Mina Aino (Neo Destiny)

Mina Aino is the civilian identity of Sailor Venus. This is the character as seen in the Neo Destiny series.

Design
Mina's overall design is created by Naoko Takeuchi. Her outfits, however, as she wears in the installments of Neo Destiny, are created by Mina A (author of Neo Destiny).

Appearance
Mina is a cute and bubbly 17-year-old who originally lived in London, and then Japan once she joined the rest of the Sailor Guardians. She has blonde hair, blue eyes and wears a big red bow in her hair.

During the first part of the Battle City tournament, (Neo Destiny Vol 1) Mina wore her old Sailor V uniform (a red mask, a sleeveless midriff shirt with red accents on the sides with a red bow with an orange center, a white choker with a crescent moon, a navy-blue collar with two red stripes, white armor-like shoulder guards, white gloves with orange elbow fittings, a blue skirt with a red border, and blue back bow, blue heels with ankle straps, and her signature red hair ribbon)

Once the finalists were chosen, Mina ditched her Sailor V uniform and switched to her civilian clothing which she wore for the Battle City Quarterfinals, the Virtual Nightmare arc, as well as the Battle City Semifinals and Finals (Neo-Destiny Vols 2 & 3). Her outfit consisted of a red cap-sleeved blouse with a light denim mini-skirt and her navy blue heels, along with her red ribbon and a KaibaCorp issued Duel Disk on her left arm. She also carries a small pink backpack which stores her Duel Monsters deck, her transformation items, and is her means of hiding Artemis.

After the conclusion of Battle City, it's revealed that Mina (along with Harmony Shields) has transferred to Domino City High School as part of a 'Foreign Exchange Program'. During the events of The Pyramid of Light (Neo-Destiny Vol 4) Mina is shown wearing the Domino High girls' uniform which consists of a pink coat, a white oxford shirt, a blue tie, and a blue pleated skirt, along with white knee-high socks and black flats.

During the next season (Neo-Destiny Vol 5), Mina's outfit consists of a lavender off-shoulder sweater and a charcoal-grey knee length skirt, with simple pale yellow heels. Towards the end of the season, Mina transforms into her Eternal Sailor Venus form, and later her Princess Venus form.

In Volume 6, Mina wears a gold dress with cap sleeves and white knee-high boots with gold trim, along with a KaibaCorp Duel Disk on her left arm. She is also occasionally seen wearing Joey Wheeler's blue blazer (a part of the Domino High's boys' uniform).

In Volume 7, she wears a red leather jacket with a light purple shirt and an orange scarf, green pleated denim skirt, white socks and sneakers.

In Volume 8, Mina wears a pink off-shoulder blouse with a darker denim skirt, a knee-high brown boots.

Personality
Mina is caring towards others and yet (like Serena) pretty clumsy at times. Once she was transported to Domino City as was told of a new, darker threat, Mina, once again, became devoted to her mission and took it seriously. However, upon meeting Joey Wheeler (with whom she became instantly smitten) her mind began to wander to him at times while she was in between duels. Once she was integrated with Yugi Moto and his group of friends, Mina began to open up to them to the point of revealing her identity as Sailor Venus, as well as the fact her cat Artemis can talk.

Over the course of the series, Mina develops romantic feelings for Joey Wheeler and the two become close, eventually getting into a relationship once she transfers to Domino City High School.

Post Sailor Stars
Mina and Harmony are walking to Mina's house after school, both still getting used to their normal lives after the defeat of Galaxia and the departure of the Sailor Starlights, even though six months have passed. Mina complains about an upcoming test at school. The two reach home and grab a snack before studying. After, Mina takes a shower while Harmony cooks dinner. The two girls and their feline guardians enjoy dinner and watch some movies, before retiring to bed for the night.

Neo Destiny Volume 1: Shadows of the Night
The following morning, Mina is awakened by her best friend calling her name, and once she looks out the window, she realizes that they're no longer in Tokyo. Artemis and Astrate run into the room, pulling the newspaper, which reveals that they are in Domino City, Colorado. The doorbell rings and it's revealed to be Ishizu Ishtar, who, by the power of her Millennium Necklace, has seen their new destiny, which is to aid in fighting against a coming darkness that threatens to destroy the world. In order for this to happen, both girls must enter the upcoming Battle City Tournament. They do so under their old sailor aliases (Sailor V and Sailor Rose). They sit in Domino Plaza, waiting for the tournament to begin, seeing other duelists (later identified as Mako Tsunami, Rex Raptor, Weevil Underwood, Mai Valentine, Phoebe Kaiba, Katerina Pegasus, and Yugi Moto)

Mina, as Sailor V, takes part in the first duel of Battle City, taking on a Rare Hunter by the name of Seeker. Using her Ancient Beast Deck, she emerges victorious. She wins back the monster "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" with the intention of returning it to Joey Wheeler, who declines, saying she should keep it to help take out more Rare Hunters. Sailor V and Joey shake hands, and she has a vision of her past life as Princess Venus, along with someone who greatly resembles Joey; the two appear to be in love and share a kiss. After that vision, Mina blushes as she watches Joey walk away. From that moment on, her mind often wanders to thoughts of him, sparking a romantic crush.

Mina/Sailor V is later seen standing on a building roof watching Joey's duel against Espa Roba.

Harmony Shields
Harmony is Mina's best friend. The two became close once she officially joined the rest of the Inner Sailor Guardians. After is was revealed that the two (along with Serena) were all sisters in their past lives in the Moon Kingdom, they started referring to eachother as sisters in the present, since none of them had sisters of their own; in Mina's case she's an only child while both Harmony and Serena have brothers.

Joey Wheeler
"Goldshipping" refers to the relationship pairing of Mina Aino and Joey Wheeler, possibly deriving from their golden-blonde hair color.

In their past lives, Mina and Joey (Princess Venus and Kasmut respectively) were in love, but due to Venus being the eldest daughter of Queen Serenity, as well as the guardian of the Planet Venus, she had to stay on the Moon with her sisters and the rest of the Guardians, and was forbidden to even visit Earth, let alone fall in love with someone from that planet. However, Princess Venus' heart belonged to Kasmut and him only, and she hoped that in another life they could have another chance.

Mina first met Joey when the Battle City Tournament first began, only she was disguised as Sailor V at the time. After winning "Red-Eyes Black Dragon" she intended to return the card to Joey, who instead told her to keep it. She offered her thanks and watched Joey leave to find his first opponent of the tournament. Mina (as Sailor V) secretly watches all of Joey's duels in the tournament until he obtains the Locator Cards necessary to qualify for the finals.

Mina and Joey officially meet when all the Battle City finalists are chosen.

Decks
During Battle City (Neo-Destiny Vol 1 and 3), Mina/Sailor V uses an "Ancient Beast Deck" which mainly consists of Beast-type monsters, as well as Beast-type support Spell and Trap Cards.

During Neo-Destiny Vol 3: A Virtual Nightmare, Mina uses a Fairy based deck with support Spells and Traps. As per the rules of the virtual world, she also needed to choose a Deck Master. Mina dueled twice in this arc and her Deck Master was "Splendid Venus"

During Neo-Destiny Vol 6: Grand Championship, Mina used a combination deck of Fairy-type monsters as well as Celestial-themed monsters, along with support Spells and Traps. Her deck also complimented Harmony's as they entered the tournament as a tag-team. They dueled a total of three times during this arc, winning their first two matches and losing their third.

Trivia

 * Mina's Japanese name (Minako) means "Beautiful Child of Love", fitting her identity as Sailor Venus/Princess Venus.
 * Mina was the goofiest member of the Sailor Soldiers, similar to Joey Wheeler.
 * Befitting her identity as Sailor Venus, Mina is obsessed with romance and tends to 'fall in love' often.