Sailor Venus

Minako Aino (愛野 美奈子, Aino Minako), better known as Sailor Venus (セーラーヴィーナス, Sērā Vīnasu), is a fictional character in the Sailor Moon manga series written by Naoko Takeuchi. Minako is a member of the Sailor Soldiers, female supernatural fighters who protect the Solar System from evil.

Minako is the fourth and last Sailor Soldier (During The Dark Kingdom Arc) to be discovered by Usagi Tsukino, though she was the first to be awakened to her powers. She possesses powers associated with love and beauty. In the manga and anime series she dreams of becoming a famous idol, but in the live-action series her character is already a well-known celebrity.

Minako is introduced as the protagonist of Naoko Takeuchi's much-shorter manga series, Codename: Sailor V, of which Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon is a sequel to. 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.