My Heart's a Battleground, a Kunzite/Venus manifesto

[last-haven.livejournal.com]

So, this is my first time doing this, but hey, damned if I'm not excited.

Title: My Heart's a Battleground
Author: last_haven
Fandom: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon/Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon
Pairing: Kunzite/Sailor Venus
Word Count: 2700+
Spoilers: Not for anime, but for manga, some of the musicals, and for the game Sailor Moon Another Story
E-mail: chibi_lady7@yahoo.com
Notes: Pictures inside for the Sailor Moon pictures were downloaded from Neo Nobility, however one did come from the translation found at here, at onemanga.com. Pictures from the Materials Collection were taken from Manga Style. The pictures taken from Codename: Sailor V is from a zipfile I downloaded. I included a link to download the Sailor V manga translated into English inside.


My Heart's a Battleground
Sailor Venus/Kunzite Manifesto

Setting the Scene

I was in elementary when Sailor Moon first aired in the US—I had my mother tape it for me every time since it came on before I got home. I watched fervently, I adored it for being different from many of the western cartoons I’d seen before. Growing up, I suffered under the delusion that cartoons were simply childish shows that held little plot and useless morals. Sailor Moon was new, different, and prettier to look at to boot. I was hooked.

And then it got cancelled.

It wasn’t until years later did I see it return on Toonami on Cartoon Network. I was instantly reminded of why I loved the show in the first place and took to swearing bloody vengeance on my family should they make me miss my show—although, by that time, my brothers and father joined me in watching it. Fun for the whole family indeed.

It was around this time that I went to the bookstore in a local mall and found to my shock one of the later volumes of the manga (SuperS book one—I mistook it to be the very first book). I was a bit turned off at first—the manga didn’t seem to be much like the anime, and I wasn’t really impressed with the art. I tried again next time, (starting at the actual beginning this time), and finished off three of the comics before my parents finally dragged me away. I’ve been in love ever since—it was darker, edgier, more interesting. And Darien was less of an ass there and I was shocked to find myself actually like that Little Spore, Rini.

The pairing of Sailor Venus/Aino Minako and Kunzite(or Malachite in the English anime) didn’t occur to me until I stumbled upon The Picture.



Thus my love for Kunzite/Venus (heck, make that Shitennou/Senshi) was born. Shallow maybe, but whatever.

The Guardians

~¤~Sailor Venus~¤~

Aino Minako is Sailor Venus, a sworn protector to the moon princess and future queen of Earth, Usagi/Serenity/Sailor Moon. Her duty is to protect her at any cost, including sacrificing her own life—not just her mortal life, but her social one as well. In Codename: Sailor V, Venus declares she was born to protect her precious person, Serenity—even if she has to give up everything else to do it. Adonis, her enemy and love interest, gives her a love fortune saying that her love life will be miserable, but that she should be happy because that means she’ll never have to choose between love and duty.

In Codename: Sailor V, Minako starts out as an ordinary girl—she likes manga, pursuing idols, sports, and boys. She dreams of being an idol, of getting married, and retiring (in that order). What she wasn’t suspecting was during the middle of gym class accidently landing on a white cat, her to-be partner, Artemis. In the anime, Minako is scorned at school, but in the manga she’s not unpopular at all really and gets along well with her classmates. She’s athletic, enjoying track, gymnastics, and volleyball. She’s enthusiastic about nearly everything, and above all never gives up. Except for, oddly enough, love. She’s constantly falling in love with boys—until Kaitou Ace/Adonis calls her out about how she’s never actually serious about any of her loves.

In Sailor Moon, Minako has been Sailor Venus for months before Usagi is tapped as Sailor Moon. When she meets up the others, she pretends to be the moon princess to act as a decoy. After Usagi is revealed to be Serenity she takes her place as the leader of the Sailor Soldiers.

Minako exhibits two personalities at times—Minako enjoys her youth and having fun, being flaky, and dreaming of being an idol, but if Usagi is ever endangered, enemies beware! Minako will defend her to the last and kill anyone who would hurt her precious princess. As Usagi’s protector she’s determined and driven. Also, while in the anime, it’s usually Rei who snaps Usagi out of her slumps, in the manga it’s Minako who comforts her (and others, like Rei in StarS) quite a bit.


~¤~Kunzite~¤~

Not a great deal is known about any of the Four Generals who protect Endymion, Kunzite included. Except for the fact that they were Endymion’s equivalent to the Sailor Soldiers—his four guardians and loyal servants. During the Silver Millennium, they lived with Endymion, protected and advised him. During this time, civil war broke out when Beryl and Metallia began to influence the inhabitants of Earth into hating the Moon Kingdom. Worried for their prince, Kunzite and his comrades went to Endymion and flat out said they couldn’t stand being under the power and observation of the Moon. Endymion accuses them (rightly?) of falling under Beryl’s sway. Endymion heads to the Moon to help so the Generals follow after him with the rest of Earth’s invasion force. However, they come too late to save their prince.


Please read right to left

They are killed, and eventually reincarnated to find their master and serve him again. However, Beryl finds them first and tricks them into servitude once more. As a minion of Beryl we see that Kunzite is aloof and cold, perhaps even amused, when Nephrite dies. He helps Zoisite with his plans, advising Zoisite like he once did for Endymion. When the Silver Crystal appears, Kunzite’s memories are returned to him, and the other Generals are brought back to life for a short time. Kunzite then takes the badly injured Mamoru to the Dark Kingdom. He watches over his sleeping body and tries to discover Beryl’s plans. Beryl, however, takes control of him again and he becomes even colder and more merciless than before. He’s killed by the Senshi, and appears to Mamoru when he and Sailor Moon are trapped inside Metallia, telling him who to defeat her. After that the Generals do show up a few more times when Mamoru asks them for advice. During the SuperS saga, they show up without Mamoru calling them; they watch over him as he sleeps and despair that they can no longer protect him. This is the last time they are seen.

Kunzite’s personality is a little hard to pin down—he’s loyal (fanatically to Beryl in the anime), cold and cruel as her minion, and also protective of Endymion. He only mourns for his fellow Generals after his memories are returned to him, so we can assume that his indifference and cruelty before was due to Beryl’s brainwashing. When Beryl refuses to revive his fellow Shitennou, he mourns them. In some fanfics, Kunzite is portrayed as being cold and at times heartless, but I don’t subscribe to this theory myself, not to the extremes some people take it. Like Minako, some fans don’t quite get the dualities to their personalities.

The Evidence

Let’s get one thing out right now—Kunzite/Venus? Not official canon. Fact is, all we Shitennou/Senshi shippers are working only with hints. The Picture I showed earlier had a note attached to it by the creator of Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchi, said the following:

“[The picture] had a great deal of impact on the first series. Probably because the four couplings on the right side were very unexpected. I was thinking of love stories of the previous lives of these couples. I'd like to be able to draw that someday...”

Quote taken from liner notes found with picture. Translation can be found with the picture at Manga Style.

So, Takeuchi might have originally planned to expand on the idea, but she didn’t follow through. We do get hints however. In Act 12, there is a flashback where Venus catches Serenity as heads to visit Endymion again. Venus scolds her but Serenity fires back that Venus can’t understand her because she isn’t in love. Venus however, quietly refutes this and we get this, another flashback:


Please read left to right

This scene, small as it is, is probably one of the better canon hints of Venus loving Kunzite at least.

In Codename: Sailor V, we get some more hints. Adonis mentions the fact that troops from Venus were sent to Earth to help with a civil war there, where the Venusian soldiers—which he is one of—served under the Generals. Adonis happens to see a tender moment between the two of them.


Please read right to left

The other panel is a reference to the fact that Venus is forever falling in love with guys, but is never apparently serious about it. As a Kunzite/Venus shipper, Adonis, I’d like to disagree. But, it is something of a confirmation—Venus, at least, was in love with Kunzite. We get nothing on how he felt though. If we take a look at The Picture however, I’d assume it was returned, considering it’s him holding her.

There’s another, slightly more subtle reference earlier on in Sailor V, however. Minako is saved by a punk when she and a friend run into some gang members one night. His name’s Saitou, and turns out he used to go to the same school as Minako. Minako calls him sempai (looks like Makoto wasn’t the only one with a crush on a sempai!) and he orders the rest of his gang to protect her whenever she comes through their turf. What’s this got to do with Kunzite? Well, Minako mentions he looks awfully familiar…


Please read right to left

Even the editors who put this together thought he looks like Kunzite! (Funny fact—in the musicals, Kunzite takes on the name Saitou as an alias—because Saitou-kun when flipped becomes Kun-Saitou, or Kunzite.)

Now, everything up ‘til now has been manga evidence—mainly because it’s really the only place were it shows up in canon. In the musicals, however, there are some references made to it—in Sailor Moon - Gaiden Dark Kingdom Fukkatsu Hen the Generals use this to their advantage and attack the Sailor Soldiers. Venus get’s a particularly touching moment as she cries over Kunzite’s injured form—until Kunzite chokes her. Hey, we take what we can get.

Revelant Venus/Kunzite starts at four minutes in.

In the videogame Sailor Moon Another Story, part of the plot revolves on the four Sailor Soldiers going to collect the other halves of the General’s stones—the light to their stone’s darkness as it were. Venus goes to Turkey, to Kunzite’s former kingdom, and eventually gets said stone. During the time she spends there, she’s told that in her past life she used to visit Kunzite there in her spaceship, the Ark. She’s told he was in love with her. (So according to the game canon, yes, he did love her back.)

(I tried looking on youtube for the old footage that showed Venus's part of the story as she's looking for the stone, but I can't seem to find it. If you can find the videos from Venu's part on there, I'd love to add some links here to it.)

The Reason

Why do I love Minako/Kunzite? When I was younger, the reason was because it struck me as really unfair that Usagi/Mamoru was fated to work, but Minako (and the others) couldn’t because it was their duty. I was more attached to the whole “love means happily ever after” than I realized, but now that I’m older (and a little wiser) I can say “it’s not fair!” isn’t my reason now.

It’s not just because they have more canon evidence than the others, besides Rei/Jadeite, it’s because to me, they have a wide variety of ways to be presented in. To both Minako and Kunzite duty is very important—Venus according to Adonis can rest assured that she should pick duty over love, since it won’t work out anyway. It could easily be shown in a fic that both of them have to sacrifice their love to uphold their duty. In some stories set in the past, only Venus can uphold this, while Beryl uses Kunzite’s (and the other Generals) love for her as a way to break him to her will. Tragedy can occur in the present, especially if the writer takes the stand that Kunzite betrayed not only his prince, but her as well when he joined Beryl. Since Kunzite’s true motives aren’t known, people can do whatever they want with them.

Minako/Kunzite can also be played for comedy too—Minako, god bless her, can be a flake to Kunzite’s stoic. He can be a bone head to her more social expertise. They can play off each other and others well too.

What really gets me at heart is this—they really are equals. They are the leaders of their respective groups, they’ve been in battle longer than the others (Kunzite is older than the others and Minako was a Soldier months—if not a year—before the others), they both have to take care of royal charges that can’t seem to stay out of trouble, and they both understand and value their duty. They can understand each other in ways their comrades can’t. They’re both tough, both smart, and at times misunderstood by other characters and some fans as well.

From the Mouths of Others
I asked some members from communities dedicated to the Senshi/Shitennou pairing what they thought of the pairing. Here’s what they thought:

myconstant: “Because it makes sense. … There's actual evidence in the manga supporting this pairing, something only a limited number of SM pairings can boast. These exchanges between Kunzite and Minako are not obvious or showy, as often the case of Usagi/Mamoru, but instead subtle, thoughtful, effortless, and provoking. Their interactions indirectly also give new dimension to the already tragic [Silver] Millennium, particularly through his betrayal. In addition to a shared history, their similar positions within the respective groups, personalities, and occasionally conflicting interests suggests that they were simply meant to be. This is only heightened by the fact that he ends up a disintegrated pile of dust and she remains loveless. Really, they’re wondrously tragic. So for all the complexity, Kunzite and Minako make logical sense.”

lovelylytton: “Minako/Kunzite have a past, a present and (depending on the writer) a future and each time period can differ vastly. They can be placed in practically any setting, and yet there always remains something tragic about them, even if it is a happy AU you are looking at. They are star-crossed lovers and to know that their story ended on a battlefield makes them very interesting characters to explore. They share the sense of duty that [governs] their behaviour to a painful extent and both as a reader and as a writer, it's wonderful to explore their reasoning.”

The Proposal

Why do I think someone should like, or at least try this pairing? There’s a lot of things this pairing has to offer, some of just in the way a writer presents it. Like Love/Hate relationships? Trust me, we’ve got ‘em—Kunzite and Minako are often shown with sparks flying at first. Love comedy? Ho boy, that’s there too—a few of the stories in the links are outrageously funny. Adore passionate love? It’ll light your fires. You can even get the whole Opposites Attract too.

What sells a lot of people though? The tragic nature of the relationship—Venus of all the scouts is the first to remember, perhaps she knows more than the rest of them about their past lives (besides Pluto or the cats at least). She’s the one shown to fancy him in the manga. And then he helps destroy the Moon Kingdom along with the rest of the invasion that cost her the lives of her princess and her fellow Senshi. Ace tells her her love life will be miserable and to not bother (unless that was just him pettily making sure she’d never love any man other than him again). She helps kill him, the man she was once in love with. Where isn’t tragedy there? Even on his side there’s sorrowful events—he lost his prince, dies, is tricked into slavery to a foul witch so that the only way he and his fellow Generals can help his prince is by dying. He’s stuck as a stone for the rest of the series.

Yeah. We got tragedy.

Recommendations

Here’s some good writers and some of their stories to help you get started in on Kunzite/Venus. Quite a few came as recommendations to me as I asked for input for this manifesto.


lovelylytton (Story came recommended by mrcrybrilliance. She's an awesome writer who was kind enough to let me quote her ealier.

Airmail
"Reunions come in many shapes and sizes. The senshi are about to experience them all. Written for the Senshi/Shitennou SM Monthly challenge over at LJ."--(Note, this is not just a Kunzite/Venus, but also a Senshi/Shitennou and Usagi/Mamoru story).

venusorbit1

Economics
"Totally AU. MinaxKunz. Sometimes art doesn't pay the bills. Sometimes something else does. Sometimes this causes problems in the most solid of relationships. Welcome to adulthood. All characters will appear except Ami b/c she is getting her own story!"

dhoney (No specific story mentioned)

alizep (No specific story mentioned)

ramblinprose (Also recommended was "The Beast")

The Necklace, pt. 1(Part Two in a series)

Kihin_Ranno (Kihin Ranno is also known as dark_branwen and there was so many good ones to pick from, I ended going with my favorites and a few suggested ones from others.)

Innuendo and Armageddon
"Not everyone is calm enough when faced with the Apocalypse to flirt, but they are."

In His Eyes
"When he loved her, his eyes were green, and when he hated her, they were grey. She has not forgotten."

this is how you grieve
"It’s the fact that she seems so subdued in her sadness that shakes him. Where Aino Minako is concerned, even apathy can’t be felt halfway. And nothing can ever, ever be felt in silence."

Grave Secrets (with No Graves)
"Minako finds something she shouldn't in Mamoru's apartment. His secret revealed, he and Minako have a confrontation that could become lethal if a certain someone doesn't intervene."

wingedleona

Grocery Day
"Continuation of By Any Means Necessary. MK. Mina is on the run from the police. What is an actress and senshi to do? Why hide out with the man who ran over her cat of course."

To meet up with other Venus/Kunzite fans, read some stories, or look at their art, try these links to some communities (on livejournal and fanfiction.net) and forums.

shitennou_ai

shitennou

guardian_love

Venus and her General

Shitennou.com

How about some art, or fan videos to look at?

Immortal Regret (One of my favorites--isn't it beautiful?)

The Seduction of Kunzite

venus kunzite (Without a doubt, one of the more hilarious fanarts for this couple ever)

BREATHE AGAIN...Sweet Moments

Opposites attract (Always serious. Never Focused.)

You Are a Star...My Star

Minako and Kunzite - Tonight I Wanna Cry

BSSM Venus, Kunzite ♥Bleeding Love♥

(I'm a little too amused that both of those AMV's have the exact same preview image, only slightly different.)

I also wanted to give everyone a chance to read the Sailor Moon prequel—Codename: Sailor V! This link has a zip file that has all three volumes translated into English. A must for any Sailor Moon fan.

Codename: Sailor V for download




EDIT: There seems to be some problems with the html, I'm trying to fix it now.

Comments

[yawmin.livejournal.com]

It's funny that this manifesto is posted today, after I unearthed my Sailor Moon MIXX ZINE manga... (oh how time has flown). I remember the last time I read the manga all the way through, I thought the pairing of the senshi with the generals was kind of... lame. Like, I remember back in the day, I though it was super sad and awesome! But I dunno now. I do admit, though, Kunzite/Minako and Jadeite/Rei have always fascinated me, if only for the implications (it was the other two that just made me make a o_O face... it was just too convenient in the plot). Your manifest has convinced me perhaps further that Kunzite/Minako definitely needed more page time XD

THANK YOU for the musical video. I've been a fan of Sailor Moon for fourteen years now, and I've never actually seen any of the musicals-- I've just heard the CDs and seen pictures. Oh that clip was epic. I'm going to have to watch the whole thing now. Although I'll admit I totally laughed at Tuxedo Kamen's death scene... IT WAS THE ROSES! hahaha, sorry it was just so bizarrely out there, yet so like the show it was great.

[last-haven.livejournal.com]

Coincidence or fate--then again, this is Sailor Moon. There are no coincidences! (Dun dun DUH.) Makoto/Nephrite was always the one to get me, like "Really? Really? ...umm...kay." Zoisite and Mercury could at least have some interesting implications but it came from way out of left field. But I thought the other two pairings were brilliant. Well, since Sailor V was actually finished after Sailor Moon (it started beforehand, then she switched to Sailor Moon, and then she finished them together I think), I guess you could say the reference to it in Sailor V could have been her way to give a shout out to the pairing. But that's just my theory.

It is bizarre and awesome. The musicals are full of crack. (Saitou-kun/Kun-Saitou? Beryl dressed up as a Christmas tree/Vegas showgirl? It's awesome.) This one and I think one other are the only complete musicals that are all up, the rest I could only clips shows. I was thinking of putting some of the other scenes up, but I wanted to keep the imporant ones (same with the game, there was too many for one manifesto, and I wasn't impressed with the quality).

[chacusha]

It's been forever since I've read or seen anything Sailor Moon-related but I still love the Shitennou/Senshi pairings. It makes me so sad that the generals died. ;_;

[last-haven.livejournal.com]

I think in the manga though, Kunzite made me the saddest, just because of how screwed over he knew he was by Beryl. It was Nephrite's death in the anime that was the saddest--poor Naru!

[catchingspirit.livejournal.com]

It should be noted that PGSM!Zoisite's fixation on PGSM!Venus is probably reflective of this ship, as he tends to stand in for anime/manga!Kunzite.

[yawmin.livejournal.com]

Oh woah, you just blew my mind O_O I never even considered that!

[catchingspirit.livejournal.com]

Really? Think about it:

PGSM!Zoisite has the same character design/appearance as anime/manga!Kunzite (roughly). PGSM followed the manga more closely, so we'll go with that for now. PGSM!Zoisite and manga!Kunzite are both the ones who eventually gained memories of Endymion as master and went from creepily detached to caring about the other shitennou as a result. Also, of course, they had a large drive to serve their master again once they remembered him, and helped him while he was in the Dark Kingdom's hands. They also both distrusted Beryl at that point but were unable to break away from her.

In terms of the ship, this covered manga!Kunzite/Venus nicely. In PGSM, he has the HUGE 'I felt her... Sailor V', stalking Minako to her car, etc. He also made a deal with her late in series to mutually protect the prince's and princess's lives, the sort of deal you'd expect from the relationship between leaders of their respective warrior-elite teams described here.

[yawmin.livejournal.com]

Ah, see I never made it to the end of PGSM. I have all of it, I just never watched all of it... maybe I should go do that... like now... o_O Because WOW. That sounds awesome.

[catchingspirit.livejournal.com]

PGSM = ♥

I'm currently trying to claim and write the PGSM Kunzite/Dark Mercury manifesto :DD So much to say, so much to say.

[last-haven.livejournal.com]

I was actually wondering about that--besides the reference to Zoisite playing piano in the manga, from what I had heard, he sounded a lot like Kunzite. I'll have to go download the whole thing to watch now...

Oooh, I shall have to look out for that.

[catchingspirit.livejournal.com]

I'm, uh, known for shipping Kunzite/Dark Mercury insanely. To the point that my friend I mentioned wanting to write their ship manifesto to immediately pointed out there's a length limit. :P

[last-haven.livejournal.com]

Aww, well, they aren't too strict about the word limit, just as long as it isn't insanely long, I think. I'll definitely give it a read when you post it though!

[catchingspirit.livejournal.com]

I'll be happy if you do!

[last-haven.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking the same! I guess I have to go download them fast now...

[gray-fairy.livejournal.com]

I've never really liked the Shitennou/Senshi thing because I love Kunzite/Zoicite and Nephrite/Naru. Both relationships are utterly cute and beautiful to me, but your manifesto is really well written ^__^

[last-haven.livejournal.com]

I love a lot of pairings, including Kunzite/Zoicite and Nephrite/Naru (I also thought that Nephrite's death in the anime was so sad! Probably the first time I ever cried for a cartoon back in the day, the first time I saw it). Thank you! I'm glad that someone who enjoys other ships liked my manifesto, actually.

[lovelylytton.livejournal.com]

I really liked the manifesto, it's very well written.
*thumbs up*

[last-haven.livejournal.com]

*smacks forehead* Oh, I kept forgetting to give people a link to this. Oy.

I'm really glad you enjoyed it--thanks again for the quote in it.

[grimorie.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this! I'm glad there are other Venus/Kunzite shippers out there!

[last-haven.livejournal.com]

We're out there! We just hide well. Glad you enjoyed the manifesto.