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I’m attempting my first fanfic - finally - and the whole plot idea I was originally excited about became unnecessary to what the story ended up being and I’m really annoyed now, lol.

Also... this is supposed to be Christmas fluff and I’m not feeling great about getting it done in time 😬

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I have a tablet on the way to start drawing again for the first time in many many years and it’s due in large part to the amazing fan artists here like @nari20. you are incredible! I love how much of their different personalities translates through your art! Thank you for sharing your talents with us.

Holiday gift for @yanmazu for the gift exchange hosted by @sailormoonholiday ! I used the prompt 'Ugly Sweater Competition' with my giftee's favourite characters. I hope you like it @yanmazu! And a MASSIVE thank you for the organizers for this fun!♡ Happy Holidays everyone🎄🤶

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villains & bullies: usagi you’re the absolute worst!!!!

usagi: 

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Do you know what I have always wondered?

How is Tuxedo Mask able to dodge almost any attack and always whisks Sailor Moon out of danger just in the knick of time... yet Mamoru can’t dodge a flying shoe? I’m with Usagi on this one.

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Let’s talk about the best episode in the entire Sailor Moon catalog. I know what you’re probably thinking; it’s the identity reveal, or the ending of season 1, or basically anything in S, right?

Nope. The greatest episode is the Nun episode. Yes. That one. With the kitten.

While I’m primarily an Usagi/Mamoru shipper and it’s not particularly juicy for them, I’m also a SuperS apologist. It’s the most absurd season, which is saying something since Sailor Moon is a pretty absurd show all around. I don’t think I need to convince you of this. You know what you came here for.

And the Nun episode (133 if you want to follow along at home) is just everything ridiculous that I love about this season and this show and I need to talk about it right now.

Let’s begin. (Sorry for the weird placement of the captions on the screenshots; I’m taking them from the Hulu web player and the play options were taking up too much screen real estate while paused, and I was only willing to fiddle with the CSS for about 3 seconds. Now back to our Bastard Kitten episode.)

Mamoru is in steady Dad Mode this whole season and today is no exception. It’s super cute, and Chibiusa is 100% trolling Usagi.

So, Chibiusa. I know she’s controversial in Sailor Moon fandom, but you can’t be an UsaMamo shipper and not love this absolute perfect combination of her two parents. She inherited her love of trolling Usagi from her father (which was his favorite pastime before he discovered other preferred ways of receiving Usagi’s attention) and her ability to manipulate Mamoru from her mother!

Yes, that’s a gray-haired Chibiusa watching Sailor Moon on TV. Don’t you care, papa??

This is Mamoru’s face 90% of the time he’s dealing with the Tsukino women.

I love how Chibiusa can use “future daughter” to get Mamoru to do anything but it doesn’t faze Usagi in the slightest.

Do you think Mamoru remembers the time he told Usagi that only a loser would be interested in her and she’d never get a boyfriend? I bet he’s thinking about that right now. Dust goes in a dust bin?

Sadly, our Mamoru torture comes to an end, as all great things must. We now turn our attention to the other male member of the group. Who has seemingly also made questionable relationship decisions.

Chibiusa’s outrage here is the best part. I’m a real sucker for ‘Chibiusa worries her existence is in jeopardy’.

One of my favorite things about the Usagi/Chibiusa relationship is that they immediately go from fighting with each other to being over it. Mamoru is probably still pissed at them and they’ve already moved on. I truly adore these two. I don’t even care about the Dead Moon Circus right now (although I love them too). I just want these two busybodies doing this all day.

Chibiusa: 100% Mamoru’s kid.

This scene with Minako grilling Artemis is *chef’s kiss*

I have a lot of issues with the breakup arc but we were truly robbed of a scene like this where Minako yells at Mamoru.

Next, the girls make cookies and chocolate pie for Luna to cheer her up, even though she’s a cat?

Chibiusa: 100% Usagi’s kid.

Luna is hanging by a thread here and Usagi just wants chocolate.

The little “oh” Usagi gives after Luna says her mission is to raise Usagi to be a queen absolutely destroys me.

Anyway, the nun gets attacked by Tiger’s Eye, blah blah blah. Venus is on the scene first.

In one of his best entrances, Tuxedo Mask pulls a kitten out of his hat.

Kitten is revealed to be Luna and Artemis’s future daughter in a shocking twist. 

Love how Usagi points to herself when Diana mentions Neo Queen Serenity.

Troll Mamoru returns.

Why do I love this episode so much even though it’s pure filler? It’s got all of my favorite things: Usagi being adorable, Chibiusa trolling Usagi, Mamoru making googly eyes at kittens, and Minako being fabulous. 10/10.

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SuperS was truly the aesthetic peak of the whole show

shame about the whole....rest of it

There. A few of those times where they made him really, really pretty in the show.

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I missed an important moment in my last post about about Mamoru being a lovesick idiot over Usagi in season 1, because it’s actually from a conversation between Reika and Motoki. And, like virtually every example of Mamoru’s feelings for Usagi, if you blink you’ll miss it.

So, backing up, we have episode 28 or the infamous Painting Episode, where Mamoru and Usagi spend an afternoon together sitting for a painting and Usagi actually takes a hard look at Mamoru for the first time. For the last dozen ish episodes, Mamoru has been half-heartedly dating Rei while spending every free moment waiting around at the arcade for Usagi to show up. Then we have episode 29, where Reika is trying to decide whether to study abroad and Mako and Usagi are competing for Motoki’s attention.

We get this scene where Mako offers to come over to Motoki’s apartment to cook for him:

And then Reika shows up and pokes fun at Motoki:

Except we know that there’s no way that Mamoru is talking to Reika about Mako; he’s obviously telling her about Usagi. 

So, here we have one little throwaway line that reveals that Mamoru is freaking whining to Motoki’s girlfriend about Usagi’s crush on Motoki. 

Which leads right into the following scene where Mamoru and Motoki are having tea and Mamoru can’t help but bring up Usagi yet again.

And when do we see Mamoru next? At the arcade, where he has specifically come to see Usagi (Motoki isn’t even working!) just so he can tell her that Motoki sees her as a little sister.

It’s kind of funny that the writers basically left us nothing but a trail of breadcrumbs about Mamoru’s obsession with Usagi while spoon-feeding us every single other plot “twist”. We have to piece it together from various 20 second increments of interaction between them over a handful of episodes over the whole season. If you’ve happened to miss a few episodes or crucial scenes it really does look like they suddenly are in love only because of their recovered memories, rather than what really happened, which was a slow burn over the first 34 episodes where Mamoru was seething over Usagi’s crush on Motoki for the whole back half.

I wouldn’t be so salty about this if they didn’t rob us of the UsaMamo cuteness we deserved in later seasons.

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I was curious about the Viz dub - having grown up on the infamous DIC dub - and... why did nobody tell me that Usagi repeatedly insults Mamoru’s clothes in it?! Does this count as canon now?? A+ fanservice, lol.

I actually like Usagi’s voice actress a lot (especially compared to the original dub, yikes), though the way she calls him “Mamo” is really cringey to me. I know they couldn’t exactly use “Mamo-chan” in English but I wish they’d just left his full name alone then. I think it’s awkward because she’s usually whining his name and it sounds so much like “Mama” lol.

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@nari20​ is INCREDIBLE

OK just one more, the Lake Yokai Episode redraw I did for @floraone! I hope you like it❣️

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Following up from my last post, here are my favorite “Mamoru being obsessed with Usagi” moments from season 1. I’m really bummed they mostly stopped showing him being attracted to her after this (and the breakup), and she gets minimal affection from him outside of life-and-death situations. Fanfiction to the rescue, I suppose.

Despite already knowing Motoki, Mamoru only starts hanging out at the arcade once he finds out Usagi is a regular there. Also, Motoki calls him “Chiba” here, so they aren’t super familiar yet. After this meeting, he is there almost every time she comes to see Motoki.

Mamoru always goes out of his way to interact with Usagi, but inviting himself along to her “date” with Motoki takes the cake. Also, despite having just teased her about her crush, Mamoru still seems a little flustered by how she’s blushing at Motoki.

Sitting for the painting together. I think this is the first time we actually see him smiling (not smirking!) since he watched her walking away in episode 7. He’s cranky because he doesn’t want to be there and Usagi’s just made this big show of not wanting to sit next to him, and then when he looks over at her and she’s blushing, his whole mood changes.

The very next episode, Mamoru is determined to squash Usagi’s interest in Motoki. First of all, when Motoki brings up Makoto, Mamoru refers to her as “Usagi’s friend” (not Rei’s friend!). “And, you know, since we’re already talking about Usagi, you know she’s got a crush on you right? Wait, you think she’s cute?! BUT WHAT ABOUT REIKA?!!”

Mamoru is beside himself with joy to deliver the news to Usagi that Motoki only sees her as a little sister.

Once Usagi runs inside the arcade, Mamoru stays outside talking to Makoto, and mentions to her that if Reika studies abroad, Makoto might have a chance. How interesting that this is not information he felt like giving to Usagi.

And finally, just before the Big Reveal, when Mamoru is injured and probably thinks he’s about to die, he makes his peace with her. This is an admission that for all the teasing, he actually likes who she is. Which, I mean, duh.

Speaking of Mamoru’s moodiness, in general their interactions consist of him teasing her and then her storming off. He has this look whenever he sees her:

But they have only two actual fights, both of which come directly after the incident at the amusement park when she hurts his feelings by saying that he has no friends. This is the one time that Mamoru is a straight up asshole to her, not just teasing-but-really-flirting, and funnily enough, it’s when she’s going on about some guy that likes her (Motoki).

And then, right after that, she screams at him after he’s just saved Luna from becoming roadkill, so he’s understandably a little ticked.

Then we have his date with Rei, which ends with Umino revealing that Usagi asked him out while Usagi vehemently denies it. Mamoru finds this very amusing and has likely figured out that she was spying on him and Rei. After this, there’s no more hostility toward her on Mamoru’s side, and he’s back to going out of his way to tease her again.

Overall, it’s hugely disappointing to me that they have this explosive chemistry and UST in season 1, and he pines for her during the breakup in season 2, but afterwards he seems barely interested in her. I don’t know, did finding out they get married and have a kid in the future kill the magic? He’s definitely devoted to her, but there’s just almost no chemistry after this. I’m a big fan of Mamoru thirsting after Usagi and I feel like we’re robbed of this after they actually officially get together.

I’m pondering all of this for fanfic writing purposes. One thing I’ve noticed is that Mamoru’s personality is pretty inconsistent. Before actually starting to date Usagi, he’s got plenty of free time to stalk her, research crystals, be Tuxedo Mask, and occasionally date Rei; after they actually get into a relationship, we actually see him less and almost never without Chibiusa around. I don’t know, for a guy who was clearly so hung up on her before they dated and then ends up dying for her several times over, he’s pretty distant with her once he actually has her. I know this is really just a matter of where the plot went, but it’s unsatisfying to me.

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I’ve been rewatching Sailor Moon 90s anime as research for the UsaMamo fic I want to write, and I’m finding lots of little moments between them that I didn’t remember or just never saw in the first place. Out of all of the interactions between Usagi and Mamoru and their various alter-egos, this is one is my favorite:

I think is probably the flirtiest moment between them over the entire show, and while Usagi gushes over Mamoru constantly, he normally seems kind of exasperated by it. But here, he’s way into it and flirts back with her. I wish they had shown us more of this! After the first two seasons, they barely seem to have any chemistry other than when someone’s life is in danger. We’re told that Mamoru loves her, but shown so rarely. It’s incongruous with his stalker-level obsession with her in the first season.

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This finale was so incredible. I need to do a more detailed review but honestly I’m just still processing how happy I am with how this ended!

Final chapter of The Heatwave is here!

Ao3 link here.

The Heatwave Mixtape here (for those who are super nerdy like me).

There will be an epilogue (it might take a little longer, so please be patient with me!) but this is the final chapter of The Heatwave. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CREATED HEATWAVE FANFIC ART, I’m bowled over by the gorgeous images you’ve created and am so touched that this story inspired your fantastic artistry! 

It’s so unbelievable to me that I have 1.) finished my first fanfic and 2.) that it’s the size of a novel (Seriously - when someone asks what I was doing during COVID, I can point to this). 

I don’t think I would have had the motivation to take this from a short story to a full blown novfic without the early support of @floraone​, who truly deserves her unofficial title of Fanfic Fairy Godmother to all us authors. Flora guided me throughout this entire process and was unbelievably generous with her time, not only as my Smut Drill Sergeant, but also as a kind ear whenever I was stuck or needed to brainstorm. I’m also eternally grateful to @ninjettetwitch​ who was brave enough to beta for a completely unknown author. I’m so glad she did because I not only got an amazing beta, but a true friend out of the deal. Twitch’s unwavering positivity helped get my cynical self through some tough writing blocks along the way! Even when she was bedridden, she never left me in doubt that she was my biggest cheerleader. Thank you both!

Lastly, a special shout out to @daikon1​! Thank you for not hunting me down and leaving fiery bags of poop at my door, despite how many times I told you I would end this story with Mamoru moving away brokenhearted because him and Usagi could never get over their miscommunication. You were such a good sport…AND I ENDED IT HAPPILY! SEE?!!!! XD

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Princess

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By ちぇる

Artist:h_osino69

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👀