JunJun / Sailor Juno Sailor Moon Trivia

JunJun is a member of the Amazoness Quartet from the Sailor Moon anime and manga series by Naoko Takeuchi. What interesting trivia is there about this character? What does her name mean and where did it come from?

As a member of the Amazoness Quartet, JunJun is the second youngest of the four sisters. She is the one with the green hair and the green theme. The Sailor Moon manga reveals that the Amazoness Quartet are actually Sailor Senshi, collectively known as either the Sailor Quartet or the Asteroid Senshi.

As a member of the Sailor Quartet, JunJun is known as Sailor Juno. The name "JunJun" is thus derived from the name "Juno". But where did Juno come from? Why was she called this name? The reason is that JunJun and her sisters are actually named after asteroids, hence the term "Asteroid Senshi".

JunJun is named after the asteroid known as Juno. This asteroid is one of the four major asteroids that can be found in what is known as the Asteroid Belt. But Juno isn't just the name of an asteroid or of Sailor Juno. It's also the name of a goddess.

To be more precise, Juno is the name of the Roman goddess of marriage (among other things) and the queen of the gods and goddesses. Juno's counterpart is the Greek goddess Hera.

Speaking of counterparts, Sailor Juno is actually said to be the counterpart of Sailor Jupiter, which explains why her theme is green (Sailor Jupiter also has green themes though hers is a different shade of green).

It's actually doubly appropriate that Sailor Juno and Sailor Jupiter are each other's counterparts and could be related to each other because, in Roman Mythology, Juno is actually the wife of the king of the gods called Jupiter (his Greek counterpart is the god Zeus).

JunJun is the tomboy of the group who is also very athletic, which can explain why she's an acrobat for the Dead Moon Circus and why she is known as the Magician of Acrobatic Feats.

The fact that she is an acrobat could be related to Hera in that one of the latter's symbols is that of the peacock, which can be described as showy and flashy and acrobats could be like that too.

She seems to have the tendency to help her targets reach or achieve their dreams before taking their Dream Mirrors.

This can be seen in episode 155 of Sailor Moon SuperS wherein JunJun aided Kyusuke (a friend of Chibiusa's) before taking his Dream Mirror.

This shows howshe can also be described as unpredictable and fickle because (using the aforementioned episode as a reference yet again) of how she gave no indication that she was going to take Kyusuke's Dream Mirror.

In fact, she was helping Kyusuke even before she knew that he was her target. This aspect of her character and personality could be attributed to the goddess that she was named after. The goddess Juno can also be fickle, not to mention vengeful.

And she is relentless in her pursuit of those she hates and dislikes in much the same way that JunJun gave no qualms taking Kyusuke's Dream Mirror even after taking the time to help him.

To illustrate, because Hera absolutely loathes Heracles (or Hercules. He's a demi-god and hero), she did not stop trying to torment him and cause him as much trouble as possible.

So, while JunJun can be pretty nice, you wouldn't want to incur her wrath in much the same way that you wouldn't want to incur the goddess Juno's wrath.

JunJun's loyalty and dedication to her mission can also be related to the goddess Juno. Hera has remained loyal to Zeus even though the latter has kept betraying her.

So, what do you think of Sailor Juno or JunJun? Do you like her character? Is she your favorite member of the Amazoness Quartet?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki (CC:BY-SA) based on the image by MAC-LEOD (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt
- Said image is meant to symbolize JunJun or Sailor Juno due to the green hair and the green theme of the woman in the pic
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget

Ragnarok Manhwa - Initial Thoughts Focusing On Norse Mythology

Have you heard about the graphic novel entitled Ragnarok: Into The Abyss? Have you read it? What did you think about it? Would you recommend it to others?

While still considered a graphic novel or comic, if you will, Ragnarok: Into The Abyss is actually not a Japanese Manga. Rather, it is what is known as a Manhwa, the Korean version of the Japanese Manga.

Nonetheless, manga or not, I still decided to read it anyway. What drew me to be interested in this graphic novel was its title and the fact that it is said to be loosely based on Norse Mythology.

As I am interested in Norse Mythology, I saw no reason not to start reading this manhwa. I am still in the process of reading it though, which is why the words "initial thoughts" is included in the title of this post. I also added "focusing on Norse Mythology" because I found that I have a lot more to say about this series. I've already written about some of these things like on this post or this one.

With all that out of the way, let's get to the main point of this post. Ragnarok: Into The Abyss is loosely based on Norse Mythology, but the emphasis is definitely on the word "loosely".

The stuff about mythology is what gets me to continue reading this manhwa, but it's not all about Norse Mythology because there are many things in this graphic novel that make it different from how the Norse myths and legends happened. The fact that there are other characters aside from those that appear in Norse stories is only the beginning of the differences, but this one is definitely the most prominent.

In fact, so far, I've only seen a handful of the characters that appear in Norse Mythology including Fenris Fenrir, Frigg and the Norns (the appearance of the Norns barely lasted a few pages. Frigg's appearance lasted a bit longer than that, but I thought it was still rather short). I do hope we'll get to see more of these characters as the story progresses.

The original characters are interesting enough, but there's still so much about them that hasn't been explained or revealed. The story of Ragnarok: Into The Abyss is interesting, but I found the start or its beginning to be a little rough in terms of being confusing.

I mean, I'm still reading it because of its connection and relation to Norse Mythology (though even the characters that are from Norse Mythology don't seem to be exactly at they ought to be), but the whole Ragnarok thing still hasn't really been explained as of yet or if it has, it hasn't been explained all that well.

To clarify that, let me start by saying that, in Norse Mythology, Ragnarok is the twilight of the gods or the end of the world. In the manhwa, it apparently means the same thing and part of the plot revolves around this.

There's more to it than that, but it can all be rather confusing and I intend to read more of the graphic novel before discussing this further. Moreover, with the introduction of new original characters and with many parts different from how it really is in Norse Mythology, Ragnarok: Into The Abyss hasn't yet really explained how all these differences work.

But it's certainly necessary to do so in order for readers to better understand what is going on. For instance, we find out that the character Sara Irine is a Valkyrie, which is perfectly fine, of course.

But then we also find that she is apparently a human from Midgard and I'm left wondering exactly how Valkyries are made, created, or appointed or something in this manhwa because, in Norse Mythology, nothing is said about the Valkyries being human.

In fact, the myths seem to suggest that they're like goddesses since they also live in Asgard and they have the task of bringing warriors and heroes to Valhalla, a hall located in the realm of the gods.

Anyway, I'm hoping that the manhwa will get better and the many questions that I have will get answered as I continue to read this graphic novel.

I'd also like to add some things that I've noticed with this comic, one of which is that I'm finding the fight scenes to be rather long and drawn-out.

Said scenes seem to last for several pages before ending. And a number of fight scene pages don't even contain dialogue, just explosions and action and the like. Those who like fight scenes may not mind this at all, but, for me, I prefer shorter fight scenes so we can get straight back to the plot and get the story moving again.

After all, in the fight scenes I've seen so far, it was pretty obvious who would win anyway like when Skurai pretty much decimated the entire Assassin's Guild all by himself. It would have been better if there was only a short fight scene and we get to know right away who won and who lost.

Another thing I noticed was that there are quite a number of scenery and landscape shots in the Ragnarok manhwa and even pages that don't contain any dialogue or talking at all and all of these seem to have been drawn for the sole purpose of merely showing these things.

Maybe some people won't mind this at all, but, for me, I find that pages with no dialogue and with nothing to see but landscapes and more landscapes stops the story in its tracks and don't really seem to have any purpose at all.

In other words, I wonder about the necessity of adding these pages?

Well, it looks like this post focused on some other things too aside from Norse Mythology, but it mostly focused on Norse Mythology so the title should still count.

Anyway, what about you? What were your initial thoughts on Ragnarok: Into The Abyss? If you haven't read it yet, are you planning to read it? Does it sound interesting enough to you?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki based on the image by Rusembell (CC:BY) from deviantArt
- Said image was chosen because of its magic and fantasy aspects and how the figure could pass off as a character from Ragnarok
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget

Valhalla, Hall Of The Fallen Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Game Trivia

Valhalla, Hall Of The Fallen is one of the many cards in the Yu-Gi-Oh! card game. But just what is so interesting about this card? What does it mean and what could it be referencing?

For a card with such a long name, the text content on it is pretty sparce, consisting of only one sentence that barely takes 2 lines.

Valhalla, Hall Of The Fallen is a useful Spell Card, particularly for those that have Fairy-Type monsters in their deck or those that make use of a Fairy deck.

But where did the name of this card come from anyway? What does Valhalla mean? Valhalla is actually from Norse Mytholog, and, just like the Yu-Gi-Oh! card named after it, it isn't the name of a person, but the name of a place.

To be more precise, Valhalla is the name of a hall in Norse Mythology and it means "hall of the slain," which explains why the Yu-Gi-Oh! card in question has such a long but appropriate name. In Norse Mythology, Valhalla is located in Asgard, which is the realm of the Norse gods and goddesses.

The king of the gods, Odin, is the one who presides or rules over this hall. With the fact that Valhalla is located in the realm of the gods themselves and with how it is said to be grand, great and majestic, it's no wonder that the the illustration of the image on the Yu-Gi-Oh! card appears to reflect this.

So, what is the reason why Valhalla would be termed as the hall of the slain or the hall of the fallen? This is because the inhabitants of Valhalla are actually all warriors and heroes. But, while these are all people who died due to fighting or during combat, that is not the only criteria in order for one to get to Valhalla.

What is actually important is how strong and powerful these people are especially in terms of their fighting prowess and capabilities. Women known as the Valkyries from Asgard are the ones that have been tasked to select the best warriors and heroes, and, upon the death of these people, the Valkyries themselves will lead them to Valhalla.

This can explain why the effect of this Yu-Gi-Oh! card enables you to Special Summon a monster.

Special Summoning gives you the opportunity to get monsters with high attack and high level on the field without having to sacrifice other monsters in order to do so.

By taking advantage of Valhalla, Hall Of The Fallen's effect, you can summon powerful monsters to help you defeat your opponent in much the same way that the beings in Norse Mythology's Valhalla are also all powerful and strong.

But what is Valhalla (the one in Norse Mythology) for anyway? Why are heroes and warriors being brought there? The reason is that these people will fight and die (yet again) when Ragnarok, the end of the world or the twilight of the gods, comes.

However, until the end arrives, they are free to just lounge around and have fun. Of course, it is necessary to keep in shape in order to be prepared for Ragnarok.

This is why all the warriors and heroes in Valhalla engage in combat each and every single day.

They fight with each other without a care for how many injuries they sustain or how bad their wounds might be because, at the end of the day, any and all wounds are healed and they are once again ready to fight all over again the very next day.

This can explain the limitation in Valhalla, Hall Of The Fallen, which only allows you to Special Summon a monster (and not just any monster but a Fairy-Type one) if you control no other monsters and only once per turn.

What do you think of this Yu-Gi-Oh! card? Do you use Valhalla, Hall Of The Fallen in one or some of your decks?

*Notes:
- Image with added text was modified by Freya Yuki based on the image by Eccentric Scholar (CC:BY) from flickr
- Said image is meant to symbolize Valhalla
- The rest of the pics are enlarged product images from Amazon.com; links shown above via Amazon's Native Shopping Ads widget