3) (THIS IS IMPORTANT TO ME) The line about hugs and kisses is being mistranslated as coming from Chibiusa. They’re actually part of Pluto’s longer, 2 page spanning line going “Small Lady, hugs and kisses are not the only way to show love. There exists another form of love, where someone quietly watches over you from afar.”
Thanks as always for the corrections! Though I’m not sure I see how this changes the ideas here too much. Whether it’s Chibs saying “[My mum] never hugs me” or Pluto saying “Small Lady, there’s more to showing love than hugs”, the idea remains that NQS isn’t hugging Chibs, or showing her any kind of love in a way that an eight year old – A NINE-HUNDRED YEAR eight year old, per the manga – understands. I mean, in 900 years of existence, and Neo-Queen Serenity has hugged her so rarely, if at all, that Pluto has to reassure Chibi-Usa that her mother loves her in some distant, nebulous way Chibs isn’t otherwise picking up?
(This being just one of my many problems with the idea of 900 year old Chibs, by the way. I just does not hold up for me under even a tiny amount of consideration for the long term implications.)
I mean Pluto is literally the one always on duty who can’t even leave her station, and Chbi-Usa understands love and affection from her, but not her mother.
Whether it’s Chibs directly making the observation here, or Pluto responding to some off-panel feelings she’s expressing, I think the results are pretty much the same. At least in my view! Mileage varies as always.
I haven’t read the manga in forever. But just saw these scenes in Crystal earlier, and honestly, this is all pretty much the same feeling I got – that Chibiusa doesn’t feel loved by her mother, nor has Serenity actually done anything to show it. Like wtf?!!
🔥 There is beauty in destruction🔥 