Insanity At A Glance

by Jackie Chiang

(Review after)

Last updated on the 13th of December, 1998.

     Okay, I'm not sure if such an accident that Minako experienced would ever come about like that, or that Minako would react in the fashion that she did, but if it did - ah . . . there's a nice `what-if' story that I think.

     I just thought that Jackie Chiang really had good grasp of Minako's character, however, out-of-place the situation was. I felt that it really reflected her. And though there is a story, I felt that this was so much a Thought fanfic, because it went so much into her mind, into thinkings, wanderings of the mind. There was a logic that slightly mad, yet held the definite Minako flair. I think I have a good feel of Minako's character, but I don't know if I would have been able to have expressed it as well as Jackie Chiang did.

     What else I liked was that however maniacal and insane Jackie Chiang made Minako, you still have to love her, to feel sorry for her, and want to make everything all right for her. Yes, I really like Jackie Chiang's writing style here. She has a beautiful way of description at times. Soft and haunting. Not always, but occasionally it peeped up.

     Amazingly enough, I also think that Jackie had a pretty good grasp on all the other characters as well. The scene at the end where she brings in the others, had a very nice portrayal of Ami, I thought, with regards to the way that she would act and react. And somehow, the way they were all there, in some gentle way, against her, showed how so very lost she was to them. That nothing could ever be the same, and Makoto, her very close friend from ago has to say, "Minako, we're taking you back now." It just gave me a sense of loss. Perhaps because you couldn't blame someone. Because it truly wasn't Minako's fault.

Favorite quotes/scenes:

1.     Where Hotaru and Setsuna are going to end their visit and Minako acts on a sudden impulse that reflects her momentary flash of despair.

     "No, don't go yet." My hand snakes out, grabs Hotaru's arm as she's standing up. She stares at me, I can see how frightened she is, and I wonder why. It's me, Minako, Aino Minako, harmless Minako, the girl everyone likes, no one is afraid of me. She whispers to me, It hurts, and I can see that I'm holding her arm too tightly, squeezing it too harshly.

2.      Right afterwards, as they leave, and she shouts to them to stay, and only realizes after they have gone that she had never shouted them out loud. I liked the tears as well. I definitely got that sense of despair and helplessness and her need of companionship and friendship. Her need to be loved. That scene was very cleverly and effectively done. Jackie made a good play there.

3.     The scene where Minako is hiding in the shadows watching Haruka holding the fallen Michiru. Yes, I suppose because it involves a certain two favourite characters, it would appeal to me, but Jackie Chiang touches on something here that I often think about. The idea the suffering is beautiful.

     She [Haruka] must die...
     But... There's something better about watching her suffer. Suffering, better than death? Perhaps only in this instance. See? See the tears in her eyes, green pools now, see all the anger and guilt and lovely, lovely pain there? It's enough to let her live, and when Michiru dies, all the better. She'll kill herself over it...

4.     The very end. I thought it was excellently done. That last sentence was a killer, and that last thought was very effective to me. Strangely beautiful, wild and heart-calling in its own way, especially the part where she's crying and doesn't know why and then smiles.

     I'm flying, for a few brief seconds that last for an eternity, and I know that I'm crying, I don't know _why_, as I fall to the earth, the water, the rocks below me from out of the sky, and I smile as death embraces me, a single thought in my mind, I am Sailor V.

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