Codename: Sailor V

Codename: Sailor V (コードネームはセーラーＶ) is a manga created by Naoko Takeuchi. It is about Minako Aino, a cheerful schoolgirl who finds out that she has magical powers that she must use to protect the people of the Earth. This series is the basis for the sequel, Sailor Moon.

Story
Codename: Sailor V tells the story of Minako Aino, a 13 year old middle school student, who is slightly distracted, out-spoken and dreams about some day finding true love. But soon, her calm and normal life changes when she encounters a talking white cat with a crescent moon on its forehead. This cat introduces himself as Artemis and claims that Minako is a girl with the power to transform into a woman stronger and more beautiful than anyone.

He calls her "Venus" and tells her she has a mission to protect Earth in the name of her guardian planet Venus. To help her with her new mission, Artemis gives her two items, a crescent moon shaped compact and a magical pen. The magical pen allows her to transform into her alter-ego, the sailor-suited beautiful soldier of justice, Sailor V.

Sailor V begins fighting the evil agents known as the Dark Agency, who fight under Danburite's command. He is in charge of sending his many talented idols to enslave the public.

Sailor V has many adventures as a Soldier of Justice, some leaving her to spark the envy and admiration of the police force. She also later gained the aid of Kaitou Ace, who had for a moment taken her spotlight due to his TV show.

At the end Minako realizes that her duty is more important than romance and discovers her true mission as Sailor Venus.

Comparison with Sailor Moon series
Sailor Moon is the sequel to Codename: Sailor V. When it was proposed that Codename: Sailor V would be adapted as an anime, creator Naoko Takeuchi adapted the ideas from it to fit a team format and created Sailor Moon. Both manga ran simultaneously: Sailor V was published in the magazine Run Run, while Sailor Moon ran in Nakayoshi. Sailor Venus was included in the cast of the Sailor Moon manga and anime series from the first story arc on.

Usagi Tsukino is partly based on Minako, and thus they share some characteristics; however, due to the anime's prevalence in other countries, Minako is sometimes mistakenly considered the "knockoff". Usagi is generally considered slightly less intelligent, somewhat lazier and much less athletic than Minako, while Minako is more graceful and driven but not necessarily possessing foresight. Where Usagi is clumsy and a crybaby, Minako is merely over-dramatic.

The Sailor V manga actually fully concluded some time after the conclusion of the 18-volume Sailor Moon manga. It included cameo appearances by other Sailor Moon characters, including Usagi, Naru Osaka, Ami Mizuno, Makoto Kino, Rei Hino and a shadowy image of the ten Sailor Senshi together, as well as a vision of the Guardian Senshi together in the late Silver Millennium. However, as new chapters of the Sailor V manga were published less often than the Sailor Moon manga, it is only three volumes long.

Allies
Names are in the Western order, with the given name before the family name.
 * Artemis: Minako's cat partner in defending justice. He plays a major part in Sailor Moon and is the earlier counterpart of Luna.
 * Boss: Unseen, communicates with Artemis and Minako through the Transformation Pen and gives them instructions. The identity of the "Boss" is never directly revealed, but in the Sailor Moon manga it's implied that it's the spirit of Queen Serenity, kept "alive" by the ancient computers on the Moon.
 * Hikaru Sorano: Hikaru and Minako have been best friends since elementary school. She looks like Ami Mizuno from Sailor Moon but with Black hair instead of blue. Is the vice president of an un-named volunteer organization
 * Minako's mother: Is a housewife. Much of the time she is seen disciplining Minako for her bad deeds. She looks nearly identical to Usagi's mother in Sailor Moon, as both are based on Takeuchi's own mother. The major difference in appearance between the two is hairstyle. Minako's Mother wears hers in a ponytail while Ikuko-momma wears hers loose.
 * Motoki Furuhata: Motoki works at the Game Center Crown who seems to be one of Minako's crushes. He also appears in Sailor Moon.
 * Gurikazu Amano: Amano is a geeky guy from Minako's school. Very similar to Umino.
 * Minako's father: is a Company Employee. He looks identical to Usagi's father in Sailor Moon, as both are based on Takeuchi's own father.
 * Natsuna Sakurada : She is the superintendent-general of the Metropolitan Police Board and a huge fan of Sailor V. Her sister, Haruna Sakurada, is featured in Sailor Moon.
 * Toshio Wakagi: Wakagi is twenty-seven years old and a Special Officer of the Metropolitan Police Office. He does not like Sailor V because he feels that she makes a fool out of police officers. Wakagi has an older brother.
 * Saitou-san: Once a student of Shiba Junior High School, Saitou-san is the leader of a high school gang and the toughest guy in Tokyo. He looks like Kunzite from Sailor Moon, though if he is him, it is never made clear. The Sera Myu takes it one step further and makes Saitou the civilian identity of Kunzite. He loves Okamoto-sensei but she got married while during his time as her student.
 * Okamoto-sensei: A home economics teacher at Shiba Junior High School. Is married and has a fondness for making promise chains. Nicknamed Oka-P.
 * Marie-sensei: The comic artist of Aurora Wedding, which Minako reads. The manga itself foreshadows events in the Sailor Moon series. She is twenty years old and has been writing the manga since 8th grade. Has glasses similar to Umino and Amano, but is quite beautiful underneath them. The main character of her manga, Linda, is based on her, and Linda's 10 sisters are shown as silhouettes that match up to each of the 10 Sailor Senshi.
 * Shinrou Baishaku: He is the younger editor of Marie-sensei who helps keep her on track. He looks similar to Kaitou Ace. Gets married to Marie-Sensei. Linda's love interest Swallowtail Kamen is based on him.
 * Maiku Otonaru: He is one of Minako's many love interests. Half-Russian, half-Japanese. He's had heart problems since birth. He doesn't engage in physical activity or have many friends as a result. Minako pushes him into practicing for the marathon with her and he collapses. They grow closer after she goes to his house, a karaoke parlor, to apologize. He loses his will to live after collapsing due to Karaoke Soldier Mike Makkii planting evil microphones that steal the singer's energy. After Mike Makkii is defeated he regains his will to live and pushes his heart operation back so he can watch Minako participate (and win) the marathon. Has a Russian pen-pal to whom he is engaged. Hates hospitals and prefers to recover at home so he can listen to the singers' happiness give him energy to carry on with life.
 * Otonaru's Pen-pal: Russian. Makes one appearance. Is Onotaru's fiancee.

The only Sailor Soldier to make numerous appearances in Codename: Sailor V is Usagi Tsukino. Ami Mizuno, Rei Hino and Makoto Kino only make one cameo in different chapters.

Dark Agency
Narkissos moved about Minako's school and brainwashed the girls there into becoming his slaves so that the Dark Agency might rule Japan. Seemingly a perfectly gorgeous and popular transfer student named Higashi, Minako develops a crush on him and tries to give him a love letter, but either her lack of courage or other obstacles get in her way. When they meet at the Glory Cram School they are paired together for a study lesson. He tells her that her long hair is very ladylike and that she should wear a big red ribbon on back. However when she thinks that Higashi and a girl named Haneda like each other, Minako gives up and decides to find a new guy. When Higashi attacks Haneda, revealing his true form as Narkissos, Minako leaps to the rescue as Sailor V. Once she defeated Narkissos all the girls were released from his power. Later prints of the manga have back ground characters remark on his appearance being similar to Jedite's
 * Narkissos

Takurou is not really a member of the Dark Agency, just a local pervert otaku who likes female warrior fighting games. Minako encounters him at the Game Center Crown where he flips Sailor V's skirt to examine her panties and ultimately feels the wrath of an enraged Minako.
 * Takurou Ootaku

The idol Pandora is debuting on Channel 44 in a 24-hour idol show. She also plans to give signed CD's to all the boys who come to the studio to support her. She is actually a member of the Dark Agency, and is brainwashing everyone in the city. Minako disguises herself as a policewoman and goes to the station to stop Pandora. She melts the idol with her Crescent Beam attack, leaving her as nothing but a pile of mush.
 * Pandora

Petite Pandora is the younger sister of the evil idol Pandora. She is determined to avenge her sister's death by killing Sailor V. The model becomes an instant sensation with her undeniable cuteness and her trademark "world's cutest wink.". Her wink, however, is what she uses to brainwash her victims and turn them into her slaves. She leaves a message for Sailov V at the Police Station threatening to kill her slaves if she doesn't meet her at Shiba park. When Sailor V arrives Petite Pandora is eventually destroyed by Sailor V and the slaves are freed.
 * Petite Pandora

The Dark Guys are an idol group made up of triplets. They are actrully clones sent by Danburitie to aid Fluorite in her plans. Minako and Hikaru are big fans of the group and even buy their CD. However, they belong to the Dark Agency's idol talent, a place who had also employed Pandora and Petite Pandora. They are part of Fluorite's plot to suck up lots of energy by sending out clone idols to do the work. With the Twin Dark and Dark Shizuka-hime, every age group for idol fans is covered. However, Sailor V destroys the clones with her Crescent Beam.
 * Dark Guys

Twin Dark are twin girl idols and younger sisters to the triplet Dark Guys. Like The Dark Guys they are actually clones. Amano is a big fan of these girls. They are destroyed by Sailor V.
 * Twin Dark

She is called the salary man's goddess, the most popular singer for karaoke. She is destroyed by Sailor V.
 * Dark Shizuka-hime

Fluorite runs the Dark Agency's idol talent section and has Pandora, Petite Pandora, Dark Guys, Twin Dark, and Dark Shizuka-hime all following her command. Narkissos is also under her, though he is not an idol but an undercover transfer student at Minako's school. Fluorite takes orders directly from the shadowy boss, Danburite. She uses idols to collect energy and gain slaves for the Dark Agency so that they might take over the world. However, after much struggling Sailor V finally destroys her.
 * Fluorite

When Minako goes to the game center, she finds out that the new "Cyberwarrior Girl Luga" game is a virtual reality game and it is so popular that she doesn't get to play it. Her friend Amano gets a copy of the game and lends it to Minako where she hears from her mother that the game is so popular that fights are breaking out about it and her mother tells her it sounds dangerous. The next morning she finds her parents fighting over the game and at school she finds that everyone is obsessed about getting home to play the Luga game. The Boss reveals it's a Dark Agency plot and she eventually gets sucked into the game. Amano plays the game with Minako inside and together they defeat Luga.
 * Cyberwarrior Girl Luga

She is the representative of the Dark Agency's Hawaiian branch. She gets permission from Danburite to collect energy from the Japanese who are travelling abroad over the summer. She poses as the chief stewardess on the Dark Air System headed for Hawaii. However, when she hears that Sailor V ended up in Greece rather than on her plane to Hawaii, she changes the flight's course. Upon arrival in Greece, Hibiscusy feels the hatred of Sailor V from someone and it turns out to be Wakagi's brother. She transforms him into Aloha Kamen but he is easily defeated when Minako transforms into a skimpy bathing suit. Hibiscusy is quickly destroyed by Sailor V's Crescent Beam attack.
 * Hibiscusy

A really powerful, unknown gang has shown up and they have been starting fights all over the place. Some people suspect it is Saitou and his gang, but in truth, they are agents of the Dark Agency. While they pick fights, they soak up fighting energy from the thugs. When the thugs have no power left, they are brainwashed and used as puppets. Vivian is the one leading this gang. She claims she is the president of the Dark Agency and is settling things in Tokyo. Vivian is destroyed by Sailor V.
 * Vivian

She first appears closese to Valentine' Day selling Rainbow Chocolates. Girls have been eating the chocolates and gaining weight. DeBrine then hands out fliers advertising for health camp Este de Brine, where girls can get their ideal proportions, but it is all a trap. She is collecting the energy from them during this time and when they eat more of her chocolates, they will come back for more help. None of the girls that vist Este de Brine lose any weight either and are instead tricked by magical mirrors. When the girls hand out the Rainbow Chocolates for Valintine's day the weight gain spreads to the boys too. Soon the entire town has gained weight being pudgey is the new "in" body shape. Minako later sneaks into the Este de Brine building with Wakagi and confronts DeBrine. DeBrine uses "Rainbow Chocolate Attack" and attacks Sailor V with chocolate, but V defeats her with "Crescent Slender Beam." Upon her defeat the entire Este De Brine building collapses on top of Sailor V.
 * DeBrine

The Kaitou Ace craze is making girls want to be pretty. They are told at they can become beautiful heroines at the "Fashion Building Heroine". Liquid Fande is in charge of Cosmetics on the first floor, Water Fande is in charge of Wardrobe on the second floor, Powder Fande is in charge of Tableware on the third floor and Solid Fandeis in charge of Customer Service and Tour Conduct on the fourth floor. After shopping, the girls are brainwashed by their free gifts and are told that to become beautiful heroines, they have to defeat Sailor V. The crowd finds Sailor V at the live taping of Kaitou Ace's show and attack. The Fande women arrive and Sailor V battles, but as she hasn't charged her compact, the power is low and she cannot attack. Kaitou Ace comes to the rescue and defeats them. All three are really part of the same woman, Fande.
 * Liquid Fande, Powder Fande, Water Fande, Solid Fande

Nyan-Nyan is the oldest sister of three siblings (Nyan-Nyan, Wan-Wan, & Chuu-Chuu). She is the first to attack out of the trio. Her plan is to suck out the energy from the people at the athletics festival. She has the ability to turn herself into a cat and she happens to come across Sailor V who defeats her before she can cause too much trouble.
 * Nyan-Nyan

He is the second of the three animal siblings. While he does have an energy stealing scheme, he is more interested in revenge for his older sister. He disguises himself as a little black dog (who is bought by Marie-sensei) and named Luna-chan. Since he looks so much like a cat, Artemis starts to develop a crush on little Luna-chan. After some time Luna-chan attacks and transforms back into Wan-Wan. Sailor V defeats him and all is safe once again.
 * Wan-Wan

The last of the animal siblings and a mosquito type woman. She dresses as a handsome doctor who is taking blood at the hospital in a plot to drain all the blood from Japan. Minako discovers that the cute doctor is actually the enemy and forces him to reveal his real identity as Chuu-Chuu. Sailor V defeats the woman with her "Diphenhydramine Combo! Venus-Brand Mosquito Repellent Incense Typhoon!!" She calls out to her siblings as she reverts to an insect and falls to the floor dead.
 * Chuu-Chuu

This villain's plot is to take energy from all the people who sang karaoke. With their raised levels of enthusiam she is sure she will succeed. She places special energy sucking microphones throughout Roppongi's karaoke places. However, she doesn't count on Artemis giving Sailor V a new item, the Venus Mike, or V using her "Venus Ten Billion Volt Rock 'N' Rouge!!" to destroy the enemy.
 * Karaoke Soldier Mike Makkii

She discovers Minako's real identity as Sailor V. She works closely with Danburite and she calls herself the beautiful heart of the Dark Kingdom. Her plan is to take over the Chinese people under the company identity of Avex Trax Productions. She is defeated by V's "Venus Love Megaton Shower!" attack.
 * Princess Lin Lin

Always cloaked in the shadows, Danburite leads the members of the Dark Agency. He serves under the Shitennou and in his past life was Adonis. In the final volume of the series, Danburite reveals himself to be none other than Minako's love interest, Kaitou Ace. She discovers his identity during a joint Japanese-Chinese movie called The Chinese Princess Story. It is here that the Agency's name is discovered to be part of the Dark Kingdom. He reports back to Kunzite.
 * Danburite

Kaitou Ace
Kaitou Ace (最上A) was a love interest of Minako's in Codename: Sailor V. He was an idol who appeared after an evil plot to make girls gain weight. He helped the girls of Tokyo to lose weight, had his own TV show, and fights alongside Sailor V (like Tuxedo Mask would later help Sailor Moon). His real name is Saijou Ace. He is similar to Tuxedo mask. His main attack is throwing playing cards, and has the named attack "Delicious Four Card Shot"

It is later revealed that he is Danburite, who serves under the Shitennou. In the Silver Millennium, he was Adonis, a lowly foot-soldier posted to Venus. He saw Princess Venus and fell in love with her, but his love was hopeless. He was talented at giving "Love Readings" involving playing cards, predominately the Aces of the four suits. In his final death scene against Sailor V he foretells that her love shall forever remain hopeless, dooming her and at the same time leaving her path open to put her mission before romance without hesitation.

Items

 * Transformation Pen (Volume 01, Book 01) This item is used to transform Minako into Sailor V. It is also used to communicate with "Boss". It is also able to be used as an ordinary pen for writing with, and Minako hints that anything you write with it will be correct, no matter if you know what you're writing about or not, and uses it to 'cheat' through make-up Exams, homework, etc. (much to Artemis' displeasure). She later uses the same pen to transform into Sailor Venus in the Sailor Moon manga. In the anime she has a pen that is the same as the other Senshi's. Concept artwork and notes state that it is recharged by touching the moon on the side to the one on Artemis' head
 * Compact (Volume 02, Book 01) This item has many uses. It is used to disguise her as any type person she chooses, to help her see the enemy's true form, and it also helps her perform many of her attacks. It needs to be put in the full moon's light to charge. She still has it during Sailor Moon and uses it twice.
 * Katana (Volume 12, Book 03) She used this once to slice Wan-Wan.
 * Business Cards (Volume 13, Book 3) Detects if people they are handed to are an enemy in disguse. Used to help find Chuu-Chuu
 * Venus Mike (Volume 14, Book 03) This item created sonic waves to destroy the karaoke enemy, Karaoke-senshi Mike Makkii.

Release history
Codename: Sailor V was created by Naoko Takeuchi in 1991, though finalised chapters ran from May, 1993 to March, 1994 in Kodansha's Run Run magazine, with its last chapter reappearing in 1997. Three books (manga) were created in the series, spanning the 15 chapters of Sailor V.

An OVA series was planned, but never came to fruition, the Sailor Moon anime being created instead.