Codename: Sailor V, Vol. 2

I really enjoyed this. After finishing the full SM manga, I wrapped it up with Sailor V and had fun. It's a lighthearted read that sometimes leaves you yearning for more insight into the SM universe, but the ending makes sense why it isn't shown much. Some people feel its just short story with no progression, and I felt the same way until the end, where everything comes to a head. It is well done. And I sort of needed a pallet cleansing after the fantastically done but rather depressing Stars saga. Would suggest reading this either before or after you read the SM manga. Also a lot of adult humor references in V's attacks, which I included lol.

This is my first time having read the Sailor V manga and I have to say, it was great getting to see Naoko's style before she started into Sailor Moon! What a fantastic storyline and I loved seeing background for Minako. She is my favorite out of all the Sailor Moon characters so I was THRILLED to find that she had her own manga before it.I have only one gripe and it's a small one. I am someone who likes to keep my manga in perfect condition so I do not like opening them too far. I have noticed in this manga, as well as others, that the margins in the center are so small that it is difficult to see some parts of the pages. Sometimes information is placed in this area and I don't want to risk creasing the book binding to see it. Most of the time it is fine and I can usually make out what I am supposed to read if there is anything in there, but it would be nice if they opened the margins up a bit. :)***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***I really love the way they end the final story in this volume and how it transitions into Sailor Moon. I feel it was beautifully done and it really makes you think that Naoko had this planned all along. :)***END POSSIBLE SPOILERS***All in all, I would highly recommend this manga and the other volume as well. Then follow it with Sailor Moon!

~3.5/5[Taken from my blog.]So this book took way too much time for me to get through. I started it around the same time I finished the last one (or, um, maybe a bit after), but then it took me quite a while to finally get around to reading all of it. Mostly I think it was because every chapter had a new villain that Sailor V had to go defeat, in which most of it was filler type stuff. That just doesn't interest me enough.I am glad that I finally got around to finishing it, though, particularly because the last two chapters had an actual plot and point. Honestly, the fact that Takeuchi decided to wait until the last two chapters to show me that she could actually write a story with plot and character development and a point, kind of infuriated me. I mean, I somewhat suffered through one and a half volumes before she showed that she could write something worthwhile.And I was kind of suffering, too. I don't know if it was just the mood I was in while reading it or something, but I was nitpicking almost everything that was happening. Not that I didn't have reason to.The first half, or maybe six chapters, in this volume were terrible. Dumb. Sailor V was shallow, as was every other chapter introduced. There was one chapter in particular, where a villain used chocolate to make everyone fat and then a spa or workout place to make them think that they were getting skinnier, and every single person was obsessed with it and upset about being fat. It was utterly ridiculous and unrealistic. Another chapter showed that everyone wants to be in love, and how Sailor V needed to find another guy to fall for, which is also dumb. (Really? You can't just be happy on your own?) Another thing that bothered me was how Takeuchi kept making Artemis pushy and whiny about how Sailor V needed to be focused and couldn't have any fun, ever. Which, yea, she should have been more focused and actually trying to save people, but some of the things he tried stopping her from doing was just useless, and there was no reason for him to be so pushy.Another thing that bothered me: how she seemed to only care about being Sailor V in order to be popular and get attention. When Phantom Ace, another superhero or whatever, showed up and began stealing Sailor V's spotlight, she was all ready to give up being Sailor V and worship him instead, which was just dumb. She's supposed to be focusing on saving people, but she acted like she couldn't care less about that.I try not to nitpick how fighting the villain goes, but I just can't help myself: the fighting only takes place for a couple of pages, and when it does, Sailor V pretty much only uses her crescent beam mirror with no problems, which it seems like anyone could do, so I don't understand the significance to why she has to. I'm sure there are tons of people better for the job than she is. It just...Ugh. Almost everything about this book seemed to bother me.The last two chapters are what bumped my rating of the book up, though. Originally it would have been a three, but I was a little impressed by the last bit.Within those chapters, we got a look at her past life and how she lived on Venus and what her significance there was, and how she and, ah, this guy had a special relationship. Sailor V actually grew just a little, I think, character wise, from meeting the guy she had loved again and realizing some things about herself. Some of her growing seemed a little farfetched to me, seeing how nothing like it was even hinted at in previous chapter, but I can mostly accept that.I actually kind of liked the guy, or at least was intrigued by him, so what happened with him was a little sad to me. Other than that, I actually enjoyed the end a little bit.The main thing that bothered me about this, is that there wasn't more of that throughout the series, and how the author decided to wait so long to show me something actually a little good. I have hope that Sailor Moon, which I plan to start soon, will actually have plot and a point, so I am looking forward to that. I'm just ready to move on to whatever is next, I guess.

I got into the Sailor Moon anime in eighth grade, and I started reading the manga (in French, so I can't compare this to the English manga experience) soon after that. That was nearly 15 years ago, and I finally got around to picking up the Sailor V books. That was definitely a good choice on my part!As a prequel to Sailor Moon, the Sailor V story is just similar enough to feel familiar, with a few "Easter eggs" (ie., citing of characters who appear in the Sailor Moon manga) to really tickle a Moonie's nostalgia. Minako/Sailor V has a similar origin story to Usagi/Sailor Moon, and any fan of the series knows that they have similar personalities, but they're definitely distinct. This translation seems really well done, with some terrific running jokes that made me chuckle throughout.Any fan of Sailor Moon should pick up the two Sailor V volumes. It's practically a guarantee that you'll enjoy them!

The cover and pictures first off are very well done. The translation of the books themselves into English is also done extremely well given that Japanese is a hard language to translate. Also found the notes in the back of the book explaining different cultural references very helpful.The storylines were great and overall a really good book if you are a Sailor Moon fan.  Codename: Sailor V, Vol. 1   Codename: Sailor V, Vol. 2Codename: Sailor V, Vol. 1Codename: Sailor V, Vol. 2

Fantastic read. Funny in some parts. I would love to read it over and over again

The book was great!a definite must buy i never read sailor v before,but kodansha did a wonderful job in translating and a great first impression.if you are a sailor moon or Venus fan its something to be added to your collection.although there was some honorific 's in Japanese,but don't be to worried because that was the only problem in the bookso go and sailor v you won't regret it!

As the original concept before Sailor Moon, this really is a must read for any hard core fan. Its great to see where Naoko started and where she ended up with the Sailor Moon we love.

brilliant so far i love sailor venus and how she has her own books i cant wait for the next one brilliant stories now