yeah
Mercury power!
Mars power!
Jupiter power!
Venus power!
Moon prism power!
Sailor Moon is a Japanese manga and anime series originally created by Naoko Takuchi
that follows the adventures of a young schoolgirl, Usagi, and her friends
who transform into superheroes to fight evil.
yeah
I got into Sailor Moon at a very dark time.
I was in middle school, I was being... horrendously bullied
and I stumbled upon Salor Moon one afternoon and I was hooked.
Sailor Moon was my own alter ego
so like, when I was upset and insecure I always felt like there was somebody out there
who's super strong and capable and I was like "You know what? I can be like that."
Sailor Moon was the very first time I had ever seen gay or a lesbian couple on television.
There are these characters who are um,
queer, gay, and they're heroes.
It's because of the postive messages
that it sends to both genders
and it also taught me quite a bit about love.
Nicolas! We need every one!
My name is Charlene Ingram.
I'm the Senior Manager for animation marketing for Viz Media
and I'm also a really big Sailor Moon fan.
Anime Expo is the biggest event that celebrates anime and anime fans.
Hi! Good afternoon everyone.
I was lot a shyer when i was younger
and I feel like through sailor moon and discovering all of anime
I came out of my shell.
So I owe a lot of who I am to anime and espcially Sailor Moon.
Hello Everyone!
Welcome to Sailor Moon Day 2015 at Anime Expo!
Over the past two years
we've dedicated a full day to the series
because the fandom demands it.
Some days for me it, it still doesn't feel real working on it.
Sailor Moon has a... very... pure message
that's easy to understand on the surface
but when you dig deeper there's lots and lots of layers.
If you take it at it's very basic form;
a team of girls defeating enemy is very simple to understand.
But as you learn the personalities of each of the characters
and even the villains that they fight,
it becomes very complex.
In the 90's and the early 2000's
when Sailor Moon was dubbed here in North America originally,
some of the relationships were changed.
One that really comes to mind is Haruka and Michiru.
There are different famous anime couples throughout the years
and Uranus and Neptune are one of them.
In the English version they made them cousins but then
in the Japanese classic they're lovers.
The scene that really stood out for me
was when um... Uranus and Neptune are about ready to go into a big battle
and Uranus talks about how she has blood on her hands
and how can she fight and Neptune just takes her hands and says
yeah
HBO is Jana is key
It was just a very, like touching subtle knowing moment.
That love just kept growing.
I've never seen anything like this in any type of media
not just y'kno animation and anime.
That's art that needs to be encouraged
like, life is too short to not be who you really want to be.
releasing the series and 2014
we wanted to make sure to honor those characters true genders and orientations
with the new version of those relationships work up to the original
Japanese super excited to be a part of this and finally give that me to do and
how to get the treatment they deserve in this to dub Taylor Neptune's
relationship is finally
alright a problem
like something cousins
to be loved it there
that chemistry and like the original
I make no sense to people but now it makes that and it's beautiful life
LG g2
we hear stories all the time that when people discover sailor moon they had
discovered many different parts of your life in many different life stages
Sailor Moon gave them courage to do something that they wouldn't otherwise
do daily mercury was always my favorite
she was really smart and she was shy and I was a very smart very shy
I dealt with homophobia at school in a moment my parents tried to beat the
happiness out of me
what they would call me horrible names associated with gay men they would yell
it at me actually hear them arguing about it downstairs and I was in my room
when I was at school
other kids would like sing songs about killing me and like jump jump around in
circles around me when I was living with my family or ahead and try to pass the
street as much as I possibly could
the only thing I had that made me happy was watching sailor moon with my little
sister
Sailor Moon he has these choices and you get to watch her psychologically work
through this and the experience of some very traumatic events
hey kid what have a lasting love
indestructible friends
it's just through this lens of someone who's been through a lot of trauma and
as queer young adults many of us have shared that trauma
I didn't have the experience of friends but sailor moon would always talk about
how created just have friends and how wonderful and like how good she was to
them I was like when I have friends i'm gonna be that good to them - I was
getting together tonight to do a little mini reunion and celebration of sort of
like sending us off to New York for international sailor moon day
this is the fortress where we are going to have our century hoedown essentially
means soldier or guardian and for a lot of us it's a huge privilege to have been
one of the century because that means that you belong to a group
hey oh my god Laura I miss your face
I felt like I got a lot of lessons of friendships from Sailor Moon
I had a party at my apartment it was nineties party we're all together for
the first time and my nineties playlist places on the ceiling and they're all
like oh my god
Sailor Moon and love her oh my god Angie reunion in this group
I was totally free to be myself
we're going to establish the Moon Kingdom here we're getting the Moonies
together
if you ever meet people who are queer and ask them if they like Sailor Moon is
almost always yes
can we just love her and all her like kick-ass friends
they really do like you know they have those traits that we share and they work
through those struggles that we work through thanks to my a movie crew
I can be all of the weird and wonderful person that I guess I am
we are on the road to internationals two day in new york city being transgender
and growing up and being raised as a girl
it was hard to find characters that like reflected what society told me that I
had to be and sailor moon was girly but she was a strong person and her friends
that were equally as strong
they got stuff done they bought evil and so that was just a really appealing
think it's also one of the only shows that portrayed transgender characters
not because they were transgender
it was just a fact of their personality but one of the things that I really love
about the star lights and that really resonated with me
the regardless of whether the Starlight for in their male form or transformed
into their female century forms they were the exact same people regardless of
what their gender presentation one
and so you know that really helped me when I was kind of you know going
through the early transition process
regardless of what my gender presentation is i am the same person
that I've always been what's changing is how source society perceives who I am
and what their expectations
I didn't have a stable friendships with people until like high school and a lot
of those people were ceiling fans
I am
it took me like really like finding the century to have a group of friends like
a count on that I could trust back feel safely
this is our day to be free to be all of ourselves
I'm ashamed and sort of without regret
all those scars of the past that made us into the soldiers that we are today are
just that they can be in the past for a day we can celebrate what makes this
powerful
hello
all around the world seven continents but the Antarctica
we are here to celebrate how fucking awesome Sailor Moon
we will build a stronger world together because Hollywood
brought them together
believe that my experience ties into the experience of many young their people
many of us you know grow up in those environments that are toxic
where we are valued for who we are and Sailor Moon provides fantastic heroes
who look like us to act like us who share those identities with us
I think that's what brings us together
yeah