New Sailor Moon artwork and an interview with Naoko Takeuchi appear in Vogue Japan

New Sailor Moon illustration by Naoko Takeuchi in Vogue Japan

Because magazines come out in the future fans are now getting their hands on the January 2024 issue of Vogue Japan which features and interview with Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi as well as her latest illustration of Sailor Moon! That illustration, found on page 94, is included above. Here’s an image of the interview with Naoko Takeuchi which is found on page 93.

Naoko Takeuchi interview from Vogue Japan

If your Japanese is as bad as mine, you probably wonder what it says! Luckily Twitter user @leticia_cosmos has shared this translation video.

I’ve transcribed this translation below for reference. I’m not actually sure if that’s the entire interview or not. The text box on the top left doesn’t seem to be included.

Looking back, Takeuchi says that the women who appeared in the films and manga she liked were “lively and always on the move. I learned that standing still was not good.” When she began drawing “Sailor Moon,” she once again asked herself, “What kind of strength does a woman have?” She introduces by saying that “There are individual differences and there is no one answer that fits all”, she then shares her insight into the book Onna Daigaku Hyoron, a Neo-Confucian values manual to teach subordination to newly married women of the 18th century, written by Yukichi Fukuzawa, which she recently read because of her daughter’s school report. “In Japan and the rest of the world, women still have the same low status and lack of freedom that they had 200 years ago. When I watch the news every day, I think about how difficult it is to live as a woman on this planet. Society is so rigid that women are forced to become strong. If we ever put the complexities and superfluities of society into an equation, we would get a simple answer like a formula: Strength = Motherhood = Kindness.”, she suggests.

In the universe of the work that embodies Takeuchi’s wishes, the Sailor Guardians come together in solidarity and demonstrate their strength. “Women are at a disadvantage when they have to physically fight men or aliens. It would be better if they didn’t even have to fight, of course. I believe that women have some kind of magical power within them. To manifest this power you need spells and items. And the strength of prayer. Prayer extinguishes evil, I think that is ideal. I want to continue praying strongly. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately.”

A short passage of this interview was shared by Crunchyroll which upset some fans in the way it characterized women and girls as being weaker than men. In the context of the rest of the interview to me the quote doesn’t seem negative. Sailor Moon and her friends are powerful, but that doesn’t always mean kicking and punching their way to victory. By prefacing that “There are individual differences” a statement like women being, in this case on average, at a disadvantage when fighting men or aliens isn’t much different than saying something like men are taller than women, even though individual variation of course exists. We of course don’t yet know quite how strong aliens are but they are portrayed as being pretty powerful in the series. Its likely there are species of aliens that are both stronger and weaker than humans, much like the various animals on Earth. What do you think of the interview?

I had a bit of trouble tracking down a copy of the issue. I wanted to get myself a physical copy, which is for sale on sites like Amazon Japan, but I was not able to get a copy to ship to Canada when I tried. Opting instead for an eBook copy of the magazine, which wouldn’t need to be flown across the Pacific Ocean, I turned to the Rakuten Kobo store thanks to a tip from Twitter user @itsmoonrevenge. There is a Japanese listing for the issue. This magazine is not listed on the English Kobo store. Fear not! Fans outside of Japan can still buy e-books which are only available in Japan. I did something similar when I bought eBook versions of the colour versions of the Sailor Moon manga. At the time I used PayPal though this time I was able to use my own credit card. It took some messing around on the site and using a fake Japanese address but I was able to use my own credit card details to purchase the January issue of Vogue Japan and load it onto an app on my phone, which is where the screenshot of the interview comes from.

Who is the new Sailor Guardian that Naoko Takeuchi is working on?

Chanel artwork of Usagi, Chibiusa and Hotaru

Naoko Takeuchi seems to be working on the designs for a new Sailor Guardian! Could this mean another Sailor Moon project is coming?

Chanel artwork of Ami, Rei, Minako, Makoto, Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna

You may have seen the images of the Sailor Moon Chanel collaboration. This art, made by Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi, appeared in a Chanel catalogue titled Chanel Magazine 2023 Special Issue: 31 Rue Cambon Tokyo. What does that mean? 31 rue Cambon is in Paris, not Tokyo. It is the address of the Chanel Store there. This seems to be a piece of promotional material, which is not for sale, to advertise Chanel products to rich and trendy clients. Sadly I was not on the distribution list. There seems to have been an interview with Naoko Takeuchi related to this event which I believe appeared in the magazine but it may have been at an associated press event. Twitter user @chibi_rabbit posted a Tweet which says that when asked if she was working on anything new Naoko Takeuchi said she had an idea for a new guardian. Let the speculation commence!

What could this possibly mean? Naoko Takeuchi obviously created many Sailor Guardians over the course of the manga but it didn’t end there. She also created the designs for Princess Sailor Moon and Sailor Luna who appeared in the live action Sailor Moon series. Notice that Chibiusa has her mother’s Moon Stick in this artwork, while her mother has the longer version from the end of the Dark Kingdom arc of the manga. Maybe she’s thinking of an updated version of Sailor Chibi Moon who is herself the head of the Sailor Team along with the Sailor Quartet. Maybe it’s Sailor Artemis, a counterpart to Sailor Luna. It could be anything! The word Sailor isn’t included in the Tweet so it may not actually be a Sailor Guardian but instead someone like Tuxedo Mask. We also don’t know in what context she’s thinking of this. Does she just feel like drawing a new character or is this going to be tied to some sort of piece of narrative fiction, be it a new manga chapter or a continuation of Sailor Moon Crystal? We really don’t know but it doesn’t hurt to speculate!

Sailor Moon episode 5 - Mika and Shingo hypnotized by the Chanela

Speaking of Chanel! I never made the connection back in the day but it seems the perfume scented Chanela from episode 5 of the original Sailor Moon anime were almost certainly a reference to the Chanel Number 5 perfume scent.

Who do you think the new character could be? What sort of continuation of the Sailor Moon story do you want to see?

Source: Sailor Moon Official Site, @mikichi1979 on Twitter, @chibi_rabbit on Twitter, Sailor Moon Fan Network

The 3rd and 4th volumes of the Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition manga will be released digitally in Japan August 12th

Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition volume 3

After over two years since the first two volumes were released the 3rd and 4th volumes of the Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition manga will be released August 12th which is in two days but also tomorrow because it’s already tomorrow in Japan. This was announced on the official Sailor Moon site only a couple of days before the publishing date which is odd but also exactly what happened in June of 2020 when the first two volumes were announced and then quickly released. The Sailor Moon manga was originally drawn and released in black and white with only a few colour pages included at the start of each chapter. This new version has every page coloured. The first two volumes, already released, covered the Dark Kingdom story arc. Volumes 3 and 4 will cover the Black Moon story arc with Chibiusa and the Black Moon clan.

Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition volume 4

A few drawbacks to consider. This is a digital only Japanese release. I held off on getting the first two volumes a couple of years ago hoping for an eventual physical release but after all this time it looks like this isn’t likely to happen. It seems common for colour versions of popular Japanese manga to be released only digitally, likely due to the increased cost of printing colour pages, so this may indeed be all we’ll get. There also aren’t any English or other language version of this release. It’s certainly possible and English release comes out in the future, but nothing has yet been announced.

Purchasing these might pose a challenge. They are widely available through Japanese ebook retailers such as Amazon Japan (volume 3, volume 4) and Rakuten Kobo (volume 3, volume 4) however buying these digital versions may be restricted. I was not able to buy them from Amazon Japan however I later discovered this was likely just a browser issue and trying it in a different web browser worked fine.

Thanks to a tip from Twitter user @thesailorbook I learned that buying them from Rakuten Kobo would work. This still took a bit of effort as I needed to switch to the Japanese store. I wasn’t sure if using a credit card would work since I claimed my address was in Japan but I paid through PayPal and was able to get the first two volumes. I expect to be able to do the same for the next volumes when they’re released in a few days. I had the added challenge of not being able to install the Kobo reader on my Amazon device but I was ultimately able to install it through the Google Play store app which I had sideloaded onto my device some time ago.

Will you be getting these? What device will you be buying them on and what will you use to read them?

The long delayed Naoko Takeuchi Collection version of the manga is now out. Don’t buy it! It’s terrible.

Sailor Moon Manga Bunko Collection - Covers

Last week, May 3rd 2022, the first volume of the much anticipated Naoko Takeuchi Collection of the Sailor Moon manga was finally released. This new version has been delayed a number of times and fans have been excited to finally see it released for a while. They’re wrong to do so. You should not buy this. It’s not a good version of the manga. You should buy the Eternal Edition instead and if you have the Eternal Edition you should read that and just not buy this. It’s your choice of course! It’s your money. You are free to waste your money on a really bad release of the manga. I suggest you don’t. Fans keep asking if they really need to keep rebuying the Sailor Moon manga. Good news! You don’t have to this time!

Sailor Moon Manga Bunko Collection - Index - Black and White

So what is this version? The Naoko Takeuchi Collection is the equivalent to the Sailor Moon Bunko collection which was released in Japan starting in 2008. I bought all of these and they’re in every sense inferior to the Japanese Complete Editions which were comparable, though slightly smaller than, the English Eternal Editions. The Eternal Editions are great! Big pages with glossy white paper and all of the colour pages from Nakayoshi! The Naoko Takeuchi Collection is a smaller version printed on lower cost paper with black and white versions of those colour pages. Why would you buy this? Are you poor? That’s fine if you are. I have children so I know what it’s like not to have money. If you’re strapped for cash get the digital version of the Eternal Edition with colour pages. It costs about the same.

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition and Bunko Collection

Granted I haven’t bought this English version. Manga size and paper quality between Japanese and English releases can vary. Pictured above is the English Eternal Edition next to the Japanese Bunko Collection volume 1. The measurements on the Amazon listing for these books tell the same story. The height of this new release (Dimensions: ‎ 4.96 x 0.95 x 7.43 inches) is about the same as the width of the Eternal Edition (Dimensions: ‎ 7.11 x 0.7 x 10 inches). It’s small. The paper quality of the Japanese release is a cheap greyish newsprint type of paper. This may not be what you’re getting in the Naoko Takeuchi collection but you won’t be getting glossy white pages like with the Eternal Editions and you aren’t getting the colour pages from the original manga.

Update: It seems like one difference in this version is a newer translation. Many people expressed concern with the English translation from the Eternal Edition so the translation in this version may be something that some of you are interested in.

Don’t do it! Don’t buy! It’s not worth it! Save your money! Okay do you still want to buy them? All right then you can always buy and pre-order them using the Amazon links below which helps support the site.

Or better yet buy the not terrible Eternal Edition. You will be happy with that version. I certain have been.



The Sailor Moon manga is 30 years old!

Will Sailor Moon be this old when the new anime airs?

The Sailor Moon manga was first published in the pages of Nakayoshi on December 28th 1991. This was over 30 years ago. What does this mean for a franchise that still carries branding related to the 25th anniversary? Will new Sailor Moon Crystal be announced soon? I expect we may eventually be seeing updated “30th Anniversary” branding for the official Sailor Moon site and the brand in general. When this might occur isn’t evident. The “25th Anniversary Project” was announced in January of 2017. At that time they teased new episodes of Sailor Moon Crystal which eventually came out as Sailor Moon Crystal’s 3rd season. Prior to this the 20th anniversary event took place in July of 2012. It was at this event that Sailor Moon Crystal was originally announced. Based on this it seems likely that Sailor Moon’s official “30th Anniversary” would be celebrated in Japan in the year 2022, which is the year in which the Sailor Moon anime originally aired. The first episode of the series aired on Japanese television March 7th 1992. There’s more value for the franchise to expand the event beyond any since day to the entire year or, as we’ve seen, an ongoing five year long celebration.

Sailor Moon 25th Anniversary project

We are all anxious to hear confirmation of a Stars arc of Sailor Moon Crystal and I do hope this will be announced in the next few months. Considering that we are approaching ten years since the series was first announced and that we’ve had four story arcs over this decade, patience is certainly warranted. We deal in months and years, not days and weeks, when it comes to Sailor Moon Crystal news! It’s likely we’ll have the manga’s story wrapped up before the 35th anniversary at this pace, but I wouldn’t bet on much more than that!

Sailor Moon 20th anniversary logo

The next time you run into someone who’s under 30 just remember that when they were born Sailor Moon already existed.

Sailor Moon SuperS episode 133 - Chibiusa is an old lonely cat lady watching Sailor Moon

What’s your bet for when a new season will be announced and when we might see it? I’m thinking teased in January along with a 30th anniversary logo, confirmed at an event for Usagi’s birthday in the summer and released in 2023! This is just a guess on my part. Perhaps I’m being optimistic!

Here’s more information on the planned Sailor V anime series

Sailor Moon Volume Infinity art book - Sailor V characters

Earlier this week I posted about some newly unearthed images which appear to be art from the original planned Sailor V anime series which was ultimately retooled as the Sailor Moon anime we all known and love. I mentioned a few character names but wasn’t sure where those had come from. Twitter user @MinakoMoments posted a couple of images and their translations which are the source of a lot of the older information around about these. While these looked familiar I had obviously missed out on this information. These are from the Sailor Moon Volume Infinity art book, which is a very rare book showing a lot of images of characters from Sailor Moon drawn by other artists and people involved with the series. These images looked familiar to me because I have this book but as I don’t read Japanese I assumed these were simply early designs for Rei, Makoto and Ami. While this is technically true, these are actually Miyabi, Mamoru and Hikaru from the planned Sailor V anime!

Sailor Moon Volume Infinity art book - Sailor V information

Based on the resolution it looks like the Japanese originals from those pages in question come from the Three Lights dot net scans of the Infinity art book. The translation is attributed to a friend of the @MinakoMoments account’s poster @switchpoint. Some of the details from this image were mentioned in yesterday’s article but there’s a bit more here that we can dig into. While I fully realize this may be old news to many this was new to me so I’m sharing it here for the benefit of others who may not have known the specifics before. Close up photos were taken from my copy of the Infinity art book.

Sailor V Anime Concept Art - Amano Gurikazu

At the top of the page is Amano. He was the Umino lookalike from Codename Sailor V. Perhaps I’m saying this wrong. Umino looks like Amano much like Ami looks like Hikaru, not the other way around. Those characters came first and Sailor Moon’s characters came afterwards. It is mentioned that Amano looks handsome when he took his glasses off. In the Masquerade Dance Party chapter of the Sailor Moon manga when Princess D is found to be beautiful behind her googly glasses the girls speculate that Umino must similarly be handsome behind his. Amano seems to resemble Umino in this way as well!

Sailor V Anime Concept Art - Minako

Minako is presented more or less as she is in Codename Sailor V and Sailor Moon with some minor differences. She, along with a few others characters, is 15. Minako was only 13 at the start of Codename Sailor V while Usagi and the other girls are 14 at the start of the Sailor Moon manga and anime series. The plan seemed to have been to age them up a bit for this series. This would put them all in high school, which is something which doesn’t occur until the Dream Arc of the Sailor Moon manga and the Sailor Stars season of the anime. Note that the crescent moon on Minako’s forehead is upside down compared to what we see in Codename Sailor V and Sailor Moon. She looks like a member of the Black Moon clan! In her character description it’s mentioned that she has no specific ability besides her super powers, which is a big difference in this story as her friends do not actually transform. They use their worldly and otherworldly gifts to assist Sailor V. It says that Minako’s special skill is love! She really was the Usagi of this series. It seems that Minako was retooled as Usagi but then was herself brought back into the series as another character, so it’s no surprise that the two characters share some similarities.

Sailor V Anime Concept Art - Miyabi Yoronu

Next up is Miyabi Yoronu. In my previous article I called her a Rei like character but now I see that she’s had a real name all along! The image seen through the page I mentioned is in fact this image of Miyabi. She uses a scroll with Rei’s catchphrase “Akuryou Taisan”, an incantation used to exercise evil spirits. That Miyabi had supernatural powers that weren’t related to being a Sailor Guardian is an interesting explanation for why Rei has powers that seem to be completely unrelated to her being Sailor Mars. The character she was adapted from needed these powers because she didn’t actually transform!

Sailor V Anime Concept Art - Mamoru Chino

Mamoru Chino is not actually related to Mamoru Chiba in any way but by name. This character was clearly later adapted into Makoto Kino. This image of her smoking is why many people were mentioning that she smoked. She is 17, a full two years older than the other characters, and so she would not be in their class or grade though she would still be at their school as both 15 year olds and 17 year olds are high school aged in Japan. Mamoru is known for being strong, like Makoto, but is referenced as having “herculean strength”. Whether this means she truly had the superhuman strength of demi-god Hercules or not isn’t clear. Regardless she still has super powers! Mamoru has telekinesis, the ability to teleport and ESP (extra sensory perception). She also runs fast, which may simply be a side effect of her super strength. Surprised she doesn’t get out of breath what with her smoking. Surprisingly, Mamoru is associated with the planet Saturn and not Jupiter.

Sailor V Anime Concept Art - Hikaru Sorano

Next is Hikaru who is already a character in the Codename Sailor V manga. In this series she was to be the intelligent one which was the obvious inspiration for Ami. In the Sailor V manga Hikaru isn’t mentioned as being particularly brilliant. Though she physically resembles Ami her role was similar to Naru’s as she was simply Minako’s friend and classmate.

Sailor V Anime Concept Art - Human Female Artemis

So there were only four girls in this series instead of five? The fifth woman on this page is a female human Artemis! She is credited as “fifth beautiful girl” and is shown nude wearing a tiara adorned with Artemis’s crescent moon. What the exact plan was for this gender bending male cat who transformed into a a female human isn’t clear. Perhaps Artemis was meant to be female in this series? It is mentioned in the Codename Sailor V manga that Artemis is a woman’s name, though this seemed to be intended as a joke.

A Sailor V Manga Ad featuring Usagi as Sailor V with Artemis

One other odd piece is this ad for the Sailor V Manga where it appears that Usagi is the one dressed as Sailor V along with a white cat, presumably Artemis. This ad was published though by the time the manga it advertised was out, it was quite different than what was in the ad.

Sailor Moon Volume Infinity art book - Sailor V information

So what happened to this series? I believe it was incorrect for me to say that this series was abandoned or scrapped. It’s more accurate to say that Sailor V evolved into Sailor Moon. I’m not privy to all of the behind the scenes decisions but it seems like Codename Sailor V showed promise to be a series. The idea of a girl fighting crime alone was expanded into more of a group show, like we see with these characters who would have helped out Minako. This was in turn further expanded into the girl version of Super Sentai which was Sailor Moon. Minako become Usagi, Hikaru became Ami, Miyabi became Rei, Mamoru became Makoto and then the original Minako became the slightly different Minako. Many of the other elements don’t really map from one series to another. The Dark Agency is not terribly similar to the Dark Kingdom and there wasn’t a real equivalent to Mamoru in Sailor V, though surely some sort of love interest would have popped up eventually. It seems like Sailor Moon, the manga, was made with the intention of it being adapted into an anime series. The Sailor V anime concept was just a step on that path. Wouldn’t it be great if that series had been made? It kind of did, there were just a lot of changes in getting there. The Sailor V anime is like Star Trek with Captain Pike and Number One. Sailor Moon is what we got after the idea evolved a bit.

Sailor Moon Volume Infinity art book - Sailor V characters

Kazuko Tadano and Hiromi Matsushita from the Sailor Moon anime

Some images appear to be from a Sailor V anime that was almost made before Sailor Moon

Sailor V anime - Sailor V, Minako and Artemis

Some very interesting images surfaced online last week and started making the rounds in the Sailor Moon fan community yesterday, October 3rd. The earliest sign of these I could find were a series of Tweets from user @ayumikapimofu who posted a number of photos of a “new program plan” for both Sailor Moon and Sailor V. The Sailor V program appears to show details for a planned Sailor V anime based on the Codename Sailor V manga. This was in the works before that plan was abandoned in favour of a Sailor Moon anime which eventually became the show which was released in 1992. Along with the booklet featuring Naoko Takeuchi’s art are three colour images which appear to be from a Sailor V anime. These include characters from the Codename Sailor V manga as well as all new characters from this anime.

Sailor V Anime - Sailor V, Mamoru, a Rei clone and Hikaru

What’s in here is really interesting! We have Minako as Sailor V, obviously. Along with her were three girls who didn’t transform themselves, or aren’t shown to do so in these images. The one we know of is Hikaru, a girl who strongly resembles Ami from the Sailor V manga who is Minako’s friend and classmate. We also have a Makoto like character named Mamoru and a Rei like character to round out the group. Although there’s no Usagi equivalent, aside from Minako herself, this more or less resembles the group from the first season of the Sailor Moon anime. The villain seen in this is Ashura, a Jadeite looking character with blue hair. Ashura also resembles Higashi, the Dark Agency’s enemy from the first Sailor V story.

Sailor V anime - Ashura

I also spotted what looks to be the Rei type character seen through the page preceding the image of Hikaru. Messing around with the contrast it looks like she could have a crow on her shoulders. It’s also possible this is Natsuna Sakurada, the Superintendent General of the police who is obsessed with Sailor V. She has similar long black hair to Rei.

Sailor V Program - Is this Rei?

Are these authentic? It’s hard to say. These appear to have originated in a Yahoo! Auctions Japan listing which is no longer online. The art in the book looks like Naoko Takeuchi’s so those documents may be authentic but the colour images seem to be something else and their origin is not clear at all. These don’t look like some sort of concept art but rather high quality images from never before seen finished footage which I’ve never heard of, so this does strike me as a bit suspicious. Could there have been actual animation for this made and hidden for nearly 30 years? Perhaps these were just colour mock ups made in the style of what the finished animation might look like, even if no full scenes were animated. Alternatively a fan have made this art themselves inspired by the content of this booklet which is more or less a show Bible. The art style very much resembles that of an early 90s anime! I’m not able to make a definitive call one way or another. It seems plausible this is authentic, but that doesn’t mean it certainly is.

Sailor V Anime Program Plan - Index page

What’s next? Hopefully whoever buys this thing ends up scanning this or at least getting some better photos of it and then someone can do a good job of translating some of this text. If there’s more art where this came from I would love to see it but if it took nearly 30 years for this to surface new information about this series may be as elusive as the Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon pilot! I’ll be sure to post any more information about this if I get any!

Sources:

I first heard about this on the moonsisters.org Facebook page which includes some decent images.

The earliest images I found were posted on Twitter on September 25th. These included an image of “new program plans” for Sailor Moon and Sailor V, the first page of the Sailor V program, a manga image from RunRun, a colour image of Sailor V, Minako and Artemis, the group image of Sailor V, Mamoru, a Rei like character and Hikaru, an image of Ashura, Naoko Takeuchi’s illustration of Ashura, a photo of all three anime images, a post with many images including the Sailor V program index which hadn’t been posted separately.

Keep reading for more images from this book.

Continue reading

The first volume of the Codename: Sailor V Eternal Edition manga is out now

Codename: Sailor V Eternal Edition volume 1

The first of the two volumes of the Codename: Sailor V Eternal Edition manga was released today, September 28th. Following in the style of the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition manga which was published in 10 volumes from 2018 to 2020, this Sailor V manga has similar large high quality glossy pages. This release includes all of the colour pages which haven’t been published since the manga was originally serialized in RunRun from 1991 to 1997. The Sailor V manga, written by Sailor Moon creator Naoko Takeuchi, tells the story of Minako during her time as Sailor V which chronologically predates the story of the Sailor Moon manga. The first chapters were published before Sailor Moon, though the manga continued to be published until after the Sailor Moon manga had been completed. The story is quite interesting and at times includes story elements and characters who bear striking similarities to some that we see later in the Sailor Moon manga and in some cases adapted as ideas in the Sailor Moon anime.

Codename: Sailor V - Complete Edition Manga - Comparison with original manga

As with the Japanese Complete Edition releases, which were similar but slightly smaller equivalents to the English Eternal Editions, we have the same cover art. While the Sailor Moon Complete and Eternal Editions featured original art for the covers the Codename: Sailor V covers, originally released in Japan in 2014, use the same art from volumes 1 and 2 of the original Japanese manga releases. I don’t have my hands on this manga yet but you can see my post about the Japanese releases for a look at what those looked like. These really are the definitive versions that fans should be looking to collect. Forget about those Naoko Takeuchi Collection versions which keep getting delayed. Those are terrible. Waste of money. Spend a little more and get the Cadillac Eternal Edition manga. They are expensive but worth every penny.

The first volume is out today and the second will be available next month on October 21st. Feel free to support the site by ordering volume 1 or any volumes of the Sailor Moon manga and pre-ordering volume 2 using the links below.




Also please check out the very outdated Sailor V Page of Funk which I made back in 1998 when no English version of this manga existed. The first time I read this manga I had a printed translation of the script which I followed along with.

The Sailor Moon Naoko Takeuchi Collection, a pocket sized budget version of the manga, is coming in April

Sailor Moon Manga Bunko Collection - Covers

Fans may have noticed that a new version of the Sailor Moon Manga is coming starting April 13th. This version, published by Penguin Randomhouse, is being called the Naoko Takeuchi Collection, named after the Sailor Moon manga’s author. So what is this new version and should fans, many of whom have just bought the Eternal Editions, be looking to pick these up? Probably not! Read on to see why I don’t think this is worth your money.

The Sailor Moon Eternal Editions which were released over the past couple of years really were the ultimate version of the manga. These huge volumes were even bigger than the similar sets which were released in Japan. The pages were a high quality glossy white and all colour pages from the original issues of Nakayoshi were reproduced in these. The 10th and final volume was released last month and Code Name Sailor V will be released on April 27th 2021. You might have thought you were almost done shelling out your hard earned dollars on Sailor Moon manga until the news of these new versions dropped! So what exactly is the Naoko Takeuchi Collection all about?

Sailor Moon Manga Bunko Collection - Index - Black and White

The image on the Penguin Randomhouse web site is likely not the final cover art. What is actually pictured is the Japanese cover of the Sailor Moon Bunko Collection. These versions were released in Japan starting in September 2018, as we originally posted about on this site. Though we don’t have all of the specifics about these new versions it seems likely they will be similar to those. There are usually minor differences between the size and paper quality of Japanese and American versions of the comic, which may be the case with these versions.

As the Japanese versions were fairly inexpensive I bought the whole set. The books are fairly unimpressive. These are very small versions of the manga commonly called bunkobon or bunkoban in Japan. They are A6 size which means they are 4.1″ by 5.8″, smaller than any other versions of the Sailor Moon manga I own. Here is a size comparison photo of the Bunko Collection next to the English Eternal Edition which I took back when I got the first volume of the manga. As you can see this is tiny in comparison.

Sailor Moon Eternal Edition and Bunko Collection

The quality of the paper is also of a lower quality than the Eternal Editions. Instead of glossy white pages we have a simpler more affordable matte paper. Where the Eternal Editions included a large number of colour pages all of those are included in black and white in these versions. The price matches this, with an MSRP of only $12.99 US per book ($16.99 in Canada) these are quite a bit less expensive than the Eternal Edition, but is it really worth saving that money? If money really is the issue the digital versions of the manga, with colour pages, will cost less even than this budget version.

Sailor Moon Manga Bunko Collection - Inside jacket cover

So why are these called the Naoko Takeuchi Collection? A budget version of the manga is hardly fit to be named after a woman who names characters after precious gems and owns multiple sports cars! Instead these should be called the Ghetto Edition, Cheapskate Edition or Budget Edition, but such a name may not be as likely to make sales! Perhaps we could call them the “Mamoru After He’s Gone Shopping With Usagi Editions”!

In short I’m not sure who the audience is. I similarly wondered this about the Japanese version as I continued to order copies of it. If I were you I wouldn’t bother. Check out the Eternal Editions if you haven’t already! They are fantastic! They are expensive and although the price tag and Canadian prices have meant I haven’t bought them all yet I do plan on doing so. They are worth every penny! Feel free to support the site by buying the physical or digital versions from Amazon using the links below.



A fully colourized Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition manga is coming in a digital only format starting June 29th

Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition manga - Sample pages

Can you ever have enough copies of the Sailor Moon manga? Of course not! The latest iteration is a fully colourized version which will be available only as a digital download. After being spotted in a magazine it has now been officially announced on the official Sailor Moon web site. The good news is that the first two volumes will be released in a couple of days, on June 29th! The bad news is there is no current plan for a physical release of this version of the manga. It remains to be seen if we will be getting a printed version eventually.

Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition manga

The price of this version if fairly low at only 990 yen per volume. This works out to about $9.25 US. It isn’t clear if or when it might be released internationally. The big advantage of the digital versions which were released last year was that they were released in a number of languages and stores worldwide. While I certainly hope that’s eventually the case with this version, I’m not seeing them for sale in any particular stores outside of Japan at this time.

Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition manga - Vol. 1 cover

So what’s going on with this version? Sailor Moon was originally a black and white manga and this version has colour added. The original release of the Sailor Moon manga in the magazine Nakayoshi had a few colour pages at the start of each chapter. These were not included in all manga releases though all colour pages were in the latest release, the Eternal Edition of the manga. Oddly these colour pages are actually recoloured differently for this new version of the manga and while it isn’t clear why this is I suspect the aim was to have a consistent look throughout the new version which may not have worked seamlessly if the original colour pages were used.

Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition manga - Vol. 2 cover

It’s also worth noting that this colour version is not the same as the ones seen in the 20th Anniversary art exhibit a few years back. Check out this comparison on Twitter which shows slight differences.

Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition manga compared to the exhibit pages

Will you be checking out this release? Will you buy the Japanese version or hold out for an English release or perhaps a physical printed edition?

Sailor Moon All Color Complete Edition manga compared to the exhibit pages