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In conclusion, I would read crossover fic.
The blog Manga Bookshelf regularly hosts what they call, "Manga Moveable Feasts," which are essentially blog carnivals for specific series.
This week, people who blog about manga have been writing about Sailor Moon. You can find link round-ups of the various posts here. I especially enjoyed Sailor Moon and Femininity.
In this roundtable post, while discussing the likeability of Usagi (Sailor Moon)'s character at the onset of the series, David says the following:
There is this thesis I've had for a while, that all Joss Whedon TV shows* are based on anime series.
Dollhouse can be mapped pretty easily to Gunslinger Girl.
Firefly has a very similar premise to Cowboy Bebop.
(In both cases, I would argue that the anime is better.)
Although less obvious at first blush, I'd postulate that the premise & some characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer map on to Sailor Moon.
(In this case, I would argue that Buffy takes Sailor Moon and makes it into an overall better show.)
Usagi Tsukino/Buffy Summers is a blonde school girl who has special powers. Usagi/Buffy's friends have special powers, too, but Usagi/Buffy's powers are The Most Special and instrumental in saving the world multiple times.
Usagi/Buffy have a love interests in a tall/dark/handsome man, Tuxedo Mask/Angel. This love interest is forbidden in both series (Angel is a vampire; Tuxedo Mask is after the Imperium Crystal - JUST LIKE THE ENEMY), and the man is marked as suspicious by Usagi/Buffy's narrative-dumping mentor with a British accent, Luna/Giles. [I should note that Luna's accent is only British in the English dub, but if Whedon did watch Sailor Moon in the mid-nineties, he probably watched the dub.]
Usagi/Buffy fight against a never-ending horde of demons. Their friends help them! I view Willow as a combination of Sailor Mercury (girl genius with an IQ of 300) and Sailor Mars (a spiritual & mature person, with a temper).
Xander is a little more narratively useful because he doesn't have any special powers. But he's much more fleshed out than Usagi's power-less friend Naru, who is mostly forgotten after the first arc of the manga.
The cross-series relationship that interests me the most is the fusion of Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Saturn into Buffy's younger sister, Dawn.
Chibi Moon inexplicably shows up in the Sailor Moon series and nobody knows who she is or why she's there. It turns out she's Usagi's daughter from the future, sent to the past to train how to be a Sailor Senshi and help them out in their wars against various enemies. Chibi-Usa purposely alters the memories of Usagi's mother, father, and brother so that they all believe Chibi-Usa is her cousin, who is now living with them. I think in the manga and the anime, Usagi is annoyed by this.
There isn't the same sense of betrayal/deep suspicion that Buffy has when she figures out that Dawn's presence and everyone's collective memory of her is a lie.
In Sailor Moon, Chibi-Usa has an incestuous infatuation with Tuxedo Mask, who in the future (after he grows up) will be her father. Their relationship is complicated and unsettling.
In Buffy Dawn has a crush in Xander in season 5. Because Xander is not actually related to Dawn, this is more palatable to a mainstream television audience, even if Xander is part of Buffy's chosen family. This crush is at first unrequited anyway, due to their difference in age. (Assuming one discounts the continuation of the series in comics, through Seasons 8 & 9.)
In the Sailor Moon story, Chibi-Usa befriends Hotaru/Sailor Saturn. Unfortunately, Sailor Saturn is the sailor of destruction, and in order to save the world, she has to die.
This makes a lot more logical sense than Dawn's status as a "key" in Buffy season 5, who needs to die in order to save the world.
In both stories, Dawn & Hotaru end up being okay with some sacrifices from Buffy/Usagi.
In the TV show, Buffy's receipt of her ultimate power through the vehicle of a scythe (never referenced in any previous season) seems kind of out of place, but it could be a nod to shoujo anime in general, or Sailor Moon specifically. Sailor Moon has a crescent wand when she first transforms. Overtime, as her power grows, the wand changes and develops into a staff.
Overall, I think that Buffy is a better-developed show. Sometimes the shows explore the same themes - what would happen if Buffy/Usagi lost their powers? What would happen if Angel/Tuxedo Mask's personality changed and they were evil? What happens to Usagi/Buffy when he leaves? but I think Buffy does a better job of examining power and responsibility. It also has a lot more dudes, so depending on your preference, YMMV.
It's my head-canon that Whedon came up with Buffy after watching the Sailor Moon anime, and possibly reading the manga. I can pretty clearly imagine him watching it, and tearing his hair out, thinking, "This premise has so much potential! I can make it so much better if I just do this here, and that there...." etc.
*Due to Angel's status as a spinoff of Buffy, I leave this out of the postulation.
ETA: As this is the type of post to generate discussion, I just want to point out that there are comments on both the DW and the LJ version of the post. DW people, the link to LJ is below.
LJ people, the DW link is here: http://laceblade.dreamwidth.org/545960.html
Daughter of ETA:
After spending some time on Google, I wanted to link to some things I found.
1) A discussion in the comments at Whedonesque. Comments also compare Ann & Alan to Drusilla & Spike. Someone calls Sailor Moon porn there, though, so I'm not really sure what that's about.
2) This blog post purports that one of the movie producers, Fran Rubel Kuzui, was a Sailor Moon fan. It's well-known that the Kazuis had no creative input on the TV series, though.
There's an interview here with Fran Rubel Kuzui, that talks about bringing some of Sailor Moon's traits to Buffy.
Kuzui wanted to bring Sailor Moon’s traits and martial arts skills to the character. "The writer, Joss Whedon, loved the idea, so we set out to rewrite the script." The movie was picked up by a studio within three weeks of the revised script’s completion.
Kuzui was married to a Japanese man, Kaz Kuzui, the third executive producer of Buffy.
3) There are at least 13 crossover fics..
This week, people who blog about manga have been writing about Sailor Moon. You can find link round-ups of the various posts here. I especially enjoyed Sailor Moon and Femininity.
In this roundtable post, while discussing the likeability of Usagi (Sailor Moon)'s character at the onset of the series, David says the following:
[Sailor V]’s excited that she can become glamorous and powerful and, to a lesser extent, help people. If Usagi had something compelling going on in her life, the added responsibilities might actually seem like a burden, but she seems put out because it’s cutting into her nap time. It reminds me of how right Joss Whedon got this dynamic so right with Buffy, whose destiny was really gruesome and dangerous, and Cordelia, who went from being very shallow to really enjoying making a difference. Usagi is a very “Math is hard!” type. I’m looking forward when manga Usagi catches up with anime Usagi, who was a lot more likable and credible.
There is this thesis I've had for a while, that all Joss Whedon TV shows* are based on anime series.
Dollhouse can be mapped pretty easily to Gunslinger Girl.
Firefly has a very similar premise to Cowboy Bebop.
(In both cases, I would argue that the anime is better.)
Although less obvious at first blush, I'd postulate that the premise & some characters of Buffy the Vampire Slayer map on to Sailor Moon.
(In this case, I would argue that Buffy takes Sailor Moon and makes it into an overall better show.)
Usagi Tsukino/Buffy Summers is a blonde school girl who has special powers. Usagi/Buffy's friends have special powers, too, but Usagi/Buffy's powers are The Most Special and instrumental in saving the world multiple times.
Usagi/Buffy have a love interests in a tall/dark/handsome man, Tuxedo Mask/Angel. This love interest is forbidden in both series (Angel is a vampire; Tuxedo Mask is after the Imperium Crystal - JUST LIKE THE ENEMY), and the man is marked as suspicious by Usagi/Buffy's narrative-dumping mentor with a British accent, Luna/Giles. [I should note that Luna's accent is only British in the English dub, but if Whedon did watch Sailor Moon in the mid-nineties, he probably watched the dub.]
Usagi/Buffy fight against a never-ending horde of demons. Their friends help them! I view Willow as a combination of Sailor Mercury (girl genius with an IQ of 300) and Sailor Mars (a spiritual & mature person, with a temper).
Xander is a little more narratively useful because he doesn't have any special powers. But he's much more fleshed out than Usagi's power-less friend Naru, who is mostly forgotten after the first arc of the manga.
The cross-series relationship that interests me the most is the fusion of Sailor Chibi Moon and Sailor Saturn into Buffy's younger sister, Dawn.
Chibi Moon inexplicably shows up in the Sailor Moon series and nobody knows who she is or why she's there. It turns out she's Usagi's daughter from the future, sent to the past to train how to be a Sailor Senshi and help them out in their wars against various enemies. Chibi-Usa purposely alters the memories of Usagi's mother, father, and brother so that they all believe Chibi-Usa is her cousin, who is now living with them. I think in the manga and the anime, Usagi is annoyed by this.
There isn't the same sense of betrayal/deep suspicion that Buffy has when she figures out that Dawn's presence and everyone's collective memory of her is a lie.
In Sailor Moon, Chibi-Usa has an incestuous infatuation with Tuxedo Mask, who in the future (after he grows up) will be her father. Their relationship is complicated and unsettling.
In Buffy Dawn has a crush in Xander in season 5. Because Xander is not actually related to Dawn, this is more palatable to a mainstream television audience, even if Xander is part of Buffy's chosen family. This crush is at first unrequited anyway, due to their difference in age. (Assuming one discounts the continuation of the series in comics, through Seasons 8 & 9.)
In the Sailor Moon story, Chibi-Usa befriends Hotaru/Sailor Saturn. Unfortunately, Sailor Saturn is the sailor of destruction, and in order to save the world, she has to die.
This makes a lot more logical sense than Dawn's status as a "key" in Buffy season 5, who needs to die in order to save the world.
In both stories, Dawn & Hotaru end up being okay with some sacrifices from Buffy/Usagi.
In the TV show, Buffy's receipt of her ultimate power through the vehicle of a scythe (never referenced in any previous season) seems kind of out of place, but it could be a nod to shoujo anime in general, or Sailor Moon specifically. Sailor Moon has a crescent wand when she first transforms. Overtime, as her power grows, the wand changes and develops into a staff.
Overall, I think that Buffy is a better-developed show. Sometimes the shows explore the same themes - what would happen if Buffy/Usagi lost their powers? What would happen if Angel/Tuxedo Mask's personality changed and they were evil? What happens to Usagi/Buffy when he leaves? but I think Buffy does a better job of examining power and responsibility. It also has a lot more dudes, so depending on your preference, YMMV.
It's my head-canon that Whedon came up with Buffy after watching the Sailor Moon anime, and possibly reading the manga. I can pretty clearly imagine him watching it, and tearing his hair out, thinking, "This premise has so much potential! I can make it so much better if I just do this here, and that there...." etc.
*Due to Angel's status as a spinoff of Buffy, I leave this out of the postulation.
ETA: As this is the type of post to generate discussion, I just want to point out that there are comments on both the DW and the LJ version of the post. DW people, the link to LJ is below.
LJ people, the DW link is here: http://laceblade.dreamwidth.org/545960.html
Daughter of ETA:
After spending some time on Google, I wanted to link to some things I found.
1) A discussion in the comments at Whedonesque. Comments also compare Ann & Alan to Drusilla & Spike. Someone calls Sailor Moon porn there, though, so I'm not really sure what that's about.
2) This blog post purports that one of the movie producers, Fran Rubel Kuzui, was a Sailor Moon fan. It's well-known that the Kazuis had no creative input on the TV series, though.
There's an interview here with Fran Rubel Kuzui, that talks about bringing some of Sailor Moon's traits to Buffy.
Kuzui wanted to bring Sailor Moon’s traits and martial arts skills to the character. "The writer, Joss Whedon, loved the idea, so we set out to rewrite the script." The movie was picked up by a studio within three weeks of the revised script’s completion.
Kuzui was married to a Japanese man, Kaz Kuzui, the third executive producer of Buffy.
3) There are at least 13 crossover fics..
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I always link-drop my own stuff there (unless it's in a comm that I know the maintainer follows w/their following-comms journal). So do most people, I think!
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I do have a crossover idea that's been with me a few years, I should probably get on that. ^_^
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The Sailor Moon fandom is so pervasive that there probably is a crossover. I'll Google and see what happens. You should totally write it!
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I've heard several people comment on Cowboy Bebop/Firefly. Now I wish there had been a second season with a silly episode where Mal meets his Cowboy Andy.
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Plus, Giles didn't have an accent in the movie, amirite?!
OMF re: Cowboy Andy in Firefly! It would have been amazesauce.
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