Never let it be said that fans don’t have the work ethic of professionals. A team of more than 250 Sailor Moon fans have spent the last 10 months creating an epic animated love song to the beloved magical girl anime.
Moon Animate Make Up was formed last year on Tumblr with one goal: to re-create an entire episode of the original Sailor Moon using only fan-drawn animation. The project involves fans recreating Episode 38 of the show in one- to 10-second segments, each done in the artist’s own personal animation style.
Part of the charm of the project is that it clearly accepted artists of all talent and experience ranges, from beginners to industry pros. “I animated it in the style of Bob’s Burgers since I am a trainee animator on that show!” wrote artist Ashley Armstrong about her segment of the project two months ago. The effect of seeing so many disparate styles joined together is a bit jarring, but it also serves as a fantastic overview of just how talented the artists of fandom are.
The project also underscores how beloved Sailor Moon is, both in its original form and in its much-hailed return this year as a reboot series.
The Moon Animate project also seems to be loosely affiliated with another Tumblr-based animation project based on the popular Officer and Mr. Truffles Tumblr fanart meme. That project has proven much more controversial so far; perhaps the success of this crowdsourced animation project will ease the minds of Tumblr fans.
In case the troupe decides to issue more fan animations, you can follow Moon Animate on Facebook or Tumblr.
Screengrab via YouTube
