For months after the ending of Season R in the Philippines, there was a huge emptiness in the hearts of the Filipino BSSM fans. To put it in simple words--after season R we suffered months and months of not seeing the series on air. One can just imagine our exaltation when season S was aired this summer
*--and with better dubbing, too!
Funny how it's only now that I'm able to see the show in a different light. When before I used to just enjoy the show, now I've begun to understand the psychological and sociological implications the show had in the minds of the Filipinos.
Subtle Sensuality
The semi-erotic-semi-conservative atmosphere of the show itself (the author Takeuchi Naoko is a very sensual person), as evident in the Mamoru-Usagi and Haruka-Michiru love team-up, is one of the factors that made it easier for Pinoy fans to embrace the series. Filipinos have this kind of sensual yet very subtle conservative aura about them. For one, Haruka and Michiru do not bother us as much as they do other fans from more conservative cultures. In fact, it's not at all unusual in this country for a young high school girl to have crushes on butches that may be as good looking and talented as Haruka. Of course, this kind of feeling is usually hidden from devout Christian parents, but the feeling exists. There is very little--if any--room for gay-bashing among Filipino women, especially for those who are studying in exclusive all-girls school run by nuns.
Filipinos are also hopeless romantics. Young men seem to have this fondness for verandas (balconies) when courting the girl they like. The custom is called harana (serenade), wherein a guy stands below the window or balcony of a girl's bedroom to sing her a love song while playing a guitar and even throws her roses after his song is finished. Cute ne? So one can just imagine the thrill we felt while watching the first season where Endymion meets with Serenity on the balcony and where Tux kissed Usagi on the balcony, too.
Millenarianist Culture
Being an Asian country with a predominantly Christian culture, it can't be helped that the millenarianist theme of the series would be noticed. Just as the Outer Senshi were true and loyal to their mission in finding the Messiah that would save the world from destruction, majority of Filipinos believe that we are in a stage of crisis--a third world nation left in despair--and are awaiting a Messiah, the Christian God's Son, Jesus Christ, to come to the rescue.
This is the scope of millenarianism--the concept of chaos awaiting to be organized by a "Messiah," as in the cases of Silence versus Salvation in Season S, and the Light of Hope in Stars. Healing, of death and rebirth, is also an aspect of millenarianism. According to this concept, we are in a stage of disease, the "kanser" as we call it. The healing process has to be triggered by a force, and that force is revolution.**
Of Understanding and Becoming
This hobby of mine, the anime that I watch, has made me understand myself and my culture better...my Asian culture, my heritage, my pride. My background is different from the origin of the Japanese anime, and yet they are strangely similar. Most importantly, I began to get a glimpse of the culture of people from other backgrounds, be they North American, European, Latin American, African, or fellow Asians. These are all beautiful mixtures of textures and smell and tastes, cultures that are different from my own but are connected through threads of similarities beginning with this single hobby that has shaped my cyber activities. This is the gift that Bishoujo Senshi has given me, and though I no longer am excited by the show itself its legacy lives...not held by the series, but by the people that it has touched.
* Summer in the Philippines is from late March to early June.
** The author is neither a Christian nor a member of any religious affiliation.
