Naoko's self-published Artbook Volume Infinity was published years ago (on June 30, 1997) but copies were still available at Naoko & Togashi's table at the Summer 1999 Comiket. Collectors have resold these for as much as US$1,000 each. The cover, by Naoko, should put to rest the notion that panty shots are drawn only by men.

1999

When we last left the creator of Sailormoon, Naoko Takeuchi was drawing a monthly graphic journal entitled, "Takeuchi Naoko Hime no Shakai Fukki Punch" ("Princess Naoko's Return To Work Punch"). After finishing "Round Four" (as translated on the web by Alex Glover) in the March 1999 issue of Young You magazine, the series was advertised to continue with the April edition as "Hime to Ouji no Kekkon Punch" ("Princess and Prince's Marriage Punch"). But the deal was unceremoniously terminated (with none of the fanfare associated with the premiere).

Besides interest from rival publisher Kodansha to renegotiate a deal with Ms. Takeuchi, the series may have been ended because of reader reaction. One Japanese fan may have summed up the situation best when they wrote to us:

Naoko's next public endeavor turned out to be a doujinshi (a self-published comic book) co-created with her husband, Yoshihiro Togashi, for the August Comiket (Comic Market--the largest doujinshi convention in Japan). A different fan perhaps gave the best perspective:

We had heard that most, if not all, of the Sailormoon related merchandise had completely sold out--signalling, even then, the returning public interest in the property.

Way before this Comiket, as we previously reported, Kodansha, Toei and Bandai had entered into talks with one another and with Naoko about creating more Sailormoon productions and merchandise. Kodansha, Bandai & Naoko came to an agreement; Toei, did not. The agreement left Naoko with as little work as possible. The deal was to take the stories from Sera-Myu and publish them in anime style. Naoko did not have to write any new stories or make any new drawings.

An advertisement in the October 2000 issue of Tanoshii Youchien.

Image from Artbook Infinity - not drawn by Naoko!

The Sera-Myu adaptations were called "Sailormoon World" and would not premiere until the November 1999 issue of Kodansha's magazine for young children, Tanoshi youchien. This serialization gave Bandai the opportunity to release new merchandise directly associated with Sera-Myu for the Christmas season. All of their new Sailormoon toys carried the "Sailormoon World" logo and were initially available exclusively at the theaters where Sera-Myu was performed.

Later, the toys were made available at Toys R Us locations in Japan and other retail stores. The line was broadened to include non-affiliated Sera-Myu products. The campaign name, "Sailormoon World," allowed the line to be open-ended and not restricted to Sera-Myu only.

One of our members visited the Seibu Department store in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo. Seibu had literally set-up a miniature "Sailormoon World" with all the familiar merchandise and witnessed a telltale phenomenon:

This was a very good sign that the new campaign helped increase renewed interest in the property overall and introduced the stories to a new generation of Japanese children. In a very unusual acknowledgment of this renewed interest and the public's desire for more Sailormoon anime, Bandai (of all companies) advertised in it's television commercials for the Winter 1999 Sera-Myu this revealing tag line, "Ima Sailor Moon ni aeru nowa musical dake!" ("You can meet Sailor Moon only at the musical right now.")

2000

A flyer announcing the rerun of the series

In February 2000, Kodansha announced that the anime "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon" would be rerun on TV--including Tokyo TV Asahi. The series had originally premiered there and was now going to be rerun for the very first time. Kodansha made the announcement on their Nakayoshi web site. The series repremiered on April 2, 2000 at 6:30am via Tokyo TV Asahi, Osaka Asahi Housou and Nagoya TV.

Just a few weeks earlier, on March 18, 2000 (in anticipation of the rerun) at the Tokyo Toy Show, Bandai and Toei had adjoining booths displaying lots of new "Sailormoon" toys & merchandise to be released later in the year. Plus, they were handing out full-color flyers announcing the rerun of the series on TV.

Kodansha also finally published the long overdue Settei Gengashuu (material artbook) also known, in this case, as the Settei shiryou shuu--which Ms. Takeuchi listed as a condition for her return to Kodansha. Such a book is also sometimes known as a Data Book and contains information about an anime series or manga with hereunto unsaid past histories of characters, revelations of homages and other behind-the-scenes trivia. Naoko included a short manga at the end which parodied her own characters. The manga concerned the five daughters of the five Inner Soldiers and was not written in the tone of her other stories. It appeared to be an opportunity for Naoko to explore a possible avenue for a future Sailormoon story without having to be taken seriously--if it should be poorly received.

The first volume of Sailormoon World was made up of reprints from the magazine, Tanoshii Youchien. This sort of book is not called a manga and is usually referred to as an "ehon," which means "picture book" in Japanese.

After adapting two Sera-Myu stories ("Kaguya-shima Densetsu" from 1999 and "Usagi Ai no senshi e no michi" from 1994) for "Sailormoon World," Kodansha switched over to selecting stories from the anime (perhaps to take advantage of the current re-running of the series). Kodansha started with the first season of "Pretty Soldier Sailormoon" and appears to be going forward in time--covering episodes not derived from a previously published Naoko Takeuchi manga.

At this Summer's Comiket, Naoko & Togashi were very obvious no-shows. Many fans were disappointed that they did not make an appearance or send a representative or have a doujinshi for sale.

Later, at the Amusement Machine Show (held on September 23 & 24) Banprest, the leading toy company for arcade games in Japan, had a booth and presented a mini show with the Sera-Myu cast on Sunday.

Also in September, in Issue #37 of Figure Oh magazine ("Oh" or "Ou" means King in Japanese) there was a feature on the returning popularity of Sailormoon via the TV reruns and musicals. They also conducted an extensive interview with Naoko and Mr. Osano (her original Kodansha Editor and known by his nickname "Osabu") asking them why Sailormoon was such a big hit worldwide.

The repeats of the anime series continue and are heavily advertised. The campaign even appears to this day on Nakayoshi's site.

An Innocent Birthday Cake? Or A Dangerous Deadly Timebomb In The Hands Of A Prankster? When this latest bit of misinformation surfaced it sent a little bell off in our Sera-Myu contingent. Sure enough, in the program book for the 2000 winter show, "Shin Henshin Super Senshi e no michi, Last Dracul Jokyoku," there was an illustration by Naoko Takeuchi known by the same name. Someone, somewhere may have misinterpreted this or used this to start an ill-founded rumor. (Hey, they could have at least changed it to "Sailormoon 2001" to make it more believable!) .

Recently, an English language site (with banner advertising) on the Internet posted some news which we believe to be incorrect. The site claims that there is to be a new manga (comic book) to be called "Sailormoon 2000." We knew nothing about this and the story itself seemed to run contradictory to the recent events concerning Naoko and the property. We went directly to Kodansha (Naoko is not dealing with other publishers as far as we know) to find out if there was any validity to this story. Within hours they officially replied as follows:

The reason for Kodansha's swift and decisive response (as opposed to the past) is because, in American business terms, it is currently "Put up or shut up" for Naoko Takeuchi and Sailormoon. Kodansha, Toei & Bandai have done everything they could to lead up to a new Sailormoon story IF they could come to an agreement with Naoko Takeuchi.

At first, starting back in 1998, the companies seemed to want a new anime series. Toei did not come to an agreement but the other companies did (to further exploit Sera-Myu via "Sailormoon World"). Later, when Toei still couldn't come to an agreement the companies involved settled for merely repeating the old anime series on broadcast television. All of this build-up is about to run out, so this is why it's now "Put up or shut up." If Ms. Takeuchi should not come to an agreement the companies will let the current campaigns run their course and work on other projects.

Though we have no first-hand knowledge, it appears to us that the companies have acted on good faith and did not put forth bad or unreasonable agreements. In the past Ms. Takeuchi had complained about Kodansha and briefly left them only to return. We have not heard of any complaints since then.

Fans should also understand Ms. Takeuchi's position. If there is not a good story to tell, or should she lack the passion to return to the property, Naoko would be better served not to create or allow a substandard Sailormoon to be produced. There could be personal reasons as well.

While we would like there to be more Sailormoon (if it's good) we would understand if the companies and Naoko should not come to an agreement. If they shouldn't come to an agreement, then we would like to see them explore the possibility of making the stories from Sera-Myu into an anime series.