For those that have seen PGSM, it's obvious that Minako has a terminal disease. However, I feel it's unclear as to how she passes away.

My thinking is it's possible that she just...well, "offed herself". She left a note. Now while her surgery success rate was very close to 0, that doesn't necessarily mean she was going to die. Furthermore, Artemis said he wasn't able to get ahold of her and she never returned from her examination, which was pre-surgery. Plus, she didn't even want to do the surgery anyway. Granted, through some talking with Rei (and probably Artemis as well), she did decide to go through with it. But, I'm not entirely sure if she really wanted to.

What do you guys think?

Hmm... the idea of a terminal disease is quite popular with many Korean and Japanese dramas, I don't think she offed herself, my personal feeling is that she tried the surgery but it failed, because Minako saw Makoto and how much she was fighting, I don't think Minako would have given up after seeing all that happened to Makoto. But I agree its not 100% clear

I just thought it was really...suspicious. Mostly because she left a note.

Lady Tuxedo wrote:

I just thought it was really...suspicious. Mostly because she left a note.

Maybe she knew in her heart that it would fail / it was her back up and she was prepared to run and take it

Maybe she wrote the note before surgery because she had a feeling she wasn't going to come out alive? I would imagine that many others would write a letter to their loved ones like that before going into a high risk surgery like that.

So basically she just said she'd go through with it to please Rei and Artemis and fellow senshi?

But if you wrote a letter like that, you'd make them feel really bad and then you could've survived.

Lady Tuxedo wrote:

So basically she just said she'd go through with it to please Rei and Artemis and fellow senshi?

I'm not too sure with that, like i said, it would kind of making her an ugly sort of person to watch Makoto fight for her life and then go "whatevs life ain't that great".

for some reason, i feel she didn't kill herself, but was hit by a car or something like that.

My belief is that she told everyone that she was just going to an examination, but instead it was the actual surgery because it was easier for her to deal with, seeing everyone happy with the upcoming party and such, instead of having them all nervous and sad as they waited for the results. She wanted to have the memory of everyone being happy and hopeful just in case the worst happened.

But yeah, definitely unclear, but maybe that's intentional, since it's such a emotional thing, we can take it however is best for us.

The other idea I thought was maybe that her illness took her before she was even able to go through with the surgery? But with her having written the note beforehand, that doesn't seem to be likely.

I felt that it was more like Minako to run to the surgery head first before letting herself get caught up in everything else.

Ahhh, this makes me so sad to write about, sorry that it's so rambled. ;-;

:O ooo Verdi your first idea sounds the most likely. I didn't think about that.

Why did I make this thread? >.> It's like reopening an old wound. XD unless you've seen it so many times now that it's a tough scar that cannot be reopened and you're just like

I've seen PGSM at least six times already and that wound reopens every single damn time.

As Verdi said, I believe it was actually the surgery and not an examination as well as she left the note just in case to say goodbye.

When she was walking into the light, it seemed to be in a way of acceptance with everything, such as being Aino Minako, going through the surgery, and dying at a young age knowing she fought her hardest.

I finally got through watching all of PGSM, and this scene is just such an ultimate tearjerker. I'm in agreement with Verdi and Lust, that it was the actual operation she went to and lied about it just being an examination so everyone else wouldn't be upset, because why else would she write a letter if it was just a simple examination? And the whole walking into the light seemed to symbolize that she was heading to her death bed, but with confidence, knowing she had fought her hardest. She just doesn't seem like the type to me to commit suicide. ;_;

Small Lady wrote:

Maybe she wrote the note before surgery because she had a feeling she wasn't going to come out alive? I would imagine that many others would write a letter to their loved ones like that before going into a high risk surgery like that.

This is exactly how i feel about this.
i also feel she knew all along she wasn't going to make it, but in a way, decided to do it anyway to make the other senshi happy, but i do think she knew it was her end ):

I also think that Rei kept having sort of visions about it, but denied it whole-heartedly and didn't want to believe what she was seeing/feeling. They showed Artemis having that same kind of feeling in one scene too, if I remember right.

Ahhh, so many emotions. PGSM is the best, and I love Minako so much

what was she sick with?

she may have just died from her illness.?