writing

Sailor Moon Book: An Update

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Hey gang, so the latest on the Sailor Moon Book (y’know, we really need to make sure we finalize the title so I have something to call it).

Me, I’m now up to my neck in research, which is to say, reading stuff and seeing it it’s useful and sticking it in the bibliography.  The sad part is the information isn’t “spread out” consistently – a few things are best found via wikis first then drilled into.  I wish someone would write a book on Sailor Moon’s history with a giant bibliography, and I have the terrifying fear someone will want us to do that next (I actually have a few other plans in mind).  So this is a pretty erratic experience, but I think I’ve discovered enough useful information.

Two things that came up are:

  • The exact history of the first Sailor Moon dub is a bit erratic (indeed, one book, Sailor Moon Reflections) was the best source.  Really this early history is kind of a mess, of options, of handoffs, hard-working actors and cultural adaptions, and strange broadcast hours.  It’s a bit of a wonder it happened.
  • The history of Magical Girl shows isn’t that well documented.  I found some intriguing bits and pieces on a manga called Princess Comet, which sounds like a proto-Sailor Moon story (including a lost handsome prince, space magic, and some rivalry) but can’t find much else on it.

Bonnie did her first run through the book and it’s shaping up.  It went from “reads like a collection of blog posts” to “reads like an book that needs polishing” due to her extensive efforts.  Once I finish my research (this week hopefully) I’ll make a go, then she and I will go over it together later in February.

It’s got a feel of being a kind of extended convention panel, filled with anecdotes and human bits, as well as a clear outline of progression (which was fairly obvious).  It took work to get it going, but now it’s really enjoyable as we see the different facets of how this show affected people.

Oh, and we’ll hopefully be speaking at some cons in 2016, stay tuned . . .

The artist is signed on.  No spoiling yet 😉

  • Steve

 

Sailor Moon Book Update

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We’re actually getting into the end part of writing the Sailor Moon book – but we’re not out of the sparkly crystal woods yet – or for awhile.

So first up, we had two chapterson how Sailor Moon affected and inspired people in hobbies and to change their lives.  We wrote them separately – only to find they were really one.  In fandom it’s hard to separate personal growth, fannish hobbies, and careers – it may look like it from the outside, but as soon as you start diving in . . . well, it doesn’t.

You’d think, I, Mr. Geek Job Guru would have thought of that, but I also thought you could abstract them – you can’t.  So we’re merging the new chapters together and moving part of that chapter to one on how people got more interested in Japan due to Sailor Moon.

Now what did we find?  Well, again a LOT.

Sailor Moon is almost a kind of ur-Fandom, an archetypical one.  You know the idea fandom inspires you to create, gets you involved in things, sets your career?  Pretty much Sailor Moon for many people was that, especially people who found it int he 90’s.

The thing is Sailor Moon, though it may seem goofy or odd, presents a lot to work with.  You can be inspired by the art, or inspired by the characters to try things.  You can take an interest in Japan and languages.  The complicated plotline inspires fanfic.  The references inspire analysis.  Sailor Moon in short provides a LOT to inspire people to try things.

Then throw in a growing fandom that blossomed in the age of the internet and the strong camaraderie, and again – you have a near archetypical fandom experience.

I think for many Sailor Moon set patterns in fandom.  It had all the elements necessary to inspire and engage, happened at the right time, and dug some deep roads.  It’s another chapter that leaves us kind of humble – moreso because we saw some people go through this experience directly.

Now next up, more editing and research, but also we’re probably going to do some more interviews.  We found a lot, but I’m wondering if a few more interviews can add more to it.

  • Steve

Sailor Moon: In The Name Of The Moon I’ll Hug You

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Well it’s time to start posting regular updates on this whole effort, so here’s a regular update. About the whole effort.

If you’re not familiar with whats going on, I and my co-author Bonnie are doing a book on Sailor Moon. Specificly, we’re examining how it impacted women in North America by A) interviewing various women, and B) Seeing what impacts we see as common.

Simple, but effective – so I want to do updates reguarly.

So right now we’re writing chapters on the titular heroine of Sailor Moon, and the values in the show. It’s gotten very interesting.

Here’s what we’ve found:

First, when you look at it, Sailor Moon, a reincarnated Moon Princiess is about as far from a Disney princess as you can get. Clumsy, cute at best, overanxious, she had the world on her shoulders. Sure she had a handsome prince, but he was an problematic amnesiac who couldn’t remember his past life nor his previous magical abilities, making him a big, juicy target in a top hat. Add the fact that various supernatural beings tried to kill her all the time and let’s face it – Sailor Moon’s life sucks.

The inversion continues with the character – she was also subversively loveable. She had a big heart under the ditziness and manic behavior. She brought people together. She was very human in her feelings and her flaws and that really made people love her and relate to her. Sailor Moon was that wacky friend you new – or that flawed person you were – that somehow got everyone on the same page.

The same kind of subversiveness was part of the show’s values. The show had it’s moments of moralizing (often via Tuxedo Mask, who was used as a hunky Jimminy Cricket when not being kidnapped), it had “Sailor Says” shoehorned into it in North America, but t did have core principles. It was about love, friendship, and persistence, as well as a understanding, and forgiveness.

For an action show with a surprisingly high body count (especially if you were a Monster Of The Week), it emphasized a lot of values that were distinctly non-violent. Even when there was violent, it was often motivated by love, justice, and protection of others – and those motivations gave characters their powers.  The show often involved fighting monsters, but it was about non-violent values.

The show and stories often delighted in gender fluidity and playing with standard gender roles. There were obvious gay couples such as Sailor Uranus and Neptune, but also gender-shifting and gender-bending characters. The characters, even when evil, were not evil for their differences in sexuality – in many cases, such as Zoicite, it humanized them.

Sailor Moon was a story about a clumsy reincarnated princess who freaked out constantly and saved the day, was about love and forgiveness in the face of cosmic horror, and where gender and sexuality weren’t simple. Sailor Moon was filled with things that seemed contradoctory, but were reall a different way of seeing things.

Now, put yourself in the place of a girl or young woman seeing this for the first time and you can imagine it’s a revelation.

  • Steve