(Epic) Breakdown of the fabulous Codename Sailor V Manga
I feel I didn't really focus enough on Sailor V in my breakdown of the Sailor Moon manga. And I really should, because not a lot of people are aware of it, due to this being the FIRST TIME EVER IT WILL BE RELEASED IN THE US, and without it, Sailor Moon wouldn't exist.
Naoko Taukeuchi did a short story about a girl with a talking cat who transferred into a superhero to fight evil. This was called Sailor V, and starred Minako Aino, a plucky and athletic girl who was also a bit of slacker. The executives caught wind of this, saw that they had something with this magical girl warrior deal, and asked Takeuchi if she could turn it into a team of sentai heroes like Power Rangers and they could make an anime out of that. Takuechi obliged, and Sailor Moon was born- and Sailor V became part of that series, awakening as Sailor Venus, the leader of the Sailor Senshi.
That makes Sailor V the original Sailor Senshi, and this is prequel in the sense that it all takes place before the events of Sailor Moon. However, only the first few chapters were published before Sailor Moon, the rest were published alongside it, and the last chapter was actually published after Sailor Moon finished it's run. As a result, we have lots of cool cameos of the other Senshi, and the series becomes more connected with the first arc of SM as it goes on, and even explains a lot of things about events in SM.
Reading Sailor V is quite a different experience from Sailor Moon- in general, the title is a lot more wacky and light-hearted, full on fun-personified superhero hijinks, a wish fufillment romp not weighted down by sensual romance or epic destiny. But the first chapter has a bit of a tragic note to it, and as the series goes on there's a sense of loneliness about the main character that grows, and foreshadowing of the heady destiny that awaits her. This culminates in a truly epic and kinda heartwrenching final chapter where hard and surprising truths are learned and Venus is forced to awaken and make a brave and terrible decision- and truly accept what it means to be a soldier and her duty as a leader and protector. We get to learn a little bit of Venus's feelings about the fall of the Moon Kingdom and her past life- it's really interesting and it's definitely a wham ending to the manga.
What really makes the Sailor V manga worth the read is what a fun and awesome character Minako is. Seeing her kickin' it solo is quite a different feel from the sentai team feel of Sailor Moon, and it really gives us a chance to know her. Venus was my favorite character in the manga due to the fact pretty much everything she ever does is badass (guttin' villians with a holy sword, swooping in like a ninja to deliver face-kicks, callin' the shots like a boss) and we get to see her develop those mad skills here.
Those who haven't read this or just don't pay attention may think Usagi and Minako are the same person- but there's really a lot of differences between the two characters that make reading them a different experience. True, both are blonde bubbly slackers filled with endless good cheer and a hidden iron resolve, but that's about where it ends.
First and foremost, whereas Usagi earns her nickname "crybaby Usagi", Minako rarely indulges in tears. She's more likely to react to a situation that's annoying or sad with anger and violence and generally being a massive drama queen. Minako has a nasty temper overall, she’s confrontational and often harsh. She WILL have her opinion heard as loudly as possible. The girl seems to have no filter whatsoever between her brain and mouth. A page from the first chapter of Sailor V demonstrates this perfectly, two boys call her a "rude girl" when she loudly shouts her intentions to fight for love- she responds with a violent temper and some good old smacking around, and the boys moan that she's not a cute girl/real girl (not following the quiet, submissive stereotype they expect) and they'd like to see her cry just once. She responds "I NEVER CRY!" while sticking her tongue out. This is not strictly true, she does get a little teary if things get terribly bad, but as a rule it's true this girl is more likely to scream at YOU.
Mina’s also pretty athletic, more likely to slack off at school because she’s playing her heart out at volleyball or winning marathons. She’s quick on her feet, energetic and scrappy in a fight, and as a result we see a lot more face-kicking in Sailor V (usually once every chapter) than we see in Sailor Moon, as well as the occasional much-beloved “SAILOR V SCREWBALL PUNCH” or “SAILOR V CHOP”. (Such kitsch!)
In fact, despite being pretty girly, Mina is considered a tomboy by Japanese standards, due to her brashness, athleticism, willingness to get into fights, the fact she climbs fences as a shortcut on the way home and doesn’t give a damn she gets her uniform dirty doing it, her love of videogames and willingness to march into an arcade that’s a “castle for lonely boys” by herself and beat all their high scores. She gets a lot of grief for it too, but never takes anyone’s shit. When Artemis says she’s basically a boy, she snaps she doesn’t have to take that from a cat with a girl’s name and continues playing streetfighter games. There’s also a plot where she faces off against a boy who is literally named Otaku who is enrage at a girl invading his sanctum, and when she kicks his ass at video games, decides she must clearly be a boy “pretending”.
Spoilers for chapter 2 of the manga here:
When she transforms, he then sexually harasses her, trying to look up her skirt (the only time this ever happens in the Sailor Moon canon) and she kicks him in the face.
Sexual harassment is played for laughs a lot in manga and anime, considered okay as long as the girl thumps the harasser good. It’s played somewhat lightly here, but I think it’s significant that while often in anime the harasser is a regular cast member/hero who’s supposed to be sympathetic and totally relatable and we can automatically forgive him once the girl thumps him, this guy was clearly supposed to be an irredeemable sexist creep, and getting kicked in the face hard enough he was probably hospitalized (since it was a kick Mina reserves for monsters) was comeuppance
(spoilers endeth)
It’s hardly high political commentary, but I think Takeuchi was trying to comment the rigid gender roles and treatment of tomboys she saw around her.
Regarding the arcade, there’s some fun to be had there as we see the origin of the Sailor V video game, the Senshi’s control room, and a nice bit where Motoki the arcade guy is pleased that Mina is attracting more girls to the game center, since that “odango-haired girl and girl with red hair started checking the place out a lot”- cue cameos!
Another fun aspect of Mina is what a huge ham she is. This girl loves attention and adulation and will grab it wherever she can find it- and she treats being a superhero a bit like being a pop star (. She’s sort of like Booster Gold. She uses her disguise pen EVERY SINGLE TIME before she transforms, turning into the most random and awesome stuff imaginable- from a foot soldier to a samurai to a police officer (and there’s the essential gender bending). Her pre battle speeches are also even more hammy and hilarious than Sailor Moon’s- They basically follow the format of her making an intentionally outrageous statement and ending it with may allow it, BUT I WON’T ALLOW IT! An example: “Confucianism and the “Law of Pity may allow it, but I won’t allow it! Codename Sailor V! Ally to tender little doggies and heroine of bishougo manga! The Messenger of Justice! The Sailor Suited Pretty Soldier! The Sailor Venus of ROMANTIC HEARTWARMING MOVING COMICS! IT IS I!”
No wonder the villain responded “Your speech is interminable!”
In addition to being harsh in general, Mina is also often selfish and bit callous in the way she treats people. It her relationship with Artemis really fun since they’re constantly snarking at and insulting each other- once he dramatically runs away because he feels unappreciated, and she barely notices especially since he has to come back and check on her omg!!!. It also leads to a lot of fun stories too- V getting roped into blood donation and then loving the free juice, this bit where she accidentally makes this poor guy’s life miserable by just casually disregarding him over and over (cutting in front of him snatch the winning lottery ticket etc) which of course leads to supervilliany… but thanks to the characters endearing nature and energetic good cheer, her flaws just make Mina fun. Even if she is a self-centered loudmouth, her good heart shines through whatever she does. Mina is eager to help, a defender of the picked on, pure hearted and despite her selfish attitude, she is remarkably unselfish when it comes to sacrificing her happiness for her duty as a hero. Mina is also utterly fearless, rushing into danger and fights and wacky situations without the slightest thought, and she never, EVER gives up. “Giving up are the worlds I hate the most!”
Another cool aspect of Sailor V is also the everyday stuff. Unlike in Sailor Moon, we get to see the police department, and they are not happy that a teenage girl is regularly outperforming them. Of course, it doesn’t help that Mina deliberately goes out of her way to show them up- the girl is such a troll. There’s some nice side characters in an with the officer guy who’s always shown up by Mina and the police commissioner who is- gasp- a secret hardcore Sailor V fangirl with a lifesize poster in her office and everything.Mina even eventually befriends her, and it’s a lot of fun. We also see V stopping bullies and breaking up arguments in the street (a little over enthusiastically). V also encounters a lot of fun side characters, including manga artist who is clearly a bit of a Takeuchi expy. With all the goofy oneshot peeps and fun super hijinx, it’s really like watching one of the SM anime’s funner filler episodes. We also get to see Mina travel to other countries- Greece and China! Variety!
(I should note there’s some ethnic stereotypes in the China part, but it’s clearly firmly tongue-in-cheek (Artemis freaking out that the Chinese “eat cats!”- which the police commissioner also wouldn’t mind doing apparently, despite being Japanese, and an over the top Chinese-ish villain (I don't think she was really Chinese? I mean, she was from the Dark Agency...) to go with it, and Artemis comments on her ridiculousness. But YMMV since it’s two cultures I have no authority on I can’t really comment on how offensive some may find it- Mina also transforms herself into a shogun stereotype in a similar tongue-in-cheek way. pretty much 99% of Sailor V is tongue-in-cheek-making-fun-of-everything. That's what makes it so fab. Oh, while on the negative I should also mention there's also a storyline with some fat-phobia, but then, Sailor Moon had some fat-phobic moments too. )
There’s a lot of metatext in Sailor V, with an entire chapter centered around V encountering a manga artist with some nods and winks, including that particular artist talking about her ten main characters, whose silhouettes HAPPEN to look just like the ten other Sailor Senshi Minako has yet to meet. And you get cameos from the four other girls pre transformation as well as Naru. There’s also the fact that Minako a few chapters trying to figure out “Kaito Ace”, who seems like a total Tuxedo Kamen expy- but it all turns out to have quite an interesting twist. But you have to giggle when the Ace casts Mina as “a strong princess who always rescues “Ace” when he’s in trouble”- what other girl does that remind you of? Lots of nods and winks in this series.
Though Sailor V is mostly a fun romp where you get to know the wacky ways of Mina and her world, there’s a lot of subtle character development and climax building going on which, as I said, leads to a surprisingly intense final chapter. Minako suffers from the weird loneliness- Part of it is her terminal everydude unluckiness in romance and all that, but mostly she’s taking on these duties by herself, and part of her does have this sense that she’s supposed to have allies out there, but she doesn’t know how to find them or if she can- she’s also vaguely aware that there’s a mystery behind all this, and it’s going to lead up to something pretty huge and terrifying, and something that’s going to require her to take a lot of responsibility. And this all culminates with a bang in the finale.
I can’t NOT talk about finale, because it’s such a big deal thematically for the Sailor V story, I just have to give my thoughts- but I really don’t want to completely spoil it for anyone, so I’m putting it behind a spoiler tag- don’t click if you want to enjoy the end of Sailor V spoiler free!
(Cut)
The ending is just amazing- you really see how much Mina’a matured as a character when rather than crush on her policeman friend, she realizes right away he’s not the one and he and the commissioner make a cute couple. And her getting the feeling that maybe she’s NOT alone as she senses Ami passing by her- beautiful.
And just how everything culminates- Kato Ace pointing out to Mina that she’s never taken any of her romances seriously, that she’s always but her duty to fight first, and Mina flashes back to all those relationships- Mina has nightmares about someone needing her, screaming for help, and she knows there’s this person she needs to protect, people she needs to be with. She wants to believe it’s Ace and that she can have that girlish romance, but…she knows that’s not for her, and she shoves away the man who’s trying to control her to pursue who she’s actually supposed to protect.
and then that beautiful spread of all the girls happy and content together in their past life- as she finally remembers her past life with Serenity and the Senshi, the deep love and bond she shared with them, the destiny she shares with them. The destruction around her mirrors the destruction of everything she loved in the past, and she can’t stand it- even though she has feelings for Ace, she cannot let him hurt her friends, her comerades and sisters from the past and the planet she loves. She can’t reason with him, so she destroys him without hesitation / Ace tells her she’s always been like that, choosing duty over love, and she always will be- it’s who she is to always fight evil. And so Mina goes to search for her allies.
(and PS Ace’s connection to the Shittenou and her past life and the myth connection with Adonis is so cool. I also do think it’s significant his superhero ID resembled Tuxedo Kamen- to subvert our expectations, but also to draw a contrast between him and Mamoru- Mamo lets Usagi have both her duty and her love of him, and those two things are wrapped so tightly together for the two of them- but Adonis tries to get Mina to abandon her duty for love of him, sweep her away from who she is- Plus, he a reincarnated soldier of Earth, so it makes sense he’d imitate Earth’s prince- but being such a lowly corrupted footsoldier, he just completely uses that archetype for trickery and gets it totally wrong )
It’s just…so powerful. It ties all the way back to the first chapter where Mina chose her duty as hero over her crush on Higashi and defeated him. She didn’t understand why she did it then, didn’t understand who she was, but now she does. She will not allow any guy to try to control her or threaten who she is. She will choose her love for her friends and her duty as leader over any romantic entanglements- even if she hasn’t met them in this life yet, she will not allow anyone to threaten the bond of sisterhood she shares with her allies. To fight, to defend, to protect is part of who she is, and she knows who the fight for. It’s just such a powerful message that illustrates the core of the Sailor Moon mythos- a girl comes of age, casts off childish things, and stands independent and strong, valuing the love of her friends and the strength her connection to those girls gives her and her responsibility and duty to the world.
(End cut)
Sailor V is a great, entertaining story with lots of color and life where you see starring a vibrant teenage girl who we get to see grow into a strong leader and true hero. A must have for any Sailor Moon fan and such an important part of the mythos. I am beyond excited to finally have it published in the US and can’t wait to own my volumes.
I posted some scans from the first chapter of Sailor V on scans daily (considering the news, I don't plan to post more), so anyone who wants can check it out here.
Whew! Sorry for going on so long AGAIN. At least I got all my precious feelings out. See, his is what happens when you lot give me encouragement, I ramble.
Naoko Taukeuchi did a short story about a girl with a talking cat who transferred into a superhero to fight evil. This was called Sailor V, and starred Minako Aino, a plucky and athletic girl who was also a bit of slacker. The executives caught wind of this, saw that they had something with this magical girl warrior deal, and asked Takeuchi if she could turn it into a team of sentai heroes like Power Rangers and they could make an anime out of that. Takuechi obliged, and Sailor Moon was born- and Sailor V became part of that series, awakening as Sailor Venus, the leader of the Sailor Senshi.
That makes Sailor V the original Sailor Senshi, and this is prequel in the sense that it all takes place before the events of Sailor Moon. However, only the first few chapters were published before Sailor Moon, the rest were published alongside it, and the last chapter was actually published after Sailor Moon finished it's run. As a result, we have lots of cool cameos of the other Senshi, and the series becomes more connected with the first arc of SM as it goes on, and even explains a lot of things about events in SM.
Reading Sailor V is quite a different experience from Sailor Moon- in general, the title is a lot more wacky and light-hearted, full on fun-personified superhero hijinks, a wish fufillment romp not weighted down by sensual romance or epic destiny. But the first chapter has a bit of a tragic note to it, and as the series goes on there's a sense of loneliness about the main character that grows, and foreshadowing of the heady destiny that awaits her. This culminates in a truly epic and kinda heartwrenching final chapter where hard and surprising truths are learned and Venus is forced to awaken and make a brave and terrible decision- and truly accept what it means to be a soldier and her duty as a leader and protector. We get to learn a little bit of Venus's feelings about the fall of the Moon Kingdom and her past life- it's really interesting and it's definitely a wham ending to the manga.
What really makes the Sailor V manga worth the read is what a fun and awesome character Minako is. Seeing her kickin' it solo is quite a different feel from the sentai team feel of Sailor Moon, and it really gives us a chance to know her. Venus was my favorite character in the manga due to the fact pretty much everything she ever does is badass (guttin' villians with a holy sword, swooping in like a ninja to deliver face-kicks, callin' the shots like a boss) and we get to see her develop those mad skills here.
Those who haven't read this or just don't pay attention may think Usagi and Minako are the same person- but there's really a lot of differences between the two characters that make reading them a different experience. True, both are blonde bubbly slackers filled with endless good cheer and a hidden iron resolve, but that's about where it ends.
First and foremost, whereas Usagi earns her nickname "crybaby Usagi", Minako rarely indulges in tears. She's more likely to react to a situation that's annoying or sad with anger and violence and generally being a massive drama queen. Minako has a nasty temper overall, she’s confrontational and often harsh. She WILL have her opinion heard as loudly as possible. The girl seems to have no filter whatsoever between her brain and mouth. A page from the first chapter of Sailor V demonstrates this perfectly, two boys call her a "rude girl" when she loudly shouts her intentions to fight for love- she responds with a violent temper and some good old smacking around, and the boys moan that she's not a cute girl/real girl (not following the quiet, submissive stereotype they expect) and they'd like to see her cry just once. She responds "I NEVER CRY!" while sticking her tongue out. This is not strictly true, she does get a little teary if things get terribly bad, but as a rule it's true this girl is more likely to scream at YOU.
Mina’s also pretty athletic, more likely to slack off at school because she’s playing her heart out at volleyball or winning marathons. She’s quick on her feet, energetic and scrappy in a fight, and as a result we see a lot more face-kicking in Sailor V (usually once every chapter) than we see in Sailor Moon, as well as the occasional much-beloved “SAILOR V SCREWBALL PUNCH” or “SAILOR V CHOP”. (Such kitsch!)
In fact, despite being pretty girly, Mina is considered a tomboy by Japanese standards, due to her brashness, athleticism, willingness to get into fights, the fact she climbs fences as a shortcut on the way home and doesn’t give a damn she gets her uniform dirty doing it, her love of videogames and willingness to march into an arcade that’s a “castle for lonely boys” by herself and beat all their high scores. She gets a lot of grief for it too, but never takes anyone’s shit. When Artemis says she’s basically a boy, she snaps she doesn’t have to take that from a cat with a girl’s name and continues playing streetfighter games. There’s also a plot where she faces off against a boy who is literally named Otaku who is enrage at a girl invading his sanctum, and when she kicks his ass at video games, decides she must clearly be a boy “pretending”.
Spoilers for chapter 2 of the manga here:
When she transforms, he then sexually harasses her, trying to look up her skirt (the only time this ever happens in the Sailor Moon canon) and she kicks him in the face.
Sexual harassment is played for laughs a lot in manga and anime, considered okay as long as the girl thumps the harasser good. It’s played somewhat lightly here, but I think it’s significant that while often in anime the harasser is a regular cast member/hero who’s supposed to be sympathetic and totally relatable and we can automatically forgive him once the girl thumps him, this guy was clearly supposed to be an irredeemable sexist creep, and getting kicked in the face hard enough he was probably hospitalized (since it was a kick Mina reserves for monsters) was comeuppance
(spoilers endeth)
It’s hardly high political commentary, but I think Takeuchi was trying to comment the rigid gender roles and treatment of tomboys she saw around her.
Regarding the arcade, there’s some fun to be had there as we see the origin of the Sailor V video game, the Senshi’s control room, and a nice bit where Motoki the arcade guy is pleased that Mina is attracting more girls to the game center, since that “odango-haired girl and girl with red hair started checking the place out a lot”- cue cameos!
Another fun aspect of Mina is what a huge ham she is. This girl loves attention and adulation and will grab it wherever she can find it- and she treats being a superhero a bit like being a pop star (. She’s sort of like Booster Gold. She uses her disguise pen EVERY SINGLE TIME before she transforms, turning into the most random and awesome stuff imaginable- from a foot soldier to a samurai to a police officer (and there’s the essential gender bending). Her pre battle speeches are also even more hammy and hilarious than Sailor Moon’s- They basically follow the format of her making an intentionally outrageous statement and ending it with may allow it, BUT I WON’T ALLOW IT! An example: “Confucianism and the “Law of Pity may allow it, but I won’t allow it! Codename Sailor V! Ally to tender little doggies and heroine of bishougo manga! The Messenger of Justice! The Sailor Suited Pretty Soldier! The Sailor Venus of ROMANTIC HEARTWARMING MOVING COMICS! IT IS I!”
No wonder the villain responded “Your speech is interminable!”
In addition to being harsh in general, Mina is also often selfish and bit callous in the way she treats people. It her relationship with Artemis really fun since they’re constantly snarking at and insulting each other- once he dramatically runs away because he feels unappreciated, and she barely notices especially since he has to come back and check on her omg!!!. It also leads to a lot of fun stories too- V getting roped into blood donation and then loving the free juice, this bit where she accidentally makes this poor guy’s life miserable by just casually disregarding him over and over (cutting in front of him snatch the winning lottery ticket etc) which of course leads to supervilliany… but thanks to the characters endearing nature and energetic good cheer, her flaws just make Mina fun. Even if she is a self-centered loudmouth, her good heart shines through whatever she does. Mina is eager to help, a defender of the picked on, pure hearted and despite her selfish attitude, she is remarkably unselfish when it comes to sacrificing her happiness for her duty as a hero. Mina is also utterly fearless, rushing into danger and fights and wacky situations without the slightest thought, and she never, EVER gives up. “Giving up are the worlds I hate the most!”
Another cool aspect of Sailor V is also the everyday stuff. Unlike in Sailor Moon, we get to see the police department, and they are not happy that a teenage girl is regularly outperforming them. Of course, it doesn’t help that Mina deliberately goes out of her way to show them up- the girl is such a troll. There’s some nice side characters in an with the officer guy who’s always shown up by Mina and the police commissioner who is- gasp- a secret hardcore Sailor V fangirl with a lifesize poster in her office and everything.Mina even eventually befriends her, and it’s a lot of fun. We also see V stopping bullies and breaking up arguments in the street (a little over enthusiastically). V also encounters a lot of fun side characters, including manga artist who is clearly a bit of a Takeuchi expy. With all the goofy oneshot peeps and fun super hijinx, it’s really like watching one of the SM anime’s funner filler episodes. We also get to see Mina travel to other countries- Greece and China! Variety!
(I should note there’s some ethnic stereotypes in the China part, but it’s clearly firmly tongue-in-cheek (Artemis freaking out that the Chinese “eat cats!”- which the police commissioner also wouldn’t mind doing apparently, despite being Japanese, and an over the top Chinese-ish villain (I don't think she was really Chinese? I mean, she was from the Dark Agency...) to go with it, and Artemis comments on her ridiculousness. But YMMV since it’s two cultures I have no authority on I can’t really comment on how offensive some may find it- Mina also transforms herself into a shogun stereotype in a similar tongue-in-cheek way. pretty much 99% of Sailor V is tongue-in-cheek-making-fun-of-everything. That's what makes it so fab. Oh, while on the negative I should also mention there's also a storyline with some fat-phobia, but then, Sailor Moon had some fat-phobic moments too. )
There’s a lot of metatext in Sailor V, with an entire chapter centered around V encountering a manga artist with some nods and winks, including that particular artist talking about her ten main characters, whose silhouettes HAPPEN to look just like the ten other Sailor Senshi Minako has yet to meet. And you get cameos from the four other girls pre transformation as well as Naru. There’s also the fact that Minako a few chapters trying to figure out “Kaito Ace”, who seems like a total Tuxedo Kamen expy- but it all turns out to have quite an interesting twist. But you have to giggle when the Ace casts Mina as “a strong princess who always rescues “Ace” when he’s in trouble”- what other girl does that remind you of? Lots of nods and winks in this series.
Though Sailor V is mostly a fun romp where you get to know the wacky ways of Mina and her world, there’s a lot of subtle character development and climax building going on which, as I said, leads to a surprisingly intense final chapter. Minako suffers from the weird loneliness- Part of it is her terminal everydude unluckiness in romance and all that, but mostly she’s taking on these duties by herself, and part of her does have this sense that she’s supposed to have allies out there, but she doesn’t know how to find them or if she can- she’s also vaguely aware that there’s a mystery behind all this, and it’s going to lead up to something pretty huge and terrifying, and something that’s going to require her to take a lot of responsibility. And this all culminates with a bang in the finale.
I can’t NOT talk about finale, because it’s such a big deal thematically for the Sailor V story, I just have to give my thoughts- but I really don’t want to completely spoil it for anyone, so I’m putting it behind a spoiler tag- don’t click if you want to enjoy the end of Sailor V spoiler free!
(Cut)
The ending is just amazing- you really see how much Mina’a matured as a character when rather than crush on her policeman friend, she realizes right away he’s not the one and he and the commissioner make a cute couple. And her getting the feeling that maybe she’s NOT alone as she senses Ami passing by her- beautiful.
And just how everything culminates- Kato Ace pointing out to Mina that she’s never taken any of her romances seriously, that she’s always but her duty to fight first, and Mina flashes back to all those relationships- Mina has nightmares about someone needing her, screaming for help, and she knows there’s this person she needs to protect, people she needs to be with. She wants to believe it’s Ace and that she can have that girlish romance, but…she knows that’s not for her, and she shoves away the man who’s trying to control her to pursue who she’s actually supposed to protect.
and then that beautiful spread of all the girls happy and content together in their past life- as she finally remembers her past life with Serenity and the Senshi, the deep love and bond she shared with them, the destiny she shares with them. The destruction around her mirrors the destruction of everything she loved in the past, and she can’t stand it- even though she has feelings for Ace, she cannot let him hurt her friends, her comerades and sisters from the past and the planet she loves. She can’t reason with him, so she destroys him without hesitation / Ace tells her she’s always been like that, choosing duty over love, and she always will be- it’s who she is to always fight evil. And so Mina goes to search for her allies.
(and PS Ace’s connection to the Shittenou and her past life and the myth connection with Adonis is so cool. I also do think it’s significant his superhero ID resembled Tuxedo Kamen- to subvert our expectations, but also to draw a contrast between him and Mamoru- Mamo lets Usagi have both her duty and her love of him, and those two things are wrapped so tightly together for the two of them- but Adonis tries to get Mina to abandon her duty for love of him, sweep her away from who she is- Plus, he a reincarnated soldier of Earth, so it makes sense he’d imitate Earth’s prince- but being such a lowly corrupted footsoldier, he just completely uses that archetype for trickery and gets it totally wrong )
It’s just…so powerful. It ties all the way back to the first chapter where Mina chose her duty as hero over her crush on Higashi and defeated him. She didn’t understand why she did it then, didn’t understand who she was, but now she does. She will not allow any guy to try to control her or threaten who she is. She will choose her love for her friends and her duty as leader over any romantic entanglements- even if she hasn’t met them in this life yet, she will not allow anyone to threaten the bond of sisterhood she shares with her allies. To fight, to defend, to protect is part of who she is, and she knows who the fight for. It’s just such a powerful message that illustrates the core of the Sailor Moon mythos- a girl comes of age, casts off childish things, and stands independent and strong, valuing the love of her friends and the strength her connection to those girls gives her and her responsibility and duty to the world.
(End cut)
Sailor V is a great, entertaining story with lots of color and life where you see starring a vibrant teenage girl who we get to see grow into a strong leader and true hero. A must have for any Sailor Moon fan and such an important part of the mythos. I am beyond excited to finally have it published in the US and can’t wait to own my volumes.
I posted some scans from the first chapter of Sailor V on scans daily (considering the news, I don't plan to post more), so anyone who wants can check it out here.
Whew! Sorry for going on so long AGAIN. At least I got all my precious feelings out. See, his is what happens when you lot give me encouragement, I ramble.