From: Paul Cordeiro Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime.info Subject: [SM][LONG] Sailor Moon article in the Edmonton Journal. Date: 2 Sep 1996 18:59:53 -0400 The Edmonton Journal, a prominent newspaper in that city, recently wrote on article on Sailor Moon that took up more than half of the front page of the "City" section. Below is the full article with picture descriptions; any typos present are my mistakes. ---------- Page: B1 Author: Marta Gold Headline: Sailor Moon's mysterious powers Opening Blurb: This Japanese cartoon character isn't just a cult hero for girls anymore. Adults and even (gasp) boys are impressed by her superpowers Picture #1, upper-right corner: 14 1/2 by 17 1/2 centimetre color picture of the Inner Senshi in standing poses (taken from R). Blurb: A quick guide to Sailor Moon: A teenage girl and her four friends are chosen to receive awesome powers by mysterious celestial guardians. They transform from regular teens into Sailor Scouts, each with her own unique power. They fight the evil Empress Metallia, Queen Beryl (her general) and other assorted minions who want to take over the universe. Quote underneath: "I like when they transform and I think it's neat that they have the powers and stuff" --Rosalie Paquette, 7 Picture #2, lower-left corner: 5 by 6 centimetre color picture of Darryl and Jason Hill reading a BSSM manga (tankoubon) each. A red border surrounds the picture and captions, including "Fan Information on the Internet". Taken by Brian Gavriloff. Title above: Moon Madness Caption below: Darryl and Jason Hill became Sailor Moon fans because of a love of Japanese animation Fan information on the Internet: -The local Sailor Moon club is at: http://www.ualberta.ca/~jasohill/homep.html -The Banzai Anime Klub of Alberta, Grant MacEwan chapter, is at: http://baka.muck.com/~jclancy/baka.html The contents of the article itself: If you don't know who Sailor Moon is, just ask any pre-teen girl. Or try Jason Hill, the 20-year-old president of the Unofficial Sailor Moon Club of Edmonton. The university science student might seem like an unlikely fan of a Japanese-created TV superhero who looks like a cross between Barbie and Wonder Woman. But the character idolized by thousands of Canadian girls has also attracted a sort of cult following of older viewers. Many, like Hill, are fans of Japanese animation, or "anime" (pronounced a-na-may). For those who haven't been near a toy store or a female child in the past year, Sailor Moon is hot, the equivalent of Power Rangers for girls. Toy stores now have Sailor Moon backpacks, school supplies, dolls, play sets, "you name it," said Wendy Petherbridge of Toys R Us in Edmonton. "When the show first came out (last fall), we couldn't even keep the stuff on the shelves." The merchandise is still among the most popular toys for girls. So what's the show's appeal? "I have no idea," said Petherbridge. "I've watched it and I couldn't even sit through a whole episode." YTV airs the show nine times a week, a schedule it will continue this fall, says YTV spokesperson Magda Krpan. "It's quite the phenomenon," she said. "It almost has a Dr. Who-type following, that kind of notoriety about it." Many viewers know every word in each of the 65 dubbed-English episodes of the show. Girls like the show because it's based around strong female characters who still act like teenagers, she said. Sailor Moon, the main character, is kind of clumsy, a little boy-crazy and always gets into trouble. But she and her friends also have super-heroic powers that help them battle evil. "I like when they transform and I think it's neat that they have the powers and stuff," said seven-year-old Rosalie Paquette. "The girls are the superheroes, not the boys." Those positive messages have made the show a hit among some adults, too, like teacher Terezia Farkas. The 30-year-old Edmontonian first heard about Sailor Moon from the girls in her junior high class. Initially, she couldn't understand the show's appeal. But soon she was hooked. "It's like a little soap opera almost. It's ongoing and it's got good character development." Hill too likes the serial plot of Sailor Moon, a common feature of Japanese anime. But he acknowledges the show is definitely "an acquired taste." To the North American eye, Sailor Moon is a far cry from Disney. Early episodes appear to have been edited with a Ginsu knife. "The first time I saw it, I thought, 'What the heck is this? This is ridiculous,'" Hill recalled. "There was this 14-year-old girl who was really whiny, who ran around at high speed like she was on caffeine. "But I saw more than one episode and that was my problem -- I began to like it. I was really hooked in by the story, that's what got me." Hill and Farkas aren't alone. The show has more than 90 million viewers worldwide and has hit number one in Hong Kong and in France. It began as a serial comic in a Japanese magazine and spun off into a television show that developed a huge following among Japanese kids and eventually adults, too. To appeal to older viewers, the show added a more detailed plot line in later episodes, Hill said. "A lot of Japan animation tries to make you think ... You can't compare it to something like Darkwing Duck. You have to watch every episode." Hill collects -- in the original Japanese -- the comics upon which the show is based and videotapes of the program sent to him by a friend in Japan. He's picked up a bit of Japanese and plans to study it at university next year. Only 65 episodes of Sailor Moon have been dubbed into English. In Japan, there are almost 200 episodes in five separate series. Fans are lobbying the U.S. distributor to acquire and translate more episodes. They've also launched an Internet campaign called SOS -- Save Our Sailors -- to keep the show on the air in the U.S. In Canada, the show has a large and loyal following, in part because it airs in better time slots. YTV plans to continue running the show, but because no new episodes are being translated, fans will have to settle for re-runs. Hill said he knows many university and high school-aged fans of the show. His 12-year-old brother and his friends also watch it. Followers of Japanese anime have formed two clubs in Edmonton; one at Grant MacEwan College, the other at the University of Alberta. Nathan Palovcik, president of the Grant MacEwan chapter, said the popularity of anime is growing. Three or four years ago, Japanese animation was only available through connections in Japan, he said. Now, some local video stores have extensive collections. Many of the 80 or 90 club members are fans of Sailor Moon, but Palovcik isn't. "I'm a bit of an elitist," he said. "I think it's just too stereotypical as a kiddie cartoon." ---------- And there you have it. An anime article that doesn't mention Akira or Urotsukidoji. ^_^ **Madoka*Ayukawa**Setsuna*Meiou**Linna*Yamazaki**Kiyone**Shayla*Shayla** * * * / PAUL CORDEIRO, juurokusai. \ My email address?! Oh, alright.. * * \ "Oh yeah, that's the goods!" / shinkuu@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca * * * **Arimi*Suzuki**Urd**Misato*Katsuragi**Arisa*Mitaka**Ukyou*Kuonji**Lum** -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Edited by Steve Pearl- Moderator, rec.arts.anime.info Email submissions to anime-info@cybercomm.net and questions about the newsgroup to anime-info-request@cybercomm.net _____ ____ _____ / ____|/ __ \ / ____| Please help save "Sailor Moon" from cancellation | (___ | | | | (___ in North America by adding your signature to: \___ \| | | |\___ \ ================================================ ____) | |__| |____) | http://looney.physics.sunysb.edu/~daffy/sos/ |___ave \___ur|___ailors!=============== Please Sign!! ==================