Danica Davidson
August 10, 2021 
Japan got in its share of otakudom for the Tokyo Olympics, like their video game music opening, their watching Gundam (not Transformer), and their concluding Demon Slayer song. But sometimes the athletes brought in the otakudom, like Greece’s Miltiadis Tentoglou and America’s Payton Otterdahl. And then there’s the whole Uzbekistan rhythmic gymnastics team, which showed their love of Sailor Moon by performing in inspired outfits to the opening theme song.
Check out the video. Many people will immediately recognize the music as “Moonlight Densetsu, a.k.a. “Moonlight Legend.” You can also see that their sparkly outfits are clearly drawn from the franchise, though they’re tweaked to better match a rhythmic gymnastics bent.
https://twitter.com/_kcyuta/status/1423932362631499783
The members of the team are Aleksandrova Kseniia, Irnazarova Kamola, Ravshanbekova Dinara, Safoeva Sevara, and Shomuradova Nilufar. Their official page at the Olympics tells us this about them:
“Uzbekistan made their Olympic debut in the event at the most recent Games in Rio de Janeiro. They earned the right to compete at their second Games thanks to a win at the 2021 Asian Championships held in their capital Tashkent. The win not only gave them their place in Tokyo, but also their first continental title. The closest they had previously come was in 2019 when they finished second.”
In the end the team took ninth place at the Tokyo Olympics. But while they didn’t earn a medal they won the hard battle of making it to the Olympics in the first place, and they won the hearts and minds of Sailor Moon fans in Japan and abroad. SoraNews24 translated some of the responses from Japanese fans watching the team:
“Seeing them adopt a part of Japanese culture like this makes me so happy. I hope someone will tell them how grateful we are.”
“I want to tell them thank-you from the bottom of my heart.”
“I’m so happy that they dressed as Sailor Moon! They showed so much love for Japan.”
Source: SoraNews24
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, and its sequel, Manga Art for Intermediates, with professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
