Review: Sailor Moon Vol. 7 by Naoko Takeuchi
Sailor Moon Vol. 7
by Naoko Takeuchi
To see reviews of the previous books in the Sailor Moon series, click here. This review does contain spoilers for previous volumes.
Usagi and Chibi-Usa are troubled by their last encounter with Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. The two warriors had coldly informed the others that they were enemies, and could not be friends - something inconceivable to Sailor Moon, because she can't understand why these women refuse to work as a team. The reappearance of Sailor Pluto initially reassures and reunites both groups, but when she reveals the mission that has brought the three outer planet warriors together, Sailor Moon is shocked and horrified. Although she knows it is her duty to save the world from danger, Sailor Moon cannot condone the murder of an innocent. Her compassion may threaten to drive the inner and outer guardians down two separate paths after all.
Hooray! It took seven volumes, but all ten of the Sailor guardians have finally been introduced! I've been waiting for Pluto's return and Saturn's first appearance. Technically, Saturn's only been talked about, but I know her first 'official' appearance is just around the corner and in the meantime, Takeuchi has given readers plenty to speculate about, especially since Hotaru, not yet awakened to her planetary identity, is also the host of Mistress 9, one of the most powerful members of the Tau Star System aliens.
A minor thing that cracks me up in this volume: Sailor Chibi-Moon gains her first official power, “Pink Sugar Heart Attack!” Besides having one of the silliest names to ever appear in a superhero comic, Chibi-Moon's magic doesn't even work. Both times that she uses it, the “Pink Sugar Heart Attack” not only fails to kill or injure her enemy, it doesn't even give them a toothache or a mild case of diabetes. It's lame. Just like her character.
The translation took a bit of a nosedive in this volume, which has me worried that the rushed production of these books is compromising the quality. No one seems to be 'polishing' the literal translation into conversational English, so there are times that the dialogue is very stiff and stilted because it hasn't been cleaned up. At other times, words like “aberrant” are repeated over and over - this might be a literal translation of a Japanese word, but I don't think this is quite the correct word in English. There's always a bit of a debate when it comes to translation between what a sentence says versus what the sentence means, but I think that in this case Kodansha could have made more of an effort to smooth out the translation.
4 out of 5 stars
To read more about Sailor Moon Vol. 7, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2011: Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir
2010: Confessions of a Used Book Salesman
2009: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
2008: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield
by Naoko Takeuchi
To see reviews of the previous books in the Sailor Moon series, click here. This review does contain spoilers for previous volumes.
Usagi and Chibi-Usa are troubled by their last encounter with Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. The two warriors had coldly informed the others that they were enemies, and could not be friends - something inconceivable to Sailor Moon, because she can't understand why these women refuse to work as a team. The reappearance of Sailor Pluto initially reassures and reunites both groups, but when she reveals the mission that has brought the three outer planet warriors together, Sailor Moon is shocked and horrified. Although she knows it is her duty to save the world from danger, Sailor Moon cannot condone the murder of an innocent. Her compassion may threaten to drive the inner and outer guardians down two separate paths after all.
Hooray! It took seven volumes, but all ten of the Sailor guardians have finally been introduced! I've been waiting for Pluto's return and Saturn's first appearance. Technically, Saturn's only been talked about, but I know her first 'official' appearance is just around the corner and in the meantime, Takeuchi has given readers plenty to speculate about, especially since Hotaru, not yet awakened to her planetary identity, is also the host of Mistress 9, one of the most powerful members of the Tau Star System aliens.
A minor thing that cracks me up in this volume: Sailor Chibi-Moon gains her first official power, “Pink Sugar Heart Attack!” Besides having one of the silliest names to ever appear in a superhero comic, Chibi-Moon's magic doesn't even work. Both times that she uses it, the “Pink Sugar Heart Attack” not only fails to kill or injure her enemy, it doesn't even give them a toothache or a mild case of diabetes. It's lame. Just like her character.
The translation took a bit of a nosedive in this volume, which has me worried that the rushed production of these books is compromising the quality. No one seems to be 'polishing' the literal translation into conversational English, so there are times that the dialogue is very stiff and stilted because it hasn't been cleaned up. At other times, words like “aberrant” are repeated over and over - this might be a literal translation of a Japanese word, but I don't think this is quite the correct word in English. There's always a bit of a debate when it comes to translation between what a sentence says versus what the sentence means, but I think that in this case Kodansha could have made more of an effort to smooth out the translation.
4 out of 5 stars
To read more about Sailor Moon Vol. 7, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2011: Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings by Alison Weir
2010: Confessions of a Used Book Salesman
2009: Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
2008: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfield