Naoko Takeuchi (武内直子) born March 15, 1967, a manga artist (mangaka), lives in Tokyo, Japan. Takeuchi's works have a wide following among anime/manga fans. She has become a well-known mangaka worldwide. Her most popular work, Sailor Moon, rose to become one of the most recognized manga/anime figures to date.
Takeuchi is married to Yoshihiro Togashi, the author of the YuYu Hakusho series and Hunter × Hunter series.
Please note that anime related books are listed under Kōdansha.
Turns out I'm not that big a fan of Minako. Her quirks annoy me, but the art is as gorgeous as can be expected of Takeuchi and there are some fun moments story-wise.
Five stars for nostalgia and me finally completing the series, and for getting around to reading it in Japanese at last, hush. No regrets. I'd forgotten how delightfully silly Sailor V could be. Oh, and how functionally stupid pretty much everyone in the Sailor Moon universe seems to be. Guys, maybe you should start being at least a little suspicious with new idols at this point. (Or maybe this is Naoko's subtle commentary on society, in which case we're probably screwed if the dark agency turns out to be real.) Anyway, it's great to read how Minako started out, and how alike and yet different from Usagi she is. As Naoko started with Sailor Moon as well at some point during Sailor V, it's nice to see the little overlaps (Usagi and Naru pop up almost regularly already, and we've also seen Rei). Onto volume 2!
Cute precursor to Sailor Moon but not nearly as complex. Someone described it like those 70s action movies, complete with the mysterious "boss" and that seems about right. What I do like is that toward the end of this volume we get a few sneak peeks at the future cast of Sailor Moon, showing the author did have some idea where she was going. I'm kind of glad she did this first though- I think she got some of the more cliched storytelling out of the way as a result.