Code Name wa Sailor V

Codename : Sailor V was originally written as a one shot in the summer season issue of RunRun by Naoko Takeuchi, most famously known for writing the series ' squeal, Sailor Moon. Shortly after, it began its serial run also in RunRun and was later complied into 3 volumes by Kodansha. As of 2011, Kodansha Comics USA has condensed those 3 volumes into 2 and released both in English.
The Sailor V serial focuses around Minako Aino, your typical Japanese middle schooler. She's somewhat lackadaisical, but is still free spirited and energetic. One day, she encounters a mysterious talking cat named Artemis, who informs her of her powers and what her true purpose on Earth is. In the beginning of the manga, Minako doesn't really take her job as a sailor senshi seriously, but, by the end, she is a true hero. Personally, I loved how this manga develops Minako as a character. I find her to be extremely likable and fun to follow. By the end of the manga, I have to say that Minako is probably my favorite sailor senshi besides Sailor Moon herself.
As for the visuals of the manga, they are absolutely gorgeous. I'm a big fan of 90's manga with clean, thin lines. While the character design is rather simplistic, how Takeuchi draws each characters' expressions just breathes life into them. As an artist myself, I can really appreciate how beautiful each panel is. I hope that one day I can be as talented as Takeuchi-sensei.
Overall, I'd say that it's a wonderful and enjoyable read that any fan of the magical girl genre should have. I suggest to read it before diving into the Sailor Moon series, as it is set before it.
Currently, Codename : Sailor V is licences in English by Kodansha Comics USA and available for purchase.

This manga is the prequel to the all-famous franchise. Originally, it was supposed to be only a oneshot but Naoko decided to continue it as “Sailor Moon”.

But is it any good? Is it really worth the read to learn about Sailor Venus’s origins and why she managed to get Artemis?

Well, you won’t really miss much if you don’t. The manga was only supposed to be a oneshot after all, and it shows.

The battles itself are really episodic and really formulaic – Minako nearly falls into a villain’s trap where they’re to get human energy by manipulating means and she defeats them. Artemis tries to motivate her and Minako is rather mean towards him and all the while trying her best to avoid responsibility. She doesn’t relate as well as Usagi would later but it’s still rather enjoyable as Minako and Usagi are pretty alike.

Boy-crazy, bad grades in school, a ton of friends, but Minako’s way more athletic and way more into idols than Usagi. Minako, at least, takes her job seriously by the end when her memories of the past returned to her and takes things better in stride.

When Artemis first shows up and gives Minako the power to become Sailor V, she just accepts it although she does say that she never said it was okay from time to time.

There is a sub-plot where the police wants to stop her from doing vigilante work (although, the superintendent general is a huge Sailor V fan and would rather recruit her) but it doesn’t really go anywhere other than mishaps here and there.

In the later chapters, they’re cast aside but Sailor V does join up in the end for part time, so I guess it worked for them in the end.

As for the art, it’s still very her unique style but there are a few problems in this manga, even though it’s an early work:

The character models look almost exactly like the Senshi (although they do appear here and there as a teaser of what’s to come) and other side characters from “Sailor Moon”.

Sometimes, Minako doesn’t even look like a middle school student (except for when she’s in disguise) – she either looks too old or too young. It’s rather jarring.

Scenes are a little hard to tell – when things are serious, it can take the reader out when there’s chibis and it’s hard to tell if there’s certain scenes meant to be taken seriously or not. It’s a little hard to understand what’s going on in between scenes and even pages because of how mixed up everything is.

The anatomy of the characters are off. Sometimes it just looks downright weird!

Granted, as mentioned before, this is her early work so hopefully it’s improved in her other manga. It is a little annoying, though, with all the side notes everywhere. Sometimes I would have to spend a little too much time on the page just to make sure I got every piece of text that’s on there. If there was a need for extra dialogue, though, it would have been better off using that for more exposition on Minako’s position.

For a prequel, it’s fine. It’s not really a must-read but if you’ve always wondered where Minako got her iconic red ribbon, how she became Sailor V, and to read some of her adventures, then it’s fun. It gets a little boring with the episodic fights and the clones of the “Sailor Moon” characters but if that doesn’t bother you at all, then sure – go right ahead and pick this up!

So basically this manga is the prequel to the original Salior Moon series. We have a 13 year old girl named Minako Aino who is your typical school girl, always wanting a boyfriend and basically kicks weak-ass villains. This manga, in my personal opinion, didn't particularly age well considering that the art is rather off and for god sake, the author was quick enough to push Aino into having a "bad boy" boyfriend like WTF?????????? Yeah Ill just skip this one and continue with the orgninal series where its not really "fast-paced". It was just not that great to start off before the original series like seriously!.....................

It is possible to acknowledge that a work was influential to a genre, while also recognizing its faults. This is the case with 'Codename: Sailor V', whose existence and success made it possible for 'Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon' to exist — whose role in making both anime and the mahou shoujo subgenre popular all over the world, you are already familiar with.

One day, 13-year-old middle schooler Minako Aino is approached by a talking cat, who introduces himself as Artemis and claims that she has magical powers and has been chosen to fight against mysterious creatures that want to drain the population's energy, which she does by transforming into Sailor V. The basic premise of most mahou shoujo works.

'Codename: Sailor V' (CSV) is, for better or worse, a product of its time. It's not a complex story, the characters aren't deep, the plot progression is clunky, and the jokes aren't that funny. At this point I haven't read BSSM, so these missteps might've been smoothed out later due to Takeuchi gaining more writing experience. But in CSV, most chapters follow a formula: Minako is called out for being lazy, gets interested in something pop-culture related (idol, video game) that turns out to be a monster-of-the-week, deals with it, and all is well until the next chapter. There is almost no suspense because you know what's going to happen, and you could safely skip chapters 4-8 and 11-13 without missing anything of importance to plot or character development; that's roughly half the manga, to give you an idea. The ending itself is also very rushed and poorly done, with the antagonist serving only as a means to unlock Minako's memories as Sailor Venus, instead of being a proper character in his own right.

Some background details are sprinkled in, like a hidden base of operations under the arcade Minako goes to, a "boss" Minako only interacts with through her transformation pen, and Minako's power upgrades and attacks popping up out of nowhere, but they aren't elaborated on and we're left to just...take them in stride and never question why they're there.

There are some moments that legitimately made me question what the hell Takeuchi was thinking — not because of some "politically correct" outrageousness, but because...they just aren't funny? One such moment has Minako calling Artemis a "trans-sexual cat" or a "fag cat" (depending on the translation — probably a translation of "okama neko"?) because he's a male bearing the name of a female goddess. Another has Minako's mom calling her husband a "failure" because he's having trouble setting up a TV, which I can only call Boomer Humor: Wife Edition. Later on, there are also several jokes about Chinese people eating cats, though perhaps these weren't quite as unusual when the manga was first published.

Minako is a decent lead, in that she's believable as a young teen who just wants to spend her free time gaming and talking about boys; her appearance, though, would have you think she's much older, especially the outfits she wears when she transforms (which show a questionable amount of leg and cleavage for a 13-year-old). Artemis, on the other hand, was relegated to the role of Mom 2.0, more of a nagging nuisance than a mentor and companion; I found myself raising my eyebrows several times when he's astounded that a 13-year-old girl isn't eager to risk her life for...what exactly? Minako only gets an explanation about the end goal or the bigger picture in the last 5-6 pages of the story, yet is expected to dedicate her life to fighting and have zero other interests (as per Artemis's own words). The other characters and the villains don't really distinguish themselves from background decor.

As for the art, well, re-reading this only reminded me why I dislike Naoko Takeuchi's drawings. You can have noses or mouths, but apparently not both at the same time. The feet and ankles are horror material. Artemis's character design flip-flops from manga-ish to cubist. And, sadly, the screentones often get in the way of actually seeing what's happening. That being said, I wouldn't call the character designs bad; they're cute but unfortunately plagued by anatomy issues.

All in all, would I recommend this? Honestly no, unless you're a Takeuchi fan and/or curious about where BSSM got its roots. I found myself struggling through most chapters because anytime something interesting is introduced, it's glossed over in favor of monster-of-the-week plots; in a word, CSV is superficial. At the same time, it's meant to be a Girl Power story and succeeds at that, so if that's what you're looking for, it might be an enjoyable read for you.

Okay I have a love/hate relationship with this manga. I finished the first two books and can't find the third. First of all amazing artwork in all the book I only did not like one picture (of haruhi in magical girl costume).the are some funny scenes especially the comedic banter between Artemis and minako. I loved the ending to book 1 I read like ten times over I just loved the part with the promise rings! As for storyline each chapter is basically the same evil person steals energy using charm,objects,etc and sailor v defeats them in the end. I especially liked the pet chronicles whenever I get bitten by mosquitoes I swear at chuu-chuu.In conclusion it's okay I give it a seven.

This just was not good.

I actually dropped this for about a year because I was so bored out of my mind. Every chapter follows the same villain-of-the-week formula, and it's only in the last two chapters that any actual story development occurs. It's alluded to that everything thus far was supposed to have been connected, but you never would have known had Artemis not outright said it, because each chapter is basically the same thing with a different villain.
The humour is barely humour and is really trying too hard, and the art progression can be very confusing. There are too many special effects that block out entire panels, and this especially confuses the "battle" between Ace and Venus. What happened again?

The Sailor V manga was something we really didn't need and I wish we hadn't gotten. Boring beyond belief.