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.

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Also please check out the very outdated Sailor V Page of Funk which I made back in 1998 when no English version of this manga existed.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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

Great news for Sailor Moon fans who hate paper, or don’t have a lot of paper in the form of money, the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition manga is now available digitally through a large number of ebook retailers in English and in nine other languages. This was announced as part of Usagi’s Birthday event on June 30th and the digital versions have been available since July 1st. Details can be found on the Japanese site, which includes 30 page previews in all languages, or the Kodansha site which includes links to all US distributors. Options for English fans in the US include Amazon Kindle (which includes comiXology) for $7.67 per book (all prices in US dollars), comiXology for $13.77 per book, Book Walker for $12.47 per book, Google Play for $9.99 per book, Apple Books for $9.99 per book and Kobo for $11.19 per book.

Using the links above you can order the Amazon Kindle version. The adds show the price as $13.99 but after clicking on them it shows up as $7.67 for now. The page mentions that this also includes a comiXology version, though I’m not familiar with how that service works. This does seems to be the best price of all of the versions. Since both Kindle and comiXology have apps which run on modern phones and tablets, this should be a good option for many fans, though those who have libraries on other services may find it’s worth an extra few dollars to purchase it from another retailer. Whatever option one might chose, this digital version is a fraction of the price of the fairly expensive print versions of the large size Eternal Edition of the manga.

One advantage of the digital version is that without the crease of a physical book you’ll be able to see all details of two page spreads! What are the differences and advantages of one platform over another? I can’t say I’m familiar enough with either to have a preference. While I have a functional and recent iPhone I only have a very old hand me down iPad which doesn’t run newer versions of apps so I don’t think this is something I will be getting, what with the countless paper versions of the manga I own. I’d be curious to see what this site’s users are deciding to use, if any. Let us know in the comments!

We’ve got our first look at Viz’s upcoming home video release of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars which is coming to DVD and Blu-Ray later this year. It was previously announced that this set would be out in the Spring, but we have not received any specifics about a release date beyond this. The box art features Eternal Sailor Moon with her Eternal Tiare. This was shared in an article on the Kodansha Comics web site discussing Sailor Moon. It is mentioned that the first 17 episodes of the season will be included in this first set which will also contain behind the scenes interviews. This is the English release by Viz which will include the first ever English dub of Sailor Moon Sailor Stars as well as Japanese audio with English subtitles.

The article includes a humourous interview with Sailor Moon editor Fumio Osano, commonly referred to as Osabu, in which he seems to suggest that North American readers may be interested in the Eternal Editions of the manga because of their large hands. Perhaps he has been baffled by the size of American comics since seeing an Xbox controller years ago! He also discusses his involvement with the manga over the years and more specifically his work as it relates to the North American audience.

Source: @fredjfrancis on Twitter

The Eternal Editions of the manga which are mentioned really do look great. They feature new translations, larger glossier pages and all colour pages which originally appeared in Nakayoshi. Order the first two volumes and pre-order others using the links below:

Though Sailor Moon Sailor Stars is not yet available to pre-order you can support the site by buying previous releases using the links below:

As a new even bigger version of the Sailor Moon manga, the Eternal Edition, is being released in English tomorrow an even smaller version will soon be released in Japan! Japanese readers will be getting a Bunkobon version of the Sailor Moon manga which is a smaller and cheaper version of the manga. At only 842 yen, about $7.50 US, this is about half the price of the Complete Editions which were released a few years ago. These are Bunkobon or Bunkoban Editions which are a size which is referred to in Japan as A6, which is roughly 4.13″ x 5.83″. In contrast the new Eternal Editions which are coming out in North America are even bigger than the large Complete Edition Japanese versions and measure a whopping 7.1″ x 9.98″, a bit smaller than a standard 8.5″ x 11″ letter sheet of paper. This is almost double the height and width of the new Bunkobon Japanese versions and roughly 3 times the surface area! Of course the larger English version is also over three times the cost so you really do get what you’re paying for! The Japanese Complete Editions were A5 size which is between the two at 5.83″ × 8.27″. Check out this Tweet by @thesailorbook to see the difference between the new English version and the Japanese Complete Edition. The Bunkobon Edition is not included in this size comparison.

The first two volumes of the Bunkobon editions will be released on September 28th. The covers are similar to the Complete Editions and Eternal Editions showing art of Sailor Moon on volume 1 and Sailor Mercury on volume 2. Both volumes 1 and 2 are available for pre-order from Amazon Japan. If you’re more interested in buying an English version, with high quality paper and some colour pages, you can order those using the Amazon.com links below. Only volume 1 is released on September 11th while volume 2 won’t be out until November 13th with later volumes coming out in 2019. Since there were delays with volume 1 coming out there may be more delays to that schedule.

Will you be picking either of these up? How many versions of the Sailor Moon manga are you up to now? I think I’ll be up to 9 if I get both of these but I’m starting to lose count. My Sailor Moon books are still in boxes as I’m moving into my new place.

The Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Manga was supposed to be out next week, on January 30th, but unfortunately it looks like it’s been delayed until April 24th! Listings on Amazon have been updated to reflect this new date as have the description of the first volume on the publishers Kodansha and Penguin Radom House’s web sites. No explanation has been given as to why there is a delay but some have speculated that it might be because they are waiting to get the best possible translation.

The bilingual Japanese/English version was released in Japan already. It remains to be seen if that updated translation is likely to be the one used for this Eternal Edition. If it is in fact that same translation than it seems unlikely that waiting for it was the reason for the delay.

What, you may be asking, is the Eternal Edition and why do would you want it if you already have a copy of the Sailor Moon manga? I covered this in a post last May, speculating that the English Eternal Edition would be similar to the Japanese Complete Editions. It has since been confirmed that this is indeed the case as the image above from the Moon Panal at Anime Expo in July shows us. These versions will include larger pages, a glossy very white type of paper and most importantly all colour pages from the original issues of Kodansha. Usually only a handful of colour pages are included with a manga release so this is a nice addition. These versions will also include the new cover art which was drawn by Naoko Takeuchi. We can see from the cover art included in the existing listings and they match what was in the Japanese releases.

Following the release of volume 1 on April 24th we’ll also be getting volume 2 on May 29th and volume 3 on September 25th. It would only be logical for the following volumes, up to volume 10, to be released at regular intervals following that. A Japanese Complete Edition of Sailor V was also release and it would certainly be nice if these were released in English as well.

Do you plan on picking up these Eternal Editions?

A listing can be now found on Amazon.com for the first volume of the Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Manga which will be out on January 30th 2018 and will sell for $15.19. What is it? This English translated version of the manga will likely be a localized version of the Kanzenban or Complete Edition of the manga which was published in Japan starting in 2013. We don’t know the specifics of this version but we can look at what the Japanese version which has already been released in its entirety to get an idea. Note that we aren’t guaranteed that all of these features will be included in the upcoming new English releases.

The Complete Edition of the Japanese manga was a slightly larger version of the manga as can be seen by the above photo which compares the Complete Edition (centre) it to the original Japanese manga (left) and the recently released English version (right). The Amazon listing mentions it is a larger version which supports the idea that this is the basis for the release. This was meant to be the definitive version of the manga including everything a fan could want contained in a complete release.

These versions included new cover art drawn by Naoko Takeuchi, glossy magazine style pages instead of the usual matte paper most books have and all of the colour pages which originally appeared in Nakayoshi and Run Run. Previously releases often included a handful of colour pages, usually only those at the beginning of the manga, but not all of them, as are included with the Japanese Complete Edition release. There are also a number of mostly minor updates to the art throughout the manga as is usually the case with new editions of the Sailor Moon manga. More pages in each volume also means less volumes to collect as the entire series is spread across 10 volumes instead of the original 18. I posted about these versions as they were released, two at a time, in Japan. You can check out the Complete Edition tag for all posts related to those which includes a number of photos of the covers and colour pages.

The Amazon listing mentions that this version includes a new updated translation which should please some fans which took issue with some of the choices in the version we got in English starting in 2011. Do you plan on picking this version up? Now that I already have 6 sets of the Sailor Moon manga across three languages and many versions I have no reservations about adding another to that list!