I feel like Toei Animation is just TRYING to antagonize us at this point; first we had to wait two weeks in between these episodes, and now it's three!? Maaaaaaan.
But that's okay, because I have plenty of stuff to hold you over while we wait!
Warning: This post is spoiler-heavy for those who have never seen the 90s show or read the manga.
Today, we'll be talking about Rei Hino and Mars.
We'll be focusing on Mars and Ares, the Roman and Greek gods.
Now, if you've seen the 90s anime, I want you to do me a favour. Forget the Rei Hino that you were given in that show, and let's briefly talk about the manga Rei. (I can't really comment on the "new" Rei yet.)
In the manga, Rei was originally a very serious character. She wasn't terribly interested in romance, and she wanted a career of her own. While she obviously had a sense of humour, she wasn't exactly the most "lighthearted" girl of the group. She was one of the more levelheaded ones in fact, along with Ami. This is probably my biggest complaint about the old anime; I hated that they made her into this ditzy character that was so boy-crazy. She's so much more than that. She was concerned about her own future.
Now, moving on.
Mars is one of the most well known gods of Roman mythology.
Interestingly enough, Mars was known for his relationship with Venus (while we have yet to meet Minako in this new anime, this is still rather fun to know). Their romance was often seen as "wrong" because of the adultery involved (as Venus was married), but think about this. If Takeuchi had chosen to put Rei and Minako together as a romantic couple (which would probably not work, but that's a different discussion), perhaps people would've seen this as "wrong" because of the homosexual nature. Despite the presence of lesbian couples in Sailor Moon and other anime and manga, homosexuality is still unfortunately frowned upon in Japan. (Which makes little sense to me, in a way. There's SO MUCH HOMOSEXUALITY in their art and animated works and books and yet if we see it in real life, WOAH THERE. What? Here in the U.S. we're still so prudish about things sometimes, and yet in real life it's like OH HEY PARTY OVER HERE. It's just a bit of culture shock I guess. It's also fun to think about a unity between Love and War.
Though Rei is obviously mature and intelligent and calm, I can't completely see her planning any battles though. I feel like Ami would be a good strategist. But, at the same time, I think Rei would be able to detach herself more in the event of plausible casualties.
Actually, Ami is more like Athena. Maybe Makoto is more like Mars, heh.
Now let's talk about Ares.
Ares is the Greek counterpart of Mars. He's much more violent and "hey, let's go!" than some of the military gods (like the aforementioned Athena), including his Roman counterpart. He had sons named Phobos and Deimos (like Rei's... crows? ravens? I dunno, I hate birds), who I'll be discussing in a future article.
It's kind of funny that I talked about how much I loved Rei for being levelheaded and not super interested in boys when in reality, Ares was a big ol' playboy that couldn't keep it in his pants.
So... I'll admit it. I never finished The Illiad. I just can't get through it, I'm sorry. If anyone knows of a decent translation, let me know! But in it, apparently they use ares as a noun to replace battle? Is this true? I doubt Wikipedia sometimes.
Rei's birds kind of come into play again with Ares though. According to Wikipedia, "The birds of Ares (Ornithes Areioi) were a flock of feather-dart-dropping birds that guarded the Amazons' shrine of the god on a coastal island in the Black Sea". I went ahead and looked up "ornithes areioi" and apparently they were prominent during the story of Jason and the Argonauts journey to find the golden fleece.
Before we finish for the day, let's talk about Rei Hino again for a moment.
Now, according to the Sailor Moon Wikipedia, she was apparently put in for a proposal to appear in a Sailor V anime. Heh, I'm just giggling because of all of the Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus tension that I've never thought of before now.
In the manga, she was apparently also originally going to wear armor! Her birthday, April 17th, also makes her an Aries, which is associated with both Mars AND Venus. Boom.
We have a long wait for the next episode you guys, but don't worry! I have stuff planned, considering we have to wait ANOTHER two weeks for the next episode!
Breakin' my balls, Toei.
If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions, please leave a comment below or email me!
Have a lovely day and if your semester is starting back up, good luck! Mine doesn't start till August 27th, so I still have a few more days of freedom!
xo, Kate
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