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a kindred friendshipOne of my favorite aspects about the Seiya/Usagi friendship is the manner in which Seiya accepts and adores Usagi completely as she is, without belittling her lapse into blond moments and he never puts her down. Seiya accepts Usagi as she is and this is a quality that the rest of Usagi's friends lack the majority of the time. I believe that Seiya and Usagi have one of the most amusing, brilliant and endearing friendships of the series and that Usagi/Mamoru fans give Seiya far too much grief because of what transpired in the Stars Arc of the anime.  
  In the last season of the anime, Usagi has finally settled into a balance of maturity and maintaining that innocent and somewhat oblivious quality about her. Rather than acting like a space-cadet, Usagi reacts to moments of not understanding with rather comical faces that implies that she is more bothered than oblivious when she does not understand what is transpiring around her. Usagi has, what I feel, finally fit into the person that she is portrayed as in the manga: an endearingly innocent and slightly ditzy girl who can still call upon her role as a leader with confidence and strength. During the time that Mamoru leaves, Usagi begins to distance herself from her friends. Not by choice but because of the information that she withholds: Mamoru has not contacted her in any way during his absence. Usagi chooses not to let her friends worry, instead chooses to bear the burden on her own with only Luna aware of Usagi's internal loneliness and slow degration into anguish. Luna once again becomes Usagi's close and trustworthy confident. Things begin to return full circle because Usagi's world narrows to where it first began: Usagi and Luna. Until Seiya.  
  Seiya's first glance of Usagi is when she is seeing Mamoru off at the airport. He is aware that she has a boyfriend, even as he enrolls in her high-school and takes a seat by her on the first day of class. Usagi is fully aware of Seiya's celebrity status and is, quite amusingly, unfazed by it. This reaction by Usagi is probably one of the factors that spurs Seiya into finding Usagi even more intriguing. However, it is not so much the thrill of the chase that lures Seiya to Usagi but rather her personality. He finds her animated antics to be endearing. The two of them get along so well because they are really so very similar - both in personality and in the responsibilities of their alter egos. As Sailor Star Fighter, Seiya has the heavy burden of searching for his princess and defeating the most terrifying and deadly villain in the universe. Usagi is the protector of Earth, and with Mamoru gone the responsibility falls all the more heavily upon her shoulders. And yet despite these overwhelming responsibilities, both Seiya and Usagi approach life in a very similar manner: with a smile, responding to the circumstances around them with the utmost enthusiasm and passion. They enjoy life, and together they do so in quite spectacular fashion.  
  While every other female in Tokyo is fawning over Seiya with rabid attention, Usagi wanders away, uninterested, too distracted by her concerns for Mamoru and the growing new threat that seeps into the city streets of her hometown. This disinterest by Usagi allows her to treat Seiya with an unforced normalcy, coaxing Seiya into a comfortable ease that invites the two of them to react and respond to one another with genuine pleasure and affection. Seiya can tease and flirt with Usagi and she in turn can respond in her most natural way: flustered, raising her voice in outcry and pointing her finger at Seiya in the most animated and amusing displays of behavior. Seiya pairs easily with Usagi, not insulting her but rather embracing her childlike qualities and whimsy and playing it all back at her. The following is from episode 180 after Usagi has come upon Seiya in Michiru's dressing room:  
  Seiya: Did you finish talking with the good-looking guy? There are various occasions when the two play as a comedy duo, such as when Seiya takes Usagi on an (unofficial) date to Ichi-no-Hashi Park where they spend the day munching on treats and gleefully observing zoo animals. They enjoy each other's company and their mannerisms are so similar and in tune with one another that they often end up responding as mirrored images of one another - animated, exaggerated and with the same child-like elation [Episode 181 above]. 
 
 There is also a sensitivity about each other that allows Usagi and Seiya to feel drawn to one another, like two kindred spirits, two discarded pieces of a puzzle that has been torn apart and scattered amongst a world disintegrating into turmoil. As Eternal Sailor Moon, Usagi is the only one who does not feel threatened by the arrival of the Starlights, rather she seeks to form a friendship and understanding with them. Seiya also takes this stance as Sailor Star Fighter, possessing a sympathy for the purity of Eternal Sailor Moon's actions, wanting to offer assistance and receive it, yes, for once, after so long of wandering the Galaxy alone with just her two companions. Eternal Sailor Moon and Star Fighter find themselves as almost outcasts amongst their fellow Senshi because of these actions and this empathetic nature to understand those who are different. They are able to confide in one another insecurities and secrets that they are unable to share with anyone else. Seiya is the one individual other than Luna to whom Usagi reveals that she has not received a single letter from Mamoru. Seiya in turn feels an unwavering desire to divulge to Usagi his most valuable secret -- that he is in fact Sailor Star Fighter and his mission in coming to Earth. They can sense each other's loneliness and despair despite the cheerful facades that they may try to protect others by using. Already in such a short time they fall into an understanding with one another, able to recognize each other's unspoken emotions tucked and stowed away from prying eyes. Their friendship blooms so magnificently because both can be completely themselves with one another. They can be silly or frivolous in actions, strong in their ideals or quiet and sensitive in their vulnerabilities. Seiya brings a sense of joy and happiness into Usagi's life during a time when she is most alone. She can share her secrets with him and he takes them all unselfishly into himself because he wants to ease her pain and suffering in any way that he can. Usagi somehow manages to fall in through the cracks of Seiya's mysterious human life without truly meaning to at first. She balances his rather self-adoring persona by treating him as a regular teenager, soothes the raging turmoil within him with a gentle voice and unaccusing eyes. They play at banter and tease one another as the most comfortable of friends, developing a bond that does not quite make sense and yet fits so perfectly. Most of all, they are each other's support, filling each other with inspiration and a hope to survive through such horrid times.  -- Rebecca (vomitdirt)
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