Here are just some answers to questions regarding Minako-chan.  Also some clarifications over some matters said about Sailorvenus.

when did minako-chan first appear?
her first appearance in the anime was in episode 33 named saigono sailor senshi venus toujou (thanks to hitoshi doi's episode guide). in the manga, she first appeared in the last part of act 7 (entitled tuxedo mask) and act 8 (entitled sailor v). it was in act 7 when she killed zoisite using her crescent boomerang but it is in act 8 where she formally introduces herself.

how come she had the crescent symbol on her forehead when she first appeared?
before she even became sailorvenus, she was known to be sailorv and did the fighting on her own. even she didn't seem to know who the princess was because she too was having visions of her fellow senshi and of the princess too. but then, she also called out the transformation of "Moon Power Transform" which is still

what is artemis' relation to her?
artemis is her guardian cat. just like luna is to usagi, he guides minako and makes sue that she does her job properly. although artemis is usually tortured by minako, we know that he is a sensible cat too and is considered by minako to be a brother and she as a sister to him. for more info, check out: Guardian Cats.

is it true that minako and kunzite were lovers during the silver millennium?
i'm sorry to say that this is not true at all. as much as we all would want something to happen between the senshi and the generals, there is no known fact of this actually being true. although takeuchi naoko laid plans for this to happen (thus explaining the artwork of the generals with the senshi), she was unable to continue with this plan. there were a lot of inconsistencies in the manga, so there is no concrete fact that something did happen. the picture of sailorvenus and kunzite kissing is a doujinshi, meaning that it is a fanart and not something from the manga. please do not mistake this as a fanart by naoko, rather, a really good fanart.

how is it that she doesn't have a boyfriend or love?
this i cannot truly explain and would like to ask takeuchi-sama that same question too ^^;; but i don't think that it is because kaitou ace cursed her, but because it is their destiny since they are senshi and are supposed to live that way. kaitou ace mentioned when he gave her her her love fortune was that she should be glad because she doesn't have to choose between duty or love. (please go to an ally or an enemy? and idol watch)

who is her real bestfriend?
minako-chan's bestfriend in the anime is mako-chan (sailorjupiter) while her bestfriend in the manga is rei-chan (sailormars). a lot of things have been changed in the anime and rei and minako's bestfriendship was included. in the anime, minako-chan and mako-chan both can somehow relate to their boy problems and their different views about boys making them more bonded with one another.

did kaitou ace really curse her to so that she'd never fall in love again?
a lot of people asked me this by email and so i researched in sailorv pages and translations of the sailorv manga since sailorv mangas are so rare in my country (that they become collector's items). i found out that kaitou ace gave her a love fortune, meaning that he just read the future of minako and he absolutely did not give her a curse just because they can never be together. kaitou ace did claim that he would be her mystical lover for he knew for a fact that they weren't meant to be, meaning that he had accepted that fate. (for more info about kaitou ace, please go to: an ally, or an enemy? and idol watch)

does minako have a family? where are they?
rei, usagi and ami seem to be the only ones who still have their families since we know that mako-chan's parents died in an airplaine crash. minako-chan's family appears only in the manga of sailorv, it even shows there how her mother treats her, which is somehow horribly. minako even envied rei because she didn't have a "screaming hag" around the house while she had one at home. (for more interesting details, please go to, minako-chan's ideal mother).

what is the deal with her red bow?
in the sailorv manga, she admired this handsome boy in her school, Higashi-senpai. she was told that she'd look more "lady-like", since she was kind of wild and playful, if she put a big red bow on her hair. it turns out that higashi-senpai said that to all the girls who flirted with him. it also turns out that higashi-senpai was an enemy belonging in the dark agency, otherwise known as narkissos. after killing him though, she never removed that red bow (she must have liked the way it looked on her). (for more info on higashi-senpai, click on to: the characters of sailorv manga.)