Naoko Takeuchi

"Teenager Usagi is not the best athlete, she's never gotten good grades, and, well, she's a bit of a crybaby. But when she meets a talking cat, she begins a journey that will teach her she has a well of great strength just beneath the surface and the heart to inspire and stand up for her friends as Sailor Moon!"--

YA. COMIC STRIP FICTION / GRAPHIC NOVELS (CHILDREN'S/YA). The first and longest story of this collection pays homage to one of the oldest folk tales of Japan, the 'Tale of the Bamboo Cutter'. Usagi's faithful sidekick Luna is saved by an astrophysicist who she develops a crush on. When he happens upon a mysterious crystal shard, a sinister power from the outskirts of the galaxy is revealed to be on the warpath. Another story reveals Rei's background,...

"The threat of Dead Moon Circus is so great that the outer planet Guardians return to fight alongside their compatriots. But with Usagi now coughing up black blood as well, are they too late? And to make things worse, Queen Nehelenia's servant Zirconia casts another curse upon Usagi and Mamoru, sending them both back into childhood. However, Helios whisks away their spirits to Elysion, where they manage to break free and return to their true forms....

"Chibi Usa's sickly friend Hotaru isn't just Sailor Saturn, Deity of Destruction. She's also possessed by Master Pharaoh 90. Facing this cataclysmic power will be impossible-- unless Sailor Moon can unite the powers of every Guardian of the Solar System. Then, when the moon eclipses the sun, a mystical unicorn begs for help. An elaborate ship floats through the sky, and Usagi and Chibi-Usa have trouble seeing eye to eye"--Random House web site.

Just when Usagi thinks things are getting back to normal, she finds that Mamoru is leaving to study abroad in America and Chibi-Usa is returning to the thirtieth century.

Usagi Tsukino is a little clumsy and a crybaby, but she's also one spirited eighth grader. One day she meets Luna, a black cat with a crescent moon mark on her forehead, and transforms into the pretty guardian of love and justice in a sailor suit, Sailor Moon! As a chosen guardian of justice, Usagi apparently has a mission to protect a princess, and to find her fellow Guardians and the phantom Silver Crystal.

Long before Mamoru found his destiny with Usagi, he gave a single rose in thanks to a lonely boy who helped him recover from the crash that claimed his parents. This long-forgotten friend, Fiore, has been searching the galaxy for a flower worthy of that sweet gesture long ago. The mysterious flower he finds is beautiful, but has a dark side- it has the power to take over planets! To make matters worse, the strange plant is tied to an ominous new asteroid...