Meet Sailor Venus: Love (Sailor Moon Scout Guides) [Paperback]

Naoko Takeuchi (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: TokyoPop; Collectors edition (January 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189221329X
• ISBN-13: 978-1892213297
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 5.2 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #452,789 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Meet Sailor Venus is a great buy!, April 29, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Meet Sailor Venus: Love (Sailor Moon Scout Guides) (Paperback)

Meet Sailor Venus is a must have for Sailor Venus Fans. It's over 80 pages of fun facts and pictures in a handy "Disney Adventures" size format.

Included in the work are illustrated synopses of Venus-centric episodes from the first 4 seasons of Sailor Moon, *including* the _Sailor V_ episode which DIC cut from the North American dub, a brief look into the astrology and mythology behind Venus (the planet and indrectly the Senshi), answers from Minako to personal questions illustrated with scenes from various episodes, and other fun surprises!

PROS:

The book is remarkably comprehensive, pulling in background information from the manga and the anime to make an excellent Sailor V / Sailor Venus / Aino Minako (Mina Aino in the book) compendium.

The pictures, are of course, first rate.

CONS:

Since this book is directly translated from the Japanese original, you have to look at the pictures from right to left, otherwise the order doesn't make sense (this is important because unlike other MIXX works, the pictures in the original were not reversed to compensate for the way Westerners read). Also, the captions are turned sideways to fit in the areas where horizontal Japanese writing would normally go. This can wear on the eyes after a time.

There are also some tiny editing glitches, like her attacks being called "Love Chain Encircle" and "Love Me Chains" on alternate pages, and the names "Serena" and "Bunny" being used on the same page, but these are fairly minor nitpicky problems which in no way detract from the fun of the book, which is what's really important.

Even with that, as I said before, it's a must-have for any fan of V-chan. Five stars.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Venus Resource; Don't Buy for Entertainment, January 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Meet Sailor Venus: Love (Sailor Moon Scout Guides) (Paperback)

This book is a great resource for all those Venus fans who have been confused by differing information from internet sites. It provides clear, definitive information on Venus, as well as loads of great pictures. For anyone running a Venus website, this book is great! However, if you're just buying for personal entertainment, save your money and buy some SM manga instead. ;)

My favorite parts of the book are the Sailor Venus Episode Best 5, Mina's Friends, and the Poetry section. The Episodes section has the best five episodes that reveal Mina's true nature. The Friends section has short descriptions of all her friends and their relationships. The Poetry section has translations of four poems, including Route Venus by Naoko Takeuchi (SM creator, duh). Other good points - the book is simply stuffed with illustrations, and it's printed on glossy magazine-quality paper.

The worst parts about this book are that it seems to have been written before SM SuperS and SM Sailor Stars, so Venus Crystal Power and Venus Love and Beauty Shock are never mentioned. Also, the narrative viewpoint of the book often switches between first and third person, which can be confusing. One of the worst points is that Mixx did not account for the fact that English-speakers look at pictures from left to right. Therefore, when pictures are arranged in sequence, they must be looked at starting on the right. I can only imagine how confusing this would be if you didn't know Japanese was read from right to left. Also, in order to fit into the space where the Japanese characters were, the captions are turned on their sides, which is tiring to read.

To recap: Buy it if you want a good Venus resource (or if your goal is just to own every SM product...). Don't buy it if you just want entertainment (buy manga instead! manga, manga, manga!).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars WONDERFUL!, October 13, 2003

A Kid's Review

This review is from: Meet Sailor Venus: Love (Sailor Moon Scout Guides) (Paperback)

This book is great. If you are a fan of Sailor Venus this is a must-have! The info is accurate and the pictures are mind boggling! (Great.) I recommand you buy this book!!