Before Sailor Moon, there was Sailor Venus, or Sailor V as she was called back in her old adventures (I'm not sure why, personally).
'Codename: Sailor V, Vol 1' (really, why the codename? She already has a superheroine alter ego. I guess one less syllable to her name would make her more marketable). Anyway, 'Sailor V, Vol 1' was where Naoko Takeuchi started off in what would become her biggest, most phenomenal hit about cosmic girls in cute sailor outfits fighting the forces of pure evil and darkness. Despite being a 'Sailor Moon' fan, I'd been reluctant to buy the prequel, because I never thought much about Sailor Venus as a character. But the manga ended up being a very entertaining and hilarious read, where almost nothing makes sense and concepts such as logic and prioritizing are Sailor V-kicked right in the crotch.
Sometime in the future, I plan to write a review of each of the renewed manga volumes of 'Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon'. The prequel volumes seem like a good place to start. It won't be much, since 'Codename: Sailor V' isn't deep at all, but I'm excited to get started.
The first thing to talk about regarding this manga is Sailor V herself. Minako "Mina" Aino is a thirteen-year-old Japanese middle school student. She's beautiful, but isn't a typical girl of the late eighties: She's athletic but lazy in the brain department; she likes to sleep and eat and go shopping; but above all she loves video games and the arcade. For even back when video games were not such a globally-recognised medium, girls made up a lot of their players and fanbases. Mina faces scrutiny for being so unlike a girl because she is tough and good at games, and a few people even accuse her of being a boy (gender stereotyping at its finest!).
One day Mina is met by a talking cat named Artemis, and her life changes overnight as she reluctantly becomes the Champion of Justice - and the protector of the Earth and Venus - Sailor Venus!
Minako is an absolute hoot in this manga. We get to see what she was like before she became the brave, smart and competent Sailor warrior we know her from 'Sailor Moon'. She was a fairly normal teenage girl who liked to goof off a lot. People like to point out her similarities to Usagi Tsukino. But I don't think they're that derivative of one another. Mina is an athlete; confident, graceful, and very silly. She rarely cries, and when she does she is ashamed of showing weakness and learns to overcome it. Usagi is much more clumsy and less confident; with no obvious talents or restraints. She is the sort of person to let all her feelings out and cry on the spot.
Reading 'Codename: Sailor V' definitely made me like Sailor Venus a whole lot more than in 'Sailor Moon'. I just love Mina's ridiculousness, and her screwed-up priorities.
Examples of said screwed-up priorities include:
- After taking a shower, she finds a cat. The cat talks to her. Her first reaction to this is kicking it out of the window... because it's a "pervert".
- She wears a red ribbon in her hair because a boy she'd known was a villain-of-the-week had suggested it to her.
- She spends most of her time in the game center instead of studying and training to fight her enemies (quite ingeniously, Mina's cat mentor Artemis turns the 'Sailor V' arcade game into a means of training for Sailor V herself).
- She transforms into Sailor V to stop some kids bullying other kids on the street... because they'll make her be late for school. (She gives the bullies possible concussions with her V-kicks - in the words of Little Kuriboh, "Our protagonist, ladies and gentlemen!").
- She cares more about bands and pop idols than potential (meaning: bloody obvious) threats from monsters out to brainwash and suck her hometown and the people she loves dry.
- She exclaims that brainwashing people of all demographics is... Immoral? Sick? Evil? A violation? Nope - she says it's greedy!
- She wants to go on a trip to Hawaii... when there is the certain matter of evil space aliens in Japan who she must fight.
There are other case-and-points of Minako's exploits (and no doubt she takes after her hypocritical mother). But my point is that they make this thirteen-year-old all the more fun and enjoyable to read about.
'Codename: Sailor V' has a parody element to it that I did not expect. It came out at a time in Japan when computers, video games, pop idols and teenage delinquents really were a big thing, and it shows. But not in a way that looks dated through today's lenses. Naoko Takeuchi took popular Japanese pop culture references and both celebrated and made fun of them (to the point where "otaku-ism" is rather shamelessly targeted). Even American icons such as Jason Voorhees and the Terminator are referenced at one point. However, structurally Takeuchi-sensei never forgot to just write a silly, episodic and cool Sentai manga - which happens to have a female hero.
It seems a bit meaningless to talk about the negatives, when of course nothing in 'Codemane: Sailor V' is meant to be taking seriously. But specifically I'll mention the main weakness: Its repetitiveness. The first six chapters are very formulaic and even a few of them revolve around evil pop idols doing the exact same thing (they even look alike and have similar names) - and yet Minako, even excusing her dimwitted-ness, is given no incentive not to catch on. I know villain-of-the-week plotlines are basically what made Sentai manga and anime what they are, but a different setting and varied villain plan would be called for at least. However, things really start to pick up in chapters seven and eight; where, respectively, Sailor V is in Greece, and crushes on a street delinquent.
Another negative is that the villains - of the "Dark Agency" - have no origin or backstory whatsoever. We know nothing about them, nor why they want to take over the world and make human slaves and drain their energy. At least we are given a hint of the Dark Kingdom's motivations in the first volume of 'Sailor Moon'. And Artemis's purpose is vague at this point in the saga as well. He mentions a "duty" which Sailor V has to get ready for, and there's a "Boss" who talks to Minako through her transformation pen. 'Sailor V, Vol 1' is just that: the first volume. So withholding information from the protagonist (and hence the reader) is forgivable. Plus it leads to another funny Minako moment where - after being dropped into the lair under the 'Sailor V' arcade game - she tries to persuade the Boss (a computer) to tell her what is going on. She cries - but it's only fake tears, and it doesn't work.
Also, there are quite a few grown men and creepy guys in this manga who are far too interested in Sailor V and her short skirt. I remind you that she is meant to be thirteen-years-old...
But back to the positives. The artwork in 'Codename: Sailor V' is great. Like in 'Sailor Moon', the style is stunningly graceful but very expressive and anime-esque - a perfect fit for a comedic and action-packed series revolving around a heroine who's related to the Greek goddess of Venus.
Usagi and her friend Naru - and Rei Hino - make cameo appearances in this volume, and the appearances of the Inspector General, Mina's best friend Hikaru, and her nerdy friend Amano, all show how Takeuch-sensei will develop her story in the future (the Inspector General looks like Sailor Mars, Hikaru like Sailor Mercury, and Amano is whom Umino will become an expy of). Even the game center owner, Furuhata, is in this.
The panels involving the police force are very funny as we get to see how angry the head of the police department is at Sailor V. For she always stops criminals before he arrives at the scene of the crime. And she gets into big trouble for screwing up and causing property damage.
The last chapter - about Minako's "first love" - is quite touching. That is, if you throw logic right out the window.
Really, 'Codename: Sailor V' is such an adorable, side-splitting and colourful read. And it is nice to see how everyone's favourite Moon princess in a sailor outfit came to fruition. It's plain silly fun, and just what a comic book from the golden years is like. I have a new-found respect for Sailor Venus, and I look forward to reading her final lone adventures in Volume 2.
Final Score: 4/5
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