"My name is Shoutan Himei. I'm sixteen years old, and I'm very tired."
Take a basic Magical Girl template, influenced most of all by Sailor Moon (note the title). Infuse some Neon Genesis Evangelion, mix in the tone and atmosphere of Animorphs, and add some of the self-awareness of Scream on top. What do you get? Sailor Nothing, a Web Original written by Twoflower and the scariest mahou shoujo story this side of Elfen Lied.Unlike most stories in the genre, it doesn't begin with the heroine's origin story. In fact, as the story opens, Himei has already spent five years as Sailor Salvation, and acquired a lifetime's worth of horrific memories fighting as the sole grunt soldier in a futile war against the Yamiko. Having initially Jumped at the Call, she sees it as cause for celebration when her boss and Mysterious Protector, Magnificent Kamen (nicknamed "Magnificent Bastard" for good reasons despite the trope-y name), finally gets fed up with her complaints and fits of Unstoppable Rage and fires her. After all, more even than most, she just wants to be normal.There's just one problem: she can't be. Kamen cut her off, but she still has her powers, and still gets the unbearable splitting headaches that signal the birth of a new Yamiko. There's no escape, except one option...and that option is looking more attractive every day...Written in 2000 and 2001, it thus predates some of the more famous subversive takes on the genre, such as Futari wa Pretty Cure, Mai-HiME and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. Available via this link.
This story contains examples of:
Abandoned Warehouse — Where Magnificent Kamen takes Dusty after kidnapping him.
Anachronic Order — Chapters 8 and 9, the former being "stream of consciousness" and the latter much more orderly, both venturing into Mind Screw.
And Your Little Dog Too — If Himei almost losing her friends and boyfriend were enough to trigger a Heroic BSOD, you just knew the guy who kidnapped her cat was going down.
Card-Carrying Villain — Deconstructed, as being pure evil makes the Yamiko incapable of plotting and scheming.
Argon plays it straight, largely because he's Genre Savvy enough to know he's a Card-Carrying Villain and plan for it. Averted by Cobalt, who keeps his CCV tendencies in check in the interest of making his plans work.
Catch Phrase — "This should not be happening"; Himei also grimly quips that "I'm very tired" wouldn't sell any action figures. However, she gains a new one later: "I want to live."
The Chessmaster: Cobalt, the priestess, Argon. Radon tries, but is really too handicapped by his monstrousness to pull it off successfully.
Curb-Stomp Battle — Very, very few Yamiko can stand against even a normal-power Sailor. None can withstand their Unstoppable Rageexcept the Dark Queen.
Dangerously Genre Savvy: Argon, who not only knows that he's both The Dragon and a Card-Carrying Villain, but is able to avert Smug Snake status because of it: he knows he's an arrogant, condescending bastard and plans for it. He's also aware he's in a deconstruction of the Magical Girl genre, knows the roles the others are playing and works with it.
A Darker Me — The Yamiko are the physical manifestation of this. They're just like regular people, but with absolutely no inhibitions or moral concerns.
This is actually the clinical definition of psychopathological behavior. Robert D. Hare, Ph.D., the foremost psychologist currently (or maybe ever) teaching on the subject, has written or collaborated on a formidable number of texts.
Enemy Without — Happens multiple times, each with significant plot effects.
Aki: ruins her reputation and tries to kill her. Alerts her to both the existence of the war (including Himei's involvement in it) and her own repressed feelings about her life.
Kotashi: tries to rape Shin, forever changing their relationship, and brings her a few steps closer to the Truth.
Himei: One of the most powerful Yamiko in existence, and possibly the most powerful newborn Yamiko in history. Actually tries to mercy-kill her and her friends (along with Dark General Cobalt), who barely make it out alive.
Seiki: successfully rapes Himei, which finally cracks her much-worn psyche and leads her to lock herself in the bathroom and slash open as many arteries as she can, in graphic detail. Despite this, he's the nicest Yamiko, which should tell you something about the rest of them...
Shin: subverts the pattern, as it was actually a ploy to take out a Dark General. It works, but then backfires as the Yamiko knocks out the real Shin and tries to murder her rapist uncle, intending to frame her for it.
Argon; while his loyalty to the Queen is unquestioned, his motives, backstory, and ultimate goals remain obscured to the very end.
Cobalt would be this, but because so much of the story is from his point of view the audience knows exactly what he's after, neatly subverting the trope.
For the Evulz — The motivation of pretty much all the Yamiko except for Cobalt and Radon. Justified in that they're largely incapable of even having a more complex motivation.
Gayngst: Turns out Aki has this without her knowing; while she has feelings for Himei, she spends most of the story not realizing that they're romantic ones and isn't really sure what to make of them.
Argon: "Why do you think I keep trying to convince you to fall in line? To uphold our traditions, to embrace your true nature? I am trying to SAVE you, Cobalt."
Lyrical Dissonance — One character runs right into it when he is told what the meaning of an American song he's enjoyed listening to while trying to cope with his parents' death. To little surprise, it's a song by They Might Be Giants.
To be more specific, it's "Everything Right Is Wrong Again", which is quite possibly the worst thing to have been listening to in that situation...
The Magic Goes Away: After the Big Bad is defeated, most of the remaining Yamiko vanish along with their city, Himei's Transformation Trinket goes back to normal, and Dusty can't talk anymore.
Meaningful Name — A number of characters (and other things) have these.
Shoutan means "crying in pain". Himei is "scream" or "shriek".
Himemiya means "princess".
Komachi can mean "belle" or "town beauty". Aki in turn can mean "emptiness".
Kongou can mean the vajra, which involves symbolism for the Five Buddhist Wisdoms; one dictionary lists the word as "Buddhist symbol of the indestructible truth". Shin can (more plainly) mean truth, as well.
Seiki can mean "spirit of justice".
If you take some notice, the Nothing of the title Sailor Nothing translates as Mu in Japanese, making it Sailor Mu with a similar sounding to Sailor Moon.
Mind Rape — Thankfully, the victim tends to block the memory out. Probably closer to "Spirit Rape" anyway.
Mysterious Protector — Magnificent Kamen in the backstory, though also a total jerk.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain — Aki's reputation being destroyed by her own Yamiko turns out to be the best thing that could have happened to her.
Magnificent Kamen sure shot himself in the foot by trying to let Himei kill herself, even if you don't count creating her in the first place due to being too indirect.
Parental Abandonment — Minor forms. Seiki lives alone, which he can barely stand, and Himei's parents just don't notice her injuries.
"I told mom it was a fashionable thing at school now to tape your left hand."
Far worse was the behavior of Shin's parents in her backstory: although not the classical form of abandonment, leaving your daughter with a known child molester as babysitter has got to be one of the most negligent acts of parenting ever.
It gets worse when you realize that he did it to others in the family, too.
Personality Powers: Himei's favored attack is called "Nothingness", Aki's is "Amazing Grace", Shin's is "Rude Awakening".
Pragmatic Villainy: Cobalt, so very much. Like all the Yamiko, he's a total sociopath. However, he's also obsessed with getting things done in the most efficent manner possible, which means he has no time for rape, random murder, or any of the other typical Yamiko pursuits.
Rape As Backstory — Pretty much describes Shin's backstory, but not so much Himei in a later chapter, whose experience is explored in more detail.
Rape as Drama — Several times, including Shin and Himei.
Rape Is Love — Subverted. Himei knows, deep down and through long experience, that Yamiko-Seiki's actions have nothing to do with Seiki himself, and loves the latter.
Reconstruction — At first it deconstructs how painful fighting real monsters would be for a child, but then it shows how good friends can make it all bearable.
Schoolgirl Lesbians — Eventually subverted as Aki realizes that while she does love Himei dearly, Himei has a boyfriend, and they're not meant to be. Double Subversion in the epilogue, when it's mentioned that Aki has a girlfriend, Keiko.
For all its grimness, however, it ultimately has a core of idealism. The Power of Friendship plays an important role in keeping the heroine together, and the key to defeating the Big Bad in the end turns out to be forgiveness.
Smug Snake: All Yamiko, except Cobalt, who's too much of a pragmatic villain, and Argon who's both high-functioning and Genre Savvy enough to know he's a Smug Snake and work around it. Radon is a particularly vile example.
Also subverted. Himei thinks that her Unstoppable Rage is this, especially when she starts feeling other strange symptoms... which turn out to be the flu. The rage turns out to be something quite different.
Note: that is both during and AFTER his tenure as a Dark General. After the end of the Yami-Gaia, however, it's mere human stupidity bringing him down. Thankfully, Ohta's available to again bail his ass out, or the poor sucker might just get Driven to Suicide after the dog and pony show had already ended.
Taking the Bullet — Subverted in the final chapter as Aki is merely wounded, not killed, in the process.
Also toyed with in that two people dive for the same bullet, the second pushing the first out of the way in addition to the original target.
Theme Naming — The fashion club and the Dark Generals.
All the Dark Generals are named after the noble gases (Argon, Radon, Xenon, Neon) except Cobalt (which is a transition metal). Cobalt's the one who ends up helping Himei, Aki and Shin destroy the Dark Queen.You really have to bea chemistry geek to get this one, though.
The fashion club also has an Odd Name Out: Aki. The others are Ami, Emi and Umi.
This Loser Is You: Shoutan Himei herself, of course, for always angstily complaining about being forced to do her responsibility even if she doesn't want to. Because of her attitude, countless others including those who care about her are getting harmed one after another.
Those Two Bad Guys: Xenon and Neon. No one can really tell them apart, and Cobalt actually refers to them as the "WhateverOns.
Trailers Always Lie: What each Next Episode section said might not be what you should expect from the next chapter. You've been warned!
Villainy Discretion Shot: Played with. Done straight throughout most of the fic, with the vilest acts either done offscreen or quickly named with no description. Then hideously averted with Ami's fate, made even more effective by the earlier straight play.
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