Its odd how
much information you can just passively absorb. I don't know if its
just because of the internet and how nothing is really niche anymore
but its an interesting phenomenon. For instance, I have never in my
life watched an episode or read an issue of Sailor Moon in any of its
incarnations but I am 90% sure that the following are all true facts:
The main
character is a bit of a crybaby and has a magic wand.
She owns a
talking cat who keeps fat-shaming her.
Her love
interest is called Tuxedo Mask and he is a bit of a git in his
civilian identity.
The
green-haired Sailor and the androgynous blonde Sailor are lovers and
the US translators tried to cover up the lesbianism by claiming they
were cousins but didn't edit the footage well enough
and so managed to broadcast incest they created themselves on a
children's television time slot.
Just
think about that last one. That's not a fact, that's trivia. That's
the sort of information that would once have been the province of the
longtime and attentive fan who went looking for the series' back
stage arcana. Now its just something that a random schmuck like me
can find out by scrolling through a few anime tumblrs.
Its
a silly example but it shows how the internet has basically destroyed
any knowledge-based barrier to entry on any form of entertainment.
Multiple
versions of the series? You can find out the critical consensus on
which is the best in minutes. Want to skip the filler episodes in an
anime? Wikipedia will have an episode list telling you which episodes
are based on the manga and which aren't. On a related note: if you're
getting burnt out on an arc, the same episode list will also probably
tell you at a glance (no need to read episode description spoilers)
when the arc ends. A series has characters with complicated
backstories spread over several other series before they appear in
the one you're interested in? Full character biography is just a
Google search away.
Its
fascinating as a social phenomenon and not at all a sleep deprived
rationalisation for why I'm considering watching Sailor
Moon: Crystal.
