Review: Sailor Moon Vol. 4 by Naoko Takeuchi
Sailor Moon Vol. 4
by Naoko Takeuchi
To see reviews of the previous books in the Sailor Moon series, click here. This review may contain spoilers for previous volumes.
Mysterious UFO sightings keep popping up around Tokyo as a new group calling themselves Black Moon continue to pursue someone they call “Rabbit”. Sailor Jupiter is kidnapped, and her disappearance leads Usagi and Minako to confront Chibi-Usa, who admits that she's from the future and that she needs their help to save her parents. Alongside Tuxedo Mask, they go to the Door of Space and Time and discover that yet another Sailor warrior exists. The enigmatic Sailor Pluto is the guardian of the gateway...and she has orders to kill anyone who dares to time travel!
Hooray! Sailor Pluto has appeared! I always liked her character's design, and felt sorry for her because (just like the mythological Hades/Pluto) she is forbidden to join the others in Tokyo. Instead, she lives out her days in solitude at the gateway between past and future. It's really sad to me. Since the story was written in the 1990s, the planet Pluto has been downgraded to dwarf planet, and in a way it is very fitting for this character. She's not a real 'sailor' either, just a shadowy figure of legend.
Although I am enjoying the Black Moon story, it does irritate me a little that there are so many villains who get very little page time. By the end of the book, we know the origin of the Black Moon troop and the goals of the organization, but we don't know a thing about the individuals involved beyond their names. Petz and Calaveras have such brief appearances that they register as little more than mannequins for weird costumes:
Now you know who Katy Perry has been taking fashion advice from...
In spite of this flaw - and villains are always my favorite characters, so it's a pretty serious problem - I like this plot because it introduces Sailor Pluto, and it acts as a bridge to one of my favorite plot twists in the Sailor Moon series. But we'll get to that in Vol. 5...
3.5 out of 5 stars
.
To read more about Sailor Moon Vol. 4, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.
by Naoko Takeuchi
To see reviews of the previous books in the Sailor Moon series, click here. This review may contain spoilers for previous volumes.
Mysterious UFO sightings keep popping up around Tokyo as a new group calling themselves Black Moon continue to pursue someone they call “Rabbit”. Sailor Jupiter is kidnapped, and her disappearance leads Usagi and Minako to confront Chibi-Usa, who admits that she's from the future and that she needs their help to save her parents. Alongside Tuxedo Mask, they go to the Door of Space and Time and discover that yet another Sailor warrior exists. The enigmatic Sailor Pluto is the guardian of the gateway...and she has orders to kill anyone who dares to time travel!
Hooray! Sailor Pluto has appeared! I always liked her character's design, and felt sorry for her because (just like the mythological Hades/Pluto) she is forbidden to join the others in Tokyo. Instead, she lives out her days in solitude at the gateway between past and future. It's really sad to me. Since the story was written in the 1990s, the planet Pluto has been downgraded to dwarf planet, and in a way it is very fitting for this character. She's not a real 'sailor' either, just a shadowy figure of legend.
Although I am enjoying the Black Moon story, it does irritate me a little that there are so many villains who get very little page time. By the end of the book, we know the origin of the Black Moon troop and the goals of the organization, but we don't know a thing about the individuals involved beyond their names. Petz and Calaveras have such brief appearances that they register as little more than mannequins for weird costumes:
Now you know who Katy Perry has been taking fashion advice from...
In spite of this flaw - and villains are always my favorite characters, so it's a pretty serious problem - I like this plot because it introduces Sailor Pluto, and it acts as a bridge to one of my favorite plot twists in the Sailor Moon series. But we'll get to that in Vol. 5...
3.5 out of 5 stars
.
To read more about Sailor Moon Vol. 4, buy it or add it to your wishlist click here.