and 4th wall breaking, all of which can strip away at the suspension of disbelief. In fact, I'd argue that the art of a fantasy series is too prolong as long as possible the deconstruction of its core elements by exploring every avenue possible. Why make a new season of Sailor Moon when we all know Sailor Cosmos(es?) will never win and will be fighting Chaos for the rest of eternity, time travel aside, and I could write an entire article about why time travel should not and does not need to be part of the Sailor Moon universe.

The thing about Sailor Moon is that it's both a deconstruction and a trope codifier at the exact same time. It's the first of it's kind of a Magical Girl Sentai team and combining Tokusatsu with Mahou Shojo but it's also not afraid to deconstruct those very elements (at least the concept of Magical Girls battling) at the same time it's codifying them, which I think is what makes it so special in the first place.

I also firmly believe it does it's deconstructive elements right, it never gets too outlandish or tries to break the 4th wall, it's shocking reveals are very much consistent with it's own world-building and universal rules and is believable. I don't even think it get's too dark either, even the ending of Stars in the manga, which is objectively the saddest ending of the entire series still ends on a hopeful and more bittersweet note than outright sad. Sailor Moon works as well as it does because it's not trying to just be all edge and grimdark for the sake of being edgy. It's still deconstructive in nature, at least the Stars arc, PGSM and even the first season of the 90's anime are, but like you said it's trying to use that deconstruction for a purpose to send a message regarding the circle of life and the balance between chaos and order. It's actually an incredibly clever and smart series for something that was aimed at an elementary school-girl audience.

I don't think people give Naoko Takeuchi nearly enough credit for the story-telling skills she has. (These days thanks to Crystal people tend to criticize Naoko's writing more often than not, while I admit she is sloppy in some areas, particularly concerning pacing and paneling I think her core ideas are overall genius)

 

[Rika-Chicchi]

I don't think people give Naoko Takeuchi nearly enough credit for the story-telling skills she has. (These days thanks to Crystal people tend to criticize Naoko's writing more often than not, while I admit she is sloppy in some areas, particularly concerning pacing and paneling I think her core ideas are overall genius)

Maybe she should contribute ideas, settings, character designs, overall plot, etc. & let another manga writer to execute them.

As for deconstruction, I've always imagined a deconstruction of specifically the Sailor Moon story itself by swapping the protagonists & antagonists, i.e. Serenity & her allies become the villains & the villains become the good guys, & the whole narrative in the original story is actually the former's deceptive propaganda to angelize themselves & demonize the latter.

 

[Tsundereshipper]

Maybe she should contribute ideas, settings, character designs, overall plot, etc. & let another manga writer to execute them.

As for deconstruction, I've always imagined a deconstruction of specifically the Sailor Moon story itself by swapping the protagonists & antagonists, i.e. Serenity & her allies become the villains & the villains become the good guys, & the whole narrative in the original story is actually the former's deceptive propaganda to angelize themselves & demonize the latter.

I still firmly believe that Naoko actually executed her ideas pretty well with what she had, people also have to remember that she was under a lot of pressure and was on a time crunch for SM as well. Perhaps the manga would've been smoother if she had more time? I feel PGSM is a better example of her story-telling capabilities and just how much she can accomplish if she didn't have a noose over her neck. Again really, the only thing criticism you could really give her for her story-telling in the manga was that she had to slow down and allow some moments to BREATHE! (Also work on panelling) Also the manga really should've been longer to allow for that downtime and more fleshed out characterization and development of the girls. I disagree with the fandom sentiment that she's bad at characterization and development though, I think PGSM more than proved that she's actually excellent at it and I always found Rei's characterization in the manga in the Casablanca Memories sidestory as well as Mako's characterization to be particularly nuanced. Hell, Chibi-Usa is easily a 100x better developed in the manga than she ever was in the 90's anime!

"As for deconstruction, I've always imagined a deconstruction of specifically the Sailor Moon story itself by swapping the protagonists & antagonists, i.e. Serenity & her allies become the villains & the villains become the good guys, & the whole narrative in the original story is actually the former's deceptive propaganda to angelize themselves & demonize the latter."

Do you mean like 90% of Crystal Tokyo dystopia fanfiction which portrays the BMC as in the right and Serenity as a tyrant dictator? That's already a popular fanon opinion lmao!

 

[Rika-Chicchi]

"As for deconstruction, I've always imagined a deconstruction of specifically the Sailor Moon story itself by swapping the protagonists & antagonists, i.e. Serenity & her allies become the villains & the villains become the good guys, & the whole narrative in the original story is actually the former's deceptive propaganda to angelize themselves & demonize the latter."

Do you mean like 90% of Crystal Tokyo dystopia fanfiction which portrays the BMC as in the right and Serenity as a tyrant dictator? That's already a popular fanon opinion lmao!

I meant the entire Sailor Moon story, i.e. all the story arcs, including but not just the one you mentioned.

As for PGSM, it's entirely written by another person, but I can't rule out she'd contributed ideas to her - actually I think that's quite probable.

 

[Tsundereshipper]

I meant the entire Sailor Moon story, i.e. all the story arcs, including but not just the one you mentioned.

As for PGSM, it's entirely written by another person, but I can't rule out she'd contributed ideas to her - actually I think that's quite probable.

Actually there is some debate to be on whether Beryl and the Earth were in the right, I mean Queen Serenity did kinda shut them out of the Silver Alliance and forbid contact with them, for no discernible reason also. Like what would you do if you had this incredibly powerful galactic wide empire that encompassed the Solar System with technology and magic that was beyond your comprehension and not only were they not interested in letting you into their little circle but the empire's capital state was literally right next door to you and could easily invade and overpower you at any moment if they so chose?

I'm just saying, Beryl wasn't entirely wrong in her logic.

Wait really? I had always heard that PGSM was the version where Naoko had the most say and complete control in? I know she wasn't the director but wasn't she like supervising the project or something? I thought she had written the whole thing?

 

[Clow]

Wait really? I had always heard that PGSM was the version where Naoko had the most say and complete control in? I know she wasn't the director but wasn't she like supervising the project or something? I thought she had written the whole thing?

She didn't write it. According to my understanding, she always wished to see Sailor Moon as a tokusatsu show. As for her involvement with PGSM, she only helped to choose the actresses to portray each senshi and designed the costumes of Sailor Luna and Princess Sailor Moon. I don't think she did anything else.

 

[ChampionOfNuggets]

I swear to God ever since tv tropes people have used and abused the word deconstruction until it lost all meaning and is just applied to anything that isn't all sunshines and rainbows 24/7

Wait really? I had always heard that PGSM was the version where Naoko had the most say and complete control in? I know she wasn't the director but wasn't she like supervising the project or something? I thought she had written the whole thing?

No, I believe she was more closely involved but she didn't have complete control as far as I know and certainly didn't write the whole thing that was Yasuko Kobayashi.

 

[Rika-Chicchi]

No, I believe she was more closely involved but she didn't have complete control as far as I know and certainly didn't write the whole thing that was Yasuko Kobayashi.

Some more info about that writer in this WikiMoon article:

Yasuko Kobayashi - WikiMoon

She's quite famous as a writer in the tokusatsu industry.

 

[MariaTenebre]

Actually there is some debate to be on whether Beryl and the Earth were in the right, I mean Queen Serenity did kinda shut them out of the Silver Alliance and forbid contact with them, for no discernible reason also. Like what would you do if you had this incredibly powerful galactic wide empire that encompassed the Solar System with technology and magic that was beyond your comprehension and not only were they not interested in letting you into their little circle but the empire's capital state was literally right next door to you and could easily invade and overpower you at any moment if they so chose?

I'm just saying, Beryl wasn't entirely wrong in her logic.

Wait really? I had always heard that PGSM was the version where Naoko had the most say and complete control in? I know she wasn't the director but wasn't she like supervising the project or something? I thought she had written the whole thing?

Ugh no. Beryl and her followers were not in the right. Also the Silver Millennium did watch over and protect the Golden Kingdom from without however for some reason there was the taboo between the people of the Moon and Earth mixing. As to why this taboo existed it was not stated. It could have been because of Queen Nehellenia's curse that the love between Princess Serenity and a person of the Earth could lead to disaster. Also Earth did have access to as powerful tech as the Silver Millennium did it is just for some reason there was this taboo with them mixing. It could have easily been because of the Earthians innate jealousy of the Lunarians for their long life span and also that they didn't want to be subordinate to the Moon as the other planets decided to be maybe because the Golden Crystal was on a more equal footing to the Silver Crystal.

 

[Rika-Chicchi]

^ You must've been brainwashed by Serenity & her regime.

 

[unknowncheater01]

Even it was 3yrs ago but I found you posting that same post in the r/sailormoon reddit: Sailor Moon is a deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre CMV : sailormoon (reddit.com)
And I have to say that Subreddit people taste is incredibly terrible, most of them want to see Sailor Moon as "aesthetic and lighthearted" b*llshit in front of people, the actually good art and contents isn't well-liked there but instead of a terrible contents, there's a cartoonized Sailor Moon fanart there but it is very well-upvoted so I even have to throw fire on them (check my reddit sailormoon627). Most of people, and even the fans still don't know an exact thing about the Manga. About your statement I have to say it's completely true, I asked a guy in r/madokamagica about the Sailor Moon manga and that guy actually say: it's depressing and even say that SM is the true Deconstruction (Usagi, grow tf up : MadokaMagica (reddit.com) check SailorMoon627 comment: The Sailor Moon Manga version: I'm I a joke to you?)

 

[Princess Sugar Lily]

I agree with this(well, most of it). I think the only reason Madoka gets all the credit despite most shows being wayyy deeper and darker is because it's aimed at men, whereas the majority of Magical Girl shows are aimed at a female audience and written by a female author. Princess Tutu is the rare good Magical Girl anime that I've witnessed that is aimed at a male audience, and even then, it's shonen. Shonen might have its issues with women, but it's better than seinen by a landslide, at least in my opinion.

People eagerly accept the false claim that Madoka is better and more deep solely because it's by and for men and that way they can throw Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Tokyo Mew Mew and friends under the bus because they're just lame girly crap and anything not written with men in mind must be bad, right? @saintfighteraqua said that when people find out he's a Moonie in public, they often snidely tell him that "Madoka is better". Gee, I wonder why?

I have issues with Madoka being seen as a deconstruction even outside of the fact that it's not the first "grimdark" Magical Girl anime and doesn't actually deconstruct due to the inherent implications of such a claim, but that's for another discussion or mayhap even a PM.

 

[unknowncheater01]

I agree with this(well, most of it). I think the only reason Madoka gets all the credit despite most shows being wayyy deeper and darker is because it's aimed at men, whereas the majority of Magical Girl shows are aimed at a female audience and written by a female author. Princess Tutu is the rare good Magical Girl anime that I've witnessed that is aimed at a male audience, and even then, it's shonen. Shonen might have its issues with women, but it's better than seinen by a landslide, at least in my opinion.

People eagerly accept the false claim that Madoka is better and more deep solely because it's by and for men and that way they can throw Sailor Moon, Cardcaptor Sakura, Tokyo Mew Mew and friends under the bus because they're just lame girly crap and anything not written with men in mind must be bad, right? @saintfighteraqua said that when people find out he's a Moonie in public, they often snidely tell him that "Madoka is better". Gee, I wonder why?

I have issues with Madoka being seen as a deconstruction even outside of the fact that it's not the first "grimdark" Magical Girl anime and doesn't actually deconstruct due to the inherent implications of such a claim, but that's for another discussion or mayhap even a PM.

In short: The Manga version of Sailor Moon makes every tradional style MGs (Mewmew, Cardcaptor, Precure,...) becomes a bullsh*t in comparison. The main point is the Manga of almost traditional MGs style are completely forgotten or they don't even have the Manga. Sailor Moon is an exception, although is has a apperance of a Light-Hearted Aesthetic MG series (which is completely a Joke because Toei Animation generally a sh*t company here), but when they discuss the Manga they see a true, a true different thing that Naoko wants us to see. FYI some of Sailor Moon power feats which brought into debate are mostly from the Manga (The Anime nerfed them a lot so people think Sailor Moon is a weak character rofl)

 

[Princess Sugar Lily]

Another thing I've noticed about Sailor Moon is that it seems to be the first critique of the grimdark Magical Girl genre. Uranus and Neptune are cynical and pessimistic, quite the opposite of the overall idealistic and hopeful tune of the rest of the anime, as dark as it is. And they are frequently proven wrong. I have this theory that they came from an alternate Magical Girl universe where "being Meguca is suffering" so to speak, and so they expect being a Magical Girl to have the same hopeless and demeaning affects on the Senshi of this verse, too. Fortunately, though, this is a story where, as hopeless as things may seem, hope DOES stand eternal and girls are allowed to have power and desires without being brutally and overly grotesquely punished. So that isn't the case!

 

[Tsundereshipper]

Princess Tutu is the rare good Magical Girl anime that I've witnessed that is aimed at a male audience, and even then, it's shonen

Since when is Princess Tutu shonen? This is news to me, it’s obviously a classic-style Magical Girl Shojo anime aimed at women.

 

[Princess Sugar Lily]

Since when is Princess Tutu shonen? This is news to me, it’s obviously a classic-style Magical Girl Shojo anime aimed at women.

Nope, it's shonen.

 

[Tsundereshipper]

Nope, it's shonen.

…I am genuinely shocked! Wow, I guess you learn something new everyday… Never in a million years would I have ever imagined Princess Tutu was shonen and aimed at men. The 90’s SM anime seems more believable being shonen than friggen Princess Tutu does! Then again I’m still shocked till this day that the infamous Usagi Drop is apparently a Josei aimed at women when it’s your typical Otaku loli grooming fantasy, so I suppose nothing should surprise me these days lol.

 

[unknowncheater01]

Nope, it's shonen.

Oh my.... Well this is a first Shonen that wasn't released in something like Weekly Shonen.
Anyway the demographics sometimes can be a Joke. Some very brutal, brutal thing like AOT and Chainsaw Man is considered Shonen but they don't feel like Shonen. One Punch Man is considered Seinen but it isn't like Seinen, it's more like a Generic-Shonen Parody. About the Sailor Moon manga I actually consider it as a Semi-seinen Manga because the thing the manga shows you is almost the same as PMMM nowadays.