I hadn't logged in a while, and I just saw that @Mathiwn had asked about where he could find Naoko Takeuchi's February 2021 interview for Da Vinci Magazine. I couldn't find it in English, so I thought posting a translation in its own thread might help out other people interested in it.
The interview covers a lot of ground, from the creation of the series to how she feels about certain aspects of it and its adaptations, as well as talking a bit about the Sailor Moon Eternal movies that were premiering at the time. I hope you find it interesting.
From Sailor V to Sailor Moon: what was the origin of this amazing story?
The origin of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon is undoubtedly Codename Sailor V, whose story was announced a year before Sailor Moon started. This is a story about Minako Aino, who later becomes Sailor Venus, and who fights against the enemy alongside her comrade, Artemis the white cat.
How did you start drawing Sailor V?
A magazine named RunRun was launched, which was a sister magazine to Nakayoshi, and I had the chance to draw for it. Osabu, who was in charge of that project at the time, was a big fan of a group called Onyanko Club, and of idols in general, and he also loved magical girls, science fiction, and super sentai.
As he was telling me about this, I imagined a mixture of all these elements to create Sailor V. I must also confess that it was Osabu's direct request that Minako's outfit was a sailor suit. It was a project I had to complete with very little help.
When it was decided to serialize your work in Nakayoshi, what made you switch Minako with Usagi for the main character?
Osabu, who was in charge, told me that Toei animation was interested in turning Sailor V into a TV anime, so they told me that from that point on, Sailor V would go from RunRun to Nakayoshi as its main series. But I had an idea: to have two series set in the same universe. To keep Sailor V on RunRun and to create Sailor Moon in its same universe so that I could have the opportunity to write a story knowing that it would be adapted for a long anime, and so that I could add more elements that would be difficult to include in Sailor V.
I thought about a story with many characters: Usagi, who transforms into Sailor Moon, is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity, and Mamoru Chiba, who transforms into Tuxedo Mask, is the reincarnation of Earth's Prince Endymion. They would have a tragic love story in their past, based on the story of Selene the moon goddess and the human Endymion from Greek mythology.
There are also the Sailor Guardians, who protect the Princess either in their own planets or when reincarnated in this world. When I was in high school, I was in the astronomy club and I loved stargazing. I can't explain the emotion I felt when I saw a moon crater for the first time. I wanted to include all these things I loved in my story.
What was the background for Usagi's creation? Is she similar to you, Mrs. Takeuchi?
Usagi and Minako are very similar in many things: both stand out wherever they go and are full of energy. The difference is that Usagi is a crybaby and can even be a bit dumb, but she also has a huge heart, and that's why it's easy for her to make friends... that's Usagi.
When Sailor Moon first came out, my friends my coworkers told me that Usagi was very similar to me, but I swear that was totally unconscious! I set out to create her earnestly and to express the character as she is.
Let's talk about Luna, the black cat, who gives Usagi the opportunity to transform.
To me, Luna's character is as important as a Sailor Guardian. To create her, I thought of a pretty girl, and I thought of a handsome boy to create Artemis. Luna is an invaluable companion in Usagi's life. For me, it's very important to depict the friendship between women of all kinds. Usagi and Luna have a different relationship from the one I gave Minako and Artemis, and I tried to draw them in an entirely different way.
I created Luna as if she were a friend and comrade who was the same age as Usagi, but in the 90s anime they depicted her as an older lady, often nagging, is if she was more of a teacher, and, to be honest, I was unhappy with that change.
How did you create Ami, Rei, and Makoto, who support Usagi in a different way from Luna?
To create the team, I thought that we should have the reliable brains, a beautiful maiden, and a rougher, tougher girl. Ami is a very natural girl in the manga, Rei has a beauty that can charm anyone, and Mako-chan is kind and tough at the same time. I tried to make her a very attractive character.
What about Mamoru, whom Usagi falls in love with?
After thinking about how Usagi's boyfriend would be like, I decided it would be better if he also went to school, and I chose a tuxedo for his costume because during that time I lived near Roppongi, and I saw guys in tuxedos at clubs and bars at night who looked really cute.
What was the origin of Chibiusa and Sailor Pluto?
After Usagi and the Four Guardians defeated her enemies, Chibiusa, Usagi and Mamoru's daughter from the future, appears. I hadn't imagined this development in the story. Luckily, the series director wanted me to draw a dark character and the Guardians from the remaining planets, and I thought about introducing Chibiusa and Sailor Pluto. Unlike her mother, who is loved by all, Chibusa has a complex about not having any powers and feels unloved. The villains take advantage of her loneliness and she turns into an adult, becoming Black Lady.
When I was drawing the Sailor Moon manga, I focused on drawing the main characters and also on the enemies' design. While drawing them, I remembered that many villains from cartoons and anime I had watched always had a backstory and development that made them turn evil. This was fascinating and made them memorable. I reminded myself to create enemies with motivations, but I regretfully didn't have enough time or pages to fully realize this back then. I think the anime was a big help in this, because it developed characters that I simply couldn't in the manga, like the Dead Moon Circus members who tried to justify their existence.
Which villain was the most impressive to you?
The Four Heavenly Kings were the first male enemies I introduced in the story, and almost thirty years later they are still very special characters for all fans, who love them in different ways. I also believe that Prince Demande and Saphir are very beloved characters. I wanted to draw many more scenes between Demande and Saphir to develop their relationship as brothers, but I didn't have the time or page count to do so.
Speaking of the Four Heavenly Kings, something happened in the 90s anime, where Zoisite was changed a bit. He was made to be more feminine and, in this version, he loved Kunzite. This was impressive to me. People without gender often appear in the story, like Haruka Tenoh, who has both genders, and the Sailor Starlights, who transform from males into female warriors. This doesn't mean they are from any special tribe, it's simply who they are.
Wouldn't having those types of characters have a big effect on kids?
There was always very little time to draw the manga because it was very close to the anime's televised run. I got ideas and I simply included them without thinking about it too much. My mother taught me to be liberal and open-minded so that I would never question the gender or preferences of other people. Although the ideas I had were my own, my mother had a lot of to do with them because of her liberal ideals.
At the time, Nakayoshi's target audience were primary schoolgirls. Thanks to this, readers often promoted diversity and raised awareness among their other classmates.
The story doesn't state if Haruka and her partner, Michiru Kaioh, are a couple. However, their relationship and Usagi's feelings towards Haruka go beyond admiration or friendship. The delicate drawing obsessed with the beauty of friendship and bonds of girls who are in love was another revolutionary aspect of Sailor Moon.
I was a big fan of foreign fashion magazines back then, and I used to admire the catalogues, shows, and photo shoots. They told a story with models, clothes, styles, taste, and a lot of money invested into it. This gave me the idea of having this kind of older sister warrior group.
Was the environment in which you grew up also an influence?
In high school and university, I had many girlfriends I could trust. My workplace also had a lot of women. Girls are pretty, girls are good. There's no trust with boys, but I can always trust girls, and I like girls a lot. That's all there is to it. (Laughs).
Does this reflect your feelings? In this movie, Usagi and her friends get often lost in their mission. They want to protect the people they love, they want to be stronger, but sometimes they also just want to stop fighting and be normal girls, to be happy with the people they love. But they know that if they escape that way, they will never forgive themselves.
Balance is an eternal issue for women. Women are always busy. I think it's really difficult for a woman to always be strong and collected in her thoughts. There are always strong and beautiful women in all fields, great women who achieve their goals and who inspire me with their presence.
I'm the type of person who always ends up losing against my own self, and I excuse myself by telling myself that I'm that way because women are weak. But that's what makes a girl weak. I feel that this is present in all my work. I think I was trying to show that facing weakness is the most important part of a girl.
Feeling that she doesn't belong and isn't loved, Chibiusa turns into Black Lady. She won't make that mistake again in the Dead Moon Circus movie of the Eternal series, but she will become depressed because of her shortcomings. Chibiusa's heart grows when she is needed by Helios. Like with Usagi, love is but her support to carry on, and girls always choose to take the first step by themselves, no matter how difficult it might be.
Women are meant to be biologically strong, beautiful creatures. Yet women can't show how strong we are, and I think that's because of a few bad men who won't let us be beautiful. We shouldn't be at the mercy of a few stupid men, let's fight that. Women who fight are beautiful, and I believe that women with different weaknesses and facets are even more beautiful.
A fighting woman's beauty and strength is something that many fans have learned and continue to hold in their hearts. Sailor Moon will be loved forever. Thinking back on those days, which of its chapters were especially memorable for Naoko Takeuchi?
Sailor Saturn is the Guardian of Destruction, and so I drew her scenes to be as strong as destruction itself. But after the series, there was a time during which I couldn't face my work for a while, because I was facing reality: natural disasters, earthquakes, terrorist attacks in Japan and abroad, all this in the news all day long. I had to face reality and reflect on the fact that I had drawn these things too lightly.
I think I drew the third arc just so that Sailor Saturn could say her line, “there is no reason to despair. With every ending, there comes hope, and rebirth." Back then, I was having a very bad time at work (although looking back at it now, it was a minor affliction), but that line from Saturn kept encouraging me.
The names I used in the last and next-to-last Stars volumes were also very difficult for me. Even after the deadline was over, I remember sitting at our office building's emergency stairs holding my head to come up with all the different names I needed for Sailor Moon. All those final lines have a profound meaning for me, and I'm glad I got the manuscript done in time.
The anime started concurrently with the manga, so it must have greatly influenced your work. What was your first impression when it was made?
Animation has been my passion since I was a little. I never thought that my work would become an anime. Sailor Moon and I were the happiest people in the world! I was so happy. I was particularly pleased with the anime's character designer, Kazuko Tadano, who took my somewhat unreal shoujo manga characters and drew to be more real, warm, and lively. I think it's because of that design that the animation has been loved by so many people and became so successful.
The anime was very successful and reached male fans who don't usually read shoujo manga, a social phenomenon that goes beyond Japan. The original manga had slowly become popular since it was first published, especially in France, but when the anime aired, its popularity skyrocketed. It has been translated into 17 languages, and the anime has aired in over 100 countries.
Back then, I used to sit at my desk all day long, and I went to bed when I was tired. That's all I did. I lived in a small world, and I had no interest in society or the news. We were surprised to find that we had gotten mail from fans all over the world and that we were huge abroad! I was moved, it was very encouraging, but time was always running out and three seconds later I would be thinking about the manga's content.
I was also surprised that the BBC and CNN came to Tokyo to sponsor our events. I still feel very happy when I see my manga in foreign bookshops.
Now, in a world where streaming has become a popular medium, the new animated series reaches an even wider audience.
It's a miracle that people have loved the manga, the anime, and the musicals for so long. I'm happy that there are more women in animation and theater. Thank you so much for all the love I have felt thanks to this work! I would also like to thank all the voice actors who lend us their voice, especially Kotono Mitsuishi. Kotono-chan is a real Sailor Moon to me, she is always worrying about my health. I hope that Kotono-chan and all the staff take a lot of care. That is my wish.
Finally, what are the most notable aspects of the Eternal movie?
After a long and prolonged request, we are pleased to announce the return of Kazuko Tadano's drawings, who designed the Sailor Moon anime and its original characters. You can see some of Tadano-san's best drawings, with the world's cutest Chibiusa! The entire staff also makes us feel very loved. Truthfully, a thousand thanks! Nanao (Nehelenia) and Naomi (Zirconia) also have wonderful voices. I'm really very thankful!
The interview covers a lot of ground, from the creation of the series to how she feels about certain aspects of it and its adaptations, as well as talking a bit about the Sailor Moon Eternal movies that were premiering at the time. I hope you find it interesting.
From Sailor V to Sailor Moon: what was the origin of this amazing story?
The origin of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon is undoubtedly Codename Sailor V, whose story was announced a year before Sailor Moon started. This is a story about Minako Aino, who later becomes Sailor Venus, and who fights against the enemy alongside her comrade, Artemis the white cat.
How did you start drawing Sailor V?
A magazine named RunRun was launched, which was a sister magazine to Nakayoshi, and I had the chance to draw for it. Osabu, who was in charge of that project at the time, was a big fan of a group called Onyanko Club, and of idols in general, and he also loved magical girls, science fiction, and super sentai.
As he was telling me about this, I imagined a mixture of all these elements to create Sailor V. I must also confess that it was Osabu's direct request that Minako's outfit was a sailor suit. It was a project I had to complete with very little help.
When it was decided to serialize your work in Nakayoshi, what made you switch Minako with Usagi for the main character?
Osabu, who was in charge, told me that Toei animation was interested in turning Sailor V into a TV anime, so they told me that from that point on, Sailor V would go from RunRun to Nakayoshi as its main series. But I had an idea: to have two series set in the same universe. To keep Sailor V on RunRun and to create Sailor Moon in its same universe so that I could have the opportunity to write a story knowing that it would be adapted for a long anime, and so that I could add more elements that would be difficult to include in Sailor V.
I thought about a story with many characters: Usagi, who transforms into Sailor Moon, is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity, and Mamoru Chiba, who transforms into Tuxedo Mask, is the reincarnation of Earth's Prince Endymion. They would have a tragic love story in their past, based on the story of Selene the moon goddess and the human Endymion from Greek mythology.
There are also the Sailor Guardians, who protect the Princess either in their own planets or when reincarnated in this world. When I was in high school, I was in the astronomy club and I loved stargazing. I can't explain the emotion I felt when I saw a moon crater for the first time. I wanted to include all these things I loved in my story.
What was the background for Usagi's creation? Is she similar to you, Mrs. Takeuchi?
Usagi and Minako are very similar in many things: both stand out wherever they go and are full of energy. The difference is that Usagi is a crybaby and can even be a bit dumb, but she also has a huge heart, and that's why it's easy for her to make friends... that's Usagi.
When Sailor Moon first came out, my friends my coworkers told me that Usagi was very similar to me, but I swear that was totally unconscious! I set out to create her earnestly and to express the character as she is.
Let's talk about Luna, the black cat, who gives Usagi the opportunity to transform.
To me, Luna's character is as important as a Sailor Guardian. To create her, I thought of a pretty girl, and I thought of a handsome boy to create Artemis. Luna is an invaluable companion in Usagi's life. For me, it's very important to depict the friendship between women of all kinds. Usagi and Luna have a different relationship from the one I gave Minako and Artemis, and I tried to draw them in an entirely different way.
I created Luna as if she were a friend and comrade who was the same age as Usagi, but in the 90s anime they depicted her as an older lady, often nagging, is if she was more of a teacher, and, to be honest, I was unhappy with that change.
How did you create Ami, Rei, and Makoto, who support Usagi in a different way from Luna?
To create the team, I thought that we should have the reliable brains, a beautiful maiden, and a rougher, tougher girl. Ami is a very natural girl in the manga, Rei has a beauty that can charm anyone, and Mako-chan is kind and tough at the same time. I tried to make her a very attractive character.
What about Mamoru, whom Usagi falls in love with?
After thinking about how Usagi's boyfriend would be like, I decided it would be better if he also went to school, and I chose a tuxedo for his costume because during that time I lived near Roppongi, and I saw guys in tuxedos at clubs and bars at night who looked really cute.
What was the origin of Chibiusa and Sailor Pluto?
After Usagi and the Four Guardians defeated her enemies, Chibiusa, Usagi and Mamoru's daughter from the future, appears. I hadn't imagined this development in the story. Luckily, the series director wanted me to draw a dark character and the Guardians from the remaining planets, and I thought about introducing Chibiusa and Sailor Pluto. Unlike her mother, who is loved by all, Chibusa has a complex about not having any powers and feels unloved. The villains take advantage of her loneliness and she turns into an adult, becoming Black Lady.
When I was drawing the Sailor Moon manga, I focused on drawing the main characters and also on the enemies' design. While drawing them, I remembered that many villains from cartoons and anime I had watched always had a backstory and development that made them turn evil. This was fascinating and made them memorable. I reminded myself to create enemies with motivations, but I regretfully didn't have enough time or pages to fully realize this back then. I think the anime was a big help in this, because it developed characters that I simply couldn't in the manga, like the Dead Moon Circus members who tried to justify their existence.
Which villain was the most impressive to you?
The Four Heavenly Kings were the first male enemies I introduced in the story, and almost thirty years later they are still very special characters for all fans, who love them in different ways. I also believe that Prince Demande and Saphir are very beloved characters. I wanted to draw many more scenes between Demande and Saphir to develop their relationship as brothers, but I didn't have the time or page count to do so.
Speaking of the Four Heavenly Kings, something happened in the 90s anime, where Zoisite was changed a bit. He was made to be more feminine and, in this version, he loved Kunzite. This was impressive to me. People without gender often appear in the story, like Haruka Tenoh, who has both genders, and the Sailor Starlights, who transform from males into female warriors. This doesn't mean they are from any special tribe, it's simply who they are.
Wouldn't having those types of characters have a big effect on kids?
There was always very little time to draw the manga because it was very close to the anime's televised run. I got ideas and I simply included them without thinking about it too much. My mother taught me to be liberal and open-minded so that I would never question the gender or preferences of other people. Although the ideas I had were my own, my mother had a lot of to do with them because of her liberal ideals.
At the time, Nakayoshi's target audience were primary schoolgirls. Thanks to this, readers often promoted diversity and raised awareness among their other classmates.
The story doesn't state if Haruka and her partner, Michiru Kaioh, are a couple. However, their relationship and Usagi's feelings towards Haruka go beyond admiration or friendship. The delicate drawing obsessed with the beauty of friendship and bonds of girls who are in love was another revolutionary aspect of Sailor Moon.
I was a big fan of foreign fashion magazines back then, and I used to admire the catalogues, shows, and photo shoots. They told a story with models, clothes, styles, taste, and a lot of money invested into it. This gave me the idea of having this kind of older sister warrior group.
Was the environment in which you grew up also an influence?
In high school and university, I had many girlfriends I could trust. My workplace also had a lot of women. Girls are pretty, girls are good. There's no trust with boys, but I can always trust girls, and I like girls a lot. That's all there is to it. (Laughs).
Does this reflect your feelings? In this movie, Usagi and her friends get often lost in their mission. They want to protect the people they love, they want to be stronger, but sometimes they also just want to stop fighting and be normal girls, to be happy with the people they love. But they know that if they escape that way, they will never forgive themselves.
Balance is an eternal issue for women. Women are always busy. I think it's really difficult for a woman to always be strong and collected in her thoughts. There are always strong and beautiful women in all fields, great women who achieve their goals and who inspire me with their presence.
I'm the type of person who always ends up losing against my own self, and I excuse myself by telling myself that I'm that way because women are weak. But that's what makes a girl weak. I feel that this is present in all my work. I think I was trying to show that facing weakness is the most important part of a girl.
Feeling that she doesn't belong and isn't loved, Chibiusa turns into Black Lady. She won't make that mistake again in the Dead Moon Circus movie of the Eternal series, but she will become depressed because of her shortcomings. Chibiusa's heart grows when she is needed by Helios. Like with Usagi, love is but her support to carry on, and girls always choose to take the first step by themselves, no matter how difficult it might be.
Women are meant to be biologically strong, beautiful creatures. Yet women can't show how strong we are, and I think that's because of a few bad men who won't let us be beautiful. We shouldn't be at the mercy of a few stupid men, let's fight that. Women who fight are beautiful, and I believe that women with different weaknesses and facets are even more beautiful.
A fighting woman's beauty and strength is something that many fans have learned and continue to hold in their hearts. Sailor Moon will be loved forever. Thinking back on those days, which of its chapters were especially memorable for Naoko Takeuchi?
Sailor Saturn is the Guardian of Destruction, and so I drew her scenes to be as strong as destruction itself. But after the series, there was a time during which I couldn't face my work for a while, because I was facing reality: natural disasters, earthquakes, terrorist attacks in Japan and abroad, all this in the news all day long. I had to face reality and reflect on the fact that I had drawn these things too lightly.
I think I drew the third arc just so that Sailor Saturn could say her line, “there is no reason to despair. With every ending, there comes hope, and rebirth." Back then, I was having a very bad time at work (although looking back at it now, it was a minor affliction), but that line from Saturn kept encouraging me.
The names I used in the last and next-to-last Stars volumes were also very difficult for me. Even after the deadline was over, I remember sitting at our office building's emergency stairs holding my head to come up with all the different names I needed for Sailor Moon. All those final lines have a profound meaning for me, and I'm glad I got the manuscript done in time.
The anime started concurrently with the manga, so it must have greatly influenced your work. What was your first impression when it was made?
Animation has been my passion since I was a little. I never thought that my work would become an anime. Sailor Moon and I were the happiest people in the world! I was so happy. I was particularly pleased with the anime's character designer, Kazuko Tadano, who took my somewhat unreal shoujo manga characters and drew to be more real, warm, and lively. I think it's because of that design that the animation has been loved by so many people and became so successful.
The anime was very successful and reached male fans who don't usually read shoujo manga, a social phenomenon that goes beyond Japan. The original manga had slowly become popular since it was first published, especially in France, but when the anime aired, its popularity skyrocketed. It has been translated into 17 languages, and the anime has aired in over 100 countries.
Back then, I used to sit at my desk all day long, and I went to bed when I was tired. That's all I did. I lived in a small world, and I had no interest in society or the news. We were surprised to find that we had gotten mail from fans all over the world and that we were huge abroad! I was moved, it was very encouraging, but time was always running out and three seconds later I would be thinking about the manga's content.
I was also surprised that the BBC and CNN came to Tokyo to sponsor our events. I still feel very happy when I see my manga in foreign bookshops.
Now, in a world where streaming has become a popular medium, the new animated series reaches an even wider audience.
It's a miracle that people have loved the manga, the anime, and the musicals for so long. I'm happy that there are more women in animation and theater. Thank you so much for all the love I have felt thanks to this work! I would also like to thank all the voice actors who lend us their voice, especially Kotono Mitsuishi. Kotono-chan is a real Sailor Moon to me, she is always worrying about my health. I hope that Kotono-chan and all the staff take a lot of care. That is my wish.
Finally, what are the most notable aspects of the Eternal movie?
After a long and prolonged request, we are pleased to announce the return of Kazuko Tadano's drawings, who designed the Sailor Moon anime and its original characters. You can see some of Tadano-san's best drawings, with the world's cutest Chibiusa! The entire staff also makes us feel very loved. Truthfully, a thousand thanks! Nanao (Nehelenia) and Naomi (Zirconia) also have wonderful voices. I'm really very thankful!
