Sailor Venus

Sailor Venus (セーラーヴィーナス, Sērā Vīnasu?) is a fictional lead character in the Sailor Moon media franchise. The alternate identity of Minako Aino (愛野 美奈子, Aino Minako?, or Mina Aino in the English adaptations), a teenage Japanese schoolgirl, she belongs to the Sailor Senshi, female supernatural fighters who the franchise's main girl characters transform into to fulfill their duty of protecting the Solar System and the franchise's eponymous protagonist from evil.

Sailor Venus is the fourth and last Sailor Senshi (in the first story arc) to be discovered by Sailor Moon, though she was the first to be awakened to her powers. She possesses powers associated with love and the Moon. In the manga and anime series she dreams of becoming a famous idol, whereas in the live-action series her character is refactored to already be a celebrity.

She was first introduced as the protagonist of Naoko Takeuchi's much-shorter manga series, Codename: Sailor V, of which Sailor Moon is a sequel. In it (and the early part of Sailor Moon), she goes by the pseudonym Sailor V (セーラーＶ, Sērā V?), short for "Venus", and is given personal backstory. The plot lines of Sailor V are generally compatible with the latter series, but are usually considered separate. Later, she co-stars with Rei Hino in a special short story titled Rei and Minako's Girls School Battle.