Usagi's parents (and Senshi's parents in general)

[Cheb]

I'm currently struggling with the "The blown Senshi identities" scenario. I got at least a rough outline for all the girls except Usagi.

First, I don't want to use the canonic names Kenji and Ikuko as these, AFAIK, are in fact Naoko Takeuchi's parents names. It doesn't feel right. So which ones would you suggest? I'd like something similar-sounding. For now I've stopped at Kukoko (quince-willow-child), Ken'ichi (too many meanings to count) and Shinji (ditto)
Anyone got better ideas?

Second, Usagi's father is a photographer -- but what kind of photographer is he? How do you think, is he a freelancer or is he working for some newspaper/magazine? (more likely the latter).

[Wyrd]

I'm currently struggling with the "The blown Senshi identities" scenario. I got at least a rough outline for all the girls except Usagi.

First, I don't want to use the canonic names Kenji and Ikuko as these, AFAIK, are in fact Naoko Takeuchi's parents names. It doesn't feel right. So which ones would you suggest? I'd like something similar-sounding. For now I've stopped at Kukoko (quince-willow-child), Ken'ichi (too many meanings to count) and Shinji (ditto)
Anyone got better ideas?

Spaceknight has a couple of good links to male and female Japanese names in his sig. As long as you don't mix Japanese and foreign names(without having the character with a foreign name be actually foreign or named after a foreigner), any names you pick will work just fine.

Second, Usagi's father is a photographer -- but what kind of photographer is he? How do you think, is he a freelancer or is he working for some newspaper/magazine? (more likely the latter).

Do you get that from the canon, or is that your own interpretation? What I know of the characters' parents:

Usagi: apparently lives with both of her genetic parents, and is the only one other than Minako to live in a standard home with her family. Nothing that I am aware of ever says anything about what either parent does for a living.

Ami: Lives in a very nice apartment with her mother, a doctor. Her father, an artist, hasn't been seen by either Ami or her mother in years.

Minako: Orphan who lives with her adopted parents(from Meet Sailor Venus, never mentioned in canon for Sailor Moon or Sailor V). No siblings

Rei: Lives at a temple with her grandfather, the priest of the shrine. Her father is apparently a politician who Rei almost never sees(from Meet Sailor Mars). No mention was ever made in any canon continuity that I am aware of of her mother. Good chance she is dead.

Makoto: Lives alone. Both parents died in a plane crash.

At this point, you kind of get the idea that either Takeuchi knew a lot of shattered families or didn't particularly like parents. She was rather cruel to the families of her characters.

Haruka and Michiru: Nothing is ever said about their families, although there is a strong implication that both come from very wealthy families.

Hotaru: Her father is dead, no matter what the anime says. The manga is the only ture way! (joking, in case you can't tell) He dies in the manga, but is saved in the anime, either way she eventually ends up living with Haruka and Michiru. Her mother died in the incident that allowed Mistress 9 to possess her.

Pluto: could be fun to have her parents be time travellers or immortals themselves. In the manga, after Pluto dies at Mugen Gakuen, her future incarnation is sent back by Neo-queen Serenity to guard the gates until she is reincarnated and able to take the job over herself. Having her meet her parents before she is even born could be quite amusing.

[TerraEpon]

Uh...that's a weird reason to not use the names.

[Crescent Pulsar R]

I agree that it's odd.

Anyway, since I'm not as familiar with the anime as I am with the manga, here's what a wikipedia article says. It says nothing about what he does in the manga, and I can't find or remember anything mentioning what he does either, so you could either go with what he does in the anime or come up with some other white collar job for him.

[Cheb]

Sorry I forgot to mention I'm firmly in the anime canon this time (as what I'm writing is technically a Sailor Ranko spin-off)

Do you get that from the canon, or is that your own interpretation?
Well, there was episode 22 the princess Diamond (the one with glasses like Umino's) when Usagi is sneaking in and suddely she meets her father who was called to film the event. Thus we knew he was a photographer or a photo-reporter.

Uh...that's a weird reason to not use the names.

Well, it's from respect to the real people these characters are based on.

Orphan who lives with her adopted parents

Whoopsie... And here I thought they were her real ones.
Well, for Minako I tried to rationalize: why aren't her parents even mentioned? Because she has a strained relationship with them and the anime deliberately turns a blind eye towards the more unpleasant aspects of life -- for example, there are pigeons but there's no pigeon crap. Well, it's too late to change *this* part anyway as my plot relies on it too much

P.S.

here's what a wikipedia article says.

Thank you for the link

[bissek]

Rei's mother is dead. She died of an unspecified heart condition shortly before she moved in with her grandfather. Her father couldn't be bothered to take time from his work to be with his family while it happened, something she has never forgiven him for. In the manga, they only meet on her birthday. In other continuities, it's more frequent, but they are still separate. And in all continuities, the meetings are more so that her father can be seen with his daughter, so as to appear to be a good family man, rather than because he wants to see her (or vice versa). If Rei's father learns that his daughter is a well-known superheroine, he'll try to spin this to his advantage (If she publicly objects to him doing this, it could destroy his career forever).

In the live action series, Ami's mother was named Saeko. This is the only continuity that bothered to give her a first name, so I suppose it can be considered her canon name in all continuities, though fanfiction has given her a few others (Kumori being the most popular I've seen).

[PCHeintz72]

Makoto: Lives alone. Both parents died in a plane crash.

Sorry I forgot to mention I'm firmly in the anime canon this time (as what I'm writing is technically a Sailor Ranko spin-off)

I know nothing of Sailor Ranko, as I've not read it. However, since you've stated you are going anime canon continuity... you have 2 directions you can go with Jupitor...

There exists a discrepancy in the anime canon dub vs. subtitles... Makoto's mother is very much alive in the dubbed, but dead in the subbed version of anime. This is proved by an episode where Usagi and gang somewhere around episode 60 I think(I have to pull my notes or rewatch the episode and am currently too busy) and while Usagi and Makoto (or Serena and Lita if you prefer) are talking and a comment is made about makoto's mother and they roll right on past it. Were she dead... it very much would have been stated at that point yet was not.

[TerraEpon]

...you can't go by the dub. It contradicts itself at times (Amy's last name being Anderson vs Mizuno for instance, though in Japanese IIRC she just says "Moshi Moshi" where the dub gives "Anderson residence". It really seems to be she was NOT at home there).

Is there really no canon mention of H&M's parents at all?

[Crescent Pulsar R]

I don't know about the anime, but it doesn't seem to be mentioned in the manga. The closest thing is when Makoto (who also pays rent) asks Haruka if her parents paid the rent for the condo (or wherever it was she was living), since it was much more expensive than her own. Haruka replied that they had patrons that would take care of it. So, who knows.

Coincidentally, while I was looking that up, I caught a comment (it was outside of a text bubble) that said that Usagi's father is a magazine editor. So I guess you can't really go wrong whether you're following the anime or the manga in that regard, since it's similar or technically the same.

[Wyrd]

Well, there was episode 22 the princess Diamond (the one with glasses like Umino's) when Usagi is sneaking in and suddely she meets her father who was called to film the event. Thus we knew he was a photographer or a photo-reporter.

I had forgotten about that one, though now that you bring it up I recall the scene.

Sorry I forgot to mention I'm firmly in the anime canon this time (as what I'm writing is technically a Sailor Ranko spin-off)

Why should that matter? Sailor Ranko is built off a combination of the anime and manga continuities, though I admit it does lean more towards the anime at times. If you are not already on them, try looking through the forums at www.sailorranko.com . The most recent information from Becky gives her another month before I have to be disappointed again in her not giving us the promised updates for the webcomic or Thrice(which she claims to have effectively finished the next chapter on, she just wanted to clean it up one last time before posting). Real life keeps interfering with her hobby of fanfiction creation. I have to acknowledge that life has to come first, but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

@bissek Is the information on Rei's mother from PGSM (the live action version)? I could have missed it at some point, but I don't recall her ever being mentioned in anime or manga canon, or in any of the source material I have read, though I thought it was very likely that she was dead, and could just be forgetting it. I know there are some differences to PGSM such as Rei being much more standoffish and paranoid, and Minako having an unspecified fatal disease which gives her only a few months to live. There is also a major difference in how the Ginzuishou and Metallia are treated.

[bissek]

The death of Rei's mother and her estrangement from her father are manga and PGSM. Her parents don't get mentioned at all in the anime.

[Spokavriel]

I'm almost certain I saw her Dad get a mention in Anime it might have been added by the dubbers though...

[Cheb]

Makoto's mother is very much alive in the dubbed,

Dub doesn't exist. Period. I care for my sanity too much to allow myself thinking otherwise. Besides, the Russian dub is quite precise, it's the hopelessly dead voices that revolt me so much

Why should that matter? Sailor Ranko is built off a combination of the anime and manga continuities, though I admit it does lean more towards the anime at times.

Excuse me, I've translated the whole thing, I've edited it, then I helped Rebecca Heineman to edit the English version and then I edited my translation to match it. I spent years going over it again and again, I probably know it better than the author does...
But I don't remember any noticeable traces of manga continuity in it.

Sooo... For now, to summarize what I'm planning:
Ami: In the SR continuity her mother knows she's a Senshi and I'm sticking with it.
Minako: lives with both parents, father kind but weak-willed, mother isn't a nice person, she's snappy and envious of her daughter's youth. Would have a difficult situation at hand.
Rei: Would have to deal with her grandfather and..

If Rei's father learns that his daughter is a well-known superheroine, he'll try to spin this to his advantage

..very much so.
Makoto: orphan
Mamoru: orphan
Usagi: Would have to deal with her family: Ken'ichi, Kukoko and Shinji.
Haruka & Michiru: would have to deal with the quirks of their rich relatives (I won't probably focus on them enough to detalize further).
Hotaru: Ok.
Setsuna: presumably KIA at this point of my plot.
Ranma: In the SR continuity Nodoka knows he's a Senshi. Would have to deal with Genma.
Akane: Would have to deal with her father and other relatives.

[Wyrd]

Excuse me, I've translated the whole thing, I've edited it, then I helped Rebecca Heineman to edit the English version and then I edited my translation to match it. I spent years going over it again and again, I probably know it better than the author does...
But I don't remember any noticeable traces of manga continuity in it.

There are some bits that fit the manga continuity better, though they may have been unintentional deviations that happened to match it, as there are quite a few bits that don't really match either continuity that can not be easily excused by the changes made to incorporate Ranma into SM. If the intent was to only follow the anime continuity,that is fine, it just isn't what I saw when I read them.

[Crescent Pulsar R]

I'd just like to say that Sailor Ranko is a mishmash of anime and manga, as well as fanon and alternate universe, because of the diverse and general ideas used. That it is an alternate universe, in particular, kind of makes any adherence to anime and manga moot.