I've started more series of articles than I wish to count. The number of series that I've finished I'd like to see even less, because I know I'm terrible at finishing what I start sometimes. The "How Sailor Moon changed my life" series was supposed to be different though. This was a series I had such a strong emotional connection with, such deep love for, wrote so effortlessly, that I felt it would be easy to do the whole series. I was estimating it would be somewhere between five to seven parts, all leading up to the re-release of the manga by Kodansha. I wrote three (in my opinion) pretty good articles, has the forth one mapped out in my head, and felt strongly that I would finish on time.
Then, my sister Crystal died.
I've written about it before so there's no reason to go into it again, but the death of someone that close to you affects you in more than one way. One of the ways it affected me was that talking about how Sailor Moon changed my life seemed...well, a little silly all of a sudden. It WAS a cartoon after all! One made for young girls to boot. With such a life shakeup, I just didn't see why Sailor Moon mattered much anymore. It had been a long time since I really was into it, and I felt that maybe it was time to put her in a box and leave her in the past.
Problem is, I forgot to cancel the pre-order on Amazon for the books. Amazon shipped them to me late because I pre-ordered all the upcoming books, so they delayed shipment until recently (Free Super Saving Shipping is odd when it comes to pre-orders). I came home a few days ago and saw the familiar Amazon box at my door, smiling its iconic smile. I went upstairs, opened the box, and saw "Pretty Gardian Sailor Moon" and "Sailor V" inside. I put them on the ground (similar to how I have them in the photo on the left) and looked at them intensly. I was actually considering sending them back.
I saw pictures of two girls I considered to be old friends in a funny way. But they were just that: Old friends. There was no promise I would still enjoy these books. One of them I had never read, so the lack of nostalgia could ruin it for me. After a day or two though, I finally picked up "Pretty Gardian Sailor Moon Vol. 1" and read it. I read it slowly and firmly. When I finished the final page I put it down and sighed: It was still good. Not only that, but the quality of the paper and the translation was so much better than I remembered it. Already thoughts of a review starting popping up in my head.
I wrote them down as soon as possible and had a rough draft of a review. I walked away from it, came back, drafted another review, and finished with probably the best comic book review I'd written in a long time. Once I was finished I realized something: Sailor Moon had - once again - changed my life. This little comic that is almost twenty years old still had some sort of magical power behind it. It helped get me out of a funk and inspired me to passionately write about something again. It made me excited to read the next book and review that one too. I even pulled out "Tekkonkinkreet" and finally read THAT and reviewed it!
It also reminded me that, while comics and shows can not replace a real person or relationship, they do ultimately have an influence on you. What you do, who you want to be, and even how you relate to things/people sometimes. I also realized I needed to finish this series. Bring some closer to it and show Crystal that while I would miss her, I would ultimately move on and continue to be happy even if she wasn't around anymore. So, "How Sailor Moon changed my life" will be continued and finished. Right now though, the reviews of the books might be published before the series of articles end, seeing that I'm already a bit behind on that.
Also, the project might actually expand beyond the seven parts I had naively assumed it would take to write. I'm already working on part 4 right now, and its clear that this is going to be much bigger than even I had anticipated. Never-the-less, I want to thank everyone who has been reading the series, and I will finish it. Below are the links to the previous three parts, just in case you want to catch up with the series before we move on.
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