When singer-songwriter Desarae Wyn first said she wanted to talk about her anime crush I thought, awesome! We’ve had a few guests come through like Willie Nillie Knits and Todd Wayyco talk at length about their love of the genre and whatnot but when they did so it was an animated and middle school crush so I could dive into aspects outside the anime realm. This week though, anime? Not a genre I am all in with. In fact, the only anime I think I’ve ever sat down and watched at length is the one that I feel like is the ONE you know even if you don’t know jack shit else about the genre and that’s of course, ‘Sailor Moon.’ So call me a basic bitch, but that’s what I’ll be talking about today, and for more with Desarae…stay tuned!
Do I remember any actual details of ‘Sailor Moon?’ Not so much. It was this interesting cartoon that aired before I had to leave for the bus stop in the morning. Which, how fucking early was this show then? Nevertheless, it was something that I found joy in before heading out the door and down the street to wait with a handful of other kids from my trailer-filled neighborhood. Why? Well, it had the same basic format that just about all ensemble cartoons had back then – a group of characters that were assigned colors, making it easy to pick favorites. Just like with ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,’ I was able to pick a favorite based on nothing more than a color and overall look. As a tomboy, I was like Sailor Mercury – she’s cool. She doesn’t have long hair like the others. That’s how simple a child’s mind is sometimes.
It’s a show I’ve often thought about going back and rewatching as an adult to see how much actually went over my head as I would watch while simultaneously eating way too many bowls of cereal before school. Perhaps one day I will pop it on and see if it still has the ability to keep me entertained for 20 or so minutes. It just might as I’ve learned from talking not only about anime here with guests, but elsewhere like Cosplay Central, that once you dive into anime – it’s sort of hard to shake. The stories seem to have a grasp like no other. At least that’s what I gather from the fandom that surrounds this beloved genre of animation.
I also want to see if I feel anything like my guests have. See, all the guests who’ve mentioned their anime crushes, before and this week, have been Black. And on Cosplay Central, I’ve talked to Black cosplayers about their love of the genre because I’ve always found it so interesting how many Black folks be fucking with anime on that level. Hell, I even interviewed a hip hop artist over on ZO Magazine last year who was huge into it as well. So maybe there’s something there for me that I just need to find, and who knows – it may not even be ‘Sailor Moon.”
So while my anime crush is more of a lighthearted memory, we’ll have more from Desarae Wyn later this week as we dive into an anime character she’s liked since back when she was in middle school.
Crushgasm 
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