Sailor Moon Vol. #01 Manga Review

Posted by Matthew Warner
September 27, 2011 at 10:24 AM

A classic tale of short skirts, friendship, and short skirts.

Creative Staff
Story/Art: Naoko Takeuchi
Translation/Adaptation: William Flanagan

What They Say
Sailor Moon returns with new covers and an all-new translation!
Usagi Tsukino is a normal girl – until she meets up with Luna, a talking cat, who tells her that she is really Sailor Moon! As Sailor Moon, Usagi must fight evil and enforce justice in the name of the moon and the mysterious Moon Princess.

Technical:
The cover is a fabulous little shot of Sailor Moon striking a pose, vibrant and colorful. The back cover contains a cute little image of our heroine over a plain white background. Paper quality feels good, and color pages and translation notes are included. Text reads smoothly, honorifics are maintained, and sound effects are left in their original form and translated.
The artwork here looks fairly good, with confident lines and a good bit of flair. The artwork and panel layout is particularly great at displaying action, with several rather gripping displays throughout the book. Backgrounds appear frequently and look adequate, and character designs are easy to distinguish from one another.

Content:
Usagi Tsukino is an absolute idiot of a middle school girl who often hangs out with her best friend Naru and the creepy otaku Umino. After stopping by Naru’s family jewelry store and the local game center, Usagi returns home only to find herself face to face with a talking black cat named Luna. Luna then gives Usagi a special pendent, allowing her to transform into the defender of justice, Sailor Moon. Using her new powers, Sailor Moon realizes that Naru’s mother has been replaced by a monster who steals energy through jewelry. Fortunately, with a little guidance Usagi is able to save the day, as well as meet the mysterious Tuxedo Mask.

From there, Luna tells Usagi that her true task is to locate her allies, as well as the Princess. As luck would have it, Usagi is already familiar with her first ally to be, the super genius Ami Mizuno. Usagi begins to get close to Ami, and they both even receive transformation pens from the arcade’s Sailor V game, but things hit a snag when Ami begins gets involved with a mysterious new prep school. When it turns out that the school has been brainwashing students to find the “Legendary Silver Crystal,” Sailor Moon rushes to the scene, only for Ami to turn into Sailor Mercury and come to her aid, giving Usagi her first ally.

Over the next few chapters, Usagi is able to obtain the aid of the fiery Sailor Mars, Rei Hino, and the powerful Sailor Jupiter, Makoto Kino. She also meets a guy named Mamoru Chiba who looks mysteriously like Tuxedo Mask, as well as defeats two of the Four Kings of Heaven, underlings of the evil Queen Beryl of the Dark Kingdom.

In the final chapter, Tuxedo Mask decides to kick the search for the Legendary Silver Crystal up a notch by revealing its existence to the general public. It is then that Luna reveals that the Legendary Silver Crystal is an item of such power that it could easily blow apart a star, proving that the situation is indeed quite serious. Luna also informs the group that the Princess they must find and protect is in fact royalty of the moon. When it becomes clear that the human public will not be able to find the Crystal, Queen Beryl decides they are useless and hijacks Tokyo Tower in order to suck out their energy. With the encouragement of Tuxedo Mask, Usagi is able to summon forth all her power to call forth a new item, the moon stick, and use it to give everyone back their energy, knocking herself out in the process. When she awakes and finds herself in the house of Mamoru Chiba, what will happen?

In Summary:
Sailor Moon really seems to take the concept presented by its predecessor Sailor V and run with it. Characters are more fleshed out, and even though it’s only the first book, the heroine is already able to gather a colorful and interesting cast of friends. Add in the enigmatic villains and the charismatic Tuxedo Mask, and you have quite an interesting little cast of characters. Not only that, but this book manages to take the goofy nature of Sailor V and add in a serious and somewhat dark undertone that runs throughout. If this volume is anything to go on, this may well live up to the massive name it’s built up for itself over the years.

Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Package Rating: A-
Text/Translation Rating: A-

Age Rating: 13+
Released by: Kodansha Comics
Release Date: September 13th, 2011
MSRP: $10.99