Extremely personal thoughts about Minako and her illness below. Enjoy.

I had a friend who died of brain cancer when she was 17. She and I were close friends in elementary school, but drifted apart in our teen years, as teen years do to friendships based mostly on a similar taste in chapter books. 

As I watched PGSM, I noticed many parallels between Minako’s life and my friend’s. Early on, she had fainting spells. She got headaches. No one knew why. Years passed. She was exhausted. She started missing school. The doctors knew why. Years passed. During our senior year, the school organized a rally for her, where everyone would donate gifts and money and wear pins and raise awareness, and the very night before the rally, she died. 

This was strangely unexpected to me. The last time I had seen her, she didn’t look “that sick.” There was a still seat reserved for her (assigned alphabetically) in our physics class. She had been selected our homecoming queen. All the signs subliminally pointed to her coming back. But she didn’t. The hand of fate clearly had a strange sense of humor: the smartest girl in class killed by her own brain the day before a celebration of her life. It felt scripted. 

Why did this subplot happen in the show? The main characters (apart from Minako) are shown to have a very optimistic view of the future, and they want to do everything they can to effect change on the world around them. But it’s easy to be optimistic when everything goes your way. Nothing is more challenging to this idealist perspective than the prospect of an unwinnable battle; not against an evil monster, but against your own body. Minako’s death is a reminder that it’s possible to do everything right and still lose. It’s possible to do everything you can, and it’s still not enough. Minako did a brave thing by attempting to change her future rather than passively accept her fate, but even this couldn’t save her. 

Why did this subplot happen in my life? I’m still figuring that out. 

So before you begin the beginning of the end of PGSM, I would like to know what do you theorize will happen in the last few episodes of this emotional piece?

***DO NOT TELL ME WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS. THE FOLLOWING IS ALL JUST WILDLY GUESSING. AND SOME WISHFUL THINKING.***

There are two completely different trains of thought I’ve been pursuing, and they all hinge on whether or not Jupiter survives her attack on the monster.

If Makoto is dead: Motoki blames himself. He didn’t give her the protection charm in time. The Senshi, in D-Point fashion, get increasingly reckless in their behaviors, and each starts to believe her existence is a pawn in some great game, pieces that have to be sacrificed to save the queen, just like Jupiter said. Mercury dies protecting Usagi, drowning herself with a monster. So does Mars; she goes up in flames. Venus doesn’t even get the dignity of dying in battle. She slips away silently offscreen. Mamoru is dead too. The life-draining stone inside him keeps him alive just barely long enough for him to say goodbye to Usagi. Serenity is ready to repeat the past. Everyone who loved her, has left her. She is alone. Only Usagi can remind her that she is not alone, she is never alone, and instead of using her sword, she brings out the harp, which heals the sick and injured on earth and brings back her friends from their early deaths. She doesn’t want to defeat Metalia; instead, she wishes that Metalia never existed. Everything is back to the way it was before, and like the anime’s season finale, our heroines remember none of it. The Senshi are no longer guardians, the world has no need of guardians without the threat of destruction. Without the binding force of their past lives, they don’t really have any reason to hang out or get to know one another. A pop idol spends twelve hours a day in a recording studio. A priestess sweeps a shrine. A student attends cram school. A tall girl eats lunch on the roof alone. A middle schooler with her hair in pigtails and her heart on her sleeve finds a white knit scarf she doesn’t remember buying; it must be her mom’s, but she doesn’t have time to think about that, she has to meet Naru at karaoke. We are left with the vague feeling that, maybe someday, the girls could become friends again, but without the guiding hand of Fate, they need to take the initiative to make it happen or it never will. 

If Makoto is alive: Great! Makoto goes to the hospital with literally the rest of the city and recovers nicely. Minako, seeing how determined Makoto is to keep living, decides that she wants to get surgery. The surgery is a success! Minako gets to hang out with her new friends in their underground karaoke bunker forever. Serenity’s ghost realizes that even if she can’t have Endymion, there are still a lot of swell things on earth that don’t deserve to be destroyed, and leaves Usagi alone. They take a swift break from their Not Gonna Die Today party to check out the Dark Kingdom, where Mercury beats up Kunzite with her sailor tambourine for being a jerk that one time. The others re-kidnap Mamoru, whose life is easily saved by a true love’s miracle romance. Venus finally powers up because she learned something about herself. Now they are all strong enough to fight Metalia with the Power of Love and win. The girls go back to school. Minako writes a new song about having friends. Hina comes back from her adventure to let everyone know that she is living a great life. Beryl writes a bestselling memoir about her experiences. Ami tells Usagi about her feelings toward her, and even though Usagi does not reciprocate she lets her know how truly great she is. Mamoru buys some houseplants. Rei finds a cool leaf on the ground. Artemis doesn’t cry anymore. Motoki adopts 3 new part time karaoke parlor employees and finally gives Mako the turtle charm. 

OH NO THEY’RE WHIPPING OUT THE BIG GUNS NOW (”the big guns” = baby Rei)

I for one am impressed with the writers’ bold decision to kill off the character of Tuxedo Mask by strangling him with Usagi’s handmade scarf.

The Hunger Games Simulator really likes to mock Mars and her fire powers. o_O Was there any canon instance of them being unsuccessful?

It’s true! This keeps happening:

I can’t remember any instance of Mars being unable to make fire in the anime, but there were some times when she made too MUCH fire. 

For some reason the simulator never takes advantage of other ironic senshi misfortunes: Mercury drowns in the lake; Jupiter gets caught in a storm; Moon is unable to make any allies. Venus is accosted by a beam of light or something, idk