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The Gender Question
Revisited
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I was surfing the 'Net over the summer, and came across a Very
Distressing Thing. It's no secret that my favorite senshi is Uranus
(h'mmm... "Castle Miranda" might've been your first clue! ^_^) and I
assumed that everyone had straightened out the whole Haruka/Uranus
issue by now. Uranus is female; Haruka is female. Yes, Haruka is a
name which can be used for both men and women, and yes, Haruka's love
interest is Michiru, and yes, Haruka does dress like a man sometimes
and is the tallest senshi and enjoys racing cars and motorcycles and
motorsports in general.... but Haruka is still a woman!
However, I still come across sites which insist on using the
pronoun "he" when referring to Ruka-chan, and "she" when referring to
Sailor Uranus. But while all of the senshi are women, only the Star
Senshi (Starmaker, Starhealer, and Starfighter) are men in their
everyday guise (Taiki, Yaten, and Seiya.).
In the original Japanese anime, it's pretty obvious that Haruka is
a woman. You can't just ignore the ending of Episode 92 with Minako,
Rei, and Makoto toppling to the ground in shock after discovering
that the "cute guy" Minako and Usagi had been chasing all day was
really a girl... You can't ignore Minako's horrified shriek, or Rei's
stammering, "A woman..." and Makoto's feeble, "...isn't she?",
followed by Haruka's cheerful reply, "I never said I was a man!"
Unless my subtitler decided to have a little fun with those of us who
don't understand Japanese, that is... I know that in some countries,
Haruka undergoes...ah... a dub-inflicted sex change to sidestep the
question of Haruka & Michiru's relationship (ie, in the Spanish
dub, her name is Timothy; in France, she's Frederic) but
nevertheless, Naoko created her as a Her and not a Him.
However, there are some episodes in the manga which make things a
little confusing. You have Usagi jealous of Mamoru and Michiru being
together, and then Mamoru jealous because Haruka kissed Usagi. (But
if I was Usagi, I would've been much more jealous of Black Lady
kissing brainwashed Mamoru; or if I was Mamoru, I would've been much
more jealous of Prince Demand kissing Sailor Moon. I'm ignoring Seiya
and Usagi, because that hasn't happened in the timeline yet, but
still...!) ANYHOW *I drag myself back to the subject with great
difficulty* I tried to obtain a translation of that little scenario
with Haruka & Usagi. No response as of yet... But nevertheless,
there are many manga pictures of Ruka-chan showing that, yes, She IS
a She. I went ahead and scanned a few of them from my mangas...
However, I did come across a creative little story which, while
not true, is nevertheless interesting. I don't know who created it,
but if You did, and You would like credit for it, write and give me a
link to your page anyways. I think if DIC ever gets as far in its
dubbing as SailormoonS, it might use such an explanation. After all,
if they won't let Rei hit Usagi, and turned Zoisite into a woman, do
you really think they'd turn a blind eye on Michiru and Haruka? ;o)
Still, it would be interesting to compare their ending of Episode 92
with the original... it's the first time we get to see Michi-chan and
Ruka-chan, and the first one we get to see Uranus and Neptune
clearly. It would be pretty hard to completely blow over... it was an
important, very well-written episode, and one of my favorites. It
would do no justice to the pair by introducing them in the next
episode, where they seem very familiar with Usagi, and Michiru even
lets her play her violin (unsuccessfully, need I add?) and gives her
concert tickets. There would be a tangible hole in the arc if Episode
92 wasn't aired. But once again, I digress... the story!
Each of the planets had its own princess who was also a Sailor
Senshi. The Princess of Uranus was also Sailor Uranus, and she had a
brother named Haruka with whom she was very close. But she died in
the line of duty. Before she passed on, she gave her brother her
senshi powers so that He could continue serving the Moon Kingdom in
her place.
However, since all of the senshi must be women, whenever Haruka
transformed into Sailor Uranus, He became a She. Haruka had been in
love with Michiru, Princess of Neptune, before he received his
sister's powers. And even though He regularly assumed feminine form
to fight the enemies of the Moon Kingdom, they continued the
relationship. And hence comes the confusion of Haruka's true gender,
Haruka and Michiru's love, and Mamoru's initial jealousy (remember,
Mamoru was a Prince of Earth, and the Prince of Uranus is a rival to
be reckoned with).
And here's an alternative story, which isn't nearly so intriguing:
Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune knew they just *had* to find the
talismans which were sealed in pure hearts. They would always show up
in the nick of time to steal the pure hearts from whichever Daimon
had managed to snatch it from its owner. Consequently, Professor
Tomoe, Kaolinite, and the Witches 5 (4,3,2,and 1!) wished to find out
the true identities of these annoying senshi, and Uranus and Neptune
were quite aware of the fact. Therefore, Uranus posed as a man,
hoping that it would confuse anyone who would really be out looking
for two women. (After all, if you have supernatural powers, I doubt
anything as trite as a gender change would be much trouble!) Michiru
helped her ally by pretending to be Haruka's
girlfriend.
And here's a third version, which would be more appropriate on
Jerry Spinger...Michiru is Haruka's sister. Scary thought!
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