Whom Should Usagi Be With?

[Memento]

From the manga to the musicals, Usagi sure has had her fair share of love interests, some one-sided, some unwelcome, and really only the one that was reciprocal. So, out of everyone Usagi's loved or who has loved her, whom do you think she should have ended up with?

Mamoru Chiba
Even though things started off fairly antagonistic between Usagi and Mamoru, she swooned over his alter ego the moment she first laid eyes on him. Eventually she found herself falling for the man behind the mask, and soon discovered they had shared a star-crossed love in a previous life. Do you believe in their Miracle Romance?

Motoki
When we first meet Usagi, she has a big crush on Motoki (even though she doesn't know his name yet). Sure it later turns out he has a girlfriend, but what if they had broken up? Do you think Usagi should have fought for Motoki's affections?

Umino
Though he doesn't seem to harbor any secret love for her in the manga, Umino is certainly smitten with Usagi in the anime. Unfortunately for him, Usagi sees him as an annoying nerd. But should she have given him a chance?

Jadeite
Speaking of the anime, there are a few episodes where Usagi finds Jadeite (at least in one of his disguises) rather hunky, and the original dub even hinted at Jadeite being somewhat attracted to her in turn in one episode. Given that Naoko originally conceived of Jadeite's character design for Tuxedo Mask, do you think he and Usagi could have, should have been a blonde super-couple?

Queen Beryl
Just before dying, Queen Beryl confesses she, too, secretly harbored feelings for Princess Serenity in the novelization of La Reconquista. Would Beryl and Serenity have been your royal, sapphic OTP?

Ail
This tree-born alien had a big crush on Usagi, but she was too hung up on getting Mamoru to remember her to notice. Do you wish this was a pairing that had taken root?

Prince Demand
Are you a Fifty Shades of Grey fan who thinks abusive, possessive behavior is romantic? Seek therapy Maybe Demand x Usagi is right up your alley!

Haruka / Sailor Uranus
Haruka may be in love with Michiru, but she also has feelings for her princess. Or she just wanted to mess with her head so she wouldn't interfere with her mission. You decide.

Seiya / Star Fighter
Do you ever think to yourself, "I'd ship Usagi and Mamoru together if only Mamoru had a giant rat tail"? Well you're in luck! Introducing Kou Seiya brand Mamoru substitute! "I Can't Believe It's Not Chiba!"

Other
Maybe you ship Usagi with someone else completely. Rei? Minako? Galaxia? Dr. Tomoe? We'd love to hear from you!

 

[sailorrosered]

Although I know Usagi and Mamoru are meant to be. I personally love the Seiya x Usagi ship it holds a special place in my heart and I would have loved to see them together...

 

[Masquerade]

So Queen Beryl had feelings for both Endymion and Serenity in the novelization of the 2013 musical? This kinda butchers her character development IMO.

 

[ChampionOfNuggets]

So Queen Beryl had feelings for both Endymion and Serenity in the novelization of the 2013 musical? This kinda butchers her character development IMO.

Implying she had any character development to butcher

 

[blondibear_17]

I of course love and respect the real miracle romance Usa/Mamo but I like Seiya/Usagi too. I honestly see the appeal to Ail and Demande too I always thought they were all pretty fun to think about and it would have been fun to see those taken a bit more seriously. It would have been really cool had Mamoru had to take Usagi's romantic rivalries more seriously. I mean watching Usagi fight with An over Mamoru was really hilarious so if they had shown Ail and Mamoru butt heads more like in the VR episodes that would have been great. Obviously Seiya is not that kind of person but it would have been hilarious to see Seiya and Mamoru compete for Usagi's heart maybe that would be too reverse harem like but I do love that kind of thing. Demande can't really be taken seriously as a love interest because hes too dark but it's not much worse than real romances that I have seen be end game in shojo manga. I can see the appeal to that sort of dark and trashy kind of romance some people like to experience that sort of thing in the safety of a fictional world.

 

[MariaTenebre]

I personally ship Usagi and Mamoru they are the best heterosexual couple in the series in my opinion and their Miracle Romance touched me and they have shown themselves to be nothing less then a devoted couple whose love transcends lifetimes. I will say this it is very weird in La Reconquista for Beryl to have said that she secretly has feelings for the Princess where as in most versions she hates her for taking Endymion away from her. Also MementoNepenthe do you have any proof that Jadeite was the original design for Tuxedo Mask if so I would love to see it?

 

[lord Martiya]

Just pointing out that Usagi could turn the Sailor Soldiers into her harem any moment... And from what I've heard, she'll do so the moment she realizes it.

 

[Memento]

So Queen Beryl had feelings for both Endymion and Serenity in the novelization of the 2013 musical? This kinda butchers her character development IMO.

クイン・ベリルは思い出した。はじめて月から来たプリンセスを見て、心ときめかせていた自分を……。そうだ……私はこの月のプリンセスに……ずっと憧れていたのだ……

Rough translation:

"Queen Beryl remembered. Seeing the princess who came from the moon for the first time, her heart raced... 'That's right... I was longing for the Moon Princess...'"

My takeaway from the novel was that she was in love with both of them, but under Metallia's influence, she forgot about her love for Serenity. It's not until Endymion/Mamoru and Serenity/Usagi are dead that she remembers, and she starts crying. It's a fairly moving scene.

Also MementoNepenthe do you have any proof that Jadeite was the original design for Tuxedo Mask if so I would love to see it?

ダーク・キングダム - Wikipedia

Under the part about Jadeite, it says:

"In a 1992 issue of Nakayoshi, the author talks about how the male character that she first made as the hero of this work was Jadeite. However, since the hero's hair in her previous work " The Cherry Project " was white (blond) just like his, she gave the newly created Mamoru Chiba black hair instead."

I don't know what issue is being referred to, so I can't verify this claim, but it seems plausible that she initially designed Mamoru as a blond, didn't want to repeat herself, and recycled that design for Jadeite, redesigning Mamoru with black hair.

 

[blondibear_17]

I was gonna say I thought the Jadeite thing was super out of left field but they did kinda have a moment in the cruise episode.

 

[ChampionOfNuggets]

Gender flipped Tenchi Muyo style harem with Moon characters

 

[Sailor Moon~]

I ship her and Seiya. I just love how those two interact with each other.

 

[SailorSpySedna]

Usagi x Mamoru for me.

 

[Memelord_Yoshi]

I choose the Moonlight Knight.

 

[FloraKiraraHime]

I mostly ship Usagi with Mamoru-san.

 

[Mitsukara]

Hmm, I support a lot of strange ships, but when it comes to Usagi I am semi-vanilla and primarily favor the one fully reciprocal, canonical relationship shown, which was with Mamoru. (Though if Mamoru and the Moonlight Knight hadn't managed to recombined, I could see either or both?! Certainly Usagi was thinking about that.)

But that's a bit boring, so, I'll give some quick (garrulous) opinions on the other options.

Motoki
- Given how Motoki is sort of flirty, and Usagi was definitely interested at one point, I could imagine this working to a point if he broke up with Reika. However, I felt like Usagi's interest dropped for more reasons than one, because Motoki is a bit bland and unattentive, and he's flirty with pretty much everybody. I suspect she'd have grown at least as irritable to him as she is to Mamoru, had that gone anywhere. But it could work.

Umino
- Umino is wonderful and adorable and Usagi is a fool, buuuut, he didn't really make the best impression with anything he was doing in early season 1. Oh well, Umino deserves better anyway, eh?

Jadeite
- This one hadn't even crossed my mind. Given how stiff and job-oriented Jadeite always seems to be while serving the Dark Kingdom, and how standoffish he was to Thetis with whom he had some sort of undisclosed history, I imagine this being even more stiff and awkward. It sounds like it could be quite comedic, but I can't see it sticking. As for the physical basis, ehh, I think Mamoru's contrast is a lot better there.

Queen Beryl
- I'm far too busy shipping her with my made-up OCs of Prince Endymion's parents but tragically having their mutual dreams crushed due to poor communication and social pressures and Metallia's brainwashy influence, as well as very-close-platonic-friend-shipping her with Thetis. I know next to nothing about La Reconquista, but that's certainly an intriguing twist! It wouldn't even have to change the backstory that much- perhaps she could even see Endymion as the one getting in her way, not Serenity. Or, as you say, maybe Metallia simply clouded her mind and made her forget how much she loved Serenity, too- after all, in the anime she gets violent towards Endymion by the end, too, so I can certainly imagine it. Certainly not my OTP, but it could make for quite a good story! We know so little about Beryl, but I've always wondered about the many possibilities.

Ail / Ali / Eiru / Eaeiaerghiuleru / LessSwollFiore
- Nahhhh, this was never gonna work. Some very funny moments- I once saw a fake fanmade greeting card based on the "Congratulations!" scene- but that's about it.

Prince Demand / Diamande / Demando / Diamond / Doodoohead
- Nnnnnnnope. But I have imagined a scenario where the future was rewritten to exclude Wiseman's influence on Diamande, and that version of Diamande being much more reserved and shy around Neo-Queen Serenity, then horrified when he learned about himself from the alternate timeline. And, jokes aside, I do have some sympathy for the character, as he was clearly heavily mind-altered by the time we saw him, and still cared deeply about his people and his brother in the end, even though it was too late. But no, not really seeing him and Usagi ever being healthy.

Hypothetical saner versions of Diamande and Esmeraude, on the other hand...

Haruka / Sailor Uranus
- There's something intriguing and sometimes cute about these interactions, and they did seem to have a little bit of mutual attraction at times, but, I have a hard time seperating either of them from their more committed relationships, and Michiru is quite clearly the monogamous type. I can only see this working as a crazy alternate timeline thing where they hadn't met their canonical partners beforehand.

Seiya / Sailor Star Fighter
- I feel bad for Seiya here, but at least in the anime version of Sailor Stars as presented, she never seemed to reciprocate his feelings and only saw him as a friend. Worse, he was a bit pushy and presumptuous, seeing what he wanted to about what he assumed Mamoru had done. But teenagers do these things. Basically, like Uranus, I could imagine this working in some wildly alternate context. I can see where people are coming from on this one though... I'd be more for it if Usagi didn't turn him down so flatly and firmly all season.

Other: Rei!
(Mostly the anime version, although it might work in the manga too; though for the manga I see Rei more likely as a match with Minako.)

- The case against:
People can be platonic friends and still be cuddly, have something strongly resembling a tsundere dynamic, make each other blush, share an interest in another person who's in a relationship with one of them, and coincidentally have many of the same traits in common with that other person. Furthermore, it's a little too easy to slip into seeing two people being friends and vaguely cute and go "OMG OTP!" while ignoring probable authorial intent... especially with anime about cute girls, and that's further obscured by issues like uncertainty about how non-heteronormative orientations are thought of in stories and across cultures, etc. Most importantly, there's no canonical indication of them ever seriously thinking through a romance or discussing the possibility with each other.

- The case for:
The first paragraph of the case against is all true here. Remember that scene near the end of R at Usagi's house, where they're nuzzling on the couch for some reason, and Usagi blushes at Rei? I'm genuinely unsure if this was meant to be ship-baiting on purpose, it's so romantically affectionate. And they definitely have chemistry a lot of the rest of the time. Plus, Michiru ships them, too! Their dynamic could be adorable, and it's not that hard to imagine them having a polyamorous relationship with Mamoru. Usagi canonically thought about dancing with two partners twice in the anime (Tuxedo Mask + Motoki, then Tuxedo Mask + Moonlight Knight), so, the show really paints this picture in my head.

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--- Final verdict / TL;DR:
I definitely ship Usagi and Mamoru despite their struggles.

But I also ship Rei right along with them, just, only after they've had several years to talk things through in Crystal Tokyo and grown up a bit, before gradually easing into experimenting with it (plus Rei and Mamoru would still be kind of dull together, Usagi'd be the glue holding together that trio). Neo Queen Serenity would get past her jumpy jealous tendencies of her youth, she and Sailors Mars would have a nice serious talk, King Endymion would be surprised but supportive, and they'd work it out together and share the future they built, and it'd all be pretty romantic I think. Until another space whatsit comes to blow them up, or possibly some of the old ones back for another attempt.

Wait, no! I change my vote to the illusionary "Let's Dancing" guy created by that Daimohn from that one S episode (okay not really)

 

[Danzig87]

Obviously Mamoru.

 

[Neo King Rose]

Prince Rose
I don't care if it's non canon

I do not ship Usagi with any canon male in the series

 

[NeoPrincessBriarRose25]

Although my opinion is based on anime, I would prefer Seiya over Mamoru/Endymion. Seiya promised Usagi she will protect her no matter what. Tuxedo Mask is just.....needless. His rose stuff makes me sick. That's it.
However, based on Manga, Mamoru was slightly better than Anime.

 

[Nadia]

I voted for Ail and Demand.

My biggest pet peeve with Mamoru is that for so much of the formative parts of their relationship, he's either a jerk, brainwashed, or amnesiac. You might say that he makes up for that by being Tuxedo Mask, but for the first half of Classic he doesn't even know or control that, and when he does start to take ownership of that...he puts retrieving those Rainbow Crystals above any relationship; there really should have been much more tension in Classic between him and the Scouts like there were in later seasons with other heroes.

In the manga/Crystal, he's better, and the only time he's actively malicious is when he's clearly not himself, but given how much of an influence the 90's anime is, and how much he is supposed to be the good guy but isn't, he and Usagi don't seem like they belong together. He and 90's anime Rei are a legitimately better match.

Motoki is not a bad guy, but he's not a memorable guy. If he had been secretly an agent of the Dark Kingdom or something, then I could see him and Usagi beginning a cat and mouse relationship.

I don't like Umino as a love interest because Usagi is much, much too shallow when he shows interest in her. It would have been karmic for her to fall for him only for him to have moved on, but I don't mind the "pairing of the spares" since Naru loves Umino as he is.

A lot of people don't like pairing of Ail and Usagi because Ail is in a relationship with En. But I never saw Ail and En's relationship as all that healthy. For two aliens who were devoted to each other, it took them less than half a day to start hardcore obsessing over other humans; that's not a good sign. It's even worse when you consider that Ail has done this before.

But Ail was genuinely romantic, persistent, and most of all, when Usagi didn't have her memories, she reciprocated his romantic feelings. One of my AU ideas was "what if Usagi didn't get her memories back;" she and Ail would have married. She only falls back to Mamoru because that's what she knows, and there are signs that she likes Ail's attention despite her resolve to get Mamoru back. Plus, her falling in love with a legitimate enemy to humanity rather than her reincarnated Prince Charming is a much preferred idea.

To be fair, like Mitsukara, I agree that a relationship between canon Demand and Usagi would be a problematic pill to swallow. And the manga version of Demand (he was so bad Crystal had to soften him slightly) is completely off limits.

However, in the anime, there is a slight opening in the as bad as he was, he did show the capacity for change.

Keep in mind the only other Black Moon Clan member who started seeing the error of his ways in the anime and fully reformed without any outside influence was Saffir. The Spectre Sisters were healed, so they had to give up a part of who they were. Demand was starting to see the light at the end so who knows if he would have acted as badly from then on.

Besides, if you go the Petite Étrangère route and simply "reprogram" him. Demandbot 2.0.

I don't like Haruka or Seiya as love interests, because aside from the "temptation" factor, neither has much going for Usagi as personality goes.

 

[Maraviollantes]