Setsuna's Time gate

All cultures tend to understand the pass of time in a different way. For the occidental culture, where the judeo-cristian tradition is predominant, the time pass in a linear way. Past is never repeated, present is lived and future is expected. Other cultures, as the Hindu, sees time as a cycle, the past becomes the present, the present turns in to future and future leads to past. It is all a constant cycle, where ideas as soul transmigration, where when a person dies can reincarnate. In this time interpretation everything is constantly renewed.



Makimono Cultural Time

However, for the Japanese, time has a different shape. It is not a circular nor linear model. In the cultural Japanese time, past and future lead to present and form a part of its dynamic.

This way of conceiving time, the cultural Makimono time, tells that the past is not yet finished, it is not a door that is closed, in fact, is still existing and is bonded to the present. The future, can be brought to actual time and be controlled by human effort.

That is why we have a time conception where the past flows steadily towards present and future is built on that present and past. Past and future coexist in present.

 

This leads us to find a new vision for the Sailor Moon story, about the mix between the occidental models, as the use of English words. It has been a debate between the idea that Japanese people has quit their traditions.and that they assumed the occidental ways without leaving their past behind. We can see, after studying this model, that none are true. Japanese keep practicing notions of their most ancient religion, Shintoism, from who Rei is representative, because they are the expression of a past that has not died and will remain alive. And technical innovations, represented by Ami, are part of the future already integrated to the past. This explains why the senshi use Rei's prayers and Ami's technology to fight evil, and why Serena's future as Neo Queen is a vital part of her present as Sailor Moon.