01/09/01
The Sailor Moon cartoon is popular now with young girls, and being the skeptic that I am, I began to look into the set of characters. They are named Sailor Moon, Sailor Venus, Sailor Mars, and so forth. They are female characters and are drawn in the Japanese anime style. The advertisement that I saw for the Sailor Moon action figures was obviously aimed at young girls from age five to twelve.
I found information on Sailor Moon on the Internet. The story goes something like this:
The Moon Kingdom was ruled by the queen Serenity and her daughter Serena. This Moon Kingdom is said to be only in ruins now since a great battle destroyed it long ago.
It turns out that the Moon Kingdom and royalty thereof derived their power from an "Imperium Silver Crystal." The battle, it seems, was over the crystal itself. The royal family of the Moon Kingdom was sworn to defend the crystal at all costs from an empire that was described as "pure evil." However, it cost them everything. The queen then utilized the crystal magic to allow her daughter (Serena) and her court to be reborn (reincarnated) on earth. The only stipulation to this was that should evil ever arise again, Serena and the other courtiers would "awaken" as the Sailor warriors.
Then in the 20th century, Serena, a middle-school aged girl, becomes aware of the evil that she and the other Sailors must battle.
My observations are as follows: Sailor Moon seems to be a typical New Age cartoon. It features many of the typical New Age topics. First the presence of a magic crystal, then the emphasis on planets—both seem to be a recurring theme in New Age influenced literature. Secondly, the generalized "evil" that must be battled.
The idea of a crystal containing magic power seems to be an ancient idea. That idea, however, has incredible enduring power. Mystics today claim that crystals bring health, happiness, love, and even wealth. Even people who do not consider themselves mystics observe the lore about crystals.
Scientifically speaking, some crystals do posses peculiar powers—they resonate. This is the same phenomenon as when you sing in the shower. The characteristics of the hard walls resonate your voice to seem bigger than it is. Crystals resonate energy exerted on them. For instance, a cesium crystal is used to keep the atomic clock accurate. An electronic current is introduced to the crystal. When this happens, the crystal will vibrate at a known and constant rate. Other crystals will appear to light up in ultraviolet light. However, there is no evidence that the vibrations have any effect on the human health or psyche. For more information on crystals, see chapter 8 of my book The Millennium Agenda.
Now the idea of evil. I am always perplexed by the idea that a "pure evil" can exist and that humans (or humanoids) can battle it and win. In the first place, if there is a pure evil, then shouldn’t there be a pure good? Pure good is never mentioned in these situations. Secondly, the idea that humans can battle and defeat evil on any level removes the need for a God. If mankind is thoroughly able to solve all of mankind’s problems then why do we need a Savior or a God?
This mentality pervades most, if not all, superhero cartoons. The authors of this material may not have an overt New Age agenda in mind when writing; however, creating a situation such as the presence of evil in a totally secularized setting automatically pushes aside man’s need for a God.
The upcoming generation will be totally convinced that they can handle and solve any problem on earth, even the direct head-on attack of Satan without the help of God. What is the best position to be in before a battle, than when your opponent is clearly overconfident. Can you imagine that Satan is positioning our youth to believe that they do not need God to stand against even the devil?
We are told that the antichrist will appear, as it were, as a superhero. He will seem to have super human intellect, charm, and strength. We all love the superhero: Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Captain America, the Green Hornet, and so on. The superhero always protects the innocent and fights evil. How quickly will we follow the antichrist because of our love of the superhero? How quickly will our children follow him because they see us do so?