The original concept came from Takeuchi in around 1992. She wanted to make a story with teenage crimefighters, a hero in a cape, and evil villians. Her producer told her to make the main hero in a school outfit, and the sailor senshi concept was born. In 1993 she came out with her first Sailor comic, "Codename wa Sailor V", published in a comic monthly (I think Nakayoshi). It was very popular, and eventually printed into three tankoubon, or volumes, each with around five acts.

At the same time, she had another idea, to make there be another main hero. Toei Animation sturck a deal with her, and she began to write the manga that would make her go down in history, Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon. She would write an act for Nakayoshi, and Toei would produce an animated series based on it. It was her first, and so far, only, manga made into an anime.

However, the anime could not stay exactly the same as the manga, as acts were published on maybe a biweekly basis, and the anime came out once a week. So many filler episodes had to go in, such as the episodes between the first Moon ep, Mercury ep, Mars ep, etc. This was necessary and fine, really. As the show, and the manga, progressed, it became a national sensation, much like Pokemon is today. Though it may have been bigger to the amount of episodes, I don't know, I don't live in Japan!

Unfortunately, the anime producers changed the story around much more than needed. They made Mamoru into a sort of cold personality, unlike the romantic he is in the story. They made the Ayakashi sisters be healed instead of killed, Pluto stop time in S rather in the second "season" in the manga, and they absolutely changed the outer senshi. But SuperS and Stars were total mutilations of the manga story. They were changed completely, especially Stars, where the series ending is completely different! Naoko says in her notes that she is very upset about what the company has done to the outer senshi, perhaps a reason why she, as of now, has stopped writing manga.

The manga consists of 18 tankoubon, with a total of 52 acts. Each "Season" has its own header for the acts. For example, the SuperS header is "yume", or "dream", the Stars header is "stars", and the S opener is "Mugen", or "Infinity". There was also a "School Girl Blues" collective of three stories, such as "Ami-chan no Hatsukoi", or "Ami-chan's First Love", a story about Rei, and stories about Chibiusa that are translated as "Chibiusa's Picture Gallery".

At the end of each volume, the results of the latest voting contest would be in. After each act was printed in Nakayoshi, a favorite character contest would go out, and the results would be published. The most common number one is a form of Usagi (SM, Serenity, etc.), but Chibiusa also got first before. Even villians were listed sometimes! She would also put some notes at the end of each manga and sometimes in the middle of the story. The picture to the right features clothing sketches of Michiru and Haruka. She seemed to have a very fan-friendly approach to writing!

The manga was much more graphic than the anime. All the villians were killed in some way, typically by Sailormoon. More violence and nudity was shown, though it was all in very good taste. The storylines are also much more complex, as villians from the first season may tie into ones from season four. The anime seemed to have simplify it somehow. IMHO, the manga told a better story than the anime ever could have, with the great art and plot of Naoko.

Well, that's all I can think of! Go back to the manga site to read more on the original BSSM!


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