Minako Aino (愛野 美奈子, Aino Minako) is the civilian identity of Sailor V and the present-day incarnation of Sailor Venus (セーラーヴィーナス, Seeraa bu~iinasu).
Nomenclature & Etymology
Etymology
Her family name begins with the character meaning "love" (愛), which still indirectly represented the planet of Venus, as Venus was the goddess of love in Roman mythology.
Her first name, Minako (美奈子), contains the kanji for "beautiful" (美, mi) and "child" (子, ko), along with 奈 (na), a phonetic character.
Minako's full name means. "Beautiful Child of Love" in Japanese.
Nomenclature
- Birthstone(s)
- Opal - Romantic and charismatic, but can be fearful and indecisive.
- Topaz - Fair, charitable, and artistic.
- Zodiac Sign Libra - Cooperative, diplomatic, gracious, fair-minded, social; indecisive, avoids confrontations, will carry a grudge, self-pity
Iconic Appearance
Minako's appearance is the common senshi uniform suit. Her uniform is orange while the bow on her skirt is yellow and the bow on her sailor collar is deep blue. Her shoes are orange, ankle-strapped heels.
She has long, blond hair and curled bangs. The front pieces of her hair are tied back with a big red bow.
Trivia
- In the anime, Minako had four-character songs: "Route Venus", "Needless", "I Saw Your Dream", and "The Goddess of Love's 'How to Love'".
- In the anime, Minako was shown to be able to speak English fluently. Her English-speaking ability was shown in Episode 108.
- Minako often refers to herself as the 'Goddess of Love' both in her civilian and Sailor Venus forms.
- In the DiC English dub, Minako's name was romanized as "Mina". Coincidentally, this is a nickname Artemis sometimes calls her in the original Japanese versions, including the Codename Sailor V manga.
- The episode describing Minako's life in England was cut by DiC. As a result, that part of her life is not canon in the DiC English dub.