Growing up, Sailor Moon was one of my favourite anime and I aspired to BE Sailor Moon. Because of this, I decided to read the manga series, that my cousin so kindly let me borrow. For those of you, for whatever reason, have not heard what Sailor Moon is, basically it’s about a groups of girls who are Sailor scouts from different planets (and the moon) who are reincarnated into people on planet Earth. The Sailor scouts are reinstated and gain their old memories back because there is a new evil lurking and it’s their duty to fight them. Throughout the series there are four or five different enemies which the sailor scouts must fight to protect the Earth or the mysterious Moon Princess.
When I began reading Sailor Moon I was actually disappointed by it. What shocked me the most was the pacing. The story line advanced so quickly compared to the anime, that it didn’t feel right and like there was so much being left out. The other major thing I disliked was the amount of dialogue, particularly when the enemy was being confronted. I guess the challenge of graphic novels is that there is limited time and space to get information across as dialogue or narration. In this case, most of the information came across in dialogue which resulted in lengthy conversations between characters. I feel like there was SO much dialogue because every single piece of information possible was set out and explained to the reader – much of it, which I believe, wasn’t necessary. I find this may have mainly been due to the target audience (it is Shoujo Manga).
However, once I caught up to the plots that I hadn’t watched in the anime, my feelings towards the manga changed. It suddenly became more exciting and interesting, and I wanted to continue reading. I guess the strongest aspect of the manga is the plot and other things such as characterisation is lacking. So when, I knew the plot, it was tedious to read. So, reading volume 6 and onwards was enjoying to read.
Lastly, before reading, the one thing I was expecting to get from the manga was deeper character development. However, little character development actually occurs, it is mostly action. So, if you were planning to read the series to find out more about the characters, I wouldn’t bother.
The Sailor V manga is based around Minelo/Sailor Venus before she joins the other sailor scouts. Straight off I loved the Sailor V series. It was refreshing, quirky and fun to read. In contrast to the Sailor Moon series, this series is not heavy on plot and focuses on characterising Sailor V. It is basically a bunch of adventures that Sailor V has and is in many ways like the anime series.
Happy Reading!