Naoko Takeuchi was born on the 15th of March, 1967, in the city of Kofu, in the Yamanashi prefecture. You might be familiar with a couple of names here: her father is called Kenji, her mother Ikuko, and her brother.... Shingo! Hmm, that would make her an Usagi then.... almost!

If we're throwing names into the hat heres another: Azabu Juuban, the place where she currently lives in Tokyo, also the place where the Sailor Moon series is set.

During her time at Kyoritsu Yakka University where she was studying for a Degree in Pharmacy in 1986, Naoko won the Nakayoshi New Manga-ka (Comic Artist) award for a short story she done, called Love Call. After graduating and receiving her pharmacy practicing license, she began working full time in Keio Hospital, where she continued to draw the manga and hone the skills which would eventually become her career.

Naoko's first major series was called The Cherry Project, published in Nakayoshi Deluxe, and was a story about a young girl who wanted to be a figure skater. The Nakayashi publication soon released a sister magazie called RunRun, and asked Naoko to write another Manga of her choosing for it. As it turned out, she had always wanted to write a story withy a heroine central character, and so came the 'prequel' to Sailor Moon, Codename wa Sailor V. A small but significant intervention was by her Assistant Editor, who asked if the central character would wear a Sailor Fuku, the Sailor Suit we all know and love! The series made it's debut in July 1991 and was centered around Minako Aino, a teenage girl that transformed into Sailor V, champion of love and justice.

Sailor V was originally supposed to be a one off story, but when Toei Animation Co. showed interest in turning it into an animated tv show it was expanded into a manga series. The series ran from 1991 to 1997 and is currently available in 3 volumes. While ultimately is was this series' spinoff, Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon which became the animated series and wildly popular manga, Codename wa Sailor V is a good insight to the beginnings of the entire saga and a closes look at Sailor V/ aka Minako Aino, aka Sailor Venus.

Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon ran from 1992 'till 1997 and both the manga and animated series run almost parallel to one another, with only relatively minor changed to the general story. Most of the changes came in the later series, SuperS and Stars, with the animated series choosing to omit the outer senshi for SuperS and leave them with supporting roles for Stars, as well as the mysterious explusion of Sailor Cosmos from the Stars anime. Incidentally, the 'Ann and Alan' story arc from Sailor Moon R wasn't present in the manga: when production of the R anime series started the manga had yet to catch up, so Toei introduced the siblings to 'kill time' prior to the series starting proper with Chibiusa et all!

When Sailor Moon ended in 1997, Naoko turned her attention to some of her other manga projects, notably PQ Angels, her romantic comedy with two 14 year old girls as the main characters. She has intermittently been publishing mangas in the last few years as a freelance artist and is enjoying the freetime that success can bring! Takeuchi-sama is married with 1 son, whose name is currently.. unknown! Last we knew she was calling him 'Petit Ouji'......

Watch this space very soon for cover scans of Naoko's other works, Codename wa Sailor V and The Cherry Project!