What Does Naoko Takeuchi Credit for Sailor Moon’s Success?

Got a few questions here for Naoko...

Got a few questions here for Naoko…

As the writer of a Sailor Moon blog, invariably the day would come where I’d sit down and put pen to paper fingers to keyboard and weigh in on the “secret to Sailor Moon‘s popularity.” I thought that today would be that day.

But then I started to have second thoughts. Why should I write this?

Why don’t we just go straight to the source, and see what Ms. Takeuchi has to say for herself? With all the dozens (hundreds?) of interviews that she’s done over the years, she must have already answered this question, right?

And, as a matter of fact, she did!

Join me, dear readers, as we follow Ms. Takeuchi’s logic behind just what made Sailor Moon the raging success that we know it to be today!

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Is Parallel Sailor Moon a Part of the Series Canon?

More like Inverted Sailor Moon

More like Inverted Sailor Moon

Parallel Sailor Moon has always held a special place in my heart due to its unique place in the history of the series: technically speaking, it’s the last Sailor Moon manga written by Ms. Takeuchi… well, ever.

Though she did draw a few short comics about the series in her Naoko Punch comic series, and was involved in designing the live-action series’ very own Sailor Luna, this was the last story that Ms. Takeuchi would write in the world of Sailor Moon.

But just how seriously should we take Parallel Sailor Moon, and where does it tie in to the greater lore of the series?

If you’ve ever been kept up at night wondering about these issues and more, stick around! Once we’re done, you might finally have that restful sleep you’ve been hoping for!

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5 Often Misreported Sailor Moon “Facts”

That's not true, I tell you!!!

That’s not true, I tell you!!!

When you dedicate a large portion of your free time to crawling through 25+ years of Sailor Moon sources, you eventually just learn to accept that running across inaccurate information is simply a fact of life.

However, thanks to the recent releases of Kodansha and Viz’s manga and anime translations along with the rise of curated (… okay, not really) wikis, the general quality of information you’re going to run into nowadays is worlds better than what I started with as a fan in the late 90s.

That being said, today I’d like to tackle five of the more common myths I often run across in my research and see if I can set them straight. Who knows, maybe some piece of Sailor Moon trivia you’ve “known” about for years could be on this list!

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What Real World School Uniforms Inspired the Designs in Sailor Moon?

What inspired these uniform designs?

What inspired these uniform designs?

When you consider just how much inspiration Ms. Takeuchi took from the real world when creating the Sailor Moon universe, it seemed almost certain that the school uniforms in the series must have come from somewhere. However, no matter how hard I looked, I was never able to come up with a solid lead as to what actual schools could have served as the base for the Juban Junior High School uniform design.

That is, until this weekend.

In an interesting turn of events, what I thought would be a quaint, uneventful museum visit wound up solving one of the oldest open questions I’ve been researching off and on since this blog was first started.

And better yet, the question was answered by none other than Ms. Takeuchi herself.

Stick around, we’re about to take a trip down memory lane!

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What Information Did Naoko Share With American Sailor Moon Fans?

Naoko Takeuchi at San Diego Comic-Con 1998

Naoko Takeuchi at San Diego Comic-Con 1998

I am what you could reasonably call a longtime Sailor Moon fan — a “lifer” if you will. I was there when the series was taken off the air, came back on the air, and was taken off again. Yours truly remembers when “new” episodes of Sailor Moon meant the last part of the Sailor Moon R anime that DiC never bothered to get around to dubbing.

And then there were the misguided Sailor Moon / Pop-Tarts campaigns.

Today we’re going to talk about something a little different: we’re going nearly 20 years into the past to talk about the time that Ms. Takeuchi addressed American Sailor Moon fans and answered some of our burning questions. It’s gonna get interesting, so stick around!

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2018 Announcements: Tuxedo Unmasked Book, Naoko Translations and More!

♪ Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes! Turn and face the strange ♪

♪ Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes! Turn and face the strange ♪

If 2017 was a year of improvements, then I want 2018 to be a year of facing new challenges. Yes, challenges. There are a lot of exciting new things coming to Tuxedo Unmasked this year, and I hope you’ll join me along for the ride!

So, what new things are coming? Glad you asked!

  • A Tuxedo Unmasked book covering the 90s Sailor Moon anime is in the works
  • I’m translating Naoko’s liner notes from the original manga releases
  • Translations of interviews with Naoko and others will now be a regular feature

Of course, as we all know, the devil is in the details. Read on to find out what excitement awaits us in 2018!

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