While I definitely agree with the negative connotations, an alternate reading could be taken that if you know there's an intrinsic aspect about yourself that does not match either what you want it to be or how you feel you are, you should be allowed to take the steps to be your authentic self. This goes all the way back to Disney's Pinocchio. It can be looked at multiple ways.
But of course, this is what being trans is all about after all. The problem is though that we never see the Sisters or really anyone in the BMC being
bothered or
uncomfortable with the powers they have. We’re given absolutely zero indication that this would’ve been their choice anyways independent of their desire to return to the planet their ancestors are indigenous to for hopes of a better life. But no, from where I’m standing they
begrudgingly rather than
enthusiastically gave up their powers in exchange for the right of return to a planet that has the bare minimum of an acceptable standard of living - all because of alleged “crimes” they’re not even guilty themselves of committing but rather their
ancestors.
To put it bluntly this basically counts as coercion on the Senshi’s parts, they’re being forced to give up a part of themselves that they never even wanted to discard in the first place all for the chance of a decent standard of living - something I would argue every living being is already naturally entitled to irrespective of any “flawed” pedigree - how is this fair or right? Would they have chosen to discard their innate powers if they were given a
true choice and weren’t blackmailed with the very prospect of survival? Keep in mind conditions on Nemesis are implied to be unfit for life at worst and absolutely horrid at best, this planet is worse than any of our own 3rd world countries
combined! I mean if even simple plant life has difficulty growing and being sustained there where are the BMC even getting their food from? They must be starving at the bare minimum - this isn’t just simply wanting to immigrate to a richer country for a better life, migration back to Earth is a matter of
survival for them and yet they’re being faced with the stipulation of give up your powers or risk starving (or even risk being manipulated and used by another entity like Wiseman/Death Phantom that that toxic planet apparently produces, whatever he is) another day. This is really no different from forcing a starving homeless person to outright disable themselves by cutting off an arm just for the chance of a few scraps of bread, neither is ethical and right because you’re basically putting a gun to someone’s head and forcing them to give up a part of themselves which will make their life exponentially harder in the long run.
And we know they were never uncomfortable with these innate powers/features they developed - quite the contrary, it seemed it came as natural an inclination to them as walking on two legs is for us “regular humans” I mean Saphir and Esmeraude are always seen teleporting all over the place with nary a thought and Demande seems to
prefer to levitate as his preferred mode of “standing” rather than keep his feet on on the ground. Speaking of Demande, what would be the implications of asking someone who was born with 3 eyes to revert back to the regular way of “just two?” Would he lose a good chunk of his eyesight? Y’know since his biology was already built different to accommodate for 3 eyes rather than 2, what if his vision goes down by a good chunk of 50% decrease? The BMC are basically being asked to willingly disable themselves all for the chance of an
acceptable standard of living.
For crimes they didn’t even commit and aren’t responsible for…
And that’s another thing, I
still find the original story of their ancestors to be shady. Even if what Saberblade says it’s true and the “cleansing/purification” was meant to be for the evil energy living inside them rather than because they were non-human being turned into full humans - why was the first line of punishment outright forced cleansing rather than a fair and just trial that every civilized and democratic government has always employed? Did NQS and King Endymion just abolish the entire due process and court system and now every petty criminal is faced with their personal judgement rather than going through a non-biased and thorough legal system? How does that not sound like the very
definition of dictatorship/tyranny?
And futhermore why would their ancestors even “rise up” and randomly attack Crystal Tokyo in the first place? They must have had a reason, everyone does, and one doesn’t just suddenly wake up one day and become “corrupted” with evil energy just like that with no outside forces intervening, especially not in this universe. Saberblade’s theory of them being spurred on by Wiseman/Death Phantom is still just that: a theory. We’re given no indication that he or anyone else was responsible for this “evil energy” precisely
because the explanation is so vague and short. Made even worse by the fact that Wiseman/Phantom’s origins are completely unknown in the 90’s anime, for all we know he’s strictly from Nemesis and was only “activated” once inhabitants came to settle there, in fact I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s the Nemesis equivalent to what Metallia is supposed to be in the anime - i.e. toxic sunspots originating from the Sun’s atmosphere.
So what on
earth could cause the ancestors of the BMC to rise up and begin rebelling against Crystal Tokyo in the first place? It can’t be due to the immortality clause like in the manga since we’re never given any reason to think that exists in the 90’s anime (Chibi-Usa’s age and all) and if Wiseman/Death Phantom is an entity produced from Nemesis and can only be activated
on Nemesis like I suspect it can’t be him either.
Sorry but the whole “cleansing of evil energy” still reads racial to me, especially with how the silhouettes of their ancestors are presented as during the flashback. My first thought for their reasoning was what if the attacks
weren’t unprompted and came as a
result of NQS demanding they be purified in order to gain Crystal Tokyo citizenship? What if King Endymion is framing it as violent attacks but it actually started out as peaceful protests that simply turned violent? If that’s the case then even their ancestors weren’t necessarily in the wrong and it was their right to remain however they came about (born that way?
Are they a different race like the shadow silhouettes suggest?) rather than be forced to undergo a cleansing/purification process. They’d be fighting for their equal rights without being forced to change in order to obtain those rights, which is a perfectly reasonable justification in my eyes.
In fact if one really looks at the situation the whole “forced cleansing/purification” thing has allusions to our current dilemma of Police Brutality going on in America. NQS and King Endymion blatantly act like cops in that flashback with how they deal with the original BMC - no attempt at talks are given, no due process in a Court Of Law, just plain brute force of subduing them with “cleansing/purification.” What if the ancestors of the BMC had legitimate gripes when NQS came into power and we’re being fed a narrative of “violent attacks” when they were the 30th Century equivalent to Black Lives Matter and they were simply demanding their equal rights but were getting pushback? We’ll never know because their story is told in just vague and broad strokes which is
precisely the problem with it - I’ll just say this though, the fact that our heroes are forcing their descendants to pay for crimes they didn’t commit all while forcibly stripping them of their innate powers/features and culture in exchange for clean air to breathe and tolerable soil conditions for food to grow isn’t a great look.
How they deal with the descendants of those “criminals” in the aftermath just makes me believe more and more that the root of the original conflict was a racial/discrimination issue after all. Maybe if the forced “cleansing” of the powers of the Sisters wasn’t required I would think otherwise but here we are.
To add insult to injury not only are they pretty much blackmailing the BMC to willingly disable themselves but they’re also essentially leaving them defenseless. Those powers are what they use to fight back to be able protect themselves, are they just supposed to entrust their very safety to the Senshi at all times? We’ve seen how well
that turned out, Saphir might have been able to live if the Sisters had kept their powers and came along to help. We also see that as the seasons pass the Sisters are basically persona non-grata forgotten and
can’t rely on the Senshi to be there to protect them at all times if ever the need may be, they’re pretty much on their own now completely helpless and defenseless (which even
they angst about during Saphir’s death episode).
Now you could argue this isn’t an issue because
all regular humans in Sailor Moon and powerless and have to rely on the Senshi to protect them so how is this any different? But the thing is the Sisters
did have powers and
could fight to protect themselves, and stripping someone of that innate ability to defend themselves and
forcing them to rely on others - especially what’s essentially an oppressed population who always had to rely and trust only in themselves cause no one in Crystal Tokyo ever cared to at least
try to rectify the situation - is problematic to say the least.
TD;LR: The reveal that their ancestors might have been fully human and the “cleansing” was in reference to evil energy rather than any non-human features changes very little for me, I still have a million and one issues with how the BMC’s story is handled in the 90’s anime. The fact of the matter remains is that irregardless of what their ancestors originally might’ve been the BMC we see now obviously aren’t human anymore and have essentially “mutated” into a new race, yet they’re
still being punished for that and being asked to give up a part of themselves that’s all they ever knew simply in exchange for decent shelter, food and air - basic human rights and needs - on account of crimes they didn’t even commit. I’m sorry but no one can convince me that’s right or ethical.
And isn't it stated that they were still willing to consider less forceful ways until Wiseman manipulated them towards all out war?
Yes, look at the flashback to when Demande and Saphir were kids, do those look like “innately evil” boys to you? Of course not, they were just
children, normal innocent children who were dreaming of a better life and had no idea what they were even being punished for.
It’s disturbing that anyone could think sweet kids like that could be “innately evil” simply because of the people and culture they were born into. (Something that again was foisted on them and
started by NQS when she chose use of force rather than try to peacefully rehabilitate their ancestors to begin with)
The tale of the anime BMC is a real tragedy all around and those kids were always victims who never got a chance.
That alone implies that they aren't just "evil" even when full of dark energy and that despite the influence of the Malefic Black Crystal were capable of moral choices, Heck Saphir basically cleansed himself, and Demande was able to begin turning a new leaf without being purified. But, no...they can't help being bad because of the evil force that powers them.
Yes, yes, it does. Forget just Demande and Saphir we can already see it with the Sisters once they decided to change and be good - and mind you this was
before they got “cleansed” of their powers, it’s not like they only saw the light once Sailor Moon “Refreshed” them, they had already turned good even
with their powers still intact, so why couldn’t they stay that way? Why wasn’t it enough for the Senshi that they simply renounce their previous ways, discard the toxic earrings and promise to turn over a new leaf? Why did they
need to get rid of their in-born powers in the process?
In a twisted sense, maybe the Sisters died in the 90's anime as well. Given that they were changed into humans and given a new mindset, they might not even be the same people as they once were in a meaningful manner.
I don’t think this really applies personality wise because we can
see the innate nature of their character even pre-Refresh when they’re willing to change even while their powers intact.
But in terms of physicality and culture? Yeah, it’s not far off to say that they were essentially white-washed and forced to assimilate into the dominate culture in order to be accepted. That’s the message their “redemption” ultimately sends, assimilate or else.
