And the Winner Is... Sailormoon Sites
  October 1999


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Shy Queen of the Sky: Haruka

http://omnibus.uni-freiburg.de/~vogelw/


Here's Why:

  • Argues Haruka does not have a relationship with Michiru.
  • Twists the situations in episodes to suit the arguement.
  • Bases evidence on German dub, which doesn't work when based on the original Japanese.

Positives About The Page:

  • It is only a thesis, and the author's opinion.
     
   Nominated by: Mamorhita, VoidStar, eudial, Moonbrat, Gretchie, Karama, and Sailoreagle (feww)

Comments:

CereCere

Excuse me while I get my serious suit on... ^_^
Okay, to start off, I must say I have no problem with anyone trying to express their opinions. However, when those opinions are argued by twisting facts and evidence, so much that it becomes a source of misinformation to others, then I must take issue with it. Because of this I will first cover the various scenes Oberon refers to in order to support his argument that Haruka is shy and does not have a relationship with Michiru.
Now the evidence presented in this article comes from the author's viewing of the German dub. Most of us know and realize that all the dubbed versions of the show misinterpret or even purposly alter certain scenes. A lot of the dubs are more than just translations, they are adaptions. From what I have read and heard, the German dub is no exception to this. Thus, I wonder if Oberon would or could form the same opinions if he saw the Japanese episodes.
That being said, Oberon still bases most of his evidence on situations from the episodes, without direct quotes. I don't think the German dub could twist the situation of a scene as much as what is presented in this article. For example, Oberon's first arguement with evidence from the episodes is:
"First of all, it is important to stress that Michiru would give her life for Haruka (see episode 110), but not vice versa (episode 098), a clear sign that Michiru is interested in Haruka, but Haruka NOT in Michiru.
After viewing my copies of 98 and 110, and checking out Doi's episode guide just to be sure I'm interpreting this right (admittedly, I have non-subbed japanese eps) you understand the situation the characters were placed in with those episodes. Haruka and Michiru throughout most of SMS are on a mission to save the world, first by finding the Tailsmans. They promised each other they would complete their mission at all costs. Even if one of them was to die, the other would not attempt a rescue so that the mission could succeed. They must save the planet. They mention this promise several times, including episode 98.
In episode 98, Uranus and Moon have been handcuffed together and are being attacked by Kaolinite. Neptune who is already injured tells Uranus, "escape! You have to live and complete the mission." Neptune is tossed into a waterfall and Uranus leaves with Moon. Moon, of course questions Uranus and askes if she cares at all about Neptune. Uranus tells Moon of the promise to carry out the mission, no matter what. Thus, Uranus was only fulfilling her promise to Neptune, it's not that she wasn't willing to give her life for her, she had to escape and survive so the planet had a chance at being saved.
In episode 110 we have a totally different situation. Eudial has just started an attack on Uranus and Neptune. Neither of them are injured at the time, Neptune sees a block headed for Uranus and pushes Uranus out of the way. I don't think their promise applies here, it was just a split second decision by Neptune. I'm sure there must be an example where Uranus does a similar thing for Neptune.
This is just one example of how Oberon twists the situation to suit his argument. Sure it's his opinion, but it's the wrong way to argue it. Oberon even knows of Naoko's statements about Neptune and Uranus being a couple, but argues, because Naoko didn't draw or write a scene with them sleeping with each other then they are not a couple. Ummm last time I checked there was more to being a couple than sleeping with each other.
[Cere tears off the serious suit and bounces away]

VesVes

I'm leary of this page just by the title. Haruka is probably one of the least shy of the bunch, but I'll give the author the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he sees some sort of kitten-soft side to her that others miss.
I will admit that I haven't seen the German version of Sailormoon, which I assume is what the author is basing his 'essay' on. For the essay itself, I'm highly unimpressed by the black on yellow color selection and abuse of the underline tag. It's hard to believe that someone studying literary science could make such a shoddy looking essay. Regardless of the language, certain formatting rules do apply, and have been shot in the foot by this attempt.
Setting aside first impressions, let's get down to the content. The first thing that catches my eye is his statement of seeing 199 episodes and 3 specials, and hoping the missing episode and 4 specials will be out soon. I'm curious to know what these 'specials' are. There is the SuperS special and Ami's First Love. He might be counting the movies as specials, but that only gets us up to 5 possibilities. What are the other 2 sources he's referring too?
His arguments regarding Haruka's Christianity and destroying gays and lesbians leaves me balking for 2 reasons. The first is that Naoko often draws the characters wearing religious icons as jewelry. Saying Haruka is Christian due to her wearing a cross is a weak argument since in artbook 5 there is a beautiful picture of Usagi with no less than 4 crosses on her jewerly. Is she a Christian as well? My second objection is his use of highly interpretive references from the Bible. I won't go into those, simply saying that it's better to avoid religious interpretations of anime unless you're willing to defend them (and you surely will if experience serves me well).
The episodes he references are the German ones. I would be interested to see him attempt the same 'Haruka not a lesbian, just shy' argument were he to use the original material. A dub can put whatever words they want into a character's mouth. I won't rant on and on about nitpicky point. Naoko, when asked point blank if Haruka and Michiru were a couple, answered "Yes, they are." You can't argue with that.

JunJun

Okay, there's this shy queen, see, and her name's Haruka and all, see, and like, she's not REALLY a lesbian, even though her creator said so, because the creator can't say anything about her own creations because the owner of this webpage said so. "First of all, what the author him/herself says about his/her work is of no importance for a literary scientist." This is probably only true to freaks like this author who have to warp everything to promote their single-minded religious preferences. Literary scientist my ass. This page totally pisses me off, and I can knock down every single one of this person's points. To summarize, the whole article goes on and on about how Michiru is Haruka's maternal figure, yet she wants to have sexual relations with Haruka, implying some sort of incest thing here; Haruka's "disgusted" with Michiru because she actively hates homosexuals due to the fact that she wears crosses all the time, meaning she's automatically Christian. All her lines and expressions have been twisted to mean that she's perfectly straight. You know that sweet scene in 110 where they're holding hands at the window sill? Haruka's disgusted by it. This whole thing is based on sheer bull, an anti-homosexual mindset, and a lot of wrong facts. For instance, the guy claims Takeuchi doesn't like homosexuals because Kuznite and Zoicite, a gay couple, die in the anime. Any idiot knows that in the original manga, Kunzite and Zoicite aren't gay, Takeuchi doesn't write the anime, and what about Nephrite and Naru? Nephrite dies. Damn, he must have been homosexual. This page twists EVERY single scene and line to suit this person's warped view on relationships. He makes such HUGE generalizations and says that things that are clearly true are false because he says THOSE are generalizations. For example, the scene in 198 where the two are dying? It HAS to be a mother-daughter death, because two people who are on different levels on the ground and have no strength left because they're about to fade would OBVIOUSLY demand a kiss instead of a touch of hands (they'd somehow gain all this energy and passionately lock lips). And because Haruka and Michiru never have sex, never kiss, and are never in the same bed, they must not be gay. "Their only "proves" are: Naoko's statements, some pics showing them close together."

PallaPalla

This is ridiculous. No, not the webpage--but how everyone is up-in-arms because of one German guy's opinions on Haruka. Does it REALLY matter? Do we feel so threatened to prove that Haruka is in fact a lesbian, which she is? Who are we to say that a guy can't present his opinion, no matter how off it seems? No, I don't agree with Oberon about his site, but be reasonable. He presents his information in a very rational way with an attempt at support information. Shouldn't we respond to him in the same sort of way rather than talking about what a blinde fool he is? He's obviously not stupid.
The specials that Oberon refers to are the movies, which aired in Germany as specials. I should also point out that the German dub isn't anywhere near as cracked up as the US dub was. He makes a point that Michiru would give her life for Haruka, but Haruka would not for Michiru--a fact I agree with and will always agree with. Haruka and Michiru have a very complicated relationship stemming from the fact that Michiru is crazy--err wait, ignore my side comment ;) But WHY is everyone so uptight because this person chooses to WAAAAAAAAAAY overanalyze Haruka's character? The only thing that really bothered me was the stuff about Haruka being a Christian. Unlikely. Most Japanese arenn't christian. They think crosses are trendy and cool looking, remember how it was stylish to have Buddah and Krishna on t-shirts here? Same thing there. ALOT of things that Oberon suggests as proof could very well be true--it just matters how you look at it. Alot of Oberon's argument is convincing, because there really is something more to their relationship than meets the eye. Haruka and Michiru AREN'T the happy-little-lesbian couple that people make them out to be, there's something deeper there...and often times it does seem like Haruka is uncomfortable with it, and sometimes it does seem like Michiru isn't serious about it. That's apart of the fun, not really knowing. Except for one glaring point that we can't deny, if not for one thing, the fact that Naoko Takeuchi said herself that Michiru and Haruka were a lesbian couple. Hell, lots of other people refuse to believe it as well, but at least this guy has proof to back his case up. Let the guy overanalyze all he wants. People o it all the time. The only criticism I have about this page is that he needs to reevaluate some of his statements, because they aren't true. Also, the format's a little ugly.



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