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.

What was your first favorite anime?

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 like Saint 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 anime and other anime adaptations of the series.

What’s your favorite anime now?

Since the premiere of studio Bones’ adaptation in 2016, My Hero Academia has remained one of the most popular anime series in recent memory, totaling at seven seasons and four feature-length films as of this writing. My Hero Academia was a series that hit at what felt like precisely the right time in the cultural zeitgeist, riding the wave of superhero popularity brought about by the likes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Cinematic Universe to tell an inspirational, high-spirited story about overcoming obstacles and aspiring to new heights against all odds. The story of Izuku “Deku” Midoriya, a powerless student in a world full of superheroes who becomes the apprentice of All Might, the most powerful hero of all, is a drama that channels the emotional dimension of Spider-Man and the moral clarity of Superman to create an uplifting saga about heroism triumphing over adversity.

Aside from Deku, both the anime and the manga boast a large supporting cast of characters whose respective arcs and personalities flesh out the series’ overall exploration of what it means to be a hero. While arguably not as front and center as in the case of Sailor Moon, My Hero Academia features several notable female heroines including Ochaco Uraraka, Deku’s classmate and ally; Nana Shimura, All Might’s mentor and the prior possessor of “One For All”; and Cathleen Bate, one of the most powerful heroes in the world who operates under the alias “Star and Stripe.”

When juxtaposed alongside one another, there are obvious qualities that Sailor Moon and My Hero Academia share with one another. Both series feature superheroes, yes, but on a deeper level, Sailor Moon and My Hero Academia are about adolescents growing into their identities and responsibilities as young adults, tackling the challenges that come with both embracing their new abilities and balancing their obligations as heroes, and becoming stronger and wiser through overcoming adversity. In short: They’re stories tailor-made to speak to and inspire their audiences, so it’s no wonder then that both of these anime would mean so much to Varnado.

Sailor Moon is available to stream on Hulu. My Hero Academia is available to stream on Crunchyroll, Netflix, and Hulu.