My Favorite Anime: Mercedes Varnado’s journey from Sailor Moon to My Hero Academia
It’s no secret that Mercedes Varnado is a huge anime fan. The AEW wrestler-turned-actress has never been shy when it comes to sharing her love of Japanese animation, from appearing at the 2022 Royal Rumble in a Sailor Moon-inspired outfit to serving as a presenter at this year’s Crunchyroll Anime Awards.
Polygon recently had a chance to connect with Varnado, so we had to ask: What was your first favorite anime, and what’s your favorite anime now?
My Favorite Anime is Polygon’s column dedicated to collecting the stories of the biggest celebrity anime fans in the world, charting a path from their earliest introductions to Japanese animation to the series and films they love today. Here’s what Mercedes Varnado had to say.
Sailor Moon was a major success during its initial broadcast, extending past its planned six month production in 1992 to air multiple seasons over the course of five years. In combining the interpersonal drama and storytelling of magical girl anime with the action-oriented aesthetic of series likeSaint Seiya and others, the series was able to win a dedicated audience that endures to this day.
The adventures of the teenage superheroine Sailor Moon and her fellow Sailor Guardians told a complex and emotionally resonant story, anchored by themes of love, friendship, and navigating the day-to-day challenges of adolescence. It was these qualities that allowed the series to successfully make the leap to audiences in the United States, standing out as one of, if not the, most notable female-centric action series of its time.
The series also became well known for its trailblazing depiction of a same-sex relationship between Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, though this relationship was obfuscated and censored during the anime’s first broadcast in the West, with Uranus and Neptune being depicted as “cousins” rather than lovers in the initial English dub of Sailor Moon. However, this omission has since been rectified in both subsequent releases of the 1992
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