Sailor Moon - Minako Aino / Characters

This page covers Minako Aino, the protagonist of Codename: Sailor V and a main character in Sailor Moon.

Minako Aino/Mina — Sailor V/Sailor Venus

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sailor_venus_season_iii.png

^{Click to see Minako Aino}

^{Click to see Sailor V}

Voiced by: Rika Fukami (first anime), Shizuka Itō (Crystal onwards) (Japanese), Stephanie Morgenstern (DiC), Emilie-Claire Barlow (Cloverway), Cherami Leigh (Viz) (English) ^{Foreign VAs}
Portrayed in PGSM by: Ayaka Komatsu
Portrayed in the musicals by: Nana Suzuki, Chidzuru Soya, Kanatsu Nakaya, Akiko Miyazawa, Yumi Otani, Nao Inada, Yuki Nakamura, Ayumi Murata, Mizuki Watanabe, Momoko Shibuya, Erika, Shiori Sakata

"Guardian of Love and Beauty, the pretty sailor suited soldier Sailor Venus! In the name of Love, I will punish you!"

Though she joins the team last, Minako has been active as a Sailor Guardian for quite some time using the alias of "Sailor V". She served as the leader of the Four Guardian Soldiers during the Silver Millennium and currently continues in that role, second only to Sailor Moon. Her ditziness and wacky antics belie an incredibly strong and capable Heartbroken Badass.

She was the first character in the franchise to be created, originally starring in a 1991 one-shot that eventually became the prequel manga Codename: Sailor V, which was published alongside the Sailor Moon manga.

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A-E

The Ace: In the manga, she is by far the most experienced Sailor Soldier due to awakening and fighting on her own for a full year before the others. It shows in her battle skills, and she's the guardian whom Usagi aspires to be like.
Achilles in His Tent: There was an episode where she decided to leave the Sailor Guardians — not because she was upset, but because she wanted time off from saving the world so she could rejoin the volleyball league she was forced to quit as well as get a boyfriend. Who should show up but a Monster of the Week with volleyball-related powers attacking Venus's love interest? After defeating the enemy, she then decided to go back to being a Sailor Guardian, possibly after learning that said love interest already had a girlfriend.
Adaptational Comic Relief: She's not without a sense of humor in the manga, but in The '90s anime, she often acts outright goofy in her civilian life, with things like her malapropisms and boy-craziness serving as running gags. She's closer to her Codename: Sailor V characterisation than in the Sailor Moon manga.
Adaptational Jerkass: In the live-action version, Minako is a jaded Broken Bird who treats everyone with derision and deliberately antagonizes Sailor Mars to try to get her to take on a more active leadership role. She defrosts as the series progresses, but dies before she can fully melt.
Adaptational Nice Guy: Was a lot sweeter and friendlier in the original anime, where her forceful, Hot-Blooded tendencies were shifted to Rei's character.
Adaptation Dye-Job: Has dark hair in the failed Toon Makers’ Sailor Moon pilot.
All Love Is Unrequited: She loved Ace's alter ego in the manga before he turned out to be the enemy. She also gets a lot of one-shots in the anime, like Alan and Asai.
All of the Other Reindeer: She had a thriving social life at first, but after she awakened to her power as Sailor V she had less and less time for her friends due to the demands of fighting evil and maintaining The Masquerade. As a result, her friends drifted away and her peers assumed that she felt she was too good for them, mocking her for "pretending to be Sailor V."
Already Met Everyone: Sailor Venus and Artemis are more than familiar with everything that is connected to Sailor Moon. Minako is even familiar with Luna's secret control room. Justified, as she secretly mentored the other Guardians through the arcade game and used the control room during her Sailor V days.
Alternate Character Reading: The kanji that make up her given name, "Minako", can also be read as "bi-na-su"... which is pronounced very much like "Venus".
Amusing Injuries: In Rei's and Minako's exam battle chapter, Minako is shown to have been whipped by the strict teachers at T.A. Girl's Academy. The beat-up Minako is drawn in a comical manner and Rei is amused by her inability to fit in.
Animal Motifs: Minako particularly likes birds, which are heavily associated with love and the goddess Venus/Aphrodite.
Anyone Can Die: In the live action she dies.
The Artifact: In the manga, her hair ribbon is a Tragic Keepsake from her first crush. This backstory does not carry into the 90s anime or the live action, but the ribbon remains as an iconic element of her character design.
Ash Face: Minako must struggle with technology because both a radio and an arcade racer have exploded in her face, blowing her hair back and leaving her covered in soot.
Attractive Bent-Gender: When she disguised herself as a male Infinity student in the manga and Crystal.
Bad Powers, Good People: One of Sailor Venus' abilities is to summon a cloud from Venus' atmosphere—that is, incredibly hot, high-pressure sulphuric acid, i.e. poison gas. She also has a severe case of Chronic Hero Syndrome, and the above-mentioned power appears only after she has mastered it off-page to the point she can dilute it into a stink bomb.
Barely-Changed Dub Name: She was called Mina in the original English dub, which was already a nickname of hers.
Barrier Maiden: Her future self in Crystal Tokyo, though this role is more improvised since Neo Queen Serenity was gravely wounded and that hit Crystal Tokyo's defenses hard.
Be Careful What You Wish For: In the live-action series, Minako actually achieves her dream of becoming a famous celebrity and idol that her other incarnations have always wanted before the start of the series... however, all her fame succeeds in doing is isolating her from normal relationships and making her job as Sailor V even harder.
Beware the Nice Ones: She's a very nice girl, who has been late to wherever she was going more than once due to helping people in trouble, donates blood... and has racked up an impressive body count, which in the manga includes her first crush (was a youma, and became her first kill) and her serious love interest (he had just revealed himself as Kunzite's Dragon, and when she asked him to surrender he attacked and got disintegrated).
Beware the Silly Ones: Minako is generally goofy, comically overambitious, and slightly lustful, but she is the famed Sailor V, The Leader of the guardians, and immensely powerful and athletic. She even scares the villains by being such a big Plucky Girl when her berserk buttons are pushed. In the Stars arc of the manga, The Three Lights learn this the hard way when Minako, who had previously been talking about doing the regular high school thing and finding a boyfriend after the battle was over and Mercury and Jupiter were brought back, all but gives them a death threat if they don't give up their identities to her and Rei.
Beyond the Impossible: Minako repeatedly pulls off feats of athleticism and endurance that surpass the limits of human capability (even among the other guardians). Possibly justified since, as Artemis states in the beginning of the second chapter of Codename: Sailor V, she is the "incarnation of the Goddess of Love and Desirability", so her athleticism and endurance could stem from her divine nature.
Big Damn Heroes: Her full debut has her come to the Guardians' aid this way, though it differs between versions.
- In the manga and Crystal, she saves Moon from Zoicite.
- In the anime, she first saves Tuxedo Mask from Zoicite, then the other Guardians from Kunzite.
Big Eater: Justified in the manga: she started out as a normal glutton, but after a Dark Agency plot got her fat she started exercising and was tricked by Artemis into putting up quite some muscle, and now has to eat more to fuel that.
Big "NO!": Delivers one as Sailor Moon is taken away in the Black Moon arc of Crystal.
Bleed 'Em and Weep: The only times she breaks down into tears are in Codename: Sailor V, and both times it's over having to kill an enemy she had feelings for.
Body Double: To Usagi/Sailor Moon, which is the (in-universe) reason they look so similar to each other and have disguise powers: during the age of the Silver Millennium, one of Sailor Venus's responsibilities was to serve as a body double for Princess Serenity when needed.
Book Dumb: She may get lousy grades at school, but she's a capable strategist with the benefit of an extra year of combat experience to call upon.
Boring, but Practical: When it comes to combat, she's surprisingly low-key... And incredibly effective:
- In Codename: Sailor V, her main way to fight is to simply beat up her opponents until they show an opening, and then hit them with the Crescent Beam.
- In the manga at least, her physical prowess partially comes from the same kind of training you'd get in a gym, just made better by her talent and immense stamina.
- She's prone to attack the enemy while they're distracted. In the manga, it netted her Zoisite, among others.
- In the first anime, she sticks to the Crescent Beam (her first magical attack) all the way to the Super S season, long after everyone else has upgraded to other attacks. Thanks to her mastery of it, she's just as effective as the rest of the team with their upgraded attacks.
Break the Cutie: Originally a cheerful Fun Personified girl, as Sailor V, she goes through pains of fighting alone for a year, only to be forced to kill her love interest when he's an agent of the Dark Kingdom, and she gave up on dreams and love to focus on her mission.
Brilliant, but Lazy: She is pretty clever, streetwise, a great strategist, and in the anime learns English no problem, but sees no value in applying herself in school.
Broken Ace:
- In the live action, she's pretty, famous, and the best and most professional of the guardians. However, she's dying and she's distracting herself by plunging into her duties as a soldier.
- In the manga, she is The Leader and the most experienced of the inner soldiers, and the one that Usagi looks up to the most, but only became this way through her eye-opening stint as Sailor V. She started fighting crime and killing monsters when she was 13, and was the first to learn about the Moon Kingdom's past.
Broken Bird: She's got quite a difficult past in all versions, but especially in the live-action, where on top of everything else, she's dying of a terminal illness.
Brought Down to Badass: Even without her powers, Minako is still a highly capable fighter.
Brought Down to Normal: In the SuperS manga, temporarily. This actually happens to everybody, and for the Guardians it's the second time it has technically happened to them, no less. Minako is just more obvious in her angst about it, and she's the last one to recover.
Bully Hunter: Back in her Sailor V days, she would drop whatever she was doing (no matter if she ended up in trouble) to stop bullies, treating them barely different from youmas (the difference being in that she didn't kill them).
Bump into Confrontation: Happens twice to her and her friend Hikaru in Codename: Sailor V allowing Saito, the head of a different gang of juvenile delinquents and former attendee of the same middle school as Minako to rescue them. Minako gets a crush on him but he's in love with his old / her current Home Ec teacher.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Despite her general bumbling and ditziness in social situations, Venus is actually the most senior Sailor, and in the manga and live-action series she's easily the most battle-competent.
Butt-Monkey: Sometimes. Mainly in the 90s anime where she was often thrust into a comic relief role.
By the Power of Grayskull!: "Venus Power, Make Up!", "Venus Star Power, Make Up!", "Venus Planet Power, Make up!" (manga) "Venus Crystal Power, Make Up!", "Moon Power, Make-up!" (During her days as Sailor V)
Chain Pain: Her Venus Love-Me Chain.
The Chains of Commanding: In the manga, Minako struggles under the isolation and pressure of leading the Sailor Soldiers. It comes to a head when she temporarily loses her powers as Sailor Venus. She falls into a depression and has an existential crisis because she sees her life as meaningless if she cannot be Sailor Venus, The Leader of the Sailor Soldiers. It culminates in her lashing out at Usagi, Ami, Rei and Makoto when they gush about the Outer Guardians, feeling as if her fellow guardians would rather be led by the Outers than her. It's understandable, as she did see her beloved Serenity and fellow guardians die in battle under her leadership in the previous lifetime, and blames herself entirely for the fall of the Moon Kingdom.
Charles Atlas Superpower: Among many other feats of superhuman athleticism, Minako can leap onto Usagi's balcony without transforming (that means with nothing but her own strength), can send The Big Girl flying across a room with one kick (also untransformed), and not only survive excruciating attacks from the generals of the Big Bad but proceed to outrun a car. Even after running herself ragged trying to two-time Tigers Eye and Hawks Eye at the same time, even to the point where she outright collapses in the middle of the road, she has enough energy a few minutes later to tear through metal manacles and kick their butts for "tricking a poor maiden's heart". Goddess of Love and Beauty, indeed.
Chekhov's Gunman: In the anime, she's referenced as Sailor V now and then before the episode that introduced her as Sailor Venus, and that same episode had her appear briefly in civilian form before that.
Chronic Hero Syndrome: During her year as a solo hero, she would help everyone in need even at her own detriment, getting late to school more than once because she had stumbled on some problem, almost outing her Secret Identity to stop two guys trying to use the airport without paying the fare (and then helped them paying it because their reason was that they had genuinely no idea there was a fare and didn't have the money), and ending her 10-Minute Retirement because a new enemy had appeared less than ten minutes after she decided to retire. This is actually a Deconstruction: by the end of that year the constant battles alone have taken her toll, one of her stunts led to her Secret Identity being exposed to two people (and while Natsuna Sakurada was a friend who took the chance to become an ally, Ace was a member of the Dark Kingdom who could have just attacked her at home if it hadn't been for his plan), and her final battle makes her understand she would always choose her mission over happiness when she kills Ace, her love interest, for being with the Dark Kingdom and not standing down when she gave him one chance to do so. By the end, she's a Broken Ace, and the only reason she stops her tears and goes on smiling anyway is that she now knows of the others and they need her example to follow.
Class Clown: She's the joker of the group both in and out of school. She may take her duties as Sailor Venus seriously, but the rest of the time, Minako prefers to spend her time goofing off, cracking jokes, and pulling pranks rather than studying.
Close-Range Combatant: The manga version of Sailor Venus has beaten half to death multiple monsters of the week with punches and (most importantly) kicks, when untransformed easily defeated a Brainwashed and Crazy Makoto with one kick, and even killed a youma and Queen Beryl with sword strikes. The anime downplays this, but she still engages youma with a chain at short distance from time to time and has been shown killing a youma with a kick.
Combat Pragmatist: In the manga and live action. In the manga, Minako has no qualms kicking the crap out of her own brainwashed teammate. In the live action, she distances herself from the other soldiers and goes about her business the way she sees fit.
Comic Books Are Real: Anime and manga shows the existence of a Sailor V franchise, that later became a Sailor Guardian franchise.
Comically Inept Healing: In episode 78, the soldiers were infected by a virus... except Minako, who tries to help the others by visiting their houses to treat them. It goes... horribly bad, to say the least.
Cool Sword: The Holy Sword, which only she can use. It's used in some of her attacks, and it can also seal away evil and give the Guardians more power.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: In the manga and anime, she tends to act as a ditz, yet... For the anime, see Plucky Girl entry. In the manga... Well, the very first thing she does upon appearing in person in the main series was hacking Zoisite into many pieces after he had just defeated Sailor Mars and Sailor Jupiter.
Cute Bruiser: Minako might be a petite blonde, but she is extremely athletic and kicks the crap out of youma like it's her day job. Even in civilian form, she can take out very powerful people with one blow.
Dark and Troubled Past: She became Sailor V at the tender age of 13 and was forced to deal with the harsher side of saving the world, including killing her love interest when she realized he was the Big Bad. Her life hasn't been purely hellish, but it hasn't been easy either.
Dating Catwoman: This sometimes happens to Minako:
- Before becoming a Magical Girl in Codename: Sailor V, Minako had a crush for a sempai, who suggested her to wear a ribbon in her hair. The sempai was turned out to be Narkissos, a youma and Sailor V's first kill. She still wears the ribbon (because she DID like how it looked on her).
- Again in Codename: Sailor V, the Big Bad (and subordinate of Beryl's Dragon Kunzite) Danburite is revealed to be her actual first great love Kaitou Ace who was in love with her since their previous lives and apparently joined the villains just to get killed by her so she would become strong enough to keep going on.
- Happens to her again in the anime, but in a far more Played for Laughs manner. One episode of Super S has her getting crushes on two guys and trying to date the two... Who are then revealed to be members of the Quirky Miniboss Squad of the season, and rather pissed at her for being two-timed. These two survive, however (not for her lack of trying, they just manage to dodge her wrath long enough to teleport away). For a while, anyway.
A Day in the Limelight: Out of all the other soldiers, Minako gets the most episodes focused on her in the first anime, which add up to a total of fourteen whole episodes. This might be due to the fact that she got such a late entrance into the series, taking a full thirty episodes to appear.
Demoted to Comic Relief: Early in the original anime, Sailor V was established as a powerful crime fighter and become one of the main characters when she joined the group as Sailor Venus. As the series progressed, she became more of a goofy, ditzy, boy-crazy comedy character. Usagi acted that way herself early on but had grown as a character, and Rei took the spot of The Lancer that Minako played in the manga, so Minako got pushed to the side and was relegated to comic relief.
Demoted to Extra: Downplayed in that she's still a main character, but in the 90's anime, her role being Moon's right hand has been shifted to Mars and her being the leader of the Sailor Guardians isn't brought up.
Determinator: Even after her Dark and Troubled Past in Codename: Sailor V, she keeps going.
Did You Think I Can't Feel?: Happens in the "Dream" arc of Sailor Moon, when Rei, Ami and Makoto repeatedly mention that the example set by the Outer Guardians helped them to overcome the seal on their powers in front of Minako, their leader, who suddenly snaps and demands to know why should she lead them if she was so bad and run. To make it worse, it's implied they had no idea Minako was feeling that bad: they were convinced she had easily overcome the seal while they weren't looking because they admire her just that much (possibly part of why it was the Outers to inspire them, as they weren't as awesome) and had no idea they were hitting her already low self-esteem due to her extreme talent at hiding her sadness, deep PTSD and other troubles to spare their feelings.
The Dividual: In the anime, she falls into this a lot with Usagi during their slice-of-life moments. Since their personalities are so similar, they will usually say and do the exact same thing. Simultaneously.◊ Which actually makes sense when you remember she's Usagi's body double.
Does Not Like Spam: Shiitake mushrooms are not her thing.
Domino Mask: Wore a frilly one as Sailor V.
The Dreaded: In both the anime and manga, the Dark Kingdom has given indications of being utterly terrified of Sailor Venus. Her first appearance in both mediums consisting in a Big Damn Heroes where she saves the lives of the other Sailor Guardians and kicks the ass of one or two Shitennou helps the viewers understand why.
- In the first anime, there are hints that Artemis and Sailor Moon themselves are terrified of her getting angry. The speed with which Sailor Moon takes cover when she realizes Venus is angry may have actually saved her from becoming collateral damage once...
Dude, Where's My Respect?: In both the anime and manga:
- Anime: She's the active soldier for the most time, stops bank robbers in her free time and single-handedly freed London from Dark Kingdom monsters (where the other soldiers were nearly killed many times, once being saved by Venus who had just returned from London). Comes second season and we find out that Sailor Venus has apparently been overshadowed by Sailor Moon and forgotten. It didn't help that her Sailor V persona was presumed dead after one mission back in London.
- Manga: In the Dream Arc, her own teammates were so in awe of the Outers they adopted them as role models and completely forgot her role in training them and saving them from Zoisite in the first arc, rescuing them from the Black Moon in the second, and generally putting on a performance as good or better than the Outers in the third, something she eventually calls them out on before going on what under the circumstances is a suicide mission just to prove she still has it. And not noticing that they actually held her in such high esteem they couldn't take her as a role model anymore.
Dumb Blonde: She frequently acts like one, especially in the '90s anime, and is bad at schoolwork. However, she's far from unintelligent and her poor grades seem to be more a case of not being interested enough to apply herself.
Dumb Jock: Though not exactly dumb, she is quite loopy, airheaded, and an academic underacheiver. She is also a professional volleyball player.
Dumb Muscle: Played with. Like Usagi, she is a tough Action Girl who is Book Dumb and quite klutzy. However, she is more of a case of Brilliant, but Lazy when it comes to studying and is generally far from stupid.
Early-Bird Cameo: Created before the show's official debut. She and Artemis also has a "blink and you miss it" cameo in their debut episode before they actually make themselves known to the girls. They can be seen watching Usagi and Makoto after an imposter Sailor Moon pulls a stunt. Act 6 of Crystal includes a brief shot of Sailor V (who was never seen in person previously) towards the end.
Elemental Hair Colors: Her Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold hints at her light element affinity.
Embarrassing but Empowering Outfit: Went on record stating her Sailor V costume to be this, and demanding Artemis changed it into armor such as the one worn by the protagonist of her favorite video game. There's no stated opinion on the following outfits.
Empowered Badass Normal: Minako does not need to become Sailor Venus to lay the smack down, in all continuities. In the manga, Minako kicks the brainwashed Makoto across the room, and can use the Flash Step. The anime shows Minako Roof Hopping without transforming; outrunning a car after getting her Pure Heart Crystal extracted (anyone else, up and including the other Sailor Guardians, fainted instantly after that, although the massive quantity of energy drinks Minako had just consumed also probably had something to do with it); and reversing a poor zombified victim's hold on her by kicking his face in mid-flip while in school uniform. And the live action shows Minako kicking a monster into a concrete column, scaring away the other monster.
Energy Weapon: Crescent Beam. Bonus point for Sailor Venus using it as a Real Life laser most of the times.
- Beam Spam: In the old anime this is the result of pissing her off. Whoever was stupid enough to do that ends up in horrible pain soon after.
Enlightenment Superpowers:
- Happens to all in the manga, but she's the most notable by going through it twice: first, her transformation goes from the relatively weak Sailor V to the much stronger first Sailor Venus form by recovering her memories of the Silver Millennium and her dedication to Princess Serenity (and may have become much stronger even in normal form, as it's only after this that she demonstrates the Flash Step); later, in the Dream arc, she overcomes Nehellenia's seal on her powers and becomes Super Sailor Venus when Artemis, her partner, has his illumination (as Minako had it long before).
- She's the most notable in the live action for going through this twice. The first one mirrors the Sailor V/Sailor Venus one in the manga; the latter, obtained much later, fully awakens her powers to the point she kicks Metallia out of the youma it was possessing.
Establishing Character Moment: Codename: Sailor V establishes Minako as not your typical Magical Girl and a Bunny-Ears Lawyer when her mascot Artemis shows up to tell her she's a Magical Girl and she kicks him out of the bathroom while calling him a pervert, then leaves wondering since when cats can talk.
Extra-ore-dinary: Sailor Venus has power over metal. One of her weapons is a "Venus Love Me Chain" and she was able to escape the Amazon Trio's metal restraints rather easily. Her strongest attacks in the manga involve the use of her chain weapon and she uses a sword in the first story arc. She did use the chain for her attacks in the live-action series, being able to manipulate its length, and used a similar sword (though with different powers).

F-K

Fallen Princess: In the manga, while not much of an Alpha Bitch, Minako was implied to be a rather popular athlete at her school; enough to rally up all of her classmates to visit a sick friend. Then, her work as Sailor V began, slowly taking up the time that she could be using to have a social life. Eventually, she loses all of her old friends, becoming a loner. She ends up finding new ones in Usagi and the Loner Turned Friends that the inner soldiers are.
Fatal Attractor: Her love life always ends up going in the wrong direction. Several enemies have either attracted or been attracted to her, like Narkissos, Danburite, Kunzite, Tiger's Eye, and Hawk's Eye, and they tend to end up dead. She also once seemed to be attracted to Yaten, but nothing came of it, since Yaten only cared about finding and serving Princess Kakyuu. And Minako's civilian crushes, like Motoki, Alan, or Asai, always turn out to be in love with someone else. It's no wonder she accepts a life of serving her princess without a man at her side.
Fights Like a Normal: Not quite as much as Makoto, but she'll often rely on martial arts instead of her powers. She's implied to know Savate by how she kicks.
The First Cut Is the Deepest: Unbelievably enough, Minako managed to get hit from this twice during the run of Codename: Sailor V:
- Her first crush Higashi happened also to be Narkissos, the first youma she ever killed (and after learning his real identity to boot). What followed was a string of crushes that Artemis sarcastically called "Minako's 5,000 First Loves" (because Minako called one of those crushes her first love and because, including Higashi, they were exactly 5,000);
- Number 5,000 of Minako's crushes, Ace, was the most painful of her infatuations. After, as expected, he died in the final chapter because she found out he was Kunzite's subordinate and killed him, Minako swore off men because they were in the way of her duty (Minako's possible love with Rei doesn't count because she's a girl and it doesn't get in the way of duty).
Flanderization: She becomes more ditzy and less mature as the first anime went on (compare her introduction in the first season — where she was more the Every Girl than anything with her only real "ditzy" aspect being she would get her proverbs mixed up — with how she was acting in the last), which is actually a reverse from the manga, where she became more mature and intelligent as the series progressed.
Flash Step: In the manga. Without transforming.
Flight: In the manga, she's the first non-villain with the ability.
Flight, Strength, Heart: In the manga, Sailor Venus' power set includes: Super-Strength, Frickin' Laser Beams, control over metals (apparently), purifying people corrupted by magic, and summon the stinking atmosphere from Venus.
Forgot Flanders Could Do That: On occasions she would show some hidden maturity and that her skills have only increased. In fact, Sailor Moon is terrified whenever she gets angry.
Formerly Fat: As unbelievable as it is, she put up some fat back in her Sailor V days due a Dark Agency plot that involved selling extremely addictive and fattening chocolate sweets. Thankfully, Artemis caught it before it got out of control and got her to exercise, resulting in her losing the weight... And gaining it back in muscles, much to her chagrin when she finds out.
The Friend Nobody Likes: It's subtly implied that, back at her own junior high school, she was this due to her tomboyishness and extremely energetic personality, and that the other students only tolerated her for being a great athlete. In her solo series, though, her friends Hikaru and Amano genuinely liked her.
Friend-or-Idol Decision: Codename Sailor V ends with Sailor Venus and the Big Bad Danburite both having one: for Venus, it's between love or continuing to fight as a Sailor Senshi, and for Danburite/Ace, it's between standing down and join Sailor Venus the woman he loves or fighting (and dying) to make her understand she'd always choose her duty over love before she can be destroyed by the doubt. They both choose to fight.
Friend to All Children: Zig-zagged. In her R episode, she spends the day hanging out with kindergarteners, even helping one get to school even though she ended up being late for her own school. She goes into Unstoppable Rage mode and gets a power-up when the Monster of the Week attacks a bus full of those kindergarteners. However, in a SuperS episode, she spends the episode freaking out at a daycare child (who, to be fair, was antagonizing her in the first place), which culminates in her chasing him around, and ruining a teddy bear Makoto was making for the children.
Foil: To Rei in the manga. While Rei is stoic, ladylike, and spiritual, Minako is brash, uncouth, and exuberant. This is made a plot point in the Girl's School Battle, when Minako follows Rei to her private school and ends up mostly making a fool of herself.
Fun Personified: As Sailor V at least.
Gamer Chick: In Codename: Sailor V she loves video games, and often goes to the game center to beat the top scores.
Gender Bender: In Codename: Sailor V, she once used her compact to disguise herself as a man.
Genius Bruiser: She's the most experienced of the Sailor Soldiers, can beat Makoto in a fight without breaking a sweat and is a master tactician who can speak perfect English, and though she's Book Dumb, she can learn pretty much everything in record time if motivated.
Genius Ditz: Gets terrible grades in school, is a slacker when it comes to academics, and constantly uses malapropisms, but she is the guardians' incredibly combat-capable leader, she is incredibly powerful even without being Sailor Venus, is surprisingly good at anything she actually cares about, and in the anime, she is shown to be (at least) bilingual.
Genki Girl: Except in the live-action version, and the first arc of Sailor Moon Crystal.
Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: In a moment of discomposure over the deaths of Mercury and Jupiter, she gets one from Uranus in the StarS arc of the manga.
G.I.R.L.: When she finally reaches her goal of getting the top score at a particular arcade game, the obnoxious otaku guy who previously had a lock on 1st place confronts her and accuses her of being a boy in disguise, even trying to pull off her "costume."
Girliness Upgrade: To an extent in the original anime and the live-action show.
Girls Love Stuffed Animals: In a few episodes of the anime when we see Minako's room, it is covered with stuffed animals. Also, in the live-action, Artemis takes the form of a stuffed cat toy.
Girly Bruiser: She's boy-crazy, cheerful, her dream is being an Idol Singer, and she can use powerful light attacks. One of her attacks is even the "Venus Love and Beauty Shock", in which she blows a kiss to deliver a heart-shaped projectile. Interestingly, in the manga, she is actually the biggest tomboy of the inner soldiers.
Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: While still looking very girly, fantasizing about boys, having/wanting an idol career, and having powers associated with love and beauty, Minako is also a Gamer Chick when few girls dared to even come near an arcade (and is once mistaken for a drag queen for this), talks in masculine slang and even swears, can't cook, scarfs down food people normally find in places where no girl would go alone, is part of her school's volleyball team in both middle school and high school, and one of the many skills she has from her Mysterious Past is a great martial arts prowess (Savate, apparently). In many ways, Makoto and Minako are exact opposites in their personalities: Makoto being outwardly tomboyish while inwardly feminine, and Minako being outwardly feminine while inwardly tomboyish.
A God Am I: Played for Laughs. Minako often proudly declares herself to be the "Goddess of Love" as a civilian and as Sailor Venus. She's actually telling the truth. In the first volume of Codename: Sailor V, Artemis says she's the incarnation of the Goddess of Love and Desirability.
Goggles Do Nothing: As Sailor V. Unlike Moon and Mercury, her mask is just a mask.
Gold and White Are Divine: Sailor Venus wears mostly white and is blond (and carries a golden weapon in the manga), and is actually stated by Artemis to be the incarnation of the goddess of love and beauty (as well as at least once being referred to as a goddess of war).
Good Is Not Soft: Minako is cheerful, goofy, and regularly defends those getting picked on. She is also perfectly willing to knock out her own comrade and violently kill her love interest for the sake of her mission and protecting Sailor Moon. Her M.O. of dealing with youma while working as Sailor V was to beat it into oblivion with her fists and feet, even using her heels to get the job done. She's almost as brutal dealing with school bullies and the like as she is with youma. Not to mention, she killed Beryl in the manga.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Flowing blond hair, modeled after Venus, Goddess of Love, Beauty, Fertility, and Victory.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Minako shows this in an instance where she beats up some boys for simply asking her why she isn't as feminine as other girls.
Hard Work Hardly Works: Played with: Codename: Sailor V shows she was already both an excellent athlete and a formidable fighter simply by coasting on her natural skills, but once Artemis actually got her to train, she increased her abilities exponentially.
Heart Beat-Down: The Love Me Chain and Love and Beauty Shock are made of Heart Symbols. She also uses Rolling Heart Vibration in the manga and live-action series.
Heartbroken Badass: In the manga, at the end of the Sailor V manga, she is forced to kill her love interest, upon which she realizes that she'll always choose duty over love and in the anime, during her trip to England, she discovers her friend Alan, who she was in love with, was in love with her other friend Katarina, and she decides to let them be happy together and returns to Japan, letting them think she had died.
Heart Is an Awesome Power: The one time she used the atmosphere from Venus power, it instantly knocked out a small army of cat youma without injuring the people they had as hostages. Also, being Venus' atmosphere, she was probably holding back to avoid melting the hostages into sulfuric acid.
Hero Does Public Service: Aside for being the one confirmed blood donor of the Sailor Soldiers, she's prone to help everyone if she stumbles on someone in need, not expecting a reward for it (but all too willing to keep it if freely offered). No matter if she'd just like to go home and rest after having donated blood, climbed a building, destroyed the Monster of the Week and climbed down in the last ten minutes and is only standing thanks to eight cans of tomato juice, if she's being asked to help raising money for charity she'll help with a smile.
Heroes Prefer Swords: Sometimes carries a sword. She was the only one who could extract the Holy Sword from its stone prison.
Heroic Second Wind: Played for Laughs (albeit a bit disturbingly) in Sailor Moon S. Victims of Death Busters tend to go unconscious immediately when their Pure Hearts get extracted. Minako, meanwhile, spends most of her episode worrying about the fact that she hasn't been targeted yet, and when Eudial comes after her she's been drinking large quantities of energy drink. When her heart crystal is extracted, Minako is so overjoyed by the proof that she has a Pure Heart that she actually runs off with it, giggling maniacally, much to the shock of both the Outers and Eudial... And to Usagi's annoyance.
Hero of Another Story: Of Codename: Sailor V.
Hidden Depths: She can be very silly at times but is the most experienced Sailor Guardian and can speak near-perfect English. Also, much of her happy-go-lucky persona is a put-on façade to hide the pain she feels over the sacrifices she'd made for the sake of her mission.
Hot-Blooded: In the manga, she's the most proactive of the soldiers. In her own words, "giving up are the words [she] hates the most!". It's most prevalent in Codename: Sailor V, as she dials it down a bit from there.
Hormone-Addled Teenager: Whenever there is some kind of misunderstanding, Minako will be the first one to suggest something sexual happened and laugh about it. In SuperS, she shows a willingness to pose nude for an art project. When Hawk's Eye and Tiger's Eye take a look inside her dream mirror, she orgasms. Later that season when she meets an attractive kindergarten teacher, she offers to have kids with him. In Stars, when Luna tells the gang she took a bath with Yaten, Minako imagines sharing a bathtub and a bed with him, and on top of it, she nosebleeds. She is the Guardian of love, after all.
Humanoid Abomination: While in the manga all of the Sailor Guardians eventually acquires shades of this, Minako had them from the start, as she warps minds with her mere presence: people who have romantic feelings for each other are suddenly drawn together when they befriend her, without her even realizing it (and in fact is irritated by the sheer number of possible boyfriends she lost this way).
Hypercompetent Sidekick: To Sailor Moon, with Minako being easily the most battle competent and experienced of the Inner Guardians—something all of the Sailor Guardians know well. In fact, some manga side stories imply the two sometimes go superheroing around Minato ward with the role of the sidekick taken by Sailor Moon...
I Am What I Am: Sadistically Deconstructed with Minako in her solo manga, as finally accepting she is and always will be Sailor Venus comes with her, the Goddess of Love, realizing she'll always put her mission above her love life, and killing her love interest because he was with the Dark Kingdom and wouldn't stand down when she told him to.
Idol Singer: Is one in the live-action, wants to be one in other media.
I Know Mortal Kombat: After Artemis and BOSS can't figure out how to force Minako to train, they hit upon the idea of creating a Sailor V video game which will teach her all the skills she needs to know. She becomes hooked on it, and actually becomes a better warrior because of it.
In a Single Bound: All Sailor Soldiers can do this when transformed, but Minako is the only one shown doing it without transforming. In the 90s anime, she jumps onto Usagi's balcony from the street!
Inexplicably Awesome: She whips out many skills from time to time, but the only ones that actually get explained are her prowess at volleyball (membership in the volleyball club in her first year at junior high and likely earlier), her skills as a manga artist assistant (was seen learning on-page), and, in the anime, her knowledge of English (her London days. That, running from implications in the manga, are all but stated to be at least the second time she goes there). The martial arts skills, the sheer level of athleticism she had before she started training, her skills as a hairdresser and everything else goes unexplained.
Innocent Blue Eyes: Coupled with her gold hair she is seemingly a picture of the innocent princess type. Subverted, in that she is quite world-weary and has been through more than her fair share of Break the Cutie.
In-Series Nickname: Her friends often shorten her name to "Mina", which is probably why her name was changed to that in the DiC dub. Also, many call her "V-chan" and in the manga side stories, "Mina-P".
In the Name of the Moon: "For love and beauty, I am a sailor-suited pretty soldier, Sailor Venus! In the name of Venus, I will punish you with the power of love!"
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: In one episode of the first season that was cut from the English dub, she left England, allowing her big-sister figure and her crush to be together after seeing them cry in each others arms when they thought Sailor V was killed in an explosion, realizing they were in love with each other.
I Work Alone: In PGSM and Sailor Moon Crystal, she refuses the guardians' help to fight against the Dark Kingdom, though she is much more gracious about it in Crystal.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In Codename: Sailor V, she is short-tempered, fist-happy, selfish, and depresses Artemis with her dismissive treatment of him (he actually runs away from her, only for her to not have even noticed). Her original motivation for working as Sailor V was simply to make the local police look like chumps, rather than to save people. However, she protects students from bullies, breaks up fights, and is willing to fulfill her destiny as a guardian no matter what. Also, she is fiercely protective of Sailor Moon.
The Juggernaut: In Codename: Sailor V, her standard tactic was to plow into hordes of Mooks, kick them to death or into unconsciousness depending on them being minor youma or brainwashed humans, and then brutally murder the youma. She stopped doing it in the last chapter, when she finally faced youma from the main Dark Kingdom, but had a last hurrah in her introduction in the main series.
Kick Chick: Her signature move is the Sailor V Kick, with which she has defeated numerous Monsters of the Week.
Killed Off for Real: In the Live Action.
Kind Hearted Cat Lover: She and Artemis have a very close friendship.
Kung-Fu Wizard: She is known by the fandom for being a Kick Chick in addition to her strong magical powers. In Codename: Sailor V, she was shown beating away dozens of youma with nothing but her fist and feet multiple times. In the manga, she managed to kick Makoto unconscious while untransformed.

L-R

The Lancer: In the manga where she acts as Sailor Moon's number 2.
Large Ham: As Sailor V. In one instance, her transformation speech spanned over two pages and the enemy had to tell her it was too long (and she hammily beheaded him as he was busy complaining). She dials it down a bit in Sailor Moon... but since Sailor Moon is a World of Ham, it's not that much in the end.
Late for School: In Codename: Sailor V, Minako is chronically late.
The Leader: To the inner soldiers. This aspect is made more prevalent in the manga, where she is more stern with the guardians while in combat, and wields a gigantic, diamond-hard, poison-infused sword.
Legendary in the Sequel: Her exploits in Codename: Sailor V have made her famous in Tokyo and considered an Ideal Hero. She eventually loses this status in the first anime but keeps it in the manga, leading to Rei, Ami and Makoto not noticing her serious PTSD and unintentionally making it worse because they hold her in too high esteem to be able to consider her a role model.
Lethal Chef: As the infamous "Nurse Mina(ko)" for Rei.
Lightning Bruiser: Strong enough to KO Makoto with a kick, fast enough to Flash Step and outrun a car (while weakened and about to faint from exhaustion, no less), with a ridiculous tolerance to pain (particularly in the anime, as shown by her experience with having the Dream Mirror extracted and looked in).
Light 'em Up: Many of Venus' attacks exhibit a golden glow.
Light Is Good: Her attacks are all light-based.
Lonely at the Top: Subtly, but it's shown that as she grew in skills and abilities as Sailor V she progressively grew apart from her friends.
Lonely Together: With Rei. While most of the others have either found love or would like to, Rei Does Not Like Men and took a vow of chastity and Minako always puts her duty to the princess ahead of love. That explains why they are closer to each other than to most of their teammates. The next several centuries is a long time to be single, but at least they'll always have company.
Loon with a Heart of Gold: At least in the anime where her looniness is played up.
Lovable Jock: Minako is one of the greatest athletes in the series (and a star volleyball player), and has a charismatic, exuberant personality to go along with it.
Love Cannot Overcome: Sailor V and Danburite do not get together, due to being on opposing sides of a battle between good and evil. Danburite doesn't seem to realize that he can't defeat Sailor V and conquer her heart at the same time, and Sailor V realizes that she can't forego her duties for the Earth.
Love Freak: Even her attacks revolve around love.
Love Goddess: In Codename: Sailor V, Minako earned her title as Goddess of Love and proved it by helping other people's love stories with her mere presence.
Love Hurts: Despite being the embodiment of love, she is often unlucky with it.
Lying on a Hillside: She and Makoto do this in the R movie.◊
Magic Knight: Along with impressively powerful magical attacks, she wields a whip/chain expertly. In the manga, she has a freaking BFS.
Malaproper: Frequently misquotes various sayings, such as "haste makes dancing" and "Life is short; experience the fish climbing the falls".
Mama Bear: Gets her first power-up while defending kindergarteners under attack by a Cardian.
Married to the Job: She will always put duty above everything, including love. Best shown in the finale of the Codename: Sailor V, where she killed her love interest upon discovering he was a member of the Dark Kingdom, and the anime episode where she was actually tempted to quit being a Sailor Soldier to find love but decided to throw away her best chance at getting a boyfriend.
Master of Disguise: Minako uses her disguise powers more consistently than Usagi did.
Master Swordswoman: When she pulls out the Holy Sword from the stone, she handles it like a well-seasoned sword fighter.
The Matchmaker: Sometimes acts this role because her realm of influence is love.
Meaningful Name: Her first name contains the kanji for "beautiful" and "child," and her beauty is referenced in-series. Her last name, which has the symbol for "love," represents the planet of Venus as Venus is the god of love in Roman mythology. So she's literally called the "beautiful child of love".
Medium Awareness: Minako does this in the final chapter of Codename: Sailor V.
Memento MacGuffin: She started wearing her red hair ribbon after the guy she liked suggested she'd look good in one. She continues wearing it even after he's revealed to be a youma and she has to kill him, but mostly because she does like how it looks on her. Though it's revealed she used to wear a ribbon in her previous life.
Mirror Character:
- She and Usagi are both goofy, fun-loving, Book Dumb girls with blond hair and a talking cat, and both can be good leaders. There are, however, some differences:
  - Minako is more quirky, hyperactive, and boy-crazy than Usagi. While Usagi can be this too, these traits are more exaggerated in Minako.
  - Minako is generally smarter and more competent than Usagi. Despite her bad grades, Minako is competent and talented at many things outside of school, while Usagi is inept at almost everything.
  - Minako is much more tomboyish than Usagi, at least in the manga. In the 90s anime, they are both girly, though Minako is still a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak because of her athletic skills.
  - Minako is a Passionate Sports Girl, Usagi is Athletically Challenged.
- From Seiya Kou/Sailor Star Fighter. Both are spunky, athletic, heartthrobs who are the leaders of their respective groups (though Minako's role as the leader is non-existent in the anime) and are devoted to their princesses.
Mundane Utility: Minako's pen and mirror show the truth. Minako uses said pen on all her tests to churn out expert essays on things she knows absolutely nothing about. Needless to say, her Guardian Cat Artemis is livid.
Muscles Are Meaningless: Unlike Makoto, she's fairly short and isn't stated to be particularly muscular. However, she performs outstanding feats of athleticism in each iteration of Sailor Moon, particularly in the manga, and is a powerful fighter.
Mysterious Past: There are hints she grew up abroad (her malapropism, her perfect knowledge of English while having bad grades in it, her use of kicks extremely similar to Savate ones, and, in the anime, her already knowing Alan before her known stint in London), but it's never elaborated upon. The fact she had Seen It All before meeting Artemis only makes things more mysterious.
New Powers as the Plot Demands: As Sailor V she has a bunch of random powers that appear once and never show up again, such as healing perfume rain and summoning the atmosphere of the planet Venus.
Nice Girl: While rough around the edges and rather Hot-Blooded, Minako will help everyone, even to her own detriment. The niceness is played up more in the 90s anime.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: In the manga. Codename: Sailor V shows that she didn't start out that way: the first incident of this kind of pragmatism are the "Pet Diary" chapters (of the three enemies she faced there, Nyan Nyan was stunned by a chemical attack and killed while she was down, Wan Wan was beheaded while he complained for Minako's overly long speech, and Chuu Chuu, a mosquito youma, was killed by another chemical attack, namely magical mosquito incense), and by the time of the main series she's pragmatic enough to cut Zoisite into pieces from behind while he's distracted.
Nurse with Good Intentions: Tries to nurse Rei (and Ami, and Makoto, and Usagi), but it doesn't quite go as planned.
Obfuscating Stupidity: Implied in the manga. While having a discussion with Rei following Mercury and Jupiter's deaths Minako tells Rei that they'll rescue them, and then it's back to normal high school life. Minako does her usually ditz thing, saying life's all about boys and that she wants to totally do the "high school girl thing." The Three Lights arrive, and are not fooled, saying that Minako's already sworn herself to somebody (Usagi). Minako briefly drops the act.
Minako: You got me. Yeah, I've sworn my life, to my one and only...
Odd Friendship: With Rei. Rei's a Yamato Nadeshiko who hates modern pop culture and romantic relationships and Minako's a Gamer Chick who embodies love, loves humor and dreams of being an idol.
Odd Name Out: Minako's name doesn't fit in the Theme Naming, as her last name doesn't refer to the planet Venus... Except the kanji of her given name can be read "Binasu", the older romanization of the word "Venus". Her last name does however include "Love" in it's characters, giving an indirect reference.
One-Man Army: A minute and a half into the opening of Sailor Moon Crystal, Venus is shown beating away dozens of youma with her Love-Me Chain.
Only the Chosen May Wield: Although the other Guardians can wield the Holy Sword, only Sailor Venus, as the destined leader of the Sailor Guardians , can actually free it from the rock that it's embedded in.
Orange/Blue Contrast:
- As Venus, the bow of her outfit is blue to compliment her main color orange.
- She also shares this contrast with Ami, fitting their opposite personalities. Ami, who primarily wears blue, is shy, quiet, and studious, while Minako, who primarily wears orange, is a goofy and Book Dumb Genki Girl.
The Paragon: Minako initially takes this role in both the manga, Crystal, and the live-action:
- In the manga and Crystal she hides the fact she's around and instead opts to teach the others through the Sailor V Game and give Usagi a pep-talk (also through the Sailor V Game) the moment she's feeling down, only entering the battle personally the moment there's no other choice. Even then, for a while she still tries to show the others how to act so they'll be better heroes.
  - The manga shows that she's still doing it with Sailor Moon, taking her out superheroing as her sidekick.
  - In the manga she tends to present to the other Guardians as an invincible role model and hide her many, many problems. This not only takes a toll on her sanity and ties her self-esteem to her role as a superhero, in the Dream Arc it leads Rei, Ami, and Makoto to take the Outers as role models because they see her as too good.
- In the live action she enters the frame earlier but tends to teach more to the others, especially Rei, as a consequence of being terminally ill and not having the luxury to watch from afar, especially as she needs to train Rei as her successor.
Passionate Sports Girl: Subverted: Minako is really good at volleyball and is seen training rather often (being a member of her school's volleyball team in both middle school and high school), but her two top priorities are her guardian mission and her possible Idol Singer career.
Pintsized Powerhouse: In the manga, she is one of the two shortest soldiers, stated to be 5'2", yet she is very strong both in terms of athleticism and magical power.
Platonic Life-Partners: With Artemis. While Artemis is Minako's closest companion, especially in Codename: Sailor V, he's like a Big Brother Mentor to her, not a love interest, and he ends up with Luna in the future.
Plucky Girl: Minako repeatedly displays tremendous willpower. Case in point: extracting the heart crystal or Dream Mirror always leaves the victim helplessly weak — if at all conscious — up to and including Sailor Soldiers. Minako was the only exception to both rules; in the former case, helped along by the large amount of energy drinks she'd been chugging but also weakened by having just donated blood, she managed to stay conscious long enough to grab her pure heart crystal and outrun Eudial (who was in a car), and in the latter, she broke free from the rack, transformed, and opened up a goddess-sized can of whoopass on both Amazon guys and their lemures. Yeah, you do not mess with Minako.
Pop-Cultured Badass: Loves pop culture in general and she spends the bulk of her spare time playing video games (which taught her to be such a kick-ass) or chasing chances to become a pop idol.
The Prankster: She's a known troublemaker.
Pretty in Mink: Wore a fur coat for a second, as a gag in one of the movies.
Pseudo-Romantic Friendship: She has this relationship with Rei in the manga, to the extent that their last scene together in Stars has suspiciously similar vibes to Haruka and Michiru...
Pungeon Master: Often cracks jokes (no matter how terrible), even in unnecessary situations; prone to Laughing at Your Own Jokes. For example, in the 90s anime episode when she attempted to nurse her ill friends back to health, she made a salt pun after failing to make a decent bowl of porridge. Artemis then tells her off ... because Rei was face-down in the porridge after she'd burnt her tongue on a mouthful.
Red Herring: When Venus shows up, Artemis tells everyone that she is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity and everyone believes it due to her sheer power and seriousness in battle. Pretty much nobody could see it coming that the ditzy clumsy Usagi was the true Princess Serenity, least of all Usagi herself.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Rei's blue in the manga and Crystal.
Refusal of the Call: At first, she dismissed her being Sailor V as a prank before transforming, and at one point very briefly considered retiring from it. Ironic, considering the direction she took in the end.
Renaissance Woman: Alluding to her many Hidden Depths as a Genius Ditz, Minako can play volleyball as one of the series' best athletes (and a magnificent athlete in general), sing and perform as an idol, speak fluent English, work as a manga artist assistant, fight as a high-level martial artist, bring people together with her mere presence, work as a policewoman that regularly outdoes the other cops, regularly lead the Sailor Soldiers into battle, come up with battle strategies, have strength far beyond what a person of her size and age should have, wield a sword effortlessly, use ofuda that don't belong to her, and style Usagi's extremely long hair with ease and work as a mangaka assistant. The only thing that gave her trouble was the mangaka assistant job, as that one's tiring even for her.
Roof Hopping: All the soldiers can do it, but Minako is the only one seen doing it in her civilian identity.

S-Y

Sad Clown: Her goofiness masks the pain and pressure she feels from her Dark and Troubled Past and after she fully realizes her duty and destiny as Sailor Venus.
Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: To Artemis. She is a klutzy Genki Girl in contrast to smart and rational Artemis.
Say My Name: Screams Usagi's name in Crystal when she is abducted by Demande.
Seen It All: She's been this before meeting Artemis: when Artemis first approached her under the shower she treated him like a common pervert and tossed him out of the window while shouting that he’s a pervert and was awfully quick to accept he was indeed a talking and sentient cat and not a trick (and she had considered this).
Sensor Character: Can sense threats well before the others, and in the anime she foils Tin Nyanko's attempts at infiltrating the school by pointing at her every time. In the manga Galaxia takes her out before Tin Nyanko enters the scene, so the infiltration is successful.
Serial Romeo: The last chapter of Codename: Sailor V shows Artemis sarcastically congratulating her for her 5,000th first love (the main series of the manga abandoned the gag due how the last chapter ended). She has a little bit of this in the anime as well arguably the most memorable example being when she dated (a disguised) Hawk's Eye and Tiger's Eye at the same time on the same day.
Shell-Shocked Veteran: The manga version has shades of this, after being forced to kill her love interest in the Codename: Sailor V finale... and forcing herself to continue the mission with a smile on her face.
Ship Tease: While she always puts her duty before love, this doesn't stop the ship teases. The manga hints at a relationship between the Inners and the Shitennou, including Minako/Kunzite. There's plenty of ship tease with Rei in the manga and live-action, and Minako often crushes one-off characters. She and Artemis are only friends, and separate species at that, but they can get a little too close, and in the last season, she and Yaten have some moments. Back in her solo series, she had a crush on Motoki, just like Makoto, and had feelings for her own equivalent of Tuxedo Mask named Phantom Ace, but he turned out to be the Big Bad.
Siblings Wanted: In Another Story after the Guardians rescue Shingo, Minako says she has always wanted a brother like Shingo.
Signature Headgear: Always wears a red bow. It was given by her crush, who was later revealed to be a youma, but she still wears it because it looks cool on her.
Sixth Ranger: In the live-action.
Smarter Than You Look: She can do whatever she puts her mind to. It's just that when it comes to school, she's a total slacker.
Snobs Vs Slobs: In the manga, Minako and Rei started with a mild version of this, as the blunt and tomboyish gyaru ante-litteram that is Minako and the aristocratic and feminine Yamato Nadeshiko that is Rei are so different they barely understand each other, and mistake each others' attempts at being friendly for insults. By the end of the manga they have overcome their differences, and their relationship is implied to be a Pseudo-Romantic Friendship.
So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Parodied when Minako laments — "surely it is a crime to be this beautiful?" — and the other girls roll their eyes.
Spider-Sense: From time to time, she has sensed danger and strange things happening.
Stepford Smiler: Her life hasn't been easy, especially in the manga where she feels the pressure of being the leader of the Guardians and blames herself for the fall of the Moon Kingdom in their past lives. But she keeps smiling, wanting to help keep everyone's spirits up.
Stock Superhero Day Jobs: In the old anime she spent some time in London helping Scotland Yard, and in Codename: Sailor V, youma and civilians at first assumed she worked for the police, something that actually happens at the end of the series — meaning she's actually a part-time cop for the whole run of the original manga. In a variant, she's quite vocal about her dislike for cops.
Street Smart: She may be Book Dumb, but is often quite intelligent when it comes to dealing with more real-life situations. She's not the most battle-competent of the group for nothing.
Strong and Skilled: Extremely athletically gifted even as a civilian, and, differently from Makoto, knows how to use it to beat a squadron of youma to death.
Super Cop: Played with: Minako has a very vocal dislike for police officers, yet she not only acts like one when being Sailor V or Venus, but the anime has her having been a Super Cop in London for a while as part of her background. The manga, being the sequel of Codename: Sailor V, has her as a part-time cop, but it never comes up.
Superhero: While all the Sailor Guardians technically qualify, Sailor V is the one who fits the most by virtue of being the one who doesn't just fight the various series villains but also crime in general. She had been a hero for a year before the rest of the inner soldiers, singlehandedly taking out dozens of youma as Sailor V.
Superhero Sobriquets: In her Sailor V days, Minako was sometimes called the Goddess of Love or the Goddess of War.
Superman Substitute: At her debut in the main manga, being at first the most powerful and experienced of the Sailor Guardians, The Cape and their role model, the most beloved hero in town even after disappearing for months and Sailor Moon taking over her job, the only one who could fly (at least until she taught the others how off-page), and, even after her identity was revealed, The Leader of the team. This is somewhat Deconstructed, as the sheer effort of presenting herself as an invincible role model in spite of her Dark and Troubled Past has taken a toll on her sanity and solidly tied her self-esteem to her role as a superhero.
Super-Strength: She doesn't throw around people like Makoto, but can casually jump one or two stores high and from roof to roof, feats that require great strength that not even Makoto is able to perform. Possibly because Makoto may be a little bit stronger but not as skilled, while Minako's strength is balanced by greater skill and combat experience. In fact, the manga has a scene where they fight due to Makoto being brainwashed. Minako easily knocks her out in one kick.
Talented, but Trained: At the start of Codename: Sailor V she only relied on her innate physical prowess and the martial arts training she had received in her Mysterious Past, but after getting punched in the face by a delinquent while untransformed and later getting caught into Debrine's plot to get all of Tokyo fat she threw herself back into training, and by the time of the main series she's basically unstoppable.
- Even before that she was already training, it was just that her current training was focused on volleyball and her combat skills were rusty and her physical training was focused on volleyball-related abilities.
Taught by Television: She learned a decent amount of knowledge on Greek mythology from a video game. After discovering this (and doing the feline equivalent of a Face Palm), Artemis created the Sailor V Game with the express purpose of training her and the other Sailor Guardians.
Tears of Remorse: Minako cries only twice: the first because the first youma she killed happened to be the boy she was crushing on, and the other after killing the Big Bad Danburite, as he was another boy she had been crushing.
Technician Versus Performer: While Minako is Hot-Blooded and can think on her feet, she is the Technician to Usagi's Performer with regards to how they deal with being a soldier. While Usagi is determined to protect everybody she cares about and save the world, Minako had to kill her crush and watch as another man she loved apparently get together with her Cool Big Sis, abandon her dream of becoming an Idol Singer, and watch as her friends became estranged from her. At times, she showed resentment for how much she had to give up for her work. However, she trains herself to perfection and accepts that she'll have to make pragmatic, yet painful, decisions to further the goals of the Sailor Team. During the age of the Silver Millennium, it fell upon her shoulders to rein Princess Serenity in to prevent her from causing trouble with her impulsiveness.
That Makes Me Feel Angry: Just to emphasize how utterly screwed Queen Beryl was, Sailor Venus glowered at Beryl and muttered "...Now you've gone and pissed me off." when Beryl began strangling Sailor Moon. Venus summoned the Holy Sword and messily executed Beryl with it.
The Unfettered: Minako slowly evolved into this over the course of Codename: Sailor V, going from trying to talk down a youma because she was crushing on him and remembered his good actions in human disguise only to reflexively kill him in self defense in the first chapter to the final act, where discovering Ace, her love interest, is also Danburite, prompts her to tell him to stand down on pain on death and willingly following through it when he moved to attack her. By the time she meets the others there's very little she wouldn't do for the mission.
Tomboy and Girly Girl:
- The Tomboy to Rei's Girly Girl in the manga.
- In PGSM, meanwhile, she's the Girly Girl to Rei's Tomboy.
Tomboy Princess: In the manga, she's actually the most tomboyish of the Inners, and just like the others, she's the princess of her planet.
Took a Level in Badass: In the manga, she grows more and more badass as the series progresses...and this is for a character that was already a huge badass during her introduction! That's because the manga is her second Level in Badass, she takes her first over the course of her own series.
Took a Level in Dumbass: In the 90s anime, in her civilian form as she's always shown to be capable as Venus. However, this is something of a subversion in that Minako was always like this. It's simply that, when she was first introduced in the anime it had been after she spent months dedicating herself as Sailor V with no time for a social life. The gradual increase of Minako's ditz moments were the result of her being able to finally relax after so long.
Too Kinky to Torture: When someone looks in your Dream Mirror you usually faint from the horrible pain. When Hawk's Eye and Tiger's Eye looked into hers she got horny. She's the type who craves attention. She'd actually been chasing both of their disguised forms in that episode of Super S. Earlier, in one episode of S, she got jealous because her fellow Guardians had been targeted for their Heart Crystals and starts going out of her way to draw an attack on herself. It actually works, but here's the funny part. Normally, the process makes the victim faint almost instantly. Minako held out for several minutes, crying out that she had been worthy of an attack and taking the crystal with her a considerable distance (whilst also outrunning the villain responsible for it, and said villain was in a car) before finally fainting deep in a parking garage.
Trademark Favorite Food: Curry rice and ramen.
Tragic Keepsake: She first wore a ribbon in her hair because her first crush, later revealed to be a youma and her first kill, told her it would look good on her... And still wears it because it does, in fact, look good on her and she had even worn it in her past life. Played straight with the Ace of Hearts card she's sometimes holding in manga posters, as it practically was her crush's symbol. It's not his card, as that one got ripped, but it's still a motif taken from him.
Tranquil Fury: She's usually very emotive, but when she suddenly becomes calm and serious, someone's about to get gutted like a fish. Just ask Beryl.
Trauma Swing: In an S episode, she sits on a swing brooding and thinking about quitting her life as Sailor Venus.
Troubled, but Cute: In each version of Sailor Moon (see her Broken Bird entry). She is more angsty in the live-action though. She usually does her level best to hide her angst in the episodes/chapters that focus on her, though.
Undying Loyalty: To Usagi, especially in the manga. Along with having fought youma for a year, she killed her crush and any chance at romance so that she could focus on her mission to protect her, killed Beryl in one strike after Beryl threatened Sailor Moon, kicked her brainwashed fellow guardian, Makoto, into unconsciousness when Makoto was about to attack Usagi, declared (along with Rei) to the Three Lights that she'd dedicated her life to protecting the Princess and threatened the lives of the Lights right afterwards. Not to mention, she was the one to lead the soldiers into a group attack that kills them but saves Sailor Moon.
The Unfettered: One of her biggest traits is her dedication to being a soldier and protecting Sailor Moon/Princess Serenity, no matter what the moral or personal cost to her.
Unwanted Assistance: In Episode 78, she tries to help her friends out with their illnesses, but due to her klutziness, she ends up causing a wreck in their houses.
Luna: She's even more clumsy than Usagi!
Veteran Instructor: Takes the role early in the manga, using the Sailor V Game to train the others without showing herself. It's implied she continues training the others off-page.
Victory by Endurance: Many a youma tried that with her in Codename: Sailor V, only to discover that she can out-endure them even after having a liter of blood drawn beforehand.
Vibrant Orange: Minako's signature color is orange, befitting her status as a Genki Girl and Passionate Sports Girl.
Vigilante Man: As Sailor V, she acts like a vigilante who takes the law into her own hands and has a hate-hate relationship with most cops. As Sailor Venus, though, she behaves more like and is treated as a traditional superhero.
Violently Protective Girlfriend: Cruelly subverted twice in the finale of Codename: Sailor V: Minako becomes Sailor V and prepares to open a goddess-sized can of whoop-ass on the youma apparently threatening her love interest Ace... Except the youma informs her that she works for Ace and thinks that she is this trope... At which point Ace wounds her, giving Sailor V the opening she needed to kill her. Ace then dies at Sailor V's hands.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Rei in the manga.
V-Sign: She uses it often, in both her solo series as Sailor V and the main series as Sailor Venus. As her character is partially inspired by the 1968 volley manga Our Sign Is V, she's likely to use it in the "Victory" sense.
Waif-Fu: She is shorter than Makoto, but Minako is just as powerful. In the manga, she actually knocks out Makoto (who is Brainwashed and Crazy at the time) with a single kick..
Weapon Specialization: Her Venus Love Me Chain is basically an energy whip in the anime and an actual chain in the manga and live-action, which she wears as a belt
Who's Laughing Now?: In the manga, her escapades against normal crime when she was still new as Sailor V were caused by her disliking cops for their arrogance and wanting to show them up (she even admits it outright). With time, she starts fighting crime because it's the right thing... But she still dislikes cops for their arrogance.
Wise Beyond Her Years: At the age of 13, she learns all about her past life, becomes an adept strategist who can lead a Badass Crew of then complete strangers, accepts her destiny and the sacrifices involved, and lands herself a part-time job as a police officer so she can pay for a ticket home.
Wunza Plot: She's a goddess reincarnated as a cute middle schooler, he's a talking cat from outer space, together they fight against Dark Agency.
You Are What You Hate: Minako has a vocal dislike for police officers, yet as Sailor V and Sailor Venus she acts like the ideal cop, right down to giving advice to people like Japanese cops are supposed to, and, in the anime, she collaborated with Scotland Yard. And the Codename: Sailor V manga shows her actually becoming a part-time cop at the end of the series, meaning she's one during the Sailor Moon manga. It just never comes up.
Your Costume Needs Work: This happens twice to her in Codename: Sailor V:
- The first time she was mistaken for an impersonator trying to advertise the Sailor V Game (it helped it was her first public appearance, with most people who knew of her having only seen her on the Sailor V Game machine);
- The second time she had just kicked down a youma that had assaulted her school's festival, and the first thing one of the victims said after recovering was to ask who was the crazy girl wearing a fake Sailor V costume.

Characters / Sailor Moon - Minako Aino

Minako Aino/Mina — Sailor V/Sailor Venus

Video Example(s):

Crescent Beam to the face

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Characters / Sailor Moon - Minako Aino

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Minako Aino/Mina — Sailor V/Sailor Venus

Video Example(s):

Crescent Beam to the face

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Crescent Beam to the face