• 375 X 540 mm.
• Title page of the July 1992 Nakayoshi.
• Media: Color ink, tone.
• Paper: Fine BB Kent.

People ask why Minako-chan isn't in this picture. It's because she hadn't appeared yet. I really want to do lots and lots of pictures with the five girls in these princess-like clothes!

• 363 X 258 mm.
• Title page of the June 1992 Nakayoshi.
• Media: Color ink, transparent watercolor.
• Paper: Watson.

I feel this picture is a work very like me. The paper is Watson, the materials are color ink and transparent watercolor, and it has the fellow lovers. And there's rain, which I love. Since high school and in college, I liked color pictures with this motif, and drew lots of them. Really, I love drawing watery, blurry color pictures with gloomy sadness.

• 380 X 538 mm.
• Pin-up drawn for use in the Picture Collection.
• Media: Watercolor pencil, color ink, color spray.
• Paper: Rough BB Kent.

When I heard there would be a pin-up included, I drew this thinking that, since the picture collection goes on sale in summer, it would be swimsuits for sure. The work choosing swimsuits for the five and painting the colors was very fun. I want to draw a color swimsuit picture again.

[There is no page"22" in this artbook because page 21 (above) is a pull-out poster which is blank on the back.]

• 375 X 280 mm.
• Title page of the August 1992 Nakayoshi.
• Media: Color ink.
• Paper: Canson.

I wanted to paint the hair of the five in their respective colors. But as I started painting Usagi-chan's pink head, it turned out there was a totally unexpected incompatibility. I really regret it. Blond hair fits Usagi-chan the best after all. Since it's a color picture, I really want to paint lots of colors, but...

• 380 X 540 mm.
• Title page of the September 1992 Nakayoshi.
• Media: Color ink, poster color.
• Picture A edited by Terralune

For me, it's easier to draw color pictures in which the characters aren't smiling. This is the color title page from the chapter when Sailor Venus appeared. The facial expressions of all the characters appeal to me somehow. I remember being embarrassed by being praised by my editor and boss Osabu. When I was in high school, I often drew pictures of black space like this in astronomy club. How nostalgic.

• 375 X 272 mm.
• Title page of the October 1992 Nakayoshi.
• Media: Color ink, tone.
• Paper: Canson.

This is a work I love, which I drew using only my favorite colors. I really wanted to draw this princess pose. This is the sacred fountain of the moon sanctuary. The blue thing floating in the distance is Earth. This is the first image I got of Princess Selenity and the castle ruins on the moon.

• 420 X 540 mm.
• First page of the February 1992 Nakayoshi. [sic - actually 1993]
• Media: Color ink.
• Paper: Canson.

My image of a princess is inspired to a considerable degree by a Western book and magazines specializing in wedding dresses, featuring just dresses like this in this kind of pose. That's right. It's a wedding dress Selenity is wearing! When princesses are in full dress, they wear cloaks. And they sit on pedestals like sanctuary shells, like flowers.

• 382 X 267 mm.
• Title page of the November 1992 Nakayoshi.
• Media: Color ink.
• Paper: Rough BB Kent.

I drew this color picture as a title page with two facing pages, but I didn't have time and used a composite photograph in the background. It came out as a rather interesting effect. I composed a photo of a burning large Earth and space, but choosing the photos to use from catalogs was really fun. I love catalogs!

• 395 X 275 mm.
• Drawn for use in the Picture Collection.
• Media: Color ink, poster color.
• Paper: Canson.

This is the two in their previous lives. While I was thinking of drawing it someday, I never had the chance, but I was able to draw it here. At home I have lots of drafts of pictures that I intend to draw someday but haven't been able to. Working drawing drafts of color pictures when I have free time, when something hits me, when I'm happy, since I finish them without thought, and it doesn't take energy, it's very enjoyable work.

• 362 X 520 mm.
• Title page of the February 1992 Nakayoshi. [1993]
• Media: Color ink, poster color.
• Paper: Canson.

This is one that greatly appeals to me. In the book, the two on the right side of this picture are kissing. I was happy to be able to draw that passage of time. This picture has a title. It's "Memento Mori", which is French for "Think of Death".

[Sarah-neko points out that actually, 'Memento Mori' is Latin for 'remember that you will die.' It's a very equivocal tag because it can be depressing or it can be the foundation of a 'carpe diem' (seize the day) philosophy. I find this very interesting given the portrayal of destiny in Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon. Thanks Sarah!

Endymion's pose is modelled on a photographer's self-portrait as discussed at Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon for Neophytes.]