SAILOR V !
Do you remember, in the first series of Sailor Moon episodes,
how Serena was always reading Sailor V comic books? There really was
a Sailor V comic in Japan! The Sailor V manga (comic book) series began
slightly before the Sailor Moon series came out, and continued to run at the same
time that the main Sailor Moon story was being published. Sailor V shows the adventures
that Minako had before she met up with Sailor Moon and
the other girls to complete the inner planet Sailor Soldier team.
The Books
The Sailor V manga are not available in English. However, one way English readers can enjoy these books is to buy the French edition and use fan-made translations to read them (if you don't speak French already).
Each book is about 200 pages long and the art is all black and white (as in the
original). You can use the links below to check prices or to place an
order from Amazon Canada or Amazon France:
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| Amazon France | SAILOR V #1 | SAILOR V #2 | SAILOR V #3 |
| Amazon Canada | SAILOR V #1 | SAILOR V #2 | SAILOR V #3 |
For American customers, I recommend using Amazon Canada - all of the descriptions and ordering instructions are in both English and French and you can use your Amazon.com login if you have one.
| Sample Pages |
| Sailor V Manga Translations |
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These are plain text files, so you can view them online or easily save them and view them in Notepad or in any Word processor. Each speech bubble is translated on a separate line so if you are reading along with the book, just scroll down one line at a time and you can easily keep your place. The translation is definitely not perfect, but it is $free$. More fan translations of Sailor V are available on Alex Glover's Web Site. |
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Some Trivia |
The full Japanese title of Sailor V is "Code Name wa Sailor V". Minako's favorite sport is volleyball. When Naoko Takeuchi, the author of Sailor Moon and Sailor V, was a teenager, there was a popular TV drama in Japan about a girl's volleyball team. It's title? "Sign wa V" (The Sign is V). A coincidence...?