As the October 22nd re-release date of the Sailor V manga looms ever nearer, rumours and speculations continue to run rampant. I, Dr. Xadium, one of the two world's greatest
Aino Minako fans, have spent the last month using my highly paid (in pocky and pizza) contacts in the shadowy world of the doujin keitretsu to dumpster drive, microfilm and even
satellite photograph the offices of Kodansha to being you, the loyal Genvid reader, sneak previews of the revised manga.
Last week we saw the introduction of Ten'ou Haruka in a more extended cameo in the Sailor V universe, similar to the way Usagi, Rei and Ami had been brought in in the original
version. Well, to the surprise of our secret agent in Japan, Unnamed_Mangaholic_Z, Haruka shows up AGAIN in the new manga, in what is described as a new feature for the manga-- "one shot" sidestories,
which are basically short comedic tales that are one or two pages in size as a nice bonus to the purchasers of the manga compilations.
But before we get to that, I would like to take a moment to dispel some of the more annoying rumours the Moldavian Sailor V sites are putting out:
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05. Ikuko-Mama is NOT Minako's Momma due to a polygamous affair in which she has two families without her husband's knowledge. Nor is Minako's father a clone of Usagi's father and Minako
a clone of the Moon Princess created to be a tool used by the Dark Kingdom to wield the Ginzuishou for them in the final showdown against Serenity.
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04. "Boss" is not actually going to be revealed to be Usagi playing what she thinks is a "Sailor V saves the Earth" RPG (and cheating, to boot). "Boss" is also not going to turn out to be an old white man
with an inordinately large vocabulary sitting in a room filled with TV screens and trying to give Minako a Hobson's choice of saving Tokyo from the Dark Agency or saving the idol she loves who is
about to be shot up by Danburite.
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03. There will not be a new addition to the "Pet Stories" arc that features Sailor V playing a computer game online that has her "Punching the monkey" for a chance to win fun prizes and eventually
having to venture into Cyberpsace once again to battle the virulent evil of the Bonzi Buddy for all time in order to rid the world of Dark Agency Flash ads and popups.
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02. There will not be a Yu-Gi-Oh crossover which has Minako marrying Kaiba in some desperate gambit to retrieve a rare card that is sought by the Dark Agency. There will not be a Pocket Monsters
crossover that has Minako battling Satoshi using Artemis as her Pokemon. There will not be an InuYasha crossover that has Artemis having a torrid love affair with Kirara. There will not be a
Dragonball crossover that has Minako battling Miss Lunch for a box Lunch.
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01. Minako won't contract a fatal case of chicken pox and tragically leave the mantle of power to Artemis, who becomes a sad parody of Batman and sweeps across Shibuya dispensing rough
justice and striking fear into the heart of the Dark Agency.
I hope this clears up some misconceptions. At any rate, back to the manga.
In this segment, Minako and Haruka do meet again, but once more they are in disguise under assumed names, so their meeting in the Sailor Moon anime and manga canon won't be violated.
The facing page (which we don't have, unfortunately) shows a picture of Haruka and Minako standing back to back, with their aliases "Ogata-san" and "Rika-chan" under them, and the logo of... a certain
TV show above them (the name will be shown in the scan). There is also a quick blurb explaining that "the secret missions of Ten'ou Haruka and Aino Minako continue! Their paths cross on a super-elite
game show as they seek the identity of their enemies! Be sure to cheer them on!" The story then proceeds on the next page: (As usual, my thanks to Unnamed_Mangaholic_Z for the pre-print scan
and NipponCha_Cha_Chai for the quick trans/scanslation of the text)
Please remember to buy the manga when it's commercially available once again. (Read from right to left)
Analysis
As a quick one-shot sidestory, this piece shouldn't be analyzed too deeply. Minako and Haruka's aliases, "Rika" and "Ogata" respectively, are obviously references to their
voice actresses in the Sailor Moon anime (Fukami Rica and Megumi Ogata). Michiru can kind of be seen behind the frustrated Minako. And Artemis never lets Mina have any fun. Heh.
Tune in again next week as we see what's next for Sailor V 2004!