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Phillip Anthony

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sakura Hime Vol.1

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Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura | By Arina Tanemura | Published by VIZ Media | Rated: T, Ages 13+

I think I might have just hit my first brick wall in reviewing shoujo. I’ve found a title that I really, really like that I’m confused by at times. The cast is grand, but one or two of them drive me nuts and it doesn’t help that I’m unfamiliar with the time period in which it’s set. The title is Sakura Hime and this is going to be all over the place, okay, so please bear with me. Please?

The story revolves around Sakura, a fourteen year old girl who is betrothed to Aoba, the second in power next to the Togu (person in charge?). Anyway, from what I can gather, the Togu is the Emperor Palpatine and Aoba is Darth Vader. Sakura and Aoba have never met, though they have communicated through letters. Anyway, Sakura is descended from a princess who once came from (and has gone back to) the Moon, is charged with defeating Youko (demons that look like something out of a Zelda game), and must never look at a full moon. She’s not told why, just told not to. No points for guessing where this is going. Anyway shenanigans happen and Sakura comes into possession of a sword that she uses to kill the Youko, but it doesn’t quite behave itself. Then halfway through the volume, Sakura is betrayed and has to go on the run from Aoba and the Royal court.

Okay, first up I have a lot of problems with the whole setup of this story. Why the hell is Sakura on her own? Her parents are dead, okay. Her brother is dead, fine. But why is she living alone with her attendants? She’s the fiancée of the second in line to the throne! The royal court was involved in all aspects of court life, even back in the Heian period according to my research, and they couldn’t or wouldn’t supervise her? Second, when Aoba and the court officials betray Sakura, it’s because they’ve known for a long time that Sakura was their enemy. Why didn’t they kill Sakura before she came into possession of Chizakura (her misbehaving sword)!?! It doesn’t make any sense and the reason why it doesn’t is that these are actions outside of the control of our leading character. Therefore, such actions shouldn’t have any bearing on how the characters are presented. Yes, I know if Aoba and Co. offed Sakura when she was five then we wouldn’t have much of a plot or manga but still that kind of logic should have been anticipated. Another infuriating thing is the manner and reactions of the character Oumi. Is she a member of Sakura’s household? Is she a royal court-appointed lady in waiting? I don’t bloody know, and that makes what happens with Oumi in relation to Sakura’s betrayal just that much harder to swallow.

On the plus side, I love the majority of the characters. They are so different! Sakura seems like a spoiled brat, but she really is a kind, considerate person. Aside from my problems with Oumi, she’s a nice person who does care about the people she protects. Asagiri is, um, well I don’t quite know how to describe Asagiri. She’s not much bigger than a plushy, she turns up in the folds of all of Sakura’s clothing, and nobody seems to mind that she’s there. Go figure. Byakuya is a servant (?) in Sakura’s house, but she goes all mystic warrior monk on Aoba’s rump. I approve of this action. And then we come to Aoba himself. I really want to like him. He’s got a good heart and he does try to be more considerate than his swarmy older brother Fujimarusaki (the Togu). But he’s such a bloody git, pure and simple! If you love someone and know you’ll never become best egg in the bunch because of it, you sure as hell wouldn’t try and put an arrow into her! I can’t speak of Kohaku, the young ninja girl whose family has served Aoba’s family for generations. She doesn’t show up until the end of the book. But she’s such a vibrant girl, who wants to be the best at what she is trained to be.

The moments when, after killing a Youko, Chizakura disobeys Sakura and spins her round like a top genuinely make me smile. Humour isn’t really something that gets played up here a lot. If it did, I wouldn’t consider reading much more of it. I think the volume’s main weakness is the rapid shift in tone after the betrayal happens to Sakura. Wallop! She’s a hunted animal hiding out from the court’s soldiers. There is a half of a page of foreshadowing and then we get the carpet pulled out from under us. If the next volume doesn’t give either a release from the pressure or some kind—any kind—of a bloody explanation as to why this is happening to Sakura other than she’s suspected of being a monster, I am dropping this book like a stone. The most positive thing I can say about Sakura Hime is it’s got this way of wrapping you into a little macrocosm of royal intrigue, betrayal, and the paths of love. The book has a good cast with an intriguing idea and I hope it gets some legs on it and has a chance to run with it.

Normally, I would speak of the artwork in general cursory terms, talking about the cleanness of the art or if the action and rhythm are good. But this is one of most stylized shoujo series I’ve picked up. Look at the cover. Sakura’s eyes are huge. But they are so detailed and precise. Mangaka Arina Tanemura, whose other works I*O*N, Gentlemen’s Alliance, and Full Moon O Sagashite I have not read yet, fills her pages with speed, vim and clarity. She can do really detailed work and she writes in her author notes that this is the first time she’s tackled a Heian era story, so the costumes and background (at least from my perspective) are quite good. I couldn’t tell you what authentic Heian clothing looks like, so I’ll have to venture and say since nobody’s complained about inaccuracies, it’s probably a good try. That said, the author does say how difficult it was to design a battle costume for Sakura, given the restraints of the period. The character designs range from the energetic Aoba and Sakura, the prim and proper Oumi and Asagiri, the regal, disdainful Fujimarusaki, and the ironed-out Byakuya. Given the period they are in, I wonder how their designs would translate into a modern setting?

All in all, I do like most of Sakura Hime: The Legend of Princess Sakura. It has a solid cast, an engaging premise, and highly stylized artwork. Its crippling point is the abrupt third portion of the volume, which threatens to destroy any forward momentum gained. I am trying to branch out and find more “unsafe” fare. Given this review, am I succeeding? Please write in and let me know. In any event, Tanemura has taken the Japanese fable of the Legend of Princess Kaguya (explained at the back of the book) and given it a good spin. I hope it has lots to go before it has to finish.

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sailor Moon, Vol.2

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Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 2 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

“Pretty Guardian of Love and Justice in a Sailor Suit! Sailor Moon has arrived!!”

I would be lying if i said I haven’t been looking forward to this review. Specifically, because around fifty pages into this volume we are introduced (reintroduced?) to Sailor Venus, aka Minako Aino, the first Sailor Senshi. Her adventures are chronicled in two volumes of Codename: Sailor V. When she popped up, I had only started on the first volume of Sailor V, so on the advice of a friend, I stopped reading Sailor Moon until such time as I finished Sailor V. Well, I’m glad I did, but I would caution that you don’t need to do the same in order to enjoy the second volume of Sailor Moon. Returning to my original point, the reason I’m looking forward to this volume is that the team building is over, the villains are known, and now we are ready for the real fights to begin.

This volume explores the concept of pre-destiny, particularly in regards to the finding of the Princess and the Legendary Crystal. Turns out that our heroes have done this sort of work before. I will endeavour to explain without ripping the lid off the plot. Usagi finally understands why she’s been thinking the way that she has about Tuxedo Mask, and her worldview is shattered as a result. The team is in the middle of a battle with the Dark Kingdom’s latest flunky, Zoisite, when one of their allies is injured. This causes the Moon Kingdom’s Princess Serenity to appear at which time she displays an enormous amount of energy. When the dust has settled, the team is changed forever and only a trip to the moon with Luna’s and Artemis’ (Sailor Venus’ familiar) help will answer their questions. But even after that clarification, the team is still fighting above their weight. I like how they stay together inside and outside the battlefield. They might be reeling from the blows, but they’re still standing. I can’t help feeling that this is a different fight they face due to Sailor V’s warnings and her emphatic statement that this evil must be destroyed for good. This theory is backed up by what the team learns on the moon. It’s a lot to take in, but Takeuchi keeps things moving fast. About two-thirds into the book there’s a brief respite, but it’s short-lived.

Looking at this from a guy perspective, I would say that I feel for Usagi and Mamoru so badly. They are tentatively trying to find their way toward how they feel about one another, but their intertwined destines keep being thwarted. I get now why people used to say to me that I was too dismissive of the series. For me, as someone who likes to write creatively, I think I understand where Takeuchi might be going with this. The path to true love is never easy in real life, harder in the realm of fiction, and almost impossible when it involves the fate of the world in the balance. So is Mamoru and Usagi’s love doomed to the void? Possibly, but I think the idea behind this volume might be that true love cannot be stopped, merely diverted. Also, if I’m going for broke, I would say the idea behind the first volume would be that big things start with something small and/or you are not as unimportant as you believe yourself to be. But, returning to the story, Takeuchi seems to be saying in this volume that not only are the Senshi going to have to deal with setbacks but also, potentially, casualties as well.

I wonder, though, how meaningful it is for me to write about Sailor Moon, given that I’ve been aware of the title for ten plus years but never really got into it. I am trying to imagine how young girls (and indeed guys) reading this in Japan at the time might have felt. Add to that my differing cultural heritage and the gulf gets wider by the minute. But my quest is not in vain, I hope. Alexandre Dumas wrote more than 150 years ago of the value of friendship with comrades in arms, Gandhi wrote and spoke of the fact that tyrants, while invincible for a time, always fall, and a Canadian filmmaker once commented that there is no fate but what we make for ourselves. The Sailor Senshi face a difficult task but the battles they face are universal and common. They have happened before in reality and fiction, they are happening now, and they will happen again.

Nearly seventy years ago, my grandfather’s brother stood on the beaches of France. He was fighting in a foreign army for a cause he believed in. When the ramps dropped and his squad ran onto the beach, he did so knowing what was asked of him. At a critical moment, however, the enemy directed a heavy machine gun at his squad mates. Without any thought for himself, he stood and took the hail of bullets. I presume that afterwards his squad returned fire. As to how accurate that account is, I have to trust the report my grandfather’s family received. In Sailor Moon, Usagi stands in front of the enemy protecting Tuxedo and her friends and laying down a burst of energy at her opponent. She does so because the thought of losing her friends and the one she loves is too much to bear. It is there that she discovers her inner light and does what it is her heart requires—much like a soldier taking the brunt for his team because the thought of losing his friends and failing his loved ones is too much for him to bear.

It’s funny how 200 pages of printed paper with drawings and letters can stir things in you that you had never considered. The weaknesses of this volume, such as the massive amounts of exposition, the somewhat Jason and the Argonauts-esque level of “Kill! Kill! Kill them all!!” of Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom, and the fact we still haven’t seen much character development for the other girls can be negated by the fact this is (or feels like) the opening salvo for the war that’s coming. I suspect it will be fought with the population being unaware, and that makes me appreciate Takeuchi even more as a writer. To fight for people and have them know of your achievement is one thing. It is another to do so without the issuing or request of acknowledgement. The question I pose myself is: would I do the save if the situation called for it? Would you?

As I’ve said, I love the artwork and I can’t fault it. If these pages were pastels or watercolours, I would happily have them on my wall. Just as the first volume has a lot of serene moments this one does too, but now they are happening within the story-building moments and the action scenes. It’s a hard act to follow. The Internet continues to punish me for not discovering Sailor Moon sooner, as original art books by Takeuchi-sensei command higher than normal prices. Even if I weren’t broke, I would still be unable to afford some of them.

There aren’t as many liner notes from the translator this time around. I chalk this up to the pace of the story. Thanks for the crisp job, Kodansha. This volume maintains my high opinion of the series and moves into a new direction. If proof is required of my enjoyment of the series, I start volume three tonight and have ordered volumes four and five. So far my experiment at this shoujo malarkey seems to be working.

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Codename: Sailor V, Vol.1

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Codename: Sailor V, Vol. 1 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

“Champion of Justice! The Pretty Guardian in a Sailor Suit! Sailor Venus has arrived!!”

Did you ever have that dream with the sensation that you’re falling, but you’re just not sure in which direction, and yet you’re perfectly safe doing so? The is the feeling I get from Codename: Sailor V, coupled with a curious feeling that I’m being led somewhere familiar, yet I’ve never been there. After diving into Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, I also picked up Codename: Sailor V as well, as I had heard it was a prequel to Sailor Moon. But while it was published at roughly the same time as Sailor Moon and it IS set in the same universe, tonally, this is a different tempo.

First of all, while it does have a girl becoming a magical champion of justice, the difference here is that Minako Aino is on her own. She has a familiar (a male cat named Artemis) and she answers to someone called “Boss.” However, there is no team to help her, so Mina must face all the agents of evil alone. In many ways, that makes this first outing both flat and exciting. It’s flat because if you didn’t like the formula of “Girl gains magical powers, fights a villain every chapter, overcomes and adapts, then triumphs” espoused by Sailor Moon, this is more of the same. So we are there for all the blundering Mina does, every goofy joke, every stock bad guy, and every cliché. While this might be bad for some, I’m glad of it, as it means I don’t have to keep remembering every chapter and can focus on the narrative (Confession: as I recently came into Sailor Moon, a lot of characters’ names and faces didn’t stick right away, thus I have to keep rereading to imprint the important stuff).

Secondly, I don’t get a sense of an impending apocalypse with Codename: Sailor V that I got with Sailor Moon. In that, there’s a goal: finding the princess, finding the crystal. In Codename: Sailor V, there are the main villains (the Dark Agency) but we don’t know what they want, save to take over the world. And while we know the agency is being controlled by a higher intelligence, we’re just not told who that is. This fog is either Takeuchi being sly or she really doesn’t know what she’s doing. Now, I could buy that last point except both Sailor Moon and Codename: Sailor V were published at around the same time. I’d like to know what the frequency of the chapters for both were, but I don’t have that information. Since there are only two volumes of Codename: Sailor V and there are twelve plus volumes of Sailor Moon, I am curious to say the least.

Using Sailor Moon as a guide, while there are much the same types of characters, as there’s not such a large cast, I can focus on the them better. Mina’s relationship with Artemis is much more antagonistic than Usagi’s and Luna’s, but this is borne for the most part out of the fact that Mina is a complete slacker who does well in athletics but is poor at academics. Even her mother can’t stand the fact that she bunks off her responsibilities whenever she feels like it! Equally her friends, including her bezzie mate Hikaru, just roll with it. Though the background characters in this are so-so, I do like the police Inspector General who is in love with “V-Chan,” as she keeps calling her. If I had a gripe, it would be that the villains get whipped senseless in this. Unlike Sailor Moon, here the villains just turn up, take over and then get belted by Sailor V, who usually gets shoujo-medieval on their rump. Full marks every time Mina turns them into crispy critters.

Mina is even more of a girly-girl (is there such a thing, really?) than Usagi. She has all the problems that go with being a pubescent, amplified due to her identity as Sailor V. She wants her first love, first kiss, first crush, first holiday, and so on to be just so. But sometimes, I feel that she could do with someone like Tuxedo Mask in her life. Tuxedo gives Sailor Moon something to look forward to as a goal. And Mamoru gives Usagi’s heart a fluttery feeling whenever he’s around. Mina has no such person in her life. It would be interesting to see what she would do if such was the case. But that doesn’t detract from her character—far from it. It makes me wonder if she’s holding back her potential because she doesn’t seem to feel the same peril that Usagi and Co. get into. Would this make her a more flawed character, and therefore more sympathetic to us? Maybe, but I have a hunch that there’s enough of this coming down the pipeline for Sailor Moon, and if it happened to Mina in the same way, I would feel a cloning issue arise.

Artwork-wise, Takeuchi gives her characters an energy that is hard to define. If I had to place a finger on it, I would say they look alive in the sense that they are animated, lively and effervescent. Mina has a smile that goes through different stages. Her carefree one (used mostly for her friends), her dreamy one when she’s thinking about a boy, and finally her smile that only the readers get to see. This is a special kind of smile—one that shows the confidence of someone who could, literally, move mountains if she tried. The smile I refer to is the one she wears when she defends the characters and us, the audience, from all the nasties in the world, whether it be a sexist git who doesn’t want girls in his electronic man-cave or the Iago-like Dark Agency who would steal our lifeforce energy for its own nefarious uses. This smile will protect anyone or anything standing behind it. This smile would die rather than admit defeat. It’s amazing how much enjoyment you can derive from a smile. Maybe I’ve uncovered another of Takeuchi’s talents? Or is it one of Sailor Venus’?

Translation-wise, William Flanagan keeps it quick, coherent and easy to read. I’ve never read any scanlations or the first TOKYOPOP versions, so I will withdraw from speaking as to their accuracy. All I will say is Mr. Flanagan has a lot of text to deal with and manages to make sense of it and put it into a kind of literary tempo. He and Kodansha have their usual liner notes at the back of the book. Thanks are extended for the explanations.

As an aside, since I keep bringing up Sailor Moon in this review, I’ve got one or two wee problems. You see, in Codename: Sailor V, Mina runs by—is drawn running by or whatever—next to Usagi and Ami, leading us to believe that the events of Sailor Moon can’t be far behind. My confusion is that I don’t know within what time frame this story takes place. Is it at the same time as Sailor Moon? Before or after it? This perplexes me and I can only hope there’s some clarification soon. Another thing I’ve noticed is that the characters that Mina is friends with don’t get nearly enough time to develop on their own. I realise that Mina is the focus, but still I can’t help feel that I’m running out of time to get to know them. Other than that, this is a great first volume, and if you are wary of getting into Sailor Moon because of its length, there are only two volumes of this, so you should be fine.

This last point is also a source of sadness for me. In this single volume I’ve grown to like Mina, Artemis and even the Inspector General and the fact that the next volume will be the last that focuses on these characters is an unhappy one for me. Don’t get me wrong, I know that Mina plays a part in Sailor Moon but still, I’m going to miss them. Oh well, one more volume to go, I suppose. But knowing Takeuchi-sensei, she’ll have them go out in a blast. Oh, I cannot wait!

On a personal note, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who emailed me or left comments on Manga Bookshelf in regards to the column. I really appreicate the thoughts and suggestions and while I can’t say I will pick up all the titles suggested, I enjoyed getting such an enthusiastic response. Also, I wanted to thank Melinda, Kate Dacey and all the people on their own blogs and on Twitter who mentioned the column.

Review copy bought by reviewer

Introduction to Shoujo I’m Scared Of

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Hi everybody! My name is Phillip and some of you will know me from writing on my site Eeeper’s Choice for the Manga Movable Feast and also for writing for Otaku News. Melinda has kindly invited me to write a monthly column on Manga Bookshelf, after I read and replied to her call for contributors.

The column is being called “Shoujo I’m Scared Of,” and it refers to a problem I’ve been having reading manga for a few years now. On my own site I once declared that I would read anything, that nothing was out of bounds. But in my heart of hearts, I wasn’t telling the entire truth of the matter. I should have said I would read anything that was recommended to me, but if left to my own devices I wouldn’t seek certain titles out. Some of the those titles are shoujo titles. While shoujo enjoys and continues to enjoy a mix of male and female readers, I have always been put off by shoujo, partly because I was nervous about taking on huge franchises of shoujo properties, and partly because I think I didn’t want to like them. If I did, then my more manly genre favourites would be put by the wayside. Plus I was deathly afraid of screwing up in front of the internet. In short, I was scared of shoujo and didn’t know how to approach it.

This, dear readers, is not how a grown man should act. After reading Melinda’s request, I began to think of an idea that I could pitch. After rejecting a few dozen ideas, I started to realise what I could write about. I remembered some of Kate Dacey’s coverage and reviews about Sailor Moon’s forthcoming re-release in North America. Sailor Moon has always scared me. The title alone was always marketed in my neck of the woods as just for girls, and the fanbase was made it sound like the story was the greatest thing ever.

In my mind, Sailor Moon represents the best example of shoujo that I can think of. If I could get through every volume of Sailor Moon (I checked and there are 13 volumes of the Japanese editions) and give it an honest, balanced, take-it-apart view, I reckoned I stood a pretty good chance of curing my irrational fear of the genre. But I don’t plan to tackle just Sailor Moon. Codename: Sailor V lurks by the stage curtains, as does Princess Knight and a few others. While I’m still afraid of messing up, I reason that the best place for me to be if it does happen is doing something I enjoy doing. I hope you enjoy me trying to justice to the titles I’ll tackle.

I do have a request of all the potential readers of the column: if you know of any shoujo titles that are available in English, I want to hear from you even if they are out of print. I’ll add them to the pile of things to do. Please note, I’ve only got a limited income so if I don’t get around to your recommended title for some time, then I apologise in advance and ask that you be patient with me. If you have any comments or questions please send an email to me at eeeperschoice -at- gmail -dot- com

Adventures in the Key of Shoujo: Sailor Moon, Vol.1

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Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Vol. 1 | By Naoko Takeuchi | Published by Kodansha Comics USA | Rated: T, Ages 13+

“I’m… the pretty guardian in a sailor suit! Guardian of love and justice! Sailor Moon!”

Working on a simple premise… (Follow my logic, would you?) If you took a squad of girls, magical powers, tokusatsu-style fighting, and a viciously unassuming story arc and threw them into a blender, what would you get? My-Hime, that’s what. But before My-Hime—before all that—there was Sailor Moon, an archetypal series that influenced the entire genre of magical girls within manga and anime. To this day, Fred Patten states that it introduced the idea of the magical girl team into the medium’s subconscious. The brainchild of artist Naoko Takeuchi, the sheer weight of its importance leans heavily on everything that came after it.

Simply put, the Great Ruler of the Dark Kingdom wants energy leeched from humans and the Legendary Silver Crystal that goes with it. With that, they can rule the world. All that stands between them and success is a small, black cat called Luna (who can talk and has a mark on her head in the shape of a crescent moon) and a team of fourteen-year-old girls who wear exaggerated versions of Japanese school sailor outfits and have magical powers, and whose code names are taken from the names of the planets in the solar system. Leading the team is a complete klutz named Usagi Tsukino who takes on the persona of Sailor Moon. Also into the mix goes Tuxedo Mask, a young man who dresses in a gentleman’s evening attire and wears (you guessed it) a mask. He likes to help Sailor Moon, but he has his own reasons as well. The girls are soldiers (or senshi) in a war against the enemies of love, truth and justice. And so the board is set, the players are moving, and the game can begin.

So why has it taken this long to write the review, seeing as I received the manga over two weeks ago? I think it’s the awe in which the series is held. Sailor Moon has a fanbase that rivals even Dragonball or Evangelion. Dragonball is an interesting title to compare, in terms of its Western audience. For the most part, the perception is that Dragonball found a large male audience and Sailor Moon, a large female audience. I say “perception” because market analysis can only tell you so much. But it’s unfair to label Sailor Moon as Dragonball for girls, as I once did. The two series are worlds apart in their execution, tone and setting. Yet, I cannot discount the idea that each gender can find something in both stories that resonates with them.

My failing was that I decided that girls could like Dragonball but boys couldn’t like Sailor Moon, because there was nothing there for them to latch onto. I think what set me on that foolish path was the God-awful treatment that Sailor Moon received at the hands of DIC Entertainment when the animated version of the story came to European English-speaking shores. DIC made it sound like the most girly of enterprises (something no self-respecting angsty teenager would be caught dead liking), where the girls were all airheads and the villains were dead simple. The show was never going to attract a boy who had grown up with He-Man. It was not going to happen for me. And so, I ignored it.

But the fanbase, as I’ve said, is relentless. Every time you look at cosplayers, someone is dressed as Sailor Moon. So I would speak with people who talked about the story as if it was manna from Heaven. They ranged from cosplayers who said the series was their gateway into anime, to those who had been reading the manga since the 1990s TOKYOPOP editions. Interestingly, the anime breaking into North America is credited by many as the event that destroyed the grip the male, 15-25 demographic had on driving anime sales in America since the 1980s. Today, the market leans more heavily toward female fans than male fans of anime, manga, and J-Culture, so it’s a testament to the series that it had and still has that effect on the fans.

Still, I’m confused about Sailor Moon. Mostly because I cannot figure out where Takeuchi is going with it in this first volume, or indeed if she’s got some kind of plan going even here in the opening act. On the surface, Usagi is a airhead more concerned with being a girly girl, hanging out with her friends, and playing video games at the local arcade than entertaining the notion that she should be doing anything to save the world. Even when she accepts being Sailor Moon, she still doesn’t want to be put into scary situations by Luna. It makes for a nice intro to the character for whom we will ostensibly be rooting for the next however many volumes. The spoken-diary entries that Usagi has are something to behold. She tells us every single time a new chapter starts who she is, where she is from, what recently happened, and what is happening now. I know that this is because of the fact that Sailor Moon was serialized in Nakayoshi Magazine—to keep new readers in the loop, Takeuchi wrote those in—but the aftereffect is that Usagi comes across as even more bubbly, and this is a good thing.

The tone of the fight that the Sailors are in and the opposition that the author sets is one of innocence that can only be derived from a teenager’s perspective. When I was 14, the people who had it in for me in school wanted to beat me up and throw water over me, but they didn’t want me dead. For all the Dark Kingdom’s mwah-ha-ha-ha and general evilness, I cannot take them seriously. They are defeated by a dunderhead every single time. Then the dunderhead gets her own team of crack commandos and the bad guys get trounced, again and again, by a bunch of fourteen-year-olds who only got their powers recently. Even when they are vanquished, the villains treat it like “Bah! Another setback!”

Some people would argue that Sailor Moon has a lot of evidence of plot conveniences for the sake of convenience; I counter the argument because the same evidence is rather exculpatory in nature. To explain, while I want to say that the whole “You are destined to become a team of magical fighting girls!” thing is a little too convenient, the truth is that’s how all good quest stories start and since I don’t really have a problem with them, I don’t have a really big problem with Sailor Moon doing it, either. So the girls are destined to be a team of superheroes not because they were destined to be so, but because Luna had been keeping an eye on all of them. The same can be said for the items that the senshi use to defeat the forces of darkness. Usagi, we have established, plays video games at the arcade. She gets prizes every time she gets a high score. These items look very suspicious and don’t look like the usual tat, if you get my meaning. However, throughout this smoke-and-mirrors routine I can see a kind of epic gathering of heroes (the girls being recruited) and figures of cruelty and infamy (Dark Kingdom’s minions) moving around and cannot wait to see what happens next.

Artwork-wise, I cannot say enough good things about it. From Usagi’s transformation sequence to Luna’s little interstitial at the start of one of the chapters telling us who’s in the team, its biographical details and any allies and enemies, the art is really sweet and genuine to look at. Graceful and elegant, it still has its quick thumbnail drawings of our heroes and heroines to speed us through a page. There are real examples in the pages that Takeuchi is using mise-en-scène* to build a colorful and coherent stage that her actors are moving around. The whirling fog that surrounds our heroes when the enemy has the upper hand or when the senshi reveal to the villain (and, by extension, the audience) their power and become light-filled are but two such examples. The moments of tranquility when Tuxedo Mask dances with and around Sailor Moon are wonderful. Even as a battle-hardened, knowledgeable young man of 30, I can understand the feeling of falling for someone and feeling like the whole world stopped for that moment. Takeuchi gives her leads a distinctive look and you’d never confuse one Sailor Senshi for another, even in their uniforms. Plus, she never makes the fact that they dress in sailor outfits into something crass. With the supporting cast it’s a little more difficult to keep an eye on who’s who but I don’t mind that so much at this point, as they don’t contribute much.

It’s interesting, both in terms of storytelling and, of course, artwork, to see the different types of girls who get recruited into being Sailor Senshi become staples of magical girl stereotypes. There’s the ditzy girl, the smart girl, and the girl who works at the shrine. I don’t doubt that I’ll see even more types emerge as the series goes on. While Sailor Moon didn’t invent these types for the most part, it perfected them. The chief bad guys are also designed this way: they have been around before but never in this context and setting. The more I reread this volume, the more I wonder if I’ve been wrong about a great number of shows and manga that I’ve passed by simply by having a prejudiced opinion. As an aside, the translation by William Flanagan is spot-on and I’m, as always, grateful for the liner notes at the back to make sense of the nuances within Japanese culture.

Ultimately, Sailor Moon works because you get swept up by the story. The idea of battling evil-doers over rooftops or in exotic locations with brave allies and with nothing more than the power you have inside of you is something we know from when we were little and read fairy tales. Later we dismiss such stories as mere whimsy. Usagi and her friends are living in a fairy tale and I can and will wholeheartedly continue to embrace this whimsy for as long as it lasts.

* Mise-en-scène is a French term which literally means “placing on stage” and refers to the art of placing elements (actors, props, sets, lighting) in front of the viewer in order to immerse them in the story. Where the actors are placed within a scene and how they move in the scene are also elements within mise-en-scène.

Review copy bought by reviewer