Yale’s latest campus quasi-celebrity is Samuel Yu GRD ’28, a third-year Ph.D. student in Mechanical Engineering originally from China. His unlikely fame comes from a question he asked a few weeks ago during Ben Shapiro’s Oct. 7 talk at Yale: “Do you think [Sailor Moon] promotes homosexuality and transgenderism?”

I sat down with Samuel a couple weeks ago to uncover the story behind this viral moment. He told me he’d originally heard about the talk through the News’ mailing list, and he and his labmates — all fans of Shapiro — decided to go together. Samuel ended up being the first person to enter the lecture hall, and took his seat almost two hours before the event began. 

Samuel’s first two questions — whether Shakespeare was an antisemite, and whether the tale of Robin Hood promotes socialism — prompted laughs and scattered applause. But nothing could have prepared me for his last question about queer identity in “Sailor Moon,” which has now been viewed by over half a million people on Ben Shapiro’s official YouTube account. 

I unfortunately wasn’t familiar with the topic Samuel was asking about, so he gave me a quick rundown. 

“In the later seasons of ‘Sailor Moon,’ there were Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. The English version said they were cousins, but no: it’s obvious they’re a lesbian couple,” he told me. “And then in the very last season, there was this trio that was male in civilian form, but when they transform, they’re females. It felt like transgenderism.”

It’s actually pretty controversial. Back in the 1990s, the show was reworked for American TV because of executives’ opposition to portraying lesbian characters in an animated show. Other characters across the LGBTQ spectrum were similarly altered for the English version. 

Samuel told me his question was half-satirical, half-serious; intended to provide a break from the stifling atmosphere at the event and shed some light on the underestimated cultural relevance of anime. His genuine, well-meaning curiosity was a refreshing break from the slew of questions that seemed to all begin with “Hey Ben, I’m a big fan.” It was easily the most memorable part, too — it’s been a while since I’ve laughed so hard. It was nice to have a lighthearted departure from an otherwise bleak topic. 

If I came away from the talk having gained nothing else, at least I now have a fond memory and an appreciation for the unifying power of “Sailor Moon,” thanks to Samuel. A top YouTube comment sums up my impression of him pretty well: “This kid has heart and was completely serious <3.”