'Sailor Moon' Getting Indigenous Dub

Sailor Moon, is getting a special dub in an indiginous language, along with a number of other animated series.

Sailor Moon is one of the most popular anime series to reach an international audience outside of Japan. Its English-language dub was ubiquitous for millenials, who watched it on a constant rotating basis growing up. Now, according to a report by CBC, one fan from an indiginous nation in North America is trying to get the show dubbed into his language as well.

That fan is 18-year-old Westin Sutherland, who has already recorded audio for some Sailor Moon episodes in Anishinaabemowin and Cree. These are reportedly the languages spoken by the Ojibwe people of the Peguis First Nation in Manitoba, where Sutherland lives.

"Big cultures and languages can easily find programming, books, everything in their language," Sutherland explained to reporters from CBC. "For my own people, I've noticed there's really nothing and I like the sound of my language; hearing that sound, hearing it spoken in everyday life, hearing it spoken in unique situations."

To Sutherland, the answer to this issue was simple -- put some of his favorite media into the Anishinaabemowin language. He said that his project has helped him gain a more conversational mastery of the language, first and foremost, but he also hopes that it will serve future generations as they try and pick it up.

Sutherland is not working alone, either he reportedly has the consent of the Anishinaabe Elders, who are double-checking his scripts and recordings for accuracy. Voice actors from the community are coming together to read Sutherland's scripts, at which point he mixes the audio himself and cuts it into the cartoons he loves.

In addition to Sailor Moon, Sutherland has recorded audio for Spongebob Squarepants and The Proud Family. He hopes to continue expanding his catalogue, and wants others to do the same. this way, he thinks young indiginous people will not just learn their languages on an academic basis, but actually "gain confidence" in speaking it routinely.

"I think it will help our language and help our people gain confidence in our language," he said.

There are more than 70 indigenous languages among Canda's First Nations, with an estimated 250,000 speakers. Even more dialects and languages exist among the United States' Native American tribes. Sutherland hopes that making these languages ubiquitous in pop culture like cartoons and anime will eventually help them to thrive.