The Breakup Breakdown

Part 2...

First thing Usagi does is ask her friends for advice. By all accounts, this doesn't make any sense to her. In a display of a perfect Sailor Moon moment, the girls are not only supportive, but also offer different opinions on the matter.

Minako suggests a very likely option for an irrational reaction like that, being really mature at this point in the show. Makoto backs it up in a very Makoto way, adding romanticism to her claim. Both of them conclude it doesn't make any sense for Mamoru to want to break up.

Ami is right on the money... for the wrong reasons. It's pleasant to see her being smart but still making short-sighted mistakes. She even seems insecure about it when the girls roll their eyes at her reasoning.

It's Rei who brings up the angle of "trusting him". And it makes sense for her to be right for several reasons.

Rei's a character who follows her gut and has the power to sense bad vibes. There's no reason to doubt her instinct.
She also dated Mamoru for a brief period during Classic, meaning she can make a meaningful assesment of his character.
And finally, because Rei is Usagi's best friend. By the end of Classic she's the one Usagi seems to trust the most,
and Rei is constantly the one who takes her well being personally.

If we can trust anyone to perceive Usagi's situation properly, it's Rei.

'Trust' will be a recurrent theme in the breakup arc as well as something that tracks with the way Sailor Moon handles the idea of love, but I'll come back to it in ep. 70.

For now, we're going in raw. Here's The Scene.

Chibi Usa seems to flick between the Tsukino household and Mamoru's apartment like it's shared custody.
But they don't know that yet.

He's caught off guard by seeing Usagi at the door. I'm guessing he didn't expect to have to have this talk with her. The trembly anime eyes are a good keep-alive in animation, but also useful to highlight emotional tension. Given this is one of the only times he looks at her through the scene, we can take this to mean vulnerability.

The rose petal is a fantastic detail here. Roses are obviously Tuxedo Mask's iconography, and sometimes there's a visual of one falling apart when the guitar riff plays before his rose throws, but that same visual appears again when he dies at the end of Classic after sustaining a fatal blow:

The vase feels at first like a visual metaphor for their love wilting away, but paired with his expression and the nature of the situation, it's much more suited to his resolve cracking.

I said earlier that it makes sense for Mamoru to make a swift decision and not consider Usagi's input given he doesn't see a way out of this situation, as he's treating his dream as an omen rather than something to be interpreted, and there's no real point in discussing it. This scene adds another layer to that reasoning: if he gives Usagi any sort of inch, he might just let her take a mile. In order to be able to keep her safe, he needs to be able to resist not only reasoning, but that cute li'l face of hers.

And he struggles.

This is why he's about to double down on his stance.

Usagi's here to patch things up, confirming that 'just breaking up with her' won't deter her. What she's gonna do in this scene is assume the potential explanations the girls gave her earlier, except now she has Mamoru to confirm or deny them.

It shows her resolve to find out what's the issue. Meaning that she recognizes there's an issue, as this is out of character for what she knows Mamoru to be.

...I wanna highlight something about this lie, though: If we were to read into Usagi's perspective and take Mamoru's words for granted, it would mean the cause for the breakup is entirely arbitrary.

...And sure enough, this confirms that Usagi here is echoing the previous scene.

Not only Mamoru is avoiding her gaze, but she's also casting a shadow on the wall that animates along with her movements, emphasizing how she's facing the light while Mamoru's background behind him is darkened for dramatic effect.
...As if you needed any more confirmation that he doesn't mean what he says.

When Usagi tries Makoto's approach of reminding him why they're together in the first place, we get another visual of that same rose petal falling.

This one is important. This one gets to him. With this, Usagi's seeing right through him and stands to break his walls...

...Because Usagi has just shed light on how arbitrary their relationship is by resorting to claiming they're fated to be, admitting that nothing he says can challenge the belief she has in the destiny that brought them together, and so his only choice now is to question it directly, and with it, the very foundations of their love.

I've seen hot takes that suggest Mamoru's line is a little bit of a cocktease for what the breakup arc could have actually been, and that it would have been better if it actually explored the themes of destiny, maybe going as far as to consider "real" reasons for Mamoru and Usagi to be together. Some go as far as to suggest this is an admittance that they lack the nutrients to have a meaningful conflict, so they have to rely on attacking a trope instead of who they are as characters.

Allow me to counter that by praising this line, from its context to the framing of it.

Mamoru, as we know, is lying. Consciously lying. This means he's not entertaining this as a statement with any validity. He's saying this exclusively to shoot down Usagi's seemingly bulletproof reasoning. You can tell because he's about to elaborate further on it, and sees no need when Usagi's face makes it clear this question alone got to her. Mamoru himself does not believe this to hold any validity.

And neither does Usagi, given she brings it up as an argument in favour of their relationship. But it's of note that her expression is not shocked. She's impossibly hurt, but doesn't argue back, because there's no conversation to be had.

Their little meetings in these past two episodes suggest destiny is something that they tease eachother about. It's a matter of embrace.

This is not a question that they haven't thought about. This is not something they haven't considered. Meaning that they've made a conscious decision to agree that being destined to be together is fine. Exploring 'better' reasons for them to be together would hint that they are dissatisfied with their current state of affairs, and as I've pointed out in this breakdown, that couldn't be further from the case.

On top of being out of character, consider that Mamoru and Usagi are pretty different individuals.

Classic. Iconic.

Usagi's not very smart and fairly immature, reading too hard into things is certainly not one of her traits. Her saving virtue is following her heart and how romantic she is about the world around her can be found in any of her Sailor Moon speeches. "This is the happiest moment of my life" she says about some casual date with the boy she loves, one episode ago.

Mamoru on the other hand is a lot more inquisitive. We see him considering implications of strange events such as Chibi Usa's arrival and wanting to find out the truth about his past, and the very fact he's Tuxedo Mask should speak about his sense of duty. His unsolicited advice to Usagi tells us he's the more practical of the two, and even a tad withdrawn. He does what's right, not what makes him happy. "Don't exaggerate" he says with a smile, about the same boat date.

Usagi's goofy, while Mamoru's serious. She's idealistic, he's realistic. A giggly mess from a loving family meets a brooding orphan. She's got the iconic haircut and bright colored outfits matched with love while there's nothing about his design that stands out except for being a fashion nightmare. Dark and bright, cold and hot. Boy meets Girl. They could not be more opposites. Their constant bickering in Classic speaks volumes about their incompatibility.

And all of this also means that they could be the best possible compliment to eachother, making up for what the other is lacking, if only they give it a chance. 'Destiny' doesn't force them together, it gives them said chance. If there's one thing they can agree on, is their devotion and love to eachother. This is what makes them so strong, both in the context of the show and in a meta way.

When you make destiny the only thing holding them together,
you also make it the only thing that stands to get in the way.

This line is perfect not because it's a fitting conflict, but because it's the only fitting conflict.

I'm sure there's another take on these characters where jealousy and insecurity are brought up and solved, resulting in the characters maturing and their relationship growing stronger because of it.

But is there any fictional couple you couldn't apply this set of circumstances to?

Usagi and Mamoru's relationship may be entirely pedestrian in the way it's executed, but it's strength relies not on highlighting this by grounding it by ordinary conflict, but in the contrast it makes to its higher purpose and its higher stakes. These two will die for eachother just so they can go on a silly boat date and call that peak existence.

It's simple. It's touching. It's effective. And it's really easy to understand.

The problem with suggesting this foundation is too simplistic and weak to work necessarily means the solution would be to complicate it and, therefore, dilute all the themes it stands to symbolize. If the issues that stand to get in their way are allowed to be completely mundane, it would make their relationship as weak as those mundane issues.

Something like that would not take advantage of the setup that Sailor Moon specifically allows, and it would ruin the point of Usagi and Mamoru as a couple.

Finally, the line is a confession that the writers acknowledge the Destined Lovers trope they have on their hands by acknowledging its potential subversion.

Everything I've said here begins to look less like a happy accident, and the reasoning for the break up being so vague has a clear intent; it's meant to be arbitrary. It's as arbitrary as the very reason they are together.

Why be together? Why not break up?

This scene is heart wrenching because of the futility of the scenario. The real answer is so obvious when you strip away all the desire to overcomplicate it with generic writing advice: Sailor Moon does not have to concern itself with answering every potential counter-argument to its tropes. It just has to make a good case for them.

Why not break up? Because they don't want to break up.
So let's see what happens if we do it anyways.

How do you justify something as instinctive and pure as love? Do you even need to?

It's done using the very language of the show. It's painfully simple. It's brilliant.

Up to this point, Usagi has tried each of her friends' advice on how to deal with the situation.

...Except for Rei's, who told her to trust him.

What Usagi does instead is bring up Chibi Usa, whose involvement with Mamoru was established in this very episode to be a matter of jealousy for her. Usagi here is ignoring the potential solution to the puzzle and instead letting her insecurities take over, because the person she trusts with her life has planted seeds of doubt, and thus she can't possibly apply Rei's advice. What can she trust, when she can't even be sure of what she believes in the most?

There's nothing left for Usagi to do but resign, and we have the inciting incident to our breakup arc wrapped up.

Mamoru's evidently distressed by her reaction. He wants nothing but to keep her safe, yet it's a cruel contradiction that he's had to hurt her like this to do so.

His plea for forgiveness is interesting to me. I feel like it's too easy to get annoyed when you see a character apologizing for something they brought upon themselves, but I feel this has a sense of finality, rather than regret. He has no solution to these dreams, and he has no reason to believe this is a temporary warning. Breaking Usagi's heart is worth it if it saves her life.

Mamoru is nothing if not selfless. Supporting this take on his character we have his final line in Classic which I quoted earlier, were he gives his life for Usagi to flee and go back to a normal life with a good boy who will treat her right. We also have the very concept of Tuxedo Mask, whose purpose is to motivate and save her, expecting no reward nor thanks. ...Has he ever asked for anything in return? Ever?

To imply Mamoru here feels guilty over ruining the perception Usagi has of him or anything along those lines would imply he has any sort of stake in being seen as a good guy, rather than being one. This would be a disservice to everything that's been established about him. The fact is that Mamoru is way more concerned with Usagi's agency and safety than being the man by her side, or being seen as a good guy. I don't think he's asking for her to take him back eventually. At this point in time, there's no proviso that it's even on the cards.

It's a very simple way of expressing how he truly feels in what's a complicated situation for a good boy like him: he can put his wants aside, but his only real regret is having to hurt her.

Usagi is known for crying at the drop of a hat, yet here we follow her for a fair distance before she lets it out in a phone cabin. The way she chooses to phrase it is with a callback to the scene of her parents meeting Mamoru...

Formalizing her relationship seems like such a pedestrian problem when you compare it to the magnitude of their background, which makes it all the more heartbreaking.

It's a reminder that these two will die for eachother just so they can share the little joys in life.

Very suitable reaction too. Her earlier statement about not believing Mamoru because of their previous lives suggests that she held it as an ultimate truth about who they are to eachother, who she is. Given the entirity of Classic and the beginning of R was her coming to terms with her role in the world, this is not just a breakup, but a whole shakeup on the foundation of what she believes to be true. It's complimented nicely with the long walk she takes before she tries to make sense of it, like she's in the middle of nowhere. Lost, and confused.

Usagi's already apologized to Mamoru for things she hasn't done wrong. She'll spend quite a few episodes in this arc searching for an answer to a problem that, by all means, doesn't have one, wondering what she could possibly do to get him back.

The imagery of a phone cabin can't be a coincidence with how much it's packing in terms of aiding these ideas. You use one to reach out and communicate with someone. A cabin is distinct from a regular payphone in that it gives you some layer of privacy. It's also giving shelter from the outside world, despite it being sunny. It all suggests a sense of introspection, and wanting to be given an answer or an explanation, with the inability to reach out giving it a sense of it all being futile. She lingers in there with no conclusion.

Lucky for her and for our little hearts, there is a solution we can guess at. Rei's already given us the key to all this. Her advice is like poetry. It rhymes.

Black Moon's first scheme proper involves selling makeup that will make you look bad on prolonged use. They brand this line as 'The Fountain of Youth' in our dub. The more you cling to it, the worst it gets, huh...

Usagi only exits the phone booth when she catches wind of the flier advertising this. It's the saddest little thing to see her so defeated and lost that she walks there almost on autopilot.

I like how Usagi is realizing things as she speaks here. It sounds really silly to assume Mamoru's issue with her is down to her appearance, and she notices right away. Despite having her whole world turned upside down and being desperate enough to head here without a plan, being able to make observations like these grounds her in reality. It does come with the acceptance that this won't be easy to solve, but it's a step in trusting the things that she knows again. Baby steps.

OKAY NVM BIGFOOT STEPS

Not only our girl's showing she ain't no mindless consumer, but she's also mad on Mamoru's behalf.

First off, it's entirely consequent with her character to get more defensive over the honor of her beloved than her own:

Nice little callback to the sort of things that get her mad! Our Usagi hasn't been lost to a sea of depresso.

More importantly, it's a sign of trust in Mamoru's standards. She could've easily listened to her insecurities, but doing so would give them validity, and her mental image of Mamoru is incompatible with the notion that he would fall for such a thing. This is complimented by the fact the counter lady refers to him as a generic man, while Usagi always refers to him by name.

I feel like people sleep on how much you can get out of a character by hearing another character describe them. Usually it's accompanied by some dramatic irony, the point being that character A idolizes character B and describes them in such a way to imply that A has no idea how much of an asshole B truly is, and maybe that has made us a little suspicious of a character's own judgement when it comes to picking up details about characterization. Here's such a case where the irony is replaced with sincerity.

Usagi has no reason to trust Mamoru at this point, much less defend his honor, and yet what she knows to be true about him floats to the top, above any sort of self-delusion that could comfort her. It tells us a lot about how she feels about Mamoru, but also about Mamoru himself. He's not shallow. And Usagi values that in a man. Clearly this is one of many things that have made him irreplaceable in Usagi's heart. Maybe we shouldn't take that lightly.

...She's right, by the way:

Here's an invitation to recontextualize any time he's called her dumb or fat.

Moving on, Shopkeeper is revealed to be a Droid intent on ruining Usagi's face with makeup for ruining her scheme. At this point we have to wonder if Tuxedo Mask will even show up...

...and there he is! His speech as usual questions the Bad Guys' scheme on a moral basis, but it's neat how in this particular instance it feels like he's confirming Usagi's assessment of his opinion.

I don't wanna hear anyone saying Tuxedo Mask is boring or useless ever again.

Sailor Moon is surprised to see Tuxedo Mask caring for her well being.

This establishes another consistent pattern that will help us understand the gameplay mechanics of the breakup; it seems like Mamoru is not interpreting his dreams as 'get away from Usagi', but rather 'don't be in a relationship with Usagi'.

This is not the last time Usagi will struggle trying to reconcile Mamoru's actions with his words. Him saving her should be proof that he cares. He claims otherwise with another lie, one a bit more designed to attack her insecurities.

That glance alone should confirm without a shadow of a doubt that any attempt to hurt her brings him misery, but I wanna stress as well; he only comes up with them whenever Usagi gets a second wind in trying to see right through him. You have to try on purpose to interpret his behaviour as lacking concern for her well being, or being dispassionate and guilty over it when he's having to try on purpose and struggling to keep her away.

The execution of this arc moving forwards leaves a lot to be desired, but that in contrast to the quality of this episode leads me to believe that every piece to solve the puzzle that is the breakup arc's intended trajectory must be found in here.

Therefore, much like Rei's advice hints at the resolution, Tuxedo Mask line hints at what Usagi has to do to get there: he's asking her to be strong. When I call it a lie, what I mean is that Usagi does not actually have to win his love back, because she's never lost it to begin with. This is his way of telling her to hold on by giving her some sort of goal that will eventually lead her to find power in her own agency and fulfill Rei's words.

The parting notion of this episode is Usagi swearing to do as much.
It's uplifting considering the tone of the episode, and very much in character for her.

I do have a nitpick with this episode, and that is the phrasing of Tuxedo Mask's line "I hate weak girls". "Don't be weak, Sailor Moon" might be a bit more suitably cryptic to the nature of his Tuxedo Mask speeches and achieved the same plea for her to hang in there. "Crying won't solve anything" might even double as a little callback to the very first episode, a reminder of how far she's come, yet hinting that there's still ways to go. Then again, it's probably smart to have it be associated to something Usagi might take seriously at this point: his attraction to her.

For now I'm confident to say "The reasoning behind it is stupid" is not one of the reasons this arc doesn't land. My very thorough fellatio of it should tell you as much. This one's worth a rewatch, as there's a lot to chew on and the animation direction is on point. It's no surprise it's remembered as one of the saddest and most iconic scenes of this show, in spite of the reputation this arc seems to get.

Our standards are pretty high for what's to come, though.