Naoko Takeuchi
Naoko Takeuchi began writing manga in high school, and at the age of 19
she won the Kodansha New Manga Artist award with her manga romance Love
Call. She followed this with Chocolate Christmas, Wink Rain, Maria, Miss
Rain and The Cherry Project, before hitting it big with Codename wa Sailor V
in 1991. A 2-volume collection of short stories called Prism Time was
published after Sailor Moon. From 1992 to 1997, BSSM appeared monthly in the
Japanese girls' manga magazine Nakayoshi. The monthly installments were
periodically collected into a total of 18 volumes. The tankoubon included
bonus side stories (4 chapters of ChibiUsa's Picture Diary, the 3 Exam
Battles, Casablanca Memory, and The Lover of Princess Kaguya) that had been
previously published in Run-Run and Nakayoshi. Three volumes of Codename wa
Sailor V were also collected as that series continued to run at the same
time as Sailor Moon, but in the magazine Run-Run.
Five illustrations collections (artbooks) were released which collected
the original color illustrations of each year drawn by Naoko for each
chapter, supplements, Nakayoshi covers, etc. The artbooks also include new
art. Each year of the manga has a corresponding artbook, the fifth being
released a few months after the last chapter of Sailor Moon was published in
March 1997. There are no artbooks for Sailor V. Following the completing of
Sailor Moon and Sailor V, Naoko self-published her own doujinshi (fan manga)
called The Original Art Collection of Sailor Moon: Volume Infinity, a
personal collection by herself and her friends reflecting their individual
visions of Sailor Moon. This softcover fan book was printed in very small
numbers and distributed only in Japan. As is typical of doujinshi, this
Original Art Collection of Sailor Moon: Volume Infinity was printed in very
small numbers and cannot be purchased in stores. In 1999 a memorial sketch
book called the Sailor Moon Materials Collection was released. This is a
collection of sketches and profiles of all the characters used in creating
the manga. It also features a new short manga story and some very lovely
original illustrations.
After Sailor Moon
Two collected volumes called Prism Time were published after Sailor Moon,
containing her previously uncollected stories, from the debut Love Call
through to her first work after the completion of Sailor Moon. A cute new
series called PQ Angels ran in Nakayoshi from September to December 1997
(four chapters) but was never continued due to her leaving her publisher,
Kodansha. Starting in the December 1998 issue of Young You, she wrote four
rounds of an autobiographical manga or "private essay comic" called Princess
Takeuchi Naoko's Return-to-Society Punch!! detailing her day-to-day life,
her upcoming wedding, and the release of the long-awaited Sailor Moon
Materials Collection. In January of 1999 she married the manga artist
Togashi Yoshihiro, author of Yuu Yuu Hakusho. Following the birth of their
son, she returned to Nakayoshi with a new one-shot manga special in the
September 2001 issue, entitled Toki*Meka. Naoko currently appears very busy
publishing the new manga editions of Sailor Moon, with beautiful new covers
and updated materials. There is also a live action TV series debuting in
October 2003 which features costumes based on her manga designs. She
regularly updates her official web site with news about these developments,
in her personal section called Princess Room.
Research by Queenserenity29