Back during the era of Nolan's Batman movies it was in certain places online like IMDB message boards very popular to express the opinion that Robin's existence is inherently bad for Batman. That Batman should be a loner and throwing in this kid sidekick only dumbs the stories down.
I was always agaisnt that mentality, and today most major voices in the internet Western Comic Book Nerd community reject that as really narrow minded and know that you're really not much of a Batman fan at all if you completely reject such a large portion of what the Batman mythos are.
As someone who remembers all of that while currently being a Millennial Otaku in an era where our current Nostalgia cycle has brought a number of old 90s Anime back into public conciseness. I feel like the Anime equivalent of that is the prevalence of Sailor Moon fans who wish Tuxedo Mask didn't exist, that position is nearly unanimous among the guests on the Sailor Business podcast.
I actually have more sympathy for this position even though it's less supportable (Tuxedo Mask was there from issue #1 unlike Robin) because my own preferences for female lead Anime and Superhero stories are often similar, I'm a Yuri Fanatic who likes watching Anime where it's possible to pretend males don't even exist in that fictional world. But when it comes to Sailor Moon my position is Mamoru/Darrien is just as essential as Lois Lane is to Superman, or Mary Jane to Spiderman, or Iris West to Barry Allen, or Sif to Thor.
Now talking about Tuxedo Mask is complicated by how the 90s Anime handled him very differently. This may shock some people to learn, but there are Sailor Moon Manga purists who hate everything about the 90s Anime, but this subject may often be where they'd start their rants. He's in High School not Collage in the Manga (and in Japan the age difference between middle school and high school is smaller then it is here, they are in fact only 2-3 years apart) Mamoru isn't constantly a jerk to her early on, Usagi isn't nearly as childish and Tuxedo Mask actually contributes more.
That element also fits the Robin comparison, the rejection of Robin was partly from how for a long time the mainstream public perception of Robin was mostly Burt Ward and Chris O'Donnell. And indeed I think the best western Comic Book analogy for those Manga purists who hate the Anime are people who still hate the Adam West and Shumacker takes on Batman. Those of us who have read Robin(s) as written by for example Chuck Dixon or Marv Wolfman know the concept can be taken seriously.
However some people don't like Mamoru even in the Manga, or heck some even find him worse in the Manga. These people simply hate the idea of tuning in to a show about a Superheroine (or "Female Superhero" as the CW's Supergirl pilot kept insisting on saying) where she is also constantly being rescued. Now most of those "rescues" range from cheer-leading her to adding a little minor assist like female love interests of male superhero also frequently get to contribute, and the final climax of the original story-line is her saving him. But these fans want male love interests to contribute 0% to their Superheroine stories.
Thing is that apparent contradiction is not a bug but a feature, it is kind of the entire premise of Sailor Moon. Film Flux did a video on the Sailor Moon Manga that helped me to clarify this. Superhero stories are at their core wish fulfillment fantasies, and like it or not many young girls fantasize both about being a Superhero and being a Damsel rescued by a handsome Prince (and some young boys have the same fantasies). While most Mangaka might have written two completely separate stories to express those fantasies Naoko Takeuchi said Frak It and did both simultaneously, she wrote a story where an average Japanese school girl gets to be both Snow White and Wonder Woman at the same time. The premise of Sailor Moon is foundationally about having your cake and eating it too.
Now you don't have to also be into that, my point is that this Prince Charming isn't something that's part of the story because of executive meddling. (If anything it's having other Girls helping her that was, Takeuchi's original vision was a solo Super-heroine, it was Toei that wanted a team so they could sell more toys.) And so if you fundamentally don't like that, you kind of don't like the premise of Sailor Moon.
The reason why in America Sailor Moon is popular with many people who actually share only half of Takeuchi's fantasy is because on mid 90s American television she was the only Superheroine we had to choose from at all.
Thing is it's now possible for Americans to watch almost any Anime they want to, and the sub-genre Sailor Moon spawned has evolved to provide plenty of shows that can better provide what these Sailor Moon fans actually want. I think there are plenty of people who might actually like the rest of the genre more but have still only seen Sailor Moon because they've never searched for Anime beyond what airs on Toonami, or because they're assuming them to be Sailor Moon knock offs with no actual creativity. But the truth is even the ones most similar to Sailor Moon are still just as distinct as Green Arrow is from Batman.
All or at least most Pretty Cure seasons have no Tuxedo Mask analogue, a few have Het love interests who are civilians, like Peter Parker crushing on Liz Allan or Mary Jane in the Raimi films, but most don't even have that. Madoka Magica and Yuki Yuna Is A Hero and Symphogear provide no Het romance for the main character at all. Pretty Sammy and Nanoha also work, and Prisma Illya is....... not a good one to start with.
Corrector Yui doesn't seem to have a Tuxedo Mask figure from what I've seen so far, on Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne there is one kinda but he's a rival thief. On Saint Tail the love interest is the guy trying to catch her, so it's like Batman and Catwoman but if Catwoman was stealing things because God wanted her to do it???? I'm still not sure what that show's premise actually is. In Galaxy Fraulein Yuna there is a Tuxedo Mask but she's a woman, so those of you who enjoy having your sexuality confused by the Takerazuka style Mamoru in the new Musicals might enjoy that.
Even Wedding Peach is distinct on this issue since the person who could be called the Tuxedo Mask of the show is not the title character's love interest.
So I'm hoping once these Sailor Moon fans can get their no Tuxedo Mask Magical Girl fix elsewhere they can be open to appreciating Mamoru once they've seem him portrayed correctly on Crystal( just make sure you're watching the BluRay rips) or even the Live Action show PGSM. I also still recommend that Sailor Moon Fan Film from 2016.
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