Thoughts on Kaitou Ace from Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor V

I was browsing through the Sailor Moon tag on Tumblr and I just happened to come across this confession:

prettysenshiconfessions:
I thought Kaitou Ace was awful and creepy, a borderline villain. Why do so many people want him together with Minako?! [Link]

Ace Kaitou was very sinister, creepy and disturbing... and that’s what makes him interesting. Unlike the Shitennou in Sailor Moon, who had their duty and memories warped and removed, Danburite was fully aware of his actions from beginning to end and seemed to genuinely relish in having the “last laugh” over Minako, and by extension Venus. That is what makes him such an fascinating character. I agree I don’t understand people who genuinely wish he and Minako were a couple, but I can understand why the relationship is interesting because the source of Danburite’s discontent towards Minako is the bitterness he feels about his previous life, Adonis’s unrequited love for his Princess Venus and that all his life she never looked at him twice. Or even once.

On the one hand you do feel sorry for Adonis because he always admired and dreamed about being noticed by Venus but she always put her duty as a senshi first. Perhaps he could have lived with that if that meant she would not give her love to someone else. He felt sad about it, sure, but at least no one else would have her.

All he wanted to do was be as close to her as possible.

Then, while serving in Endymion’s army, just to stay close to his princess, he happened to notice a telling exchange between Venus and his Terran commanding officer. That was when he made another bitter realization.

In a weird way, I think it a cruel irony that out of all the players in this story it was the lowly foot solider who was reborn with his memories in tact. Minako, whoever Kunzite was before Beryl got to him, the other Senshi and Shitennou, even Luna doesn’t remember everything - all of them are in the dark. In this life he is the one who is one step ahead, who holds all the secrets, and yet he uses it to commit crimes and stand against Venus.

Danburite puts a lot of emphasis on paths. He sees Adonis’s path as one of endless struggle, reaching out to Venus yet never reaching her. That he chose in this life to hurt her shows an underlining bitterness that appears to have two roots: the one he blatantly stated - that her duty to Serenity made her unattainable - and then we have the one only hinted at through the panels but its inclusion at all makes it an important factor in Danburite's choice to become a villain: Venus's heart belonged to another man.

It is the latter which was, in my opinion, the straw that broke the camel’s back for Danburite. Takeuchi depicts the “other man” twice within a few panels. First, with Adonis standing directly behind him (OT: Oh hai, Jadeite!) and second, of him and Venus together. This is presumably from Adonis’s POV as they are being viewed from behind, accompanied by a sorrowful expression from Adonis at what is clearly supposed to be a tender moment between Venus and Kunzite. The inclusion of the tiny circling stars between their eye lines with Adonis's own swirling off into nothing, indicating that he is not only watching them but that while their eyes are for each other, his have no inter-locker. Adonis is alone. This moment is so clearly burned into Danburite’s mind that he has to flippantly wave it away by accusing Minako of “always falling in love back then too”, showing that the pain (or resentment) Adonis felt in that second was still vividly felt by Danburite. Had this really been another one of Minako/Venus's one-minute crushes, it would not have been included in his memory. Recalling it proves that whatever passed between Venus and Kunzite was mutual.

There is no point in sugar coating it. It is blatantly implied in this moment that one of Danburite’s key motivations for growing to spite and work against Sailor Venus was this moment. It boiled down to one key emotion:

Jealousy.

The fact that he serves the Shitennou in this life too is another cruel irony. Aside from working for the force that will “rule the world” and is working against everything Sailor Venus stood against, it goes further than that. Presumably Danburite knows how the love story between his Princess and his Commander ended - in tragedy - and being in the know while reporting to the shadow-of-his-former-self Kunzite perhaps gave him some perverse satisfaction. For one thing he had the upper-hand over the man who the “hands of fate” had favoured, the man Venus had loved. Kunzite is still his commander, yes, but Danburite is more aware of the situation than he is. The former has the power but the latter is holding all the cards.

Another thing to remember is that Danburite is also holding the cards tightly to his chest. In doing that, he is denying Kunzite his freedom and Minako the full story. Just like he never could reach Venus, Minako will never again be able to reach out to her (presumed) soul mate. Danburite dies taking the knowledge of Venus and Kunzite’s love affair with him, leaving both of them forever in the dark.

Danburite is perhaps a better villain because he is so aware. Kunzite, the other shitennou and even Beryl are ultimately pawns in someone else’s game. Upon realising the truth of who he was, Kunzite was consumed with guilt and sorrow. Ultimately, he had to have all autonomy taken from him to keep him under Beryl’s thumb. Even transformed into a crystal, he rose up and told Mamoru what he needed to do to defeat Queen Metalia. Ultimately we are shown that Kunzite is a “true knight” - always looking for the light even when surrounded in darkness. Danburite knows what he is doing from beginning to end and even with the opportunity to finally get his Venus, the darkness consumes him.

That is what makes Danburite/Ace good villain. He is complex like Kunzite but is also bad for the sake of being bad, which I admit I like. In the second life he is give the chance to finally win the love of Venus, but he opts instead to use her nativity and habit of giving love out as a weapon to hurt her. It is an act of a man who wants nothing more than revenge. Idealistic Adonis died chasing an unobtainable woman. Danburite died spiting the unobtainable woman by breaking her heart and cursing her love life.

You are left wondering at the end - was it his obsession with Venus that drove him to his nefarious deeds or deep down was he always ultimately a creepy, nasty piece of work? I know what I think - but what about you, um?

__

I posted this to my Tumblr and DeviantArt pages as well.

Thoughts on the Shipper Nazis Attacking Makers/VAs of Sailor Moon Crystal

So, I originally posted a lot of this on my Tumblr but as with everything else I wanted to shift it over to this place and actually make use of this silly little nook of the internet.

Anyway, the thing that sprouted off this long post I made was an Anonymous message in my inbox:

After I posted a vintage Hermione GIF using the cool new feature Tumblr has that allows you to summon any number of GIF to illustrate your response (Making the thing that Tumblr is best known for ten times easier), I actually put down my own thoughts.

The bottom line is this: anyone who has such an immature reaction to another person’s opinion should be ashamed of themselves. Very often these reactions are born of very small minded and closed off individuals who invest far too much on their feelings into fandom and this is especially potent when it comes to shipping.

I wouldn’t give such a pointless individual the time of day if they came a-knocking on my blog and would only ever post their message to the viewing public in order for my followers to laugh at how idiotic it is.

The rest of this point is an in-depth rant, so feel free to leave now.

(What lies below is basically my opinions on the comments made towards those who worked on SMC, the misunderstandings about what SMC supposedly did to warrant these comments and an in-depth look at Rei/Sailor Mars and the issues some people take with her relationship with Jadeite. If that interests you, feel free to read.)

What makes the whole “Senshi and Shitennou” bashing worse is that a lot of it is built on what appears to be a misunderstanding of the source material. I see the terms “queer erasure” and “hetronormancy” or whatever made-up word it is thrown in to make it sound intelligent. Not only are these words just buzz words to try and make like-minded people get all fired up over nothing but are to begin with. As Sailor Moon Crystal is based more closely on the manga, the writers chose to expand - ever so briefly - on the story thread that Naoko Takeuchi did slip into the manga for at least two of the pairings (Venus/Kunzite and Mars/Jadeite) and stated wanting to explore the relationships one day in her artbook.

The “anger” comes from these small number of people who seem to be under the misapprehension that Kunzite and Zoisite’s was conceived as a romantic one (when it has only ever really been portrayed as such in the 90′s anime), and that the Sailor Senshi are going against character by falling in love with men especially Rei. These two arguments have always boggled my mind because the the K/Z one is a non-issue (Zoisite is described as being “the baby of the family [of the Shitennou and] like a younger brother to Kunzite” in the Materials Collection, not a romantic relationship) and the Rei one is nonsensical. It has always irritated me when people claim that the Senshi being in love with the Shitennou weakens them as characters or is OC, as if women loving men is a flaw in their character. But here’s the thing guys: falling in love isn’t something you choose to do, it just happens.

I know a lot of people take issue with Rei falling in love with Jadeite as a break in character, as she voices several times that she distrusts men and has no desire for marriage. However these are characteristics of Rei not the Sailor Mars who loved Jadeite. Rei’s feelings are likely as a result of watching her parents’ marriage and her resentment towards her father for his treatment of her mother when she was dying. Her attitudes towards marriage can be likened in a sense to Elizabeth I. Elizabeth’s mother Anne Boleyn was executed on false charges of adultery when she was 2-years-old and bore witness to her father’s various troubled marriages thereafter. Elizabeth was lorded as the child “most like her father Henry VIII” and she lorded it proudly in public because it was necessary. In private, she never stop loving her mother nor likely forget what her father did to her: her devotion lives forever in a secret locket on her coronation ring, which contains a portrait of Anne. Elizabeth never seemed to be able to bring herself to marry - and who could blame her after witnesses nothing but disaster and pain come from marriage. Rei’s exposure to crappy relationships are minimal - just her father and his Jadeite-look-alike secretary who she appears to have had feelings for - but the point is that just like Elizabeth I, Rei likely has decided that marriage is not for her. Yet that still didn’t stop Elizabeth I from falling in love with Robert Dudley. There are many reasons why Elizabeth couldn’t marry Dudley (”I shall have one mistress here and no master! No man will rule over me!” being one, the necessity for foreign alliances another) but a lot of it likely stemmed from a genuine fear of marriage itself.

What’s the point of all this?

Well, who’s to say that Sailor Mars did anything other than fall in love with Jadeite? After all, he appears to have been bound by the same vows she was - to put his Master above all else - and likely would not have had marriage on the plate either. But they still could have fallen in love. You can’t help who you fall in love with. You can choose to kiss them, sleep with them, marry them – but you can choose whether or not you love them. That just happens as a result of getting to know someone. Mars could have done just that: she got to know Jadeite and fell in love with him. She needn’t have done anything else; she just loved him.

I admit I do take issue with people who claim that that character like Rei who is supposedly “empowered by not needing a man” falling in love somehow weakens her. Rei is not “empowered” by the fact that she does not need a man - that is just a choice she has made and has nothing to do with empowerment. If we followed the logic that Rei is strong because she doesn’t need a man, then surely we must conclude that Makoto is weaker because she does want to find a man and get married. But they are both equality complex characters who are stronger from their life experiences. That is what makes them worth while characters.

Anyone who takes issue with Rei being in a relationship with anyone including Jadeite, that’s fine, but to call it “hetro-normacy” or whatever the buzz word of the hour is, is a bit of a stretch especially since canonically all Jadeite did was express an attraction for Rei that he didn’t understand. As for Rei did was regain her memories and remember her feelings for Jadeite, which are implied to have been love.

To dislike a ship is perfectly fine but to then be needlessly bigoted or even threaten people who like it is completely reprehensible. Let’s not kid ourselves, we are all here in fandom because we take this stuff way too seriously, but I will afford no time or respect to single person who goes that far with their behaviour. People like that in all walks of life need to be condemned for their poor behaviour.

That goes for all fans who can’t be decent human beings regards of which characters you like or who you ship.

Inherently, this whole incident shows how people on the internet do seem to take the relationships of fictional characters serious, perhaps more so than the relationships they have in real life. I used to put a lot of value into them myself but I have since grown up and got older. While it is debatable whether I got any wiser from my experiences as a "shipper" of the die hard variety but I know for certain it is a world I do not want to return to.

God, Windows 10 Was a Nightmare!

I have just spent the best part of my afternoon and evening trying to fix the MESS that Windows 10 made of my laptop after I allowed it to update from my Windows 7. I was apprehensive, of course, but I figured it would be better to upgrade and “embrace the future”.

Well, in my opinion Microsoft need to get back to the drawing board.

Now before you say anything, no it has nothing to do with the interface. I actually don’t have a problem with the panels or dashboard. I also admit that the computer booted up a lot faster than Windows 7 does. (But don’t put it to Sleep/Hibernate, have lunch and then come back because it will be going painfully slow).

But that is where the positives end. After less than 48 hours with Windows 10, I knew I had made a mistake as I undercovered a load of glitches and errors. Let me count the ways:

1. None of my existing files would play in the newer versions of the Windows tools. Most noticeably my videos in Windows Media Player. It was like I had gone back in time with WMP 11. Do you guys remember the original “Windows RG” flash game?

Also an 1b.) Programs that had nothing to do with Microsoft suddenly stopped working when they had been perfectly capable before. Manga Studio for example stopped recognising PS files. Odd considering that it has the ability of saving files as PS files!  It was like I had stumbled into that not least because;

2. Error messages galore! If you tried to open a single app on Windows 10, an error message would pop up saying that “Element not found”. This happened for:
+ Internet Edge, Microsoft’s “Not” Explorer browser. Is it as rubbish as Explorer used to be? I don’t know. I never saw the darn thing!
+ The App Store itself. Makes sense seeing as none of the other apps worked.
+ Settings. Yes, the settings. This led to 3:

3. The Setting tab was completely useless and unusable. If you did manage to get a response, the timer would come up before giving you the dreaded “Element not found” warning. This meant I couldn’t update, couldn’t reinstall anything to try and fix the errors and, worst of all, I couldn’t access the tab that allows you to switch back to your old interface!

The issue with the apps is a weirdly reported issue that Microsoft claimed to be working on. My understanding was that they had come up with a fix in the latest update, provided you also ran a downloadable troubleshooter too. However with updates not occurring on the laptop and being unable to prompt them myself, I wasn’t going to give them the benefit of the doubt. Windows 10 had to go.

How did I fix it? I had to load up Safe Mode using the Run command, msconfig. Another archaic feature of Windows 10 is that because most of the buttons don’t work - not just the apps and settings but also links in the troubleshooters and back up - is that you have to rely on the System Run to retrieve EVERYTHING for you. Yes, a feature most of us never used or only used for Task Manager became an essential tool for getting Windows 10 to struggle along.

It also seemed to struggle with remembering my preferences, probably as a result of the settings being broken, as I was asked if I wanted to make Google Chrome my default browser every time I restarted the laptop. Believe me, I reset it a lot trying to make it work.

I have never been happier to be using Windows 7. Using Windows 10 was one of the most frustrating experiences I’ve had in a while. I wanted to cry I was so angry to see my files unusable, nothing working (or working sometimes only to freeze or crash) and not being able to get rid of it without booting up Safe Mode.

Safe Mode is a system people tend to use when there is a serious error on their computer, like catching Malware or a virus. This is what Windows 10 felt like. I checked my specifications - my laptop was perfectly capable of running Windows 10. It just did not install properly and then blocked me out of any means of fixing it quickly.

Windows 10 had serious, game-breaking flaws that need to be addressed urgently. I urge anyone who had a laptop full of memories and isn’t prepared for a Clean Install not to bother upgrading to Windows 10 until Microsoft have fully fixed these issues.

I know now why they’ve been rolling Windows 10 out for free, though. They wanted us to be their beta testers. Windows 10 is free to anyone with a genuine copy of Windows 7 or 8 until (I think) June next year. After that, you will have to pay for it. Presumably by that point, they’ll have fixed most of the issues - or at least one would hope - and goodness knows, no one would pay for Windows 10 in its current form.