I’ve seen this argument before, too. Why is Neo-Queen Serenity seen as an anti-villain? According to TV Tropes, an anti-villain is “ a villain with heroic goals, personality traits, and /or virtues. Their desired ends are good, but their means of getting there are evil. Alternatively, their desired ends are evil, but they are far more ethical or moral than most villains and they thus use fairly benign means to achieve it, and can be downright heroic on occasion.”

People who didn’t read the manga have this idea that NQS brainwashed the populace of Crystal Tokyo because of how it’s explained in the anime. In the manga, nothing is said of “cleansing” the population, and the group of people exiled to Nemesis were not citizens who refused to be cleansed, but rather were “infected” by the Black Crystal and by Wiseman. Rather than executing them, they were exiled to Nemesis.

Of course, this isn’t IDEAL, but Usagi (and what people seem to forget is that NQS is the adult Usagi) would never want to kill anyone, even if they committed crimes, and ESPECIALLY if they were humans.

As said by Wikimoon; “Soon after the creation of Crystal Tokyo, there was a challenge to the peace made by the Death Phantom. Because he was human, Neo Queen Serenity did not want to kill him, so she banished him to the planet Nemesis and it became forbidden. Many years later, there was a another revolt on the Earth. After the battle, those who did not want to stay left Earth and ended up on Nemesis where they came under the influence of the Death Phantom.” Wiseman was sent to Nemesis because NQS didn’t want to kill him, while the people actually chose to LEAVE Earth and emigrate to Nemesis.

Also, the Silver Crystal isn’t a brainwashing device; as seen in the second season, it can only heal people who WANT and CHOOSE to be healed (as seen with the Ayakashi Sisters); otherwise, it would not work. It does not strip away free will. Think of it this way; if there was some kind of object that would rid you of your negative thoughts and emotions, wouldn’t you want to use it? By removing the negative impulses that cloud judgement and reason, people would be able to want and choose the good.

I hardly think NQS is “horrendous.” She’s USAGI. She’s just as warm, loving, and caring as she was in the past. Just look at her relationship with Chibiusa! 

So I’m raving, but yeah, it just pisses me off when people try to paint Serenity is a dictator.