In some ways, Sailor Moon is a strange choice for a character to build an anime franchise around. Her natural tendency is to be lazy and whiney, which isn’t exactly what you’d expect from a magical heroine.
But what endears Sailor Moon to so many fans is that, when the chips are down, she’s loyal and brave. Whether you’re being attacked by monsters or just feeling down in the dumps about bombing your math test, she’ll be with you through any rough times.
That’s a promise that even extends to when you’re on your period, thanks to new Sailor Moon menstrual pads. No, seriously.
Sailor Moon is entering this new frontier in her celebrity endorsement career through a tie-up with feminine hygiene product maker Elis. This fall, a limited number of packs of Elis’ Ultra Guard Super Absorbent and Ultra Guard Secure Until Morning winged pads will feature the anime’s five Inner Senshi: Sailors Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus.
Aside from featuring the cast on their outer packaging, each pad inside is individually enclosed in Sailor Moon-themed wrapping.
Choosing which pack to grab off the shelf isn’t as easy as just picking your favorite character, though, as the different designs denote different quantities. In the case of the Secure Until Morning packs shown above, the Jupiter and Venus version contains 16 pads, the Sailor Moon and Luna variant 14, and the Mercury and Mars one 12. Likewise, the Super Absorbent version comes in packs of 26, 21, and 16.
But it’s not just the quantities that are different, but the absorbency of the pads themselves. Elis says the Jupiter and Venus set is for normal use, Sailor Moon for heavy flow, and Mercury and Mars for heavier still.
We’re not sure if that counts as clever product differentiation or perhaps the oddest bit of anime character trivia ever.
Either way, after doing battle with such powerful villains as Queen Beryl, Wiseman, and Sailor Galaxia, we think the Sailor Senshi are up to the task of their new challenge. The Sailor Moon Elis pads go on sale at drug stores across Japan on November 1. They’ll only be available for a limited time, so act quick if you’re a physically mature women who loves anime, or perhaps a male Sailor Moon fan with especially sweaty feet.
Source, images: Sailor Moon Official Website, Elis