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lead=yes 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.
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".
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 , 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. :"Run-Run, the magazine she was serialized in, went belly-up. The OVA they planned to put out never came out. She met a harsh fate. It's enough to make one sick. Minako: Where did Run-Run go? When is my video coming out?" 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.
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.Kappa Magazine #62, translated by Mina Kaye. Kia Asamiya interviewed Naoko Takeuchi. Naoko Takeuchi expressed an interest in coloring for Asamiya. 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.
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.The first 26 episodes were dubbed "Seasons I & II" during the Japanese television broadcast of the updated Blu-ray versions in April 2015. Takeuchi wrote the ending theme song, Gekkō, under her Pseudonym, Shirobara Sumire. 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.
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, Tsukiiro Chainon, 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.
| Chokorēto Kurisumasu | 1987–1988 | A story about a girl who falls in love with a Disc jockey over Christmas. It appeared collected into a single tankōbon volume. |
| Ma-ri-a | 1989–1990 | A story, co-written with her friend, Marie Koizumi, loosely based on the book Daddy-Long-Legs by Jean Webster. She released a pocket edition of the book in 1994. |
| Za Cherī Purojekuto | 1990–1991 | A figure skating-themed manga, involving the young skater Cherry's quests to become a professional skater and win the heart of a boy. The series was released by Kodansha in three collected volumes between 1991 and 1992. One of its characters, Haruna Sakurada, also appears in Sailor Moon. |
| Kōdonēmu wa Sērā Bui | 1991–1997 | This series follows the adventures of costumed "magical girl" Sailor V. It directly preceded (and became something of a prototype for) Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon, introducing Sailor Venus, alias "Sailor V", who would become a significant character in the latter series. Initially starting as a one-shot in 1991, Takeuchi would later make Sailor V a serialized manga series that ran concurrently with Sailor Moon. Takeuchi concluded the series after she had already finished Sailor Moon; Sailor V featured an ending that tied the two series together. Originally released in three volumes, Codename: Sailor V was re-released in 2004 in a deluxe, two-volume "Renewal Edition" (新装版 shinzōban) format. In 2014, Codename: Sailor V was published in a two-volume "Eternal Edition" (完全版 kanzenban). |
| Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn | 1991–1997 | Known to international audiences simply as Sailor Moon, this manga became Naoko Takeuchi's most famous work and spawned two anime, several films, stage musicals, a live-action television series, and video games of various genres. A fusion of styles between the magical girl and sentai genres, Sailor Moon tells the story of Usagi Tsukino, a girl who one day discovers her identity as the reincarnation of a celestial heroine who fights for love and justice. This series was largely responsible for the late-1990s resurgence of "magical girl" anime and manga. The series was originally released in eighteen volumes, but was re-released in 2003 and 2004 in a deluxe, twelve-volume "Renewal Edition" (新装版 shinzōban) format, with two supplementary volumes containing side stories to the main work. In 2013, the chapters were once again re-released in ten "Eternal Edition" (完全版 kanzenban) volumes to commemorate the manga's twentieth anniversary, which includes digitally remastered artwork, new covers and color artwork from its Nakayoshi run. Characters from her previous work, Codename Sailor V, return in this one. |
| Misu Rein | 1993 | A collection of five short manga, including the title work. |
| Purizumu Taimu | 1996–1997 | A collection of one-shot stories, from early works to those from the late 1990s. It is available in two volumes, released in 1995 and 1997, respectively. |
| PQ Enjerusu | 1997 | Features two alien girls with the ability to turn into , who are searching for their princess. The series was a complete disaster for Takeuchi: it was discontinued abruptly after only four chapters, and Kodansha lost the proofs of the portion that had been written. It has therefore only appeared in its original serialization, from September to December 1997. |
| Princess Naoko Takeuchi's Return-to-Society Punch!! | 1998–2004 | A collection of short strips, detailing what Takeuchi did after Sailor Moon. It ran for a number of years under a changing title, giving details about her post- Sailor Moon slump and recovery, as well as her meeting, marrying, and starting a family with fellow manga creator Yoshihiro Togashi. The comic ran in Shueisha's Young You, rather than a Kodansha publication, and has not been collected since its original serialization. There are similar "____ Punch!" comic strips in the same format at the end of some of the Sailor Moon "Renewal Edition" volumes. |
| Toki☆Meka! | 2001 | A one-shot story about a robot (Mecha), her creator, and their adventures. |
| Rabu Witchi | 2002 | A story where a girl receives a perfume bottle and becomes a witch, but with a heavy price. It ran in Nakayoshi from April to June 2002, with a side story, "Sister Witch", in September 2002. It was discontinued after three chapters with no explanation. It has yet to be reprinted in any sort of compilation. |
| Toki☆Meca! | 2005–2006 | A serialized version of the original one-shot, which began after the completion of the Sailor Moon and Sailor V re-releases. The first portion ran from the January to April 2005 issues of Nakayoshi, after which the author went on hiatus, promising that she would return to the series later. The second phase of the series started in November 2005. One collected volume, released in August 2005, has been published thus far. The serialization officially ended in May 2006. This makes Toki☆Meca! the first series that Takeuchi has completed since Sailor Moon and Codename: Sailor V. |
| Adapted Dark Kingdom arc 46 episodes |
| Adapted Black Moon arc 43 episodes |
| Adapted Infinity arc 38 episodes |
| Adapted Princess Kaguya's Lover side story |
| Adapted Dream arc 39 episodes |
| Adapted Stars arc 34 episodes |
| Adapted Dark Kingdom arc 14 episodes |
| Adapted Black Moon arc 12 episodes |
| Adapted Infinity arc 13 episodes |
| Adapted Dream arc |
| Adapted Stars arc |
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