Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502160023
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: TOKYO LENGTH: Medium
Family budgets that survived the Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers will soon face an assault from another team of Japanese superheroes - wearing pleated miniskirts and go-go boots.
``Sailor Moon,'' a blond, ponytailed teen-ager, and her girlfriends are on the way to combat evil and sexism - and sell as many dolls, trinkets and toys as possible.
DIC Productions of Burbank, Calif., plans to bring the Japanese cartoon series into American homes in September.
The Japanese creators of the cartoon attribute its immense popularity in Japan to the casting of strong females as central characters. The American version will retain female empowerment as a frequent theme.
``Today's little girls want to be just as strong as boys,'' said DIC spokesman Jeff Pryor. ``Barbie is not really an appropriate role model anymore.''
But these so-called warriors-against-sexism wear miniskirts and draw their power from makeup - and sometimes get help from Sailor Moon's love interest, a masked man named Tuxedo who often appears when the girls are in trouble.
The cartoon's creators don't see any contradiction in having Tuxedo bail out the young defenders of feminism. Said Kenichi Ebato of Toei Animation Co. Ltd., ``Sometimes she helps him as well when he gets in trouble.''
Since going on the air in 1992, Sailor Moon has generated $1.58 billion in retail sales in Japan, more here than the Rangers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Barbie combined, according to DIC.
by CNB