Review: Sailor Moon Short Stories Vol. 1 by Naoko Takeuchi
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Sailor Moon Short Stories Vol. 1
by Naoko Takeuchi
To see reviews of previous books in the Sailor Moon series, click here.
This review contains spoilers for the previous volumes in the series.
For those of us who aren’t quite ready for Sailor Moon to end, two collections of short stories were released. This first volume is largely focused on the adventures of Chibi-Usa, who fights off vampires, a spirit from Japanese folklore, and cavities. Sailors Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and Venus all get their own story, too - well, Mars and Venus share one - as they all encounter demons or monsters in their daily lives.
Conspicuously absent is the title character, Sailor Moon, and it’s nice. I mean, I love Usagi, but we get so much of her and so little of others in the main story line. Some of the stories are pretty cute. Ami/Mercury becomes obsessed with someone called Mercurius who consistently matches her scores on exams; her friends joke that her rival is her first love, but Mercury becomes convinced he or she is an enemy.
But there are also some really terrible stories, too - most of them starring Chibi-Usa. By far, the worst is a silly little tale about two brand-obsessed friends of Chibi-Usa, Naruru and Ruruna, who transform into sailor warriors to protect a store where they love to shop. Described as elementary school students, Naruru and Ruruna are scantily-clad in bikini tops and tiny skirts and I feel like a dirty old man whenever I look at them. Very awkward. The characters also have an over-the-top valley girl way of speaking, and it’s both confusing and will sound extremely dated in a few years (if it doesn’t already). Obviously, this has nothing whatsoever to do with the rest of the series - Takeuchi was just feeling goofy one day, I guess.
The stories are certainly different from the main story, since they’re heavily focused on problems from daily life, like a fear of dentists or sneaking into a school to visit a friend, and less on epic quests to save the solar system. But generally, they aren’t very good and readers don’t miss much by skipping them.
2 out of 5 stars
To read more about Sailor Moon Short Stories Vol. 1, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
Peeking into the archives...today in:
2013: The Snakehead by Patrick Radden Keefe
2012: Mushishi Vol. 1 by Yuki Urushibara
2011: Shadow of the Swords by Kamran Pasha
2010: Happy Cafe Vol. 1 by Kou Matsuzuki
2009: News: Newbery Award 2009 & Discussion Question