Sailor Moon is a satire of the Spectacle and consumerist culture. The bad guys are demonic porkies who live off the circulation of human energy. Their plans all revolve around starting a business and then creating a fad that allows them to control people and siphon off their energy. They create weight loss fads, pet fads, radio program fads, jewelry fads, and so on. Usagi usually falls for the fad as well, but then realizes what's going on (or her cat tells her) and then she kills the porkies and destroys their business.
I think it's a unique product of Japanese 90s culture that corresponds to the economic and consumer boom of that era. There were loads of gimmicky businesses that were started at the time and captured people's minds.
I can't find any analysis of Sailor Moon from this angle, as all of the Western literature on it is about feminism. Still, it is pretty obvious if you watch it.
Sailor Moon is a satire of the Spectacle and consumerist culture...
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Good post OP
Started watchiing it with my little syster a few days ago, pretty good show, I got a similar idea from it but your explanation is way better
Ah Sailor Moon, a truly nostalgic show, next to Evangelion, One Piece and other such 90s classics. I really miss the old, earthy, hand-drawn animes of the old times with their cool ideas and musings.
The new 3d animations are pretty trash and there are so many bad cell-animations with lazy designs that I feel like hurling up the rainbow after seeing it like Aqua after drinking too much beer. You watch the first episode of Evangelion and the first thing that strikes you is the detail; The visuals feel like you're there, you can SMELL the air, the cicadas aren't ringing on screen but around you; it feels alive. It's what really differs the original series to the reboot movies (aside from the horrifying shitty plot, see the links on that). Anime has also become just what was mocked in Sailor Moon. Thousands upon thousands of cheap shows spat out by money-starved mangakas at the behest of 'the market'.
In this episode, one of the evil porkies hides out in a garbage dump full of consumer appliances and bows down in front of a pile of TVs that her master is talking through.
Yeah, Sailor Moon is one of the most beautifully-drawn cartoons ever made.
The other funny thing about this show so far is that the evil blond guy never gets any flack from his own master for his failed schemes, like he's an angel investor or something.
but.. but aqua is from a post-90s anime
Yes, but she's from one of the few GOOD animes of the post-90s. A pretty good meta show and the Light Novels are engaging.
Obligatory
What did you think of Houseki no Kuni? I think that it was pretty well executed there.