Welcome to Miss Dream’s second Moonie of the Month corner! We had to take one month off, but from here on out we hope to keep this corner appearing on schedule. Each month we’ll feature a creator in the Sailor Moon community – an artist, cosplayer, graphics editor, youtuber, fanfic writer, anyone making things for other Moonies to enjoy. We’ll give you a little bio on that person, link you to everywhere you can find their work, and do a mini interview.

This month’s Moonie is cosplayer Tanja!

All About Tanja

Tanja makes beautiful Sailor Moon costumes and lately has been focusing on Sera Myu. She’s created a series of super informative tutorials and resources so you too can make your own Myu-style fuku! She lives in the lovely and warm south of Germany and is a former architecture student who has become a serious architect in training by daylight, otaku by moonlight who loves cats, crafting, writing, photograph, and everything Japan. She also answers to “Baum-chan” aka “Little Tree.” Check her out on social media!

A Mini Interview with Tanja

1. How and when did you first discover Sailor Moon?
You can say I am an “old school” moonie from back in the 90s. I don’t actually remember the first time I ever watched an episode but chances are likely it was either at my grandparents’ or back at home after school, back in those days when the afternoon TV program here in Germany was actually worth watching. Doesn’t really matter too much though, because you can tell I obviously stuck around till now ;)

Regular, normal girls transforming into magical heroines fighting for love and justice, defeating demons while kicking ass? Yes, little me definitely fell for that show and its characters who grew so much to me during all these years (calling it decades sounds scary 0.0).

2. Who is your favorite SM character?
Easy answer! Michiru/Sailor Neptune and of course because you can’t keep those two separate, Haruka/Sailor Uranus as well. When it was just about the inner senshi during the first two seasons I liked Rei but ohhhh there suddenly was the third season little me was lost pretty much from start with those two. Michiru was elegant, somewhat grown up and there was this tragic mystery surrounding her that sometimes made her appear so distant to everyone else than Haruka. There was this connection between them, I neither ever questioned nor truly realized, but always deemed beautiful, deep and honest. Michiru grew to be my favorite character not only because I liked her, but also because we share some very similar character traits and hobbies. Just imagine how I felt when I discovered we even share the same birthday 0___0. The little 7 year old within me still feels terrible proud about this today ♥

3. What drew you to Sera Myu?
Growing up I never even imagined something like Sera Myu existed. Internet wasn’t much of a big thing back then, so I came very late to that party. My best friend told me about Sera Myu for the first time back in the late 2000s. I have no idea how she discovered it, but she send me the link to the old musicals and while at first the costumes were quite a lot to take in the songs stuck in my head. I think it was the first thing I ever watched in Japanese as well 0_0. While watching the different musicals I quickly came across Nao and Yuhka and I can tell you my HaruMichi heart was pleased ♥. It was just amazing to see those characters came to life on stage and the only thing I deeply regretted while I fell down that rabbit hole of backstage material, interviews and photos was, that I would never be able to see any of these shows live and with my own eyes T___T.
Well… that was before we had the myu reboot of course!

Naturally I was skeptical at first, but well it’s again my best friend’s fault that we traveled to Japan twice to see the shows (more than once I can tell you *cough*), watching Shuu and Sayaka preform so perfectly, meeting other myu fans from all over the world and cheering together at the cast after the shows. It’s an experience I wouldn’t have wanted to miss and hold dear in my heart. ♥

4. What’s your favorite costume that you’ve made so far?
The Super Sailor Neptune costume Sayaka got the wear in the new musicals! I always liked the Myu costumes (old and new) but I was pretty biased against them because they are sooo sparkly, and usually I don’t do sparkles and stuff at all. But this costume? I basically saw the promo pics and knew if I was about to make a myu costume this would be my choice!

And guess what? – I did!

But of course me being me I had to do it as stage accurate as possible (yes, I am an idiot sometimes I know). So with all the research, university and such things as life, it took me nearly 2 years until I actually completed my costume 0_0. It was worth it and it totally looks awesome, even though I still know some pieces I would tweak and change next time ^^°. I learned so much from this build and by now know so much about those costumes it’s crazy! So if you have any questions always feel free to send them to me or maybe check out my reference guide on tumblr. :) I can see myself tackling one of the myu costumes again in the future and I already know it would be Neptune’s regular uniform, but for now I will do some props and accessories ^-^

5. If you were a magical girl what would your superpower be?
omg… 0__0

Manipulating time, maybe? So I can get all the annoying stuff at work done super fast and have more time for the fun stuff ;) Seriously I need someone to invent a 48 hour day…

6. Besides cosplay, do you enjoy crafting or sewing any other types of projects?
Well, I studied architecture for several years and I am just now about to start being an architect in training, so you could say doing creative stuff is kind the thing I do for a living.

Crafting, Sewing, model making, photography… you name it. ♥ It can get exhausting if you have to finish stuff for university or work, but once that is over I all too soon find myself drawn back to my own projects. Guess I just have this need to create ^-^

Closing

“Thank you Miss Dream for having me around! ^-^
And thanks to everyone who stuck around till the end! I hope this didn’t get too long and boring ^^°
If you are curious about my work and projects feel free to check out my tumblr.
I’d be happy to provide some inspiration for fellow moonie projects! <3”

Definitely check out Tanja’s social media for more great cosplay pictures and resources! And if you want to be featured or know someone who you’d love to see featured in a future Moonie of the Month corner, contact us!