‘Who are you going to be for Carnival, Natascha?’ asked a good friend of my father a few days before Carnival many years ago. ‘Guess who?’ I said. So he tried guessing: ‘Witch, princess, clown? ‘’No, it begins with ‘K’, I said. ‘A kangaroo?’ , he answered. ‘No, I am going to be a warrior.’ (In Luxembourgish the word is Kriegerin.) He looked amazed. ‘I’m going to dress up as ‘Sailor Moon!’, I announced very proudly.
Carnival is one of the many days in Luxembourg we celebrate due to its religious tradition. It occurs before the Christian season of Lent. In Luxembourg, we call it ‘Fuesend’ and children in primary school get one week off for this season. Usually, the children dress up the day before the holiday starts which has always been on a Friday. Children would have normal class in the morning and in the afternoon teachers won’t recognize their pupils anymore because of their disguise. You have just about one hour to dress up. This is possible because many children buy their costumes weeks before this special day and they dress up during lunch at home. My costume was special because I begged my father in the beginning of January to order Sailor Moon clothing on the internet. I wanted to be Sailor Moon.
Sailor Moon was my greatest hero in childhood. I started watching this Japanese manga-anime regularly on TV when I was five. Then at the age of six, I started reading the magazine which was usually a comic. I’m not the only Sailor Moon fan out there. Maybe the most famous fictional fan of Sailor Moon is Princess Mia from the book series ‘Princess Diaries’. She quotes Sailor Moon as being one of the best TV shows ever.
Now you might wonder who Sailor Moon is? Sailor Moon is a Japanese anime series created in the beginning of the nineties. The main character is Bunny, a fourteen– year old teenager living in Tokyo. She’s not a good student, but has a heart of gold. She is chosen to become the warrior called Sailor Moon. In the beginning of the series she makes friends with other girls who are destined to be ‘soldiers’ as well. They transform into Sailor women with a pen, wand or brooch and acquire magical powers to fight against evil and demons. But the success of the series lies also in the themes that appear in the episodes: friendship, love, school. Everything you can relate to as a teenager or even as child. I was only eight years old, but I loved watching them. Not only will you discover more about Japanese culture and concepts such as gender roles, but there is also a story behind every episode. The girls have to find out which person is possessed by a demon and destroy it. But there is more to it, the different people have issues and problems too. Nevertheless, the main message of the series is that love conquers everything. In order to get rid of the evil demons, the Sailor girls use the power of love and beauty.