The meaning of Sailor Moon's ending

There's been a lot of talk about the ending of SM recently. I've seen unfortunately a lot of not so nice things about the Sailor Moon Manga which is my favorite series ever. As such I would like to help people see in it what I do, in particular in regards to the ending.

Before I get to it, I need to give the priming the series gives, "set the stage" as it were. Specifically, I need to explain Usagi, my favorite character of all.

The series begins with a demonstration of Usagi's unreliableness and her admission that she is "a bit of a crybaby"

Act 1 is all about introducing us to the paradox of Usagi's character. She is generally unreliable, immature and altogether unheroic.

However when she finds out her friend Naru is in danger, Usagi jumps into danger to try to save her

The first arc will continue to explore this paradox, that a flawed person can become the heroic archetype briefly for their loved ones. 

Later when the Senshi go to the Moon, Queen Serenity says that part of the purpose of Princess Serenity's rebirth as Usagi is she would be reborn as a (human/normal) girl

and the page prior venerates Usagi's love as part of the force that can unlock her power, the Silver Crystal

This characterization of Usagi abounds throughout the manga. She is a normal girl, rather then a distant transcendent figure, but her love makes her a hero, and allows her to save the world for each of the first four arcs.

Come the fifth arc, we are introduced to Galaxia. We aren't told Galaxia's origin or motivation initially, instead having it explained in pieces over the course of the arc. Galaxia grew up on a horrid world compared to Hell before awakening with godlike power.

she was dissatifised with her world, searching the cosmos a worthy world, rejecting each world that didn't live up to that standard and destroying it

Galaxia is thematically opposed to Usagi. Galaxia is not entrenched in the material world of things and people. She is the wandering philosopher spirit that is not satisfied without the perfect and eternal.

After finding out about Chaos, the corrupting force of existence, she masterminded a plan to destroy Chaos and create a new world, something eternal worthy of her.

Galaxia is the embodiment of the absolute, the eternal, the infinite. Star Systems and loved ones alike disappear into the nothing in the face of her. She spends the arc emotionally torturing Usagi by killing her loved ones in front of her to draw Usagi closer into using the full power of the Silver Crystal. There's some absolutely brilliant moments framing the conflict between them. In act 52, dealing with the trauma of watching her loved ones killed in front of her, Usagi walks outside and says she is afraid, that it feels like the world is going to fall away at any moment. 

This is a common feeling among those suffering from trauma. The disappearence of the feeling of object permenance, the feeling of uncertainty about everything. We can all, I imagine, relate to experiecing a much minor feeling about it. After a sudden large surprise, the world briefly becomes less transcendent objects and patterns and instead briefly becomes more a stream of pure sensory stimulus, colors and sounds not conveying meaning. It's also a parallel to Galaxia's quest to find the eternal transcendent meaning.

Later in that act there's a moment where Galaxia is looking at the star seeds of the senshi and questions why those girls cling to the human star seeds

with Galaxia saying that human star seeds are insignifigant dust. Star Seeds are representations of an identity with Sailor Senshi having one representing their human identity and one representing their Senshi identity. Galaxia here wonders why the Sol System Senshi cling to their human lives instead of living as eternal cosmic beings. This is definitely a possibility, Minako says after awakening as Sailor Venus that her entire human life before then was merely a temporary disguise for her identity as Sailor Venus

However they don't live constantly as Sailor Senshi, instead living normal human lives. This sets up the conflict between Usagi's and Galaxia's characters.

When Usagi and Galaxia confront each other after Galaxia resurrecting Usagi's friends and forced Usagi to kill them, Galaxia has an interesting statement. For the first time in the arc, Galaxia does something that does not contribute to tormenting Usagi and insists on getting Usagi's admission that she knows that such things as friendship are temporary illusions, using Galaxia's control of Usagi's friends as proof

Yet Usagi rebuffs her proclaiming that her friends are the source of her great power. We know this to be true, physically and metaphysically. Not only does the Silver Crystal depend on Usagi's heart but we've seen since act 1 that Usagi becomes her strongest and best self to help her friends. Her love truly is her strength.

Galaxia does not have her usual cool arrogant response to this. Instead she's visibly angry and confused asking herself "Why was she chosen?"  and "How can she have the Silver Crystal's power?" 

Galaxia does not seem to conciously believe in eternal ideals like justice, but it really easy to read the subconcious sting of injust treatment into Galaxia's words. Usagi, someone who as far as Galaxia can tell has lived a life never striving or suffering the pain of isolation, whose always had others to depend on instead of striving for meaning, and she has a power to rival or even surpass Galaxia's own?! Why has Galaxia suffered countless years in Hell, destroyed world after world to prove herself, if this upstart crybaby girl who has never suffered alike can have the same power?

Galaxia starts their interaction by presuming narcissistically that Usagi's power are powered by hatred for Galaxia

and later to awaken the truely infinite power of Usagi, all of her power, tries to make her feel true hatred from the pain of true isolation.

It is sad that Galaxia assumes that Usagi is still lying about the source of her powers and still thinks it must be hatred. Not to mention that Galaxia tries to awaken Usagi's power by subjecting her to what Galaxia has experienced: "True solitude."

However in a beautiful irony, when Chaos, the primal void tries to swallow Galaxia and Usagi alike, Usagi protects Galaxia because after experiencing "true solitude", Usagi saw the loneliness inside her in Galaxia

This scan also has one of, if not the most important statement in Sailor Moon and I'm really annoyed Miss Dream mistranslated it. Here Usagi says "All this time, I was never fighting for peace and justice. But only for my friends and loved ones..." following up logically with the next page where Usagi asks if there's no one left to fight for, what is the purpose of fighting

Usagi is not a philosophical spirit like Galaxia, looking for some perfect eternal ideal. She is only able to relate to people, which is why she bemoans earlier in the arc that these bodies we embrace each other with don't last for eternity. 

She also wonders without the Silver Crystal, representing her life as a soldier, the life of suffering, if she would ever be born.

These pages show that Usagi can't relate to abstractions, she recognizes the neccesity of temporary limited physical insubstantiatians to reconcile emotionally. You can't embrace the concept of peace when happy, you can't confess your insecurities to the concept of justice, you can't join hands with the concept of love. 

Back during the final confrontation, Chibi-Chibi, Usagi's future self, tries to ask Usagi to destroy the Galaxy Cauldron, allowing the Cosmos to die in peace because in the future she will lose everything she loves, and Chibi-Chibi can't bear the pain of war and  suffering any longer.

However Sailor Moon refuses, saying that no matter what state the cosmos shows to her, there will always be light and darkness, for that is what the cosmos is. In doing she affirms her willingness to face eternal suffering and war, all the horrible states the cosmos could possibly take because of her faith that she will always love the cosmos

I don't know how Naoko does it, but this at once the ultimate character development for Usagi and perfectly in character with what we have known about her since act 1. Usagi is a cowardly crybaby that hides from conflict but faces it for her loved ones. For the cosmos, and all the loved things that have ever and will ever be, despite her fears, she will face the future and all it's dark possibilities, literally the Chaos of being. 

Galaxia who has spent all arc trying to destroy Chaos, trying to transcend past the painful war and suffering hears that Usagi is willing to face it for all eternity for the flawed temporary material world she has scorned and asks in wonderment if Usagi is the one who embraces all

Galaxia reaches for Usagi, having finally found that eternal transcendent being but can tragically never reach it, undone by her own power

Usagi recognizes that all her enemies, and indeed we all, feel the same way. That we are all lonely stars drifting through the cosmos drawn to each other to gather as one before leaping forwards to embrace Chaos, literally diving towards the chaos of being, regardless of what may come.

Later in the Galaxy Cauldron, Guardian Cosmos explicitly asks Usagi if she wants to remain in the Galaxy Cauldron as a eternal perfect existence but Usagi says she and her friends want to return to Earth, to live the material existence with it's joys and pains.

and the series ends at Usagi and Mamoru's wedding with Mamoru saying Usagi is that star which will eternally shine as the brightest star

The meaning of the fifth arc, though I have come to articulate it better, heavily effected me from the first time I read it many years ago. It is a perfect fusion of the message of the first four arcs and the final message of SM. The messages of the first four arcs can be phrased to the best of my understanding.

First Arc: Even a flawed coward can rise to becoming a perfect hero temporarily for their loved ones.

Second Arc: Love is an eternal power that transcends time, able to vanquish the phantom force of hatred.

Third Arc: Those that spend their lives trying to avoid death/the void are ruled by it, but those that are willing to embrace Death will find immortality.

Fourth Arc: The eternal reality is the bonds between people and one can find meaning and greater power/purpose in the focusing towards one's devotions

The message of the fifth arc seems to incorporate these into one and I would phrase it thus: "You can reject world after world for their imperfections, and you will find nothing but the emptiness from it. It is in embracing this temporary, material, imperfect world, that you will find the perfect eternal form of being called love."

This is a message that has helped me immensely in my personal life. I am naturally a timid person, prone to avoiding risk or threat in favor of the safe and comfortable. Usagi's story showed me that I didn't need to be afraid of the world, that in embracing this temporary material world, I could find that perfect existence of love. I hope this message helps you too.