Magical Girl Interview

Skye Freeman

Victoria Johnson, known as Sailor Victoria, is a podcaster, host and writer specializing in anime, books, film/TV and music. She is the head of Moonies Club, a creative production company centered on events and media; the organizer of the Magical Girls’ Fest, the largest fan-organized event in the U.S. for magical girls; and the host of the Sailor Moon Fan Club podcast, where she interviews remarkable Sailor Moon fans and voice actors & actresses on their work. I interviewed Ms. Johnson on everything from the origins of her love of magical girls to her career journey and current initiatives to her recommendations for underrated magical girl shows to check out. A lover of hip-hop, magical girls, mysteries, indie media more, she is a forefront figure in the anime pop culture community, and her answers provided insight on the industry, her involvement, and the work she’s doing to further the advancement of the magical girl genre.  

Graphic by Naliyah Grant

How would you define the magical genre? 

For me, it is any girl who has magical powers, or any person that has magical powers, but it's slightly cutesy — doesn't necessarily have to be cutesy — but I think it has some cutesy elements to it for sure.

I think themes of love and friendship [are prevalent] for sure. I particularly love when they're superheroes and have powers and like defeating villains, but also just sometimes being cute and having a good time. 

Why is it important to shed light on the magical girl genre?

I think it just shows that girls can be centered in sci-fi and fantasy—because at the end of the day that’s kind of what it is—and also showing us in positions of power. I really just love any series or title that shows girls being powerful. I'm a huge “Totally Spies” fan, I love “The Powerpuff Girls,” anything like that. I think it's so important to see that girls can be powerful too, that we can be strong, we can fight, but also be soft at the same time, which is one of the things I really love about Sailor Moon and a lot of other shows, really just showing that duality.

What first got you interested in the magical girl genre and in Sailor Moon?

Like many people I came across Sailor Moon on Toonami in the 90s and just became an immediate fan, (...) and later on, more so in college, I learned about this larger genre that it belongs to. I think one of the things I was always looking for was “Are those like Sailor Moon?” And so that's how I came across Princess Tutu and Card Captor Sakura, even though I kind of knew about it before, but that made me want to just watch more. From there, realizing that it was part of this larger genre made me really want to go all in. 

You were able to take your love for Sailor Moon so far. You've created Moonies Club, you have a podcast, you've been on multiple panels, you're writing a few books right now. What was the transition like from turning your love of the show and of Magical Girls into a career?

I've been a huge Sailor Moon fan my entire life and because of that I always kind of kept tabs on who else was a Sailor Moon fan. I'd get really excited like Saweetie or Lizzo, Sasha Banks. Over time, I actually originally wanted to do a Magical Girls podcast because I felt like there was just so much love for Shonen, but I just felt like there wasn't enough appreciation or knowledge about magical girls. But as much as I would love to be in Magical Girls all day, I sadly cannot. A lot of the guests that I was thinking about having on [to the podcast], I realized were more so Sailor Moon fans and not just magical girls fans so that's what made me focus the podcast on Sailor Moon specifically. Once I pivoted everything came together, so I took that as a sign that it was the right direction. I started the podcast in March 2020, so literally right as the pandemic was starting. I always just really valued having in-person spaces for people to gather, especially people of the same fandom, so I started doing events in 2023. I started off very small with a day party and from there I noticed I had a knack for events and that people really enjoyed it and they're having a great time and wanted more spaces like that, which has led to the Magical Girls Festival and me just growing into bigger and bigger events. So just thinking back on the history of these shows that have been around for forever, I really just want a space to celebrate all of that and honor that because there is a history there. It's a long history and I just don't think it's appreciated enough. 

Did you ever expect that you would be able to take your love for Sailor Moon this far?

No, definitely not. I think when I started, I was like, “Oh, it'd be fun to have like a podcast, maybe do like a live show one day and have some of the voice actors on” — my dream guest is to have Naoko Takeuchi on, which would be mind blowing —I wasn't even thinking about regular events like that. I think maybe some casual meetups, but I never envisioned myself running the Magical Girls’ Fest. It's just growing and growing in a way that I never could have imagined. 

What is the community like? 

The community is great. One thing I am very happy about is that Magical Girl fans are very enthusiastic about anything that centers us as fans just because we don't always get them. They definitely celebrate by showing up. There's so many people who host Cosplay meetups at cons, which I'm grateful for because, you know, I'm one person, I can't do it all. I'm just happy there's other people who will take on different things. 

You've hosted a few panels for black trailblazers in the anime magical girl community. It is so empowering to see that come to fruition, to make that connection. Why do you think it's important to create that space and have those speakers talk about the magical girl community, the anime community?

I'm just really passionate about uplifting like either marginalized voices, whether that's Black people in the anime space, or magical girl fans, because I feel like we're not always represented. I don't think people know just how many black people are in the anime industry, but also how many ways you can enter the anime industry. I think so many of us think “Oh, you have to be an animator, you have to be a voice actor,” but there's someone in acquisitions, or there's someone who does background art, or there's someone who does like media relations. I was like, “Oh, that's kind of cool. There's something happening here. I want to talk about it.”

Who are some memorable guests that you've had on your podcast or on panels?

Definitely Terri Hawkes last year, and for the podcast, I've had Mercedes Monet, I've had Saweetie, I've had a bunch of voice actors: Stephanie Sheh, who plays Sailor Moon in the viz dub; Terri Hawkes who plays Sailor Moon in the original dub; Susan Roman and Bennett Abara [who] both play Sailor Jupiter; Mary Long who plays Molly in the original dub; Robert Bockstael who plays Prince Diamond. It was really exciting to partner with them.

You're working on a few projects; how are they going, and how do they intersect with your life, your experiences or your interests?

Magical Beats is a hip hop inspired magical girl series that intersects with me 100%. I love hip hop, I'm a huge hip hop fan. I've been one all my life, and I'm obviously a huge magical girls fan. So it's a project so near and dear to my heart because it's two things I love. It's inspired by Sailor Moon and other magical girls series, but also rappers that I grew up listening to. I listen to a lot of Lil’ Kim and Trina while I’m working on it, but also like City Girls and Meg, so it's been fun. The untitled YA mystery novel is about a young black detective looking for a missing princess. I’m interested in royalty, but I also love detective stuff and anything that centers mysteries, so that's kind of another side of me that I think a lot of people don't always see— although both of my main characters are Sailor Moon fans in the book, so it shows up either way. I'm excited to share a little bit more about my love for mysteries.

How do magical girls, specifically the characters in Sailor Moon, impact you on a day-to-day basis?

I feel like Usagi/Serena and I are like a chicken and egg situation where I don't know how much she has influenced who I am and how much, or how much I was just this person, which is why I gravitated so much to her as a character. If it's her influencing me, I think just being more of an optimistic person, someone who sees glass half full more than half empty. I tend to be a little more positive and truly believe in love and justice and friendship. I think about that a lot of times and it's just such a perfect mantra— everything should run on love and justice. 

If you could describe yourself in three characters, who would they be and why?

I would say Sailor Moon, because I love the fact that she's fearful, but she still meets her fears, and she also loves to nap and play video games, which are two things that I also love to do. I find her just really relatable. I'll also say Ginger from As Told by Ginger. I've always kind of been in this middle ground of not quite the coolest popular person, but not quite the least popular person; I like how she's a good representation of a middle ground person that was like, “I'm just here having a good time.” I think a lot of the issues she's dealing with, I related to a lot as a teenager. For a third character, I really like Alia from Miraculous Ladybug and Cat Noir, especially because I'm a former journalist. I think she's kind of quirky and fun, but also knows what's going down. Also, I think it's the mysteries, trying to uncover things. I really like her.

What are some of your favorite magical girl shows or manga? 

Obviously “Sailor Moon.” Also “Madoka Magica,” “Princess Tutu.” I'm enjoying “Magical Sisters Lulutto Lily” right now, they've been putting episodes on YouTube, so that's been really fun to watch. For underrated, there's one that's called “A Magical Girl Retires,” I found it really funny, just more relatable. Also “Pretty pretty please I don't wanna be a Magical Girl”; It's a new indie project, it's been really fun. “The Three Tomes,” which is a cute one inspired by Cardcaptor Sakura, and “Wheels and Roses,” by Pearl Low. I’ve been really enjoying all the indie stuff coming out. There's a comic by Alyssa Anderson, “Cosmyx the Time Witch”; that's been really fun to read as well.

Do you think that this community, this genre, is going to last for a while?

I definitely think so. If you would ask me that about ten years ago, I would be a little less optimistic, but now seeing all these indie projects pop up, seeing the resurgence of k-pop demon hunters— it's a magical girl film—I'm sure that will hopefully inspire other series to come up. All the people who grew up on magical girl series in the 90s and the early 2000s are now creating things. If we are inspired by what we saw when we were younger, we'll see a lot more things inspired by Magical Girls. We'll just be creating Magical Girls series like myself and some of the indie creators I mentioned, but also we're still seeing things come out of the studio.

Do you have any upcoming projects or events?

The magical girls festival! We have a lot of exciting things on the way. We'll be making some announcements soon. And you can start [Magical Beats] when it's out hopefully later this year. I'm excited about it, I think people are gonna really love it.