Ami/Makoto shipping is based on ongoing comeraderie, though the "evidence" comes from mostly the episode this pic is from (in SuperS) and a gag in the first series in which Sailors Moon, Mercury, and Jupiter get stuck in a very narrow alleyway, and Mercury takes a tumble while Jupiter gets a long, blushing stare at her backside beneath that short skirt.
Not sure where the idea that Usagi was into girls before Tuxedo Kamen shows up comes from — he's in the first episode and she almost immediately swoons. That said, Usagi swoons over a lot of people; she's no less into girls for her het crushes and relationship and she's easily read as bi (and possibly poly). Seriously, Rei and Usagi do have a love story that spans the whole show, even if it does not turn explicitly yuri.
(For those actually wondering about the original anime as LGBT-friendly, I'd say it's a mixed bag. The third series, "Sailor Moon S", introduces Haruka and Michiru, who are (or at least become) clearly a couple but I don't believe they got an onscreen kiss; they're completely the origin of the yuri-sex-is-handholding meme. The fifth season has the Sailor Starlights, who present as male in civilian form but are female as superheroes. There are a couple of gay male minibosses and another miniboss who... is complicated but who appears to be a trans woman usually; they're each treated — I can't say completely respectfully, but their sexualities/sexual identities are not why they're villains, if you get me. There are otherwise close female friendships that need only the slightest bit of goggles, and a fuckton of early-1990s cis/heteronormativity. I think the best description is at worst, fair for its day, and trailblazing on a few fronts.)
last edited at Jan 25, 2020 3:24AM