Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Volume 3 (click for source)
by Gemma Williams
Volume three, headed by the beautiful Sailor Mars, covers acts twelve to sixteen of the overall story. It carries on from the previous book which finished on a cliff-hanger, as the Scouts discovered some treacherous, yet glaringly obvious, news. The series has had a lot of action, romance and fantasy elements incorporated so far; what more can you ask for?
Volume three, headed by the beautiful Sailor Mars, covers acts twelve to sixteen of the overall story. It carries on from the previous book which finished on a cliff-hanger, as the Scouts discovered some treacherous, yet glaringly obvious, news. The series has had a lot of action, romance and fantasy elements incorporated so far; what more can you ask for?
Click for source
The book begins with everyone’s reaction to the news at the end of volume two. The end of the first story arch is nearing a close and it is wrapped up within two to three acts. The next arc begins after some hefty sacrifices and heart-breaking scenes.
My main issue with this series is that the story moves too fast. The panels will jump from one scene to another with no warning, missing out a large time frame. Many manga that I have read in the past is better paced and planned whereas this just seems impulsive. A fast paced story can be good, but not this quick! I want to enjoy the story and the characters more. The character development for everyone but Usagi has been frustratingly slow and they just feel like they are there to bolster the Princess when she is down or needs protecting, when really they are intended to be just as important as she. Usagi is whiny and spoilt; at least I can’t complain that she’s a Mary-Sue character as she certainly is not. She does have a lot of good points too, but they’re not quite interesting or strong enough to compete with the annoying.
Something that has been prominent and highly surprising in these three volumes is how secretive, yet conspicuous, the girls have been over their identities. First of all, they look exactly the same as Scouts as they do when they are human, yet no one figures this out. Could Takeuchi really not give them more imaginative costumes or disguises? While transformed, they don’t refer to each other as their Scout name, but their human name, in front of the enemies and their friends, yet no one cottons on except for the odd exception. There are even a few students from another school that have noticed the gang together a lot and suspect them of keeping a secret, so their secret identities are really not that safe or secure.
My main issue with this series is that the story moves too fast. The panels will jump from one scene to another with no warning, missing out a large time frame. Many manga that I have read in the past is better paced and planned whereas this just seems impulsive. A fast paced story can be good, but not this quick! I want to enjoy the story and the characters more. The character development for everyone but Usagi has been frustratingly slow and they just feel like they are there to bolster the Princess when she is down or needs protecting, when really they are intended to be just as important as she. Usagi is whiny and spoilt; at least I can’t complain that she’s a Mary-Sue character as she certainly is not. She does have a lot of good points too, but they’re not quite interesting or strong enough to compete with the annoying.
Something that has been prominent and highly surprising in these three volumes is how secretive, yet conspicuous, the girls have been over their identities. First of all, they look exactly the same as Scouts as they do when they are human, yet no one figures this out. Could Takeuchi really not give them more imaginative costumes or disguises? While transformed, they don’t refer to each other as their Scout name, but their human name, in front of the enemies and their friends, yet no one cottons on except for the odd exception. There are even a few students from another school that have noticed the gang together a lot and suspect them of keeping a secret, so their secret identities are really not that safe or secure.
Click for source
As always, the cover and first few pages are vibrant with colour and printed on good quality paper. Seeing the characters in colour images is a treat as they are drawn and coloured in so beautifully that you will struggle to take your eyes off the pages as you admire the intricate art work and detail that goes into making the characters look real.
The next story arch is irritating so far as there has been a character introduced who is even more infuriating than Usagi, but hopefully they will calm down soon and stop being such an unnecessary pain. As with many different books, films and stories, the character refuses to tell anyone what is happening and so they are fighting in the dark. If they just opened up from the start, instead of being obnoxious, they would have been offered help and would probably have been able to prevent a lot of tragedies.
Volume three also ended on a cliff hanger, though what manga doesn’t? Volume four is sitting on my shelf waiting to be picked up and for the story to continue. Mangas are quick, fun reads and Sailor Moon is no exception so far, though it really is a lot darker than I realised as I witnessed parallels within the story with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
The next story arch is irritating so far as there has been a character introduced who is even more infuriating than Usagi, but hopefully they will calm down soon and stop being such an unnecessary pain. As with many different books, films and stories, the character refuses to tell anyone what is happening and so they are fighting in the dark. If they just opened up from the start, instead of being obnoxious, they would have been offered help and would probably have been able to prevent a lot of tragedies.
Volume three also ended on a cliff hanger, though what manga doesn’t? Volume four is sitting on my shelf waiting to be picked up and for the story to continue. Mangas are quick, fun reads and Sailor Moon is no exception so far, though it really is a lot darker than I realised as I witnessed parallels within the story with Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and with Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
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