Minako Aino is the present-day incarnation of Sailor Venus and the civilian identity of Sailor V.
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.
Appearance
Civilian
Minako Aino has blue eyes and blonde hair, preferring to wear her hair down with a simple red bow in it. When she was in junior high, she wore a sailor-style school uniform like the other Sailor Guardians did in their civilian forms, but with a few differences. Also, the uniform was the most classic or orthodox among those of the Sailor Team.
Sailor Guardian
Template:Minako Form/Sailor V
Template:Minako Form/Sailor Venus
Template:Minako Form/Super Sailor Venus
Template:Minako Form/Evil Sailor Venus
Template:Minako Form/Eternal Sailor Venus
Template:Minako Form/Princess Venus
Background
Sailor Guardian Info
Minako Aino can tranform info Sailor V by saying Moon Power, Transform. Later as Sailor Venus, she utters the words Venus Power, Make Up!
Phrases
- Moon Power, Transform!
- Venus Power, Make Up
- Venus Star Power, Make Up
- Venus Crystal Power, Make Up
Attacks
- Crescent Beam
- Venus Love-Me Chain
- Sailor V Kick
- Venus Wink Chain Sword
- Venus Love and Beauty Shock
- Venus Love and Galactica Shock
Items
Development
In the transition between the Sailor V and Sailor Moon series, Minako's basic character design did not change. In fact, Naoko Takeuchi had written that the concept of Minako has barely changed at all from the first moment she was created. Run-Run, the magazine that serialized Sailor V, had intended to produce an OVA based on the character, but it went bankrupt, before it could happen, so Minako was relegated to the sidelines as one of Sailor Moon's co-stars, to Takeuchi's regret.
Gallery
Trivia
- Takeuchi has said that the reason Venus looks so much like Sailor Moon was in fact because it was her duty to take Serenity's place to keep her from danger.
- Minako is the only Senshi of this Solar System whose civilian family name does not begin with the Japanese kanji character(s) directly denoting the corresponding celestial object.
- "Minako" can alternatively be read as Venus (Biinasu).
- Her surname is a pun on a phrase meaning "of love," making her name sound like "Venus of Love".
- Minako's birthday is October 22nd, which means she is a Libra. Libra's domcile is the planet Venus.[4]
- The Japanese school year begins around April 1st. The Sailor Moon Eternal Edition (2019) of the manga along with Sailor Moon Crystal confirms Usagi is 14 at the start of the series. Because of this, in the original series, Minako also starts the second year of middle school at 14, and ages to 15 around six months later, by her October birthday. The same pattern would follow for her later school years.
- In the original series, she is also in the same school year as Usagi, Ami, Makoto, and Rei.
- Sailor Moon Crystal Episode 2 also confirms Ami starting the same school year at 14.
- The style of her uniform reflects the Japanese militarized schooling system of the past, which could be traced back to the Meiji (明治) Period.
- However, it actually originated in Europe, where it was also worn by school boys and was not exclusively for girls as in Japan.
- She is the only character who awakened twice as two different senshi identities: First as Sailor V, then as Sailor Venus.
- Minako is the fifth Sailor Guardian. Her civilian identity name, Sailor V, the letter V is the roman numeral for 5.
References
- ↑ Sailor Moon Eternal Edition (2019), Volume 1, Page 8 states Usagi is 14 at the very beginning of the series. She ages to 15 about two months later on her birthday in June. Because Minako is in the same school year as Usagi, she also starts the series at 14, aging to 15 by her October birthday.
- ↑ Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Volume 10 (tankoban version)
- ↑ Minako Aino at Sailor Moon Official Website (Japanese)
- ↑ Libra (astrology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
