In this print, I connect queerness to magical girls. I first realized I was queer when I read Cardcaptor Sakura. In this manga, a character mentioned there was a woman who was in love with Sakura’s mom. I was surprised. It started me on the path of discovery that queer people can and do exist and that I too can exist as a queer and trans person. From that point on, I dove into the magical girl genre. Magical girls were my guide to friendships. I formed my sense of justice through how magical girls treated their friends and fought injustice. I once wanted to grow up to become a magical girl. I end up choosing to create a magical girl wand inspired by Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. They were both anime I grew up with that furthered my understanding of my queerness. Later, I decided to draw Sailor Moon as my deity/guardian angel in this print. She came to me in a dream. She has been a strong role model on what it looks like to move through the world focused on love and justice and like her my sense of justice comes from love. I have learned what it means to move from a place of love through her. I dedicate this print to my deceased friend, Natalie Nguyen. She was someone I’ve connected with through magical girls. She was into magical girls and loving other magical girls. She represented a possibility I didn’t know existed—that we can both exist as femmes who love each other and have a friendship that looks like ours. From her, I’ve learned how to keep on being unapologetically femme. Yet while I relate to magical girls and grew up with them, I don’t now identify as one nor as a magical boy. Instead I feel like I never saw myself as a magical girl until I found Steven Universe. This series features a group of characters called the Crystal Gems, who protect the earth with their magical powers. They are like magical girls. I have learned from Natalie how to be an unapologetically nonbinary femme Crystal Gem.