ABOUT NAOKO TAKEUCHI

Ms. Takeuchi is the woman who wrote the original Sailor Moon comic books, starting in 1992. Ms. Takeuchi's general idea was to make a 'Power Rangers' type series but for girls. The series was first published in Japan in comic magazines aimed at pre-teen girls.

Ms. Takeuchi's first sailor-suited superhero was actually Sailor V. The sailor-suit costume was suggested to her by her editor, based on the girl's school uniforms that are common in Japan. Later, Ms. Takeuchi expanded the Sailor V idea to a whole team of girls who would fight evil. The Sailor V character was later introduced into the Sailor Moon series and became Sailor Venus.

Naoko Takeuchi was born in 1967. She has a science degree and worked as a pharmacist (or chemist?) before becoming successful in the world of manga (Japanese comics). She married manga artist Yoshihiro Togashi, (author of Yu Yu Hakusho) in 1998.

An interesting story I heard was that Ms. Takeuchi lent her celebrity status to help raise funds for victims of the Kobe earthquake. Tickets were sold by auction for an event where Ms. Takeuchi drew a caricature of each person and used them as models for minor or background characters in one of her comic books.

In a 1992 interview, Naoko Takeuchi was asked who her favourite character was. She replied somewhat bashfully that it was Tuxedo Mask, because she likes a man who looks good in a tuxedo! In another interview, Ms. Takeuchi said that Usagi (Sailor Moon) is the character most like herself, and Haruka (Sailor Uranus) the character least like herself.

If you would like to know more about Ms. Takeuchi's work, I recommend Alex Glover's The Manga of Takeuchi Naoko web page. You can also find some information about Ms. Takeuchi on the Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Encyclopedia and Save Our Sailors web pages and if you can read Japanese, on the Naoko Takeuchi Official web page.

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