Ami Mizuno (水野 亜美, Mizuno Ami) is one of the five original Inner Sailor Guardians of the Solar System and was the second Sailor Guardian introduced. Her Sailor Guardian identity is Sailor Mercury (セーラーマーキュリー, Seeraa Maakyurii) and her 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", "rank next", or "come after". 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 "plains", "field", "rustic", or "civilian life". The syllable no (の) also indicates possession, so while the literal translation of her family name may 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 Ami, 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 others, all work and no play.
- Blood-type: A - Sensible and fastidious.
Appearance
Civilian
Ami Mizuno is a teenage girl who has short, dark blue hair that reaches 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.
Sailor Senshi
Sailor Mercury has short blue hair and wears a sailor uniform, with a blue skirt and light blue ribbon on her chest and another one on the back of her skirt. Her sailor uniform 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 Sailor 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 Sailor Senshi uniform is the three-ribbed shoulder pads. These were added to her design to make all the Sailor Guardians' costumes 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 were math and science. She also has a secret love of romance novels and pop culture but is embarrassed to say it.
Information
Dark Kingdom arc
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 to 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 scold her for not using the disk to study. Ami in return tells the teacher that you study by your 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 her Sailor Uniform Luna tells her that she is Sailor Mercury; a fellow Sailor Senshi that they have been looking for.
Black Moon arc
Infinity arc
Dream arc
Stars arc
Sailor Senshi Info
Ami can transform into Sailor Mercury by saying "Mercury Power, Make Up!". Her attacks are centered around snow, ice, water, sleet, and mist.
Phrases
- Mercury Power, Make Up
- Mercury Star Power, Make Up
- Mercury Planet Power, Make Up
- Mercury Crystal Power, Make Up
Attacks
- Mercury Aqua Mist
- Hyperspatial Sphere Generate
- Shine Aqua Illusion
- Shine Snow Illusion
- Mercury Aqua Rhapsody
- Mercury Aqua Mirage
- Galactica Gale
- Galactica Planet Attack
- Sailor Planet Power Meditation
- Sailor Planet Attack
Items
Weapons
Development
Ami wasn't 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. 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
.jpg "Mercury Aqua Mist (Ai no senshi dot net).jpg (250 KB)")
Trivia
- Ami's membership number in the Three Lights Fanclub was 25; the earliest number among the Sailor Guardians.
- In Japan, Sailor Mercury was the most popular Sailor Guardian, although she sometimes dropped to second place in favor of Sailor Chibi Moon among younger viewers. This was mainly because Ami's docile and studious personality made her a role model for Japanese children.
- When Ami transforms into Sailor Mercury, her eyes become a slightly lighter shade of blue.
- As Sailor Mercury, the visor/goggles display German text.
- Ryo Urawa was the first to surpass Ami on the School Semester Exam, though it was through his psychic powers and not 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.
