Ami Mizuno (水野 亜美, Mizuno Ami) is one of the five original Inner Sailor Senshi of the Solar System, and was the second Sailor Senshi introduced. Her senshi identity is Sailor Mercury (セーラーマーキュリー, Sērā Mākyurī). Her attacks and powers are based around water and ice, as well as intelligence and computers.
Nomenclature & Etymology
Etymology
Ami: The kanji for A (亜) translates to "Asia" or "second", and the kanji for mi (美) translates to "beauty". So her first name could be either "Asian Beauty" or "Second Beauty".
Mizuno: The kanji for Mizu (水) translates to "water" while the kanji for no (野) translates to "field" or "civilian". The syllable no (の) also indicates possession, so while the literal translation of her family name could be "water field" or "water civilian", others may translate it as "of the water."
Nomenclature
Naoko Takeuchi included many occultist arts to finely detail each character. For Usagi, these things include:
- Birthstone: Blue Sapphire - Wisdom, loyalty and nobility. Believed to promote healing.
- Zodiac Sign: Virgo - Loyal, analytical, kind, hardworking, practical; Shy, anxious, overly critical of self and other, all work and no play.
- Blood-type: A - Sensible and fastidiousness.
Appearance
Civilian
Ami Mizuno is a teenage girl who has short, dark blue hair that reaches to her neck, and blue eyes. She stands at about 157cm or 5 feet 2 inches. At times, Ami will be seen wearing reading glasses.
Like Usagi, she wears a standard Azabu Juban school uniform.
Senshi
Sailor Mercury has short blue hair, and wears a sailor fuku, with a blue skirt and lighter blue ribbon on her chest and another one on the back of her skirt. Her sailor fuku distinctly does not have padded shoulder sleeves like her teammates. She has blue knee-high boots with short heels, as well as white elbow length gloves, with blue on the ends, and wears blue stud earrings - three in her left ear and one in her right. Just like the other senshi, she wears a tiara on her forehead, with a stone of her signature color (blue in Sailor Mercury's case) in the center of it.
A notable change to Sailor Mercury's senshi-fuku is the three-ribbed shoulder pads. These were added to her design to make all the senshi's costume more uniform. This is the only change that was made when the Sailor Moon manga was being adapted into the anime.
As Super Sailor Mercury, her choker had a yellow star with a blue gemstone in the center attached to it,the center of her front bow was a heart, the bottom of the shoulder pads was translucent, her earrings were three blue studs, the back waist bow was enlarged and lengthened.
Personality
Before becoming friends with Usagi and the other Sailor Senshi, Ami was a shy girl who did not make friends easily. She preferred to spend time alone studying and reading books. In return, many of her classmates believed her to be snobby and arrogant because of her intelligence; even being superhuman as she always finished at the top of national exams. However, once Ami and Usagi became friends, the opinions began to change.
Ami is depicted to be a sweet, kind, gentle, and loyal girl who is slightly insecure. In the beginning, she relies on the opinions of her mother, classmates, and teachers. As the series progresses, she becomes stronger and more confident. She is the most sensible out of the Inner Senshi, and she dislikes conflict; especially the fights between Usagi and Rei.
Ami's parents are divorced; living with her mother in a condominium. Her mother is always working, leaving Ami to care for herself. She also dreams of becoming a doctor like her mother.
Her favorite subjects being math and science. She also has a secret love of romance novels and pop culture, but is embarrassed to say it.
Background
Ami is introduced in Act 2, appearing on Luna's computer; listing her name, birthday, zodiac sign, blood type, and age. The next day, everyone is talking about how Ami Mizuno once again finished at the top of the national exams; speculating that she isn't human and that her I.Q. is 300. Umino mentions that the reason she is so smart is probably due her attending a private cram school, the Crystal Seminar. Umino also mentions that her mother is a doctor. Naru mentions that she must be smart and rich, but Yumiko remarks that she's cold, has no friends, and that all she ever does is study.
On her way home, while fretting about her low test scores, Usagi notices Ami walking home when Luna jumps on top of Ami's head. Ami pets Luna, and Usagi sees that she is not a bad person. Usagi calls Luna over, and asks if she's all right. Ami says that when Luna suddenly fell from the sky, she thought it was an angel, but becomes embarrassed after saying so. Usagi then introduces herself and takes Ami to Game Center Crown. While there, Ami plays the Sailor V Game and gets the highest score. After she puts her name on the ranking list, a pen falls out of the machine. After that, Ami checks the clock and realizes that she has to go to cram school, the Crystal Seminar.
At school the next day, Ami is studying on a computer when Usagi comes and asks Ami if she would like to stop for ice cream on the way home with them. Ami sees two students grumbling that they have to get to the Crystal Seminar. She remembers that her teacher has high expectations for her, declines Usagi's offer, and hurries off to the cram school. Unbeknownst to Ami, she left her disk for the cram school behind.
After learning the true message on the disk, Usagi spots Ami and the other students from the Crystal Seminar, only to realize that they have been brainwashed. Usagi uses the disguise pen to transform into a doctor's attire and rushes to save her. When the teacher reveals herself to be a youma, she transforms into Sailor Moon, but the youma grabs hold of Ami and scolds her for not using the disk to study. Ami in return tells the teacher that you study by your own initiative. The youma decides to kill her, but her pen glows and the symbol of Mercury appears on her forehead. Ami then transforms into Sailor Mercury for the first time; enveloping everyone in a freezing mist. After the youma is defeated, the fog clears up with Ami in Senshi fuku. Luna tells her that she is Sailor Mercury; a fellow Senshi that they have been looking for.}}
| Live-Action Background |
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| Ami Mizuno is an intelligent 14-year-old second year student at Juuban Middle School, in the same class with Usagi. She is very reserved and shy, and a bit of a loner. Because of this, she finds it hard to make new friends. In act 2, she finds Usagi's cat, Luna, on the street. Usagi invites Ami to lunch and discovers that the two share a common interest - the pop idol Minako Aino. After meeting Ami, Luna tells Usagi that she is another Sailor Guardian, Sailor Mercury. Usagi tells Ami about her destiny as a soldier the next day. Ami feels that Usagi is only being her friend because of her destiny as a Sailor Guardian and refuses to help her fight. To get out of it, she tells Usagi that she has too much work to do for school. Luna insists that Ami must fight, but Usagi does not want to force her into anything. However, when Ami and Usagi are being attacked by a Youma at Ami's cram school, she changes her mind. Ami is thrown off a building ledge when Sailor Moon grabs her to try to save her, though both girls are slipping. Ami then realizes that Usagi is genuine, and transforms into Sailor Mercury to attack the Youma. In act 20, Ami feels quite lonely. All of her friends seem too busy with other pursuits to pay attention to her. Kunzite then appears. Ami tries to fight him off by herself, but Kunzite sends a blast of energy at her. Sailor Mercury's head drops for a moment. When she wakes up again, the energy had taken over her mind.In Act 21, Makoto goes into Ami's house and finds her unconscious. After determining that she's okay, Makoto suggests going to an amusement park to cheer her up.On the way there, Ami passes out. When they go to a hospital, Makoto hears something in Ami's hospital room. When she gets to the room, she sees black rose petals.Ami, staring blankly, walks to Kunzite's layer. Sailor Jupiter tries to save her, but it is no use. Ami is under Kunzite's control.After she transforms into Dark Mercury, she challenges the four senshi. In Act 28, when Sailor Mercury is temporarily released from Kunzite's spell, she finds that she has hurt Sailor Moon. Sailor Mercury feels terrible for hurting a friend; Sailor Moon is then healed by Mercury's love for her friend, and Kunzite loses his control completely. She has no memory of what has happened while she was Dark Mercury. |
{{Drop Heading|header title = Remake Background|content = Sailor Mercury made her debut appearance in the second episode. She is the second Sailor Soldier to join the team and is the most intelligent of the group. After she had transformed, she used her unusually strong Mercury Aqua Mist attack to defeat Jadeite by covering his vision with fog and steam. This allowed Sailor Mars to defeat him by combining her innate spiritual powers with her fire-attack to purify evil forces.
Later on, she was given special goggles that enable her to scan for enemy activity and figure out complex situations very easily. She can use her headset microphone to communicate with her fellow Sailor Senshi.
Senshi Info
As the Sailor Soldier of Water and Knowledge, Sailor Mercury has attacks related entirely to water, as well as ice, snow, sleet, and mist.
Her mist-related attacks enable Mercury to blind her opponents; giving her comrades cover to use the element of surprise. She is capable of freezing monsters in solid ice and/or frost. She can also create strong waves, whirlpools, and even freeze her enemies in cylinders of solid ice.
Like the other Sailor Senshi, she can create an exceptionally strong, bright-blue force field for protection; capable of withstanding extensive damage from energy-based attacks, as well as flying and levitating.
Another useful ability she possesses is teleporting herself and others to another dimension entirely; one that is separated from Earth (an ability that she did not possess in the original anime). To utilize this strong teleporting ability, she calls out Hyperspatial Sphere Generate.
Attacks
| Mercury Aqua Mist | Sabão Spray Sabão Spray Freezing |
" | " | " |
| Hyperspatial Sphere Generate | N/A | N/A | " | N/A |
| Shine Aqua Illusion | " | " | " | " |
| Shine Snow Illusion | N/A | N/A | " | N/A |
| Mercury Aqua Rhapsody | " | N/A | TBA | " |
| Mercury Aqua Mirage | " | N/A | " | " |
| Galactica Gale | N/A | N/A | TBA | N/A |
| Galactica Planet Attack | N/A | N/A | TBA | N/A |
| Sailor Planet Power Meditation | Sailor Planet Power | N/A | TBA | N/A |
| N/A | Sailor Teleport | " | " | N/A |
| Sailor Planet Attack | " | " | TBA | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Mercury Aqua Blizzard | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Mercury Aqua Cyclone | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Mercury Aqua Storm | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Unnamed Tambourine Attack | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Moonlight Attractive Attack | N/A | N/A |
Items
| Transformation Pen | " | Jewelry Star Bracelet | " | " |
| Star Power Stick | " | N/A | " | " |
| Mercury Crystal | Crystal Change Rod | N/A | TBA | " |
| N/A | N/A | Teletia S | N/A | N/A |
| Mercury Harp | " | N/A | TBA | " |
| N/A | N/A | Water Sword | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Mercury Sword | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Sailor Star Tambourine | N/A | N/A |
| Mercury Goggle | " | N/A | " | " |
| Communicator | " | N/A | " | N/A |
| Super Computer | " | N/A | " | N/A |
Development
Ami was not included in the original proposal for a hypothetical Codename: Sailor V anime, which instead featured Minako's very similar-looking best friend, Hikaru Sorano. She was present, however, by the time the concept was expanded to center on Sailor Moon.
Naoko Takeuchi designed Ami as the "team brain," giving her genius-level intelligence to create the impression that she was not quite human. In fact, the character was originally intended to be a cyborg with an accelerator. One possible storyline involved her losing an arm or being injured in some other way and dying from it, but Takeuchi's editor objected, and Ami became a fully human character.
Naoko Takeuchi once described Ami as looking similar to Noriko Sakai, a J-pop idol of the early 1990s.
Gallery
| Manga Gallery |
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 Ami's cameo in Codename: Sailor V: Chapter 15  .jpg "Mercury Aqua Mist (Ai no senshi dot net).jpg (250 KB)")     Ami's concept art.  The Inner Senshi on the cover of volume 10 of the Kanzenban manga.  Mercury performs Mercury Aqua Rhapsody in Act 40  Mercury transforms into Princess Mercury in Act 48 Evil Sailor Mercury attacking with Mercury Aqua Rhapsody in Act 58  Sailor Mercury's concept art. Artwork of Sailor Mercury. Art by Naoko Takeuchi. The artwork of Sailor Mercury that was seen on Volume 2 of the shinsouban edition of the manga. Sailor Mercury on the back of shinzoban volume 2  Sailor Mercury drawn by Arina Tanemura.  |
| Anime Gallery |
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The sign of Mercury appearing on Ami's forehead    A depressed Ami  Ami and friends eating ice lollies.  The Inner Senshi about to transform outside Hiwaka Shrine.    Makoto and Ami in the rain.       Makoto, Rei and Ami at Game Centre Crown   .png "SMSS 173 (2).png (433 KB)") .png "SMSS 177 (infobox).png (349 KB)") .png "SMSS 174 (2).png (456 KB)")  Ami with Rei and Chibiusa in the R movie  Mercury with her goggles on   Sailor Moon, Mercury and Mars after Nephrite's death   Sailor Mercury dies
 Sailor Mercury held captive by Rubeus   Sailor Moon's reflection on Mercury's eyes  
 Sailor Mercury fighting Daimons  Checking with her mini supercomputer  Sailor Mercury regains consciousness, as do Sailors' Jupiter and Venus from the eventual defeat of the Death Buster  Sailor Mercury lending her inner strength and much greater Sailor abilities to create the Sailor Box
.png "SMSuperS 129 (infobox).png (378 KB)")
 Super Sailor Mercury in the opening  Super Sailor Mercury attacked  Super Sailor Mercury trapped in one of Queen Nehelenia's dream-mirrors .png "SMSS 173 (1).png (689 KB)")  
Sailor Mercury pose (background 1) Sailor Mercury pose (background 2) .jpg "Sailor Mercury poses (background 3).jpg (24 KB)") Super Sailor Mercury pose  Super Sailor Mercury's finishing pose in Ami's First Love Other
 Ikuko Itoh's official character sheet of Sailor Mercury  Sailor Mercury on the back of her R single  Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars with Pure Heart Crystals on official anime merchandise.  Sailor Mercury on a Brazilian DVD promo card  Sailor Mercury on a bonus card from a French DVD box set  A picture of Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars in the official Sailor Moon calendar for 2002.  Sailor Mercury, Mars and Pluto on an official drink coaster. Sailor Mercury and Sailor Venus on the case for laserdisc 4 of the SuperS series Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars on the case for laserdisc 6 of the SuperS series         English cover  Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter on the cover of laserdisc 2 of the S series.  Mercury on the cover of the second installment of the Talk Box series released in Mexico.    Remembering what Artemis says about the Silver crystal in the S movie Misc.   Ami on the cover of her R single  Ami on the cover of her Sailor Stars single  |
| Live-Action Gallery |
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| Remake Gallery |
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 Ami in the opening sequence   Ami's cameo in episode one   Makoto, Usagi, and Ami in episode 6.  Ami and Makoto in episode 6.  Ami and Rei   Ami in episode 16  Ami about to transform.  Douse yourself in water and repent!  .png "Mercury (ep002).png (670 KB)") .png "Screenshot (746).png (769 KB)")      Sailor Mercury in Act 2  Sailor Mercury performing Mercury Aqua Mist    Queen Serenity's spirit conversing with the Sailor Senshi.                           
 Official Profile of Ami.  The Inner Senshi in their civilian forms. Picture by Yukie Sako.  Usagi and Ami hugging Chibiusa.  Ami with Usagi and Minako  Character designs of the Inner Sailor Senshi.   Sailor Mercury in the official trailer      A redrawn frame of Sailor Mercury for the home video release of the anime  Sailor Mercury on the cover of the second Blu-ray DVD.  |
Trivia
- In the VizMedia dub, Umino says Ami's IQ is "over nine-thousand"; a reference to the English dub of Dragon Ball Z.
- Ami's membership number in the Three Lights fanclub was 25; the earliest number among the senshi.
- In Japan, Sailor Mercury was the most popular Sailor Senshi, although she sometimes dropped to second place in favor of Sailor Chibi Moon among younger viewers. This was mainly due to the fact that Ami's docile and studious personality made her a role model for Japanese children.
- Ami is the only one of the Inner Senshi to never be suspected of being Sailor Moon by the Dark Kingdom in the anime.
- When Ami transforms into Sailor Mercury, her eyes become a slightly lighter shade of blue.
- As Sailor Mercury, he visor/goggles display German text.
- In the DiC dub, Ami is named "Amy Anderson", though during the Cloverway dub, her surname reverted back to "Mizuno". She spoke with a slight British accent during the DiC dub to highlight her intelligence; which DiC backed up by saying she transferred from Brighton, a town in the United Kingdom.
- In early promotional videos for the English dub of the anime presented by DiC, Ami was called "Blue."
- Ryo Urawa was the first to surpass Ami on the School Semester Exam, though it was through his psychic powers and not actual studying.
- In the side story Ami's First Love, it was revealed that Ami had psychogenic urticaria, a stress-inducing disorder that caused her to break out in hives. In other words, it is not the love letters themselves that gave her rashes.
- While the idea to make Ami a cyborg was ultimately rejected, later in the series the character Hotaru was a cyborg until her rebirth.
- Ami bears a strong resemblance to Rena Kuramitsu from Naoko Takeuchi's one-shot story, Miss Rain.
- When Usagi saw Ami for the first time in the manga, she said that she looked like Rena. This reference was removed in the 2003 re-release of the manga.