I'm finally doing it. I'm reviewing each of the 'Sailor Moon' manga volumes. Bit by bit I'll talk about a Magical Girl series so dear to my heart. A girl power series I love so much - out of nostalgia and current analysis, because despite what's on the surface, Naoko Takeuchi's popular manga is deeper and more meaningful, touching, complex and dramatic than one might expect.
And the second volume is where things really get good.
Gone are a lot of the silly quirks (though there are still a few funny, heartfelt moments), and the repetitive monster-of-the-week formula. The plot gets going, and quick.
Rundown: Usagi Tsukino and Mamoru Chiba know each other's secret identities, and their relationship develops sweetly and beautifully from there, with no more secrets (Seriously, their love is swoon-worthy and I'm not ashamed to admit it. Even Tuxedo Mask is more tolerable to me as he develops). Like Mamoru, Usagi has an identity crisis. Who is she really - Sailor Moon, champion of love and justice? An ordinary, clumsy, sensitive schoolkid? Princess Serenity, the heir to the fallen Moon Kingdom? That's an awful lot of pressure to put on a fourteen-year-old. So yeah, to the surprise of no one Sailor Moon is revealed to be the missing Moon Princess (I know, shocker), and Tuxedo Mask her lover, Prince Endymion. Sailor V makes her grand debut outside of her own series, first acting as a decoy Moon Princess, and serving as a headstrong leader to the rest of the Sailor Guardians. Unlike the Sailors Mercury, Mars and Jupiter, Venus is already aware of her duty to protect the reincarnated Princess Serenity, plus the most powerful MacGuffin in the universe, the Legendary Silver Crystal, which the Dark Kingdom is desperate to find and take control of. But upon this discovery (it is explained throughout why it was kept from everyone beforehand, along with other important plot details), Mamoru/Tuxedo Mask is kidnapped and brainwashed by evil (the first of many times this happens in the series, it becomes funny). A bereaved Usagi/Sailor Moon is helped out of her depression by her friends the Sailor Warriors and Luna and Artemis. Then they are transported into space and onto the moon, where the Moon Kingdom - the Silver Millennium - once stood, and is now in ruins. A holo-Queen Serenity - activated by Sailor Venus pulling a sword from a stone - exposits all. The history of the Silver Millennium, its place in purging all evil on Earth while remaining distant from it, and our heroes' past lives - mainly Princess Serenity's and Prince Endymion's star-crossed love - and how they were met by war, are explained. Including the Moon Kingdom's destruction at the hands of Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom. Queen Serenity tells everyone their destiny; specifically that Sailor Moon must use the power of the Legendary Silver Crystal to defeat the Dark kingdom once and for all. But it will only work from within her heart, where her hope lies. Oh, and Beryl's four male minions are revealed to have been Endymion's guards in their past lives. Nice parallels abound.
That's the gist of it.
There's no messing around here. Stakes are high; not a single page in this volume is boring or feels drawn-out. The structure, the character development, the emotion, the action, the gorgeous artwork, are all solid.
The story, and explaining of plot points, is rather cleverer than this magical girl gloss needed to be - even the moments of info-dump I can forgive due to the steady pacing, character interactions and pretty art. I give credit to Takeuchi-san for putting in that amount of effort.
The characters' personalities shine through stronger than in the previous volume. Usagi may act like a useless, overly-emotional wallflower for most of the time - like her past self, pining over Mamoru/Endymion - but with strong support from her friends, she will always try to do the right thing, without resorting to thoughtless violence. At only fourteen, she isn't perfect, nor is she ever expected to be. Sailor Moon's curiosity and amazing capacity to love and believe anything is possible in the face of danger are other overlooked attributes to her character arc. This only grows - there is no zenith - the more the series progresses; the more reason to love her.
Even Usagi's parents and friend Naru get their own little moments, such as them noticing that young Usagi is changing; and this might be a sign she is growing up - not into a warrior or queen, which they don't suspect, but a more mature person all around.
Minako Aino/Sailor Venus is a tough, resourceful and serious leader, but in her civilian form she still retains some aspects of her old fun-loving, light-hearted and even clumsy self.
I'll talk about the other Sailor characters more in future reviews when I feel they each get their breakout moments to shine. But at this stage in the game, they're still great. Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako differ in personality, but a common thing they share is their unwavering friendship and trust in Sailor Moon, and in each other. They consistently try to be there for one another; and it doesn’t seem like it’s merely because it’s their destiny as guardians to do so. Romantic love is not the sole focus - how very noble, touching and progressive! It's one of the reasons I rate the 'Sailor Moon' manga over the anime, the latter of which has Sailor Moon not bond very well with the other Sailors - they are not together that often, and when they do team up they bicker a lot. Not only is it annoying, it makes their friendship feel a little forced. Probably this is so Sailor Moon can be saved by the not-that-dashing Tuxedo Mask some more.
There are loving moments and there are scary moments. 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 2' is a great read overall. Stay tuned for reviews of further volumes!
Final Score: 5/5
P.S. At the end, Queen Beryl introduces herself as “Princess Beryl” to the Sailor Warriors, right before saying she’s the QUEEN of the Dark Kingdom. Uhhh...
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