Naoko Takeuchi

is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known as the author of ''Sailor Moon'', one of the most popular manga series of all time. She has won several awards, including the 1993 Kodansha Manga Award for ''Sailor Moon''.

Takeuchi is married to Yoshihiro Togashi, the author of ''YuYu Hakusho'' and ''Hunter × Hunter''.

Early life

Takeuchi was born in Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan to Kenji and Ikuko Takeuchi. She has a younger brother, Shingo. She gave the names of her relatives to the characters she created for ''Sailor Moon'', and mentions this in interviews and in several comic strips she produced, in place of author notes.

Takeuchi attended Kofu Ichi High School, where she wore a sailor uniform and joined the astronomy and manga clubs. These experiences influenced her work for ''Sailor Moon'', in addition to her other pieces, such as ''Love Call'' and ''Rain Kiss''. Her formative high school experiences influenced her trajectory to become a manga artist. Takeuchi's father encouraged her to pursue other career paths, in case she wouldn't find success as a professional artist, which is why she attended university to study chemistry.

Takeuchi graduated from the Kyoritsu College of Pharmacy, where she received a degree in chemistry and became a licensed pharmacist. Her senior thesis was called "Heightened Effects of Thrombolytic Actions Due to Ultrasound".

Career

1986–1997: Early work and success

After graduating from the Kyoritsu College of Pharmacy, at the age of 19, Takeuchi entered the manga industry by submitting her work ''Love Call'' to Kodansha; Takeuchi received Nakayoshi's New Artist award for ''Love Call''. She worked steadily on one-shot pieces until writing ''Maria'', which was published in ''Nakayoshi'' from early to mid-1990. This work, Takeuchi's first serial comic, was loosely based on Jean Webster's 1912 novel '' Daddy-Long-Legs'' and on her friend Marie Koizumi, who helped write it.

After completing ''Maria'', Takeuchi worked on the ice-skating series ''The Cherry Project'', which was serialized in ''Nakayoshi'' from late 1990 to 1991. While working on ''The Cherry Project'', Takeuchi wanted to do a manga on outer space and girl fighters. Her editor, Fumio Osano, asked her to put the fighters in sailor suits. This concept would later become a one-shot called '' Codename: Sailor V'', which would later begin serialization in ''RunRun''. When Toei Animation planned to adapt her manga into an anime series, she reworked ''Sailor V'' and added four other superheroines.

In December 1991, ''Nakayoshi'' began serializing ''Sailor Moon'', which became an instant hit. The success encouraged Takeuchi to work on both ''Sailor Moon'' and ''Sailor V'' from 1991 to 1997. However, ''RunRun'' was canceled with the November 1997 issue, and the planned ''Sailor V'' anime adaptation was canceled along with it. During that six-year period, she produced 60 chapters, which were collected in 18 volumes. The success of the manga led to a 200-episode anime adaptation, three animated films, numerous video games, and wide-ranging merchandising.

She had an interview with Silent Möbius creator, Kia Asamiya.

At the series' end, Takeuchi worked on ''PQ Angels'' for ''Nakayoshi''. This gained a fair amount of popularity, but was canceled due to Kodansha losing seven pages of her manuscript. Takeuchi said that Toei Animation had the manuscript, therefore it would have been possible to create an anime adaptation of the series.

Takeuchi's own studio is called "Princess Naoko Planning" (PNP). Takeuchi established PNP to manage her properties, mainly ''Sailor Moon''. The studio later encompassed Yoshihiro Togashi's work as well and appeared in the credits for such anime as '' Level E'' and ''Hunter × Hunter''. Its name also appears on the musical credits for ''Shin Kaguya Shima Densetsu'' and other projects.

1998–2009

Following the loss of seven pages of Takeuchi's ''PQ Angels'' manuscript, Osano departed Kodansha and the plans for the ''Materials Collection'' were canceled. Takeuchi departed Kodansha for Shueisha.

On August 13, 1998, Takeuchi made her first appearance in the United States at San Diego Comic-Con for three days. That same year, she published the first ''Sailor Moon'' artbook since her departure from Kodansha, ''Sailor Moon Infinity Collection Art Book'' with limited releases.

While working on her short comic strip ''Princess Naoko Takeuchi Back-to-Work Punch!!'', Takeuchi met Yoshihiro Togashi at a ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' meeting hosted by Kazushi Hagiwara, and had a meeting arranged between them by voice actress Megumi Ogata. She collaborated with Togashi as an assistant (doing screentone) and as a manager on volume 1 of ''Hunter × Hunter''. However, the work and the demands proved more than she had expected, and as a result, Takeuchi left Shueisha.

Around this time, Takeuchi conceived the idea for a one-shot called ''Toki☆Meka'', which eventually turned into ''Toki☆Meca''. Togashi had a similar idea at the same time as her, but never fully brought it to fruition. He helped somewhat with ''Toki☆Meka'' at this point in developing the idea by drawing some concept sketches, which Takeuchi showed in ''Toki☆Meca'' volume 1.

Togashi and Takeuchi married in 1999. From this marriage, the couple have two children: a son, born in January 2001, and a daughter, born in 2009.

After Kodansha's rights to ''Sailor Moon'' expired, Takeuchi returned to the publisher in 1999 to develop and publish the ''Materials Collection''. She also began serializing ''Love Witch'', but it was cancelled. Takeuchi started to work on the reprints of ''Sailor Moon'' and ''Sailor V'', and published ''Toki☆Meca'' in ''Nakayoshi''.

In 2003, Takeuchi became heavily involved in producing '' Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon'', a tokusatsu television series based on ''Sailor Moon'', as she had an interest in learning more about the anime industry. This culminated in the creation of ''Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon''. The series displays a plot that is heavily reliant on the manga and also explores many themes that the manga was unable to explore. She showed up at the official conference with a fist up, meaning "good luck", in Act Zero.

After the production of ''Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon'' ended in 2004, Takeuchi continued to work on ''Toki☆Meca''. During the manga's serialization, Osano returned as her editor. Takeuchi also worked more closely with managing PNP and gave talks to college students. At the same time, she wrote a children's book titled ''Oboo-nu- to Chiboo-nu-'' as a birthday present to her son. (Togashi provided illustrations for the book; Takeuchi made mention of this in the back of the first volume of ''Toki☆Meca''.) She still works on the website, updating it about once a month with new flash animations or profiles.

2010–2019

In 2012, it was announced that a new ''Sailor Moon'' anime adaptation was in development. With it, Takeuchi started a '' Kanzenban'' version of the manga, which was announced by Osano, and will include fixed past mistakes and new covers for the manga. Color pages are also included for the title pages. There was also an artbook announced, and she has been working on merchandise, which was announced by Osano on his Twitter feed.

The new reboot anime, '' Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal'', debuted in July 2014. It streamed on Niconico bi-weekly, and ended in July 2015, spanning a total of 26 episodes, which cover the ''Dark Kingdom'' and ''Black Moon'' arc of the manga. Takeuchi wrote the ending theme song, , under her penname, . The series eventually gained its 13-episode third season, ''Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal Season III'', covering the ''Infinity'' arc of the manga (known as ''Death Busters'' in Japan), and aired weekly on Japanese television from April to June 2016.

2020–present

In 2020, the two volumes of official of the ''Sailor Moon'' manga was released on June 29, with Takeuchi providing new illustrations for both covers.

In 2021, Takeuchi chief supervised the production of the two-part anime film, '' Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie'', which adapted the ''Dream'' arc of the manga (known as ''Dead Moon'' in Japan), and acted as a "fourth season" for the ''Sailor Moon Crystal'' series. Both films were released in 2021 in Japanese theaters, with the first film on January 8, and the second film on February 11. Takeuchi also provided the lyrics for the theme song, , under the name of "Sumire Shirobara".

In 2022, Takeuchi chief supervised the production of the sequel to ''Sailor Moon Eternal'', titled '' Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie''. The two-part film covered the ''Stars'' arc of the manga (known as ''Shadow Galactica'' in Japan), and acted as a "fifth and final season" for the ''Sailor Moon Crystal'' series. Both films were released in June 2023, with the first film on the 9th, and the second film on the 30th.

Works

Manga

Anime

''

Sailor Moon'' (1990s series)

'' Sailor Moon Crystal'' (2014 reboot series)

Illustrations

* ''Maria'' (ま·り·あ, Ma-ri-a) (novelization of Takeuchi's manga, with prose by Marie Koizumi), 1994
* ''Mermaid Panic'' (マーメイド・ぱにっく) Volumes 1–4 (written by Marie Koizumi), 1996-1997
* ''Atashi no Wagamama wo Kiite...'' (あたしのわがままを聞いて...) (written by Marie Koizumi), 1998
* ''Zettai, Kare w Ubatte Miseru!'' (絶対、彼を奪ってみせる!) (written by Marie Koizumi), 1998

Written books

* ''Oboo-nu- to Chiboo-nu-'' (illustrated by Yoshihiro Togashi)
** A children's book written for her son's birthday.

Song lyrics

Takeuchi wrote the lyrics for a number of songs featured in the ''Sailor Moon'' anime and live-action series. Though mainly character-based image songs, they include a few theme songs.

These include:

* ''Ai wo Shinjiteru'' ("Believe in Love") – image song for Sailor Moon
* ''Chikara wo Awasete'' ("Combining Power") – image song for Kō Taiki/Sailor Star Maker
* ''Futtemo Haretemo -come rain or come shine-'' ("Whether It Rains or Shines -Come Rain or Come Shine-") – image song for Usagi Tsukino ('' Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal'') (under the name of "Sumire Shirobara")
* ''Gekkō'' ("Moonbow") – ending theme of the first two seasons of ''Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal'' (under the name of "Sumire Shirobara")
* ''Ginga Ichi Mibun Chigai na Kataomoi'' ("Unrequited Love a Station Apart in the Galaxy") – image song for Kō Seiya/Sailor Star Fighter
* ''Honoo no Sogekimono'' ("Flame Sniper") – image song for Sailor Mars
* ''Initial U'' – image song for Sailor Uranus
* ''Katagoshi ni Kinsei'' ("Venus Over My Shoulder") – image song for Sailor Venus ('' Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon'')
* ''Kirari*SailorDream!'' ("Sparkling Sailor Dream!") – theme song of ''Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon''
* ''Luna!'' – image song for Luna
* ''Maboroshi no Ginzuisho'' ("Illusionary Silver Crystal") – insert song for the first season of ''Sailor Moon''
* ''Mayonaka Hitori'' ("Alone at Midnight") – image song for Kō Yaten/Sailor Star Healer
* '' Moon Color Chainon'' – theme song of '' Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie'' (under the name of "Sumire Shirobara")
* ''Nagareboshi He'' ("To the Shooting Star") - In-Universe song performed by the Sailor Starlights (''Sailor Moon Sailor Stars'' and '' Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie'')
* ''Over Rainbow Tour'' – image song for Sailor Moon (''Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon'')
* ''Princess Moon'' – second ending theme of the first season of ''Sailor Moon''
* ''"Rashiku" Ikimasho'' ("I'll Be As I Am") – second ending theme of '' Sailor Moon SuperS'' and ''Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Eternal The Movie''
* ''Route Venus'' – image song for Sailor Venus ('' Sailor Moon R'')
* '' Sailor Star Song'' – opening theme song of ''Sailor Moon Sailor Stars'' and second opening song of ''Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cosmos The Movie''
* ''Sērā Team no Theme'' ("Sailor Team's Theme") - insert song for ''Sailor Moon SuperS''
* ''Senshi no Omoi'' ("Feelings of a Soldier") – image song for Sailor Neptune
* ''Todokanu Omoi'' ("My Friend's Love") – song for Three Lights ( Sailor Starlights)
* ''We Believe You'' – image song for Sailor Jupiter

Awards

Takeuchi has won several awards, including the 2nd Nakayoshi Comic Prize for Newcomers for ''Yume ja Nai no Ne'' in 1985. She also won for "Love Call", which won Nakayoshi's New Artist award which debuted in the Nakayoshi Deluxe September 1986 issue. In 1993 she won the 17th Kodansha Manga Award for shōjo for ''Sailor Moon''.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Takeuchi, Naoko
1967 births
Japanese female comics artists
20th-century Japanese illustrators
21st-century Japanese illustrators
Japanese women illustrators
Japanese pharmacists
Japanese Shintoists
Living people
Women manga artists
Manga artists from Yamanashi Prefecture
Sailor Moon
Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo)
Women pharmacists
People from Kōfu, Yamanashi
Japanese television show creators