June 30th is Sailor Moon’s Birthday
Today, June 30th is the in canon birthday of Usagi Tsukino aka Sailor Moon!
Here’s a short origin of the history behind Sailor Moon from yumetwins.com:
Sailor Moon started as a shoujo manga by Naoko Takeuchi. In English, it was first translated as Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, then as Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. It was published from 1991 to 1997 as a serialized manga in the shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi. After its release, the manga met an explosion of popularity in Japan. So much, that the manga was turned into an anime series in 1992 under the name Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon. The anime was dubbed and released in countries around the world including the US and Europe. In the US, the dubbed anime initially struggled, until a petition by fans brought it back. The reruns on Cartoon Network in 1998 became so popular, that eventually, Sailor Moon became a household name.
Alana via yumetwins.com
Since then Sailor Moon if not gained popularity has certainly maintained her position in the eyes and minds of fans, artists and cosplayers world wide. So why is she so revered? Here’s a few thoughts about how Usagi has earned her staying power.
One article on studybreaks.com posits that she’s the anti-Disney princess. “They-Disney princesses-knew what they wanted and how to get it, and realistically, that’s not the case for most people. The Sailor Scouts, more specifically Usagi, were a bit more relatable. Usagi didn’t really know what she wanted, and had trouble balancing her life. Becoming Sailor Moon was a scary experience for her. There were times where she was reluctant to thrust herself into the role of the hero because of how apparent the responsibility was, and she wasn’t always the best leader.”
Another reason is that girl power is a major theme of the Sailor Scouts. Coming out simultaneously as a third wave of female empowerment started to grow in global society in the 90’s thrust these characters into a limelight all their own. “The show proved that you can be powerful and beautiful, that cuteness doesn’t equal fragility, that things that are typically associated with femininity aren’t weak.” Again, from studybreaks.com.
In more recent days Instagram had a trending challenge where artist all over the globe participated in a re-draw of the iconic character, which gave artists a chance to infuse their style into the look and feel of Sailor Moon.
It goes without saying that no one’s expecting Sailor Moon to be disappearing from pop culture anytime soon. And we’re here for it. So Happy Birthday Usagi! The world is a better place with you in it!