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Welcome yet again to another installment! I'm sorry it's taken me far longer than usual. Unfortunately, summer has already come to an end for me and mine, and so, I'm going to have to get this a bit more organized. So, instead of once a week, I'm likely going to do one every 2 weeks. Apologies again! But this gives me then plenty of time to gather up information, a good quality description, and enough time to get it down for you all.
This week, we're going to look at the PGSM picture books, and make a comparison of the two! So let's get started, shall we?

What they Look Like: First, we'll look at the Kodansha Books. With the Kodansha books, we have a beautifully designed cover, with the wonderful "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon" logo, complete with the picture that Naoko so wonderfully drew for PGSM! Each book is numbered with an adorable heart and number inside of it. The back of the book has more pictures, and of course, pictures of previous books, and books up and coming! Again, with beautiful pictures littered on the back, and their information as well.
With the Shogakukan books, we see a slightly different approach. With a simplistic design for the cover, and the typical "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon" logo on it. Each book is of course numbered appropriately, but this time the number is atop a moon and star picture. The backs of the books have adorable pictures, though very plainly made. Of course, the basic information is back there as well.

Comparing the INSIDE: Now, looking at the INSIDE of these BOARD books, we see that the Kodansha books pictures are much more crisp in color and clarity than the Shogakukan. The Kodansha books seem to have used specific poses for the book, rather than using pictures seen on cards, and other places to litter in the book. The shogakukan books also seem to have their images giving a posterized feel. Which, though doesn't take away from the beauty of the images, it does leave one feeling a bit more partial to Kodansha's versions.
Kodansha also seems to have a bit of creativity in their appearance with the books. Leaving many pictures and even screen caps from the show inside! Though, the Shogakukan also has screen caps, they aren't as nice as the Kodansha versions. And certainly are without any neat little effects to really accent and surround them. Instead, we find that Shogakukan uses a filmstrip like approach fairly commonly in their books.

Who they're for: Finally, these books are MEANT for children. The insides of the books are written in fairly easy to understand Japanese for the beginner. Which suggests these books were meant for small children. Along with the inclusion that these are in fact board books, confirms that idea. So what you have inside of the book next to the pictures is a VERY brief description of what's going on, or who someone is.

How many in a set: As far as how MANY there are in these sets? For Shogakukan, you're going to expect a total of 6 books, with NO special act. With Kodansha, you're going to expect 6 books WITH the special act. Please keep in mind, though they are equal in how many, this does NOT mean they are copies of eachother! The pictures are VERY different, and instead of wrapping the season up in 5 books with Kodansha, Shogakukan decides to wrap it in 6. Giving a bit more knowledge into it.

What they COST: Looking at the back of the book, we see that these books went around 400 Yen. Which is ROUGHLY $4.00 (minus some change) for those in the states. However, don't expect to get these books for that price anywhere else. These books have been out of print for a while now, which makes them a growing rare. However, You can find these books on Ebay for anywhere from $1.00 to $10.00 each! So it's nothing to flock over. Generally speaking, expect to spend about $5.00 to $8.00 USD per book, unless you can get lucky.

All in all, they are wonderful sets. If you're looking for different pictures, go with Kodansha. Their pictures seem to be a bit more exclusive. The descriptions are clear, and the pictures are crisp. Though it does wrap it up 1 book quicker than Shogakukan, it certainly doesn't take away from anything. And with a book on the special act, you can't go wrong! This is not to say Shogakukan is out of the picture either though! Their pictures are adorable, yet common, and the descriptions are well done as to what's going on. Though it isn't as 'flashy' as Kodansha, it still has it's charm. It's not something that's totally necessary for the Sailor Moon, or PGSM collector, but it makes for some interesting memories. You definitely wouldn't be sorry if you bought these books, but I wouldn't go absolutely nuts over them either. A nice collectable, and at the very least, an interesting addition to one's collection. Over all, Kodansha books get a 10 out of 10 for their books, and Shogakukan gets an 7 out of 10.

Next time, we'll look at some more neat Sailor Moon items (I'm not sure which at this point! ^_^)!!
See you then!

This update is brough to you by YesAsia. Grab the Sailor Stars and Live Action DVDs before they're gone!

Posted By: Serena # Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Weekly Features

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Sailor Moon [PGSM] Picture Books!