If you recall the shows you used to watch as a child you might remember the transformation scene from "Sailor Moon." The character of Sailor Moon is known as one of the most popular and well-known manga characters in Japan. Currently, we see the rise of many more shows with the theme of “magical girl.” It has become a trope and a symbol of empowerment for many people, so looking back, what makes "Sailor Moon" so magical?

Let us start with the fact that our favorite heroine, Usagi, is completely relatable; she can be described as a friendly, yet underachieving and accident-prone crybaby. While she can be a crybaby, she matures enough to learn to make decisions for herself. While she can often be lazy, when it comes to intelligence, she aces her high school exams to make sure she’s not separated from her friends. While she can be childlike, bickering with Chibiusa, she is also a caring mother. She is someone who tries to make friends with others, trying to connect and express closeness, even though sometimes things don’t work out the first time around. She is also afraid of dentists, ghosts and lightning, and I find that very relatable.

The show itself is shown to be very progressive and feminist, including having queer representation. As children, we might have not realized it, but let me point out just a few instances.

Regarding queer representation, Sailor Uranus has a female lover, Sailor Neptune. While off her Sailor Scout duties she presents as male, having short hair and often wearing pantsuits, showing that it doesn’t matter what gender they are. For a show that was made in the '90s it should be considered an iconic thing to animate, considering how underrepresented queer characters are in modern media. The show also portrays all the other Sailor Scouts as having a wide variety of personalities, interests and gender expressions! You can identify with whomever you feel closest too! The show even points out how traditionally less feminine girls might have trouble with gender roles and how to cope with them.

Getting back to our main heroine though, there are many reasons Usagi is amazing. She supports her fellow girls! She loves all the Sailor Scouts and cares for them deeply, constantly cheering them on and rooting for them when they are down. She often demonstrates girl power in action, while completely kicking intergalactic alien scum with her friends. She has no tolerance for sexism, shouting “Down with sexual discrimination!” in one of the episodes and her friends think the same. Especially with many iconic lines such as: “Only old men think that men are better than women these days!” She stands up for herself, but she also allows herself to be vulnerable and cry. And even though it sometimes seems that all she’s interested in is food and boys, she’s still able to save the world and wake up the next morning to go to school.

This show, without realizing, created a force, shaped a generation, and managed to stay wholesome and pure throughout all this time. It created characters that we can all relate to, because seeing someone who has issues with school, boys and self-confidence be able to mature and save the world is inspiring. After all, in the end, we are all fighting evil by moonlight and winning love by daylight.