Codename: Sailor V // Basic Information
Minako Aino is your typical ditzy, boy-crazy teenager. Then one day a white cat tells her that she is really Sailor V, the soldier of love and justice who must transform under the power of the moon into the courageous super heroine who will save the world.
Codename: Sailor V (Koduneemu wa Seeraa V) was manga artist Naoko Takeuchi’s second major series, and is the preface to her most successful. It is a mahou shoujo story that ran in the young gir’s comic magazine RunRun. It was intermittently published from Summer 1991 through November 1997. During its serialization, 15 chapters (called Volumes) were published and were eventually collected into three tankoubon. This original release is now out of print. However, like the Sailor Moon manga, Codename: Sailor V was re-formatted and re-released in 2004, and condensed into just two tankoubon.
If you are interested in reading Codename: Sailor V, please take note that it was never licensed and released in North America. Thankfully, however, Kurozuki.com has translated the entire manga.
Codename: Sailor V was essentially a prologue to the story of Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon. While Naoko Takeuchi was working on it, she was approached by Toei animation, which had an interest in creating a TV anime based on similar themes, see here. The character of Sailor V went on to make numerous appearances in all continuities of Sailor Moon but the musicals. In fact, Sailor V starred in her own special direct-to-video release of the live-action series. For detailed accounts of all of Sailor V’s appearances, see the appearances section.