Minako: She's not your lover, right?
Usagi: �right?
Haruka (surprised): Lovers? Michiru and me?
Minako: "Michiru." So you guys are close enough to not use honorifics.
Usagi: �not use them.
Haruka: Let's see, you could say we're closer than that. (The girls fall to the ground as a broken heart
flies above them.) But� don't give up. You two still have a chance. (Sumizawa, "A Bishonen�")
Haruka's lack of an honorific at the end of Michiru's name (such as "Michiru-chan") suggests that the two are actually in a very close relationship, although her answer is vague enough that someone could easily interpret it as a denial that they are lovers. Haruka flirts with the girls, allowing Minako to think that there could be a chance between the two of them. However, Minako is disillusioned when, at the end of the episode, she, Usagi, and their friends meet up with Haruka and Michiru again. At first Minako does not recognize Haruka, since she is no longer wearing the coat that was previously hiding her figure, and when she figures it out, she is disappointed to discover that Haruka is female (Sumizawa, "A Bishonen�").
Haruka continues her bishonen appearance throughout the series. Although in the manga Haruka occasionally wears feminine clothing, in the anime she wears male outfits exclusively, with the exception of her Sailor Scout uniform. She also takes on activities traditionally reserved for men, such as motor-sports and fencing. Finally, she continues to flirt with other girls on the show, even after her actual gender is discovered.
Haruka and Michiru: A Traditional Couple?
Perhaps because of her ability to appear to be a bishonen, Haruka is granted many privileges usually reserved for men. She races motorbikes and cars with men, she is allowed to wear the male uniform at her school with no problems (unlike in Shojo Kakumei Utena when Utena wishes to wear a male uniform to school and is scolded by her guidance counselor (Kunihiko and Chiho)), and most of all, she is allowed to flirt with women on the show.
If one didn't know that Haruka was female, Haruka and Michiru would seem like a traditional couple. This is commented upon by several characters in the series. When Chibiusa, Usagi's and Mamoru's daughter from the future, first sees them part way through the season, she cannot help but comment on what a great couple they are.
Chibiusa: They're so pretty. They're just like Mom and Dad.
Usagi: Chibiusa, Haruka-san looks like that, but she's a woman. (Sughara, "Seeking Friends�")
Haruka and Michiru do seem to be the ideal couple. Not only are they both smart, talented, and athletic, but they also look great together. However, much of this comes from the fact that they look and act like a boy-girl couple. Thus, they can get away with such actions as entering an affections contest or dancing together. In fact, they are clearly positioned as an equivalent to Usagi and Mamoru in one episode. In "Usagi's Dance, In Time to a Waltz," the couples switch partners at one point, while still catering to the boy-girl, "boy"-girl pairing.
Michiru: A waltz just started. Mamoru-san, would you care to join me in a dance?
Usagi: No! Mamo-chan's dancing with me!
Haruka: Oh my� then Odango Atama (her nickname for Usagi) can dance with me.
Usagi: Yes, gladly! (Sugihara)
None of her friends seem to find it strange that Usagi would want to dance with Haruka; in fact, most of them begin to play rock-paper-scissors to see who can have the next dance with her. They do not, however, fight over a dance with Michiru. If they are going to dance with one of the duo, it will be Haruka because she is clearly the "guy" of the pair.
The "boy-girl" phenomenon also seems to be the case for Bishojo Senshi Sailormoon's other major same-sex couple, the villains Zoisite and Kunzite. Zoisite, a male in the original Japanese, is definitely the queen of the pair. He has long wavy hair, loves flowers, and even cross-dresses to impersonate Sailor Moon once. With all his feminine qualities, it is not too surprising that he was dubbed as a female in the American version of the show. In the SuperS season, a later villain, Fisheye, is changed from a male to a female in the American dub because he too is very feminine. With his feminine clothing, make-up, and his wishes to be a (female) model and the female lead in a ballet, it is understandable that the American audience was fooled by the gender switch. After all, many of the characters in the original Japanese, including Usagi, thought he was a girl as well.
One might wonder if Haruka and Michiru would be allowed on the screen as a couple as much if they did not look so much like a boy-girl pair. According to Neil Miller, this is a common occurrence for Japanese lesbians. In Out in the World, he mentions that in Japan "[lesbians], who refused to marry and became involved with another woman, often wound up taking on the stereotypical roles of heterosexual couples, with one partner playing the 'husband' and the other the wife'" (167). Therefore, Haruka and Michiru's relationship is not one that is atypical of Japanese lesbians. Yet, within the context of the media, the "boy-girl" pairing can also be seen as a way to present the couple without really challenging heteronormativity. Kathleen Battles and Wendy Hilton-Morrow discuss this in their criticism about the American show Will & Grace: "�the idea of same-sex relationships can only be imagined through the conventions of heterosexual relationships, thus underscoring that heterosexuality is the root of all desire" (95). So although their showing of it is still limited, Haruka and Michiru are given the freedom to be in love because they look like a conventional couple.
