The Japanese animated series, Sailor Moon, may have ended in 1997, but Manga enthusiasts kept the cartoon series in their hearts and minds. The number of fans has increased years after the final episode of the series. A young Russian woman, who is a fan of the series’ protagonist, did a cosplay on ice in 2017. Dressed in the same costume as Sailor Moon and depicting the same innocence as the animé character, the young ice skater instantly became famous in Japan.
23-year-old Russian figure skater Evgenia Armanovna Medvedeva has participated in various ice skating competitions. She is a two-time Olympic silver medalist (2018 ladies’ singles, 2018 team event), and a two-time world champion (2016, 2017), among others. Earlier, she won the 2015 World Junior Championships, the 2014 Junior Grand Prix Final, and the 2015 Russian Junior Championships. Apart from being talented on the ice, the young woman likes Japanese animé and K-POP and is a huge fan of Sailor Moon.
Her love for the female warrior is so strong that Evgenia has accepted an invite to compete in a Japanese TV show, where she played air hockey and balanced on 1 leg. She was wearing the Sailor Moon attire, which she also wore during a performance on ice exhibitions for the last 2 years. In 2016, she also performed in a Japanese ice-skating show, “Dreams on Ice” wherein she has chosen the series’ theme, “Moonlight Densetsu”, as her skating music. Her performances as Sailor Moon never cease to amaze the audience!
Dressed in Sailor Moon’s tight-fitting suit with a mini skirt, her rendition of the female warrior with long, slender legs and an innocent face excited the Japanese audience. Incidentally, the manga series is very popular in Japan.
Evgenia’s dream came true when she met Naoko Takeuchi, the author of “Sailor Moon”, after her performance. The animé writer gave her an exclusive signed painting of her favorite character, Sailor Moon.
Although she has retired, 23-year-old Evgenia still performs during intermissions in skating competitions. She often shares photos of her various performances on Instagram. Wearing different ice-skating suits and candid performance shots, her gracefulness is evident in the photos that she shares. She has distinctive facial features and a slender figure which makes her performance as the manga heroine credible.
When she is not performing on the ice, Evgenia appears on magazine covers, attends banquets and parties, and goes out with her close friends. She also likes wearing clothes that bring out the glamour in her.
▼ Finally, here is Evgenia’s performance as Sailor Moon when she performed in Japan in 2016:
Watching Evgenia’s performance makes the audience feel as though she has come out of an animé series.
Images credits: © Evgenia Medvedevа @jmedvedevaj/Instagram
