Bunny’s New Enemy

After saving the Earth several times over—from the Dark Kingdom, from the Death Busters, from Chaos itself—Usagi Tsukino has a new assignment, and it turns out the universe always has more work for her. Japan has been seeing rising syphilis rates among young people, and the Ministry of Health decided that the most effective messenger for this particular public health crisis was a sixteen-year-old magical girl with a sweet tooth and a tendency to cry during battles. Which is, honestly, a defensible call.

Sixty thousand condoms—pink, heart-shaped packaging, Sailor Moon’s face on every one—were distributed to roughly 150 municipalities across Japan, to be put into the hands of sexually active young people who might otherwise not think too hard about it. The timing wasn’t accidental: Sailor Moon Crystal, the rebooted anime series, had been keeping the character’s popularity current, which meant she still had genuine reach with exactly the demographic that needed the reminder. The campaign worked with that rather than against it.

There’s something I genuinely like about this—not in a cheap, isn’t-that-quirky way, but in the sense that it takes the character seriously enough to put her to real use. Usagi has always been about protection, throwing herself between the people she loves and whatever horrible thing is trying to kill them this arc. Extending that logic to STI prevention is not exactly a stretch. If Moon Prism Power can stop a Dark General, it can probably handle a bacterium. Thank you, Bunny. Again.