I'd argue it's more than 25 years. Anime started to enter the mainstream with Space Battleship Yamato ( AKA Star Blazers) in 1978; got pretty popular during the Run of Robotech (SDF Macross) in 1984, got a lot of notoriety with Project A-ko in 1986. And got a lot of notoriety in the US ( and you saw companies being formed to properly subtitle and dub various Anime and release Manga in the US with the feature film Akira in 1988.
There was also Sailor Moon (1988).
She was the inspiration behind Charmed, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was one of the first female heroes to have adventures and fight the powers of darkness by herself (Prior to Sailor Moon, women were mostly appendages to the guys).
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