Template:InfoboxCharacterHotaru Tomoe is the civilian identity of Sailor Saturn and the present-day reincarnation of Princess Saturn. When she is first introduced, she was possessed by Mistress 9 and later adopted by Michiru Kaiou, Haruka Tenou, and Setsuna Meiou following Mistress 9's defeat. This is the original depiction of the character created by Naoko Takeuchi.
Profile
Appearance
Hotaru is a petite girl with short dark purple hair, violet eyes, and pale skin.
On normal days, she wears a black turtleneck sweater, grey skirt, and black stockings. On other days, she will wear a black mini dress, and dark blue pantyhose. Her school uniform consists of a red top, green skirt, and blue pantyhose.
Biography
Infinity Arc
Prior to the manga's events, Hotaru was raised by her mother and father. An accident occurred in one of her father's labs, which killed her mother and fatally wounded Hotaru. To save her, her father replaced parts of her limbs with machinery, making her a cyborg. He also connected with Pharaoh 90, who had her possessed with a Daimon who would become Pharaoh 90's partner in the future.
Dream Arc
Hotaru appears in Act 44, which offers a glimpse of the Outer Senshi's current lives. Haruka, Michiru and Setsuna swore to raise Hotaru and to live a happy life together. Hotaru ages rapidly, up to ten years old and awakens as Sailor Saturn for the second time. She gives the other three Senshi new power and they all return to Sailor Moon and the Inner Senshi to help them defeat the current enemy.
Stars Arc
In the first chapter of the Stars arc, a younger, more sarcastic, but cute Hotaru is seen holding hands with Chibiusa. Usagi sees them and remarks that they are acting very friendly. Hotaru then asks her why she is not holding Mamoru's hand. This causes Usagi to get very angry and push the girls away from each other. After Chibiusa returns to the 30th century, she along with the other senshi notice the arrival of Chibi-Chibi, In the third chapter of the stars arc, she along with Setsuna notice crow wings falling from the sky and senses evilness. In the fourth chapter, she gets teleported to Sailor Pluto by Sailor Galaxia while playing with Chibi-Chibi. In the fifth chapter, she gets killed along with Sailor Pluto and revived in her senshi form to kill Sailor Moon, thanks to the efforts of Sailor Moon, she gets revived.
Powers and Abilities
During Infinty Arc, Hotaru is shown to have healing power, curing Chibiusa's wounds after the battle in Act 28.
After being reborn, in Dead Moon Arc, more precisely in Act 44, Dream 6, she is also shown to grow in a faster rate than a normal human, and when critical moment comes, she grows to a 10-year-old child. When Sailor Saturn's powers are brought back to her, she instantly grows back a 13 year old. But after the end of Dream Arc, she regressed of age back to a 10-year-old girl.
In the same chapter, she also possess power to project, through illusions, what's on her mind, showing Super Sailor Chibi Moon and Pegasus, and after that, the history of Solar System's creation.
Development
Eytmology
Hotaru: The kanji of "Hotaru" (蛍) means "firefly." Fireflies are associated with the spirits of the dead in Japanese mythology, which fits her as she is the Sailor Soldier of Ruin/Death and Rebirth. Also, the first kanji in Tomoe is also the first character for the Japanese name for Saturn.
Tomoe: The kanji of "Tomoe" (土萠) translates as earth (to,土) and sprouting (moe, 萠). 土 also is the first kanji of the word "Dosei" (土星) meaning: "Saturn"
So, her name means "firefly sprouting from Earth".
Hotaru was the only Sailor Senshi to not receive a name change in the original English dub, but her last name was pronounced differently (pronounced toe-mo instead of toe-mo-eh).
Trivia
- She is the second youngest Sailor Senshi.
- This could be debated on, however, considering the fact that Chibiusa is actually more than 900 years old in the manga.
- She is the only Sailor Senshi who is reborn after using her powers. The other Senshi stay alive after using their powers apart from Sailor Moon as Princess Serenity.
- In Tokyopop's smile magazine when Hotaru first appeared her name was changed to Jenny. After getting complaints from fans her original name was used in later issues and graphics novels. It is possible Tokyopop chose the name Jenny because of its meaning fair one due to Hotaru's fair skin.
- In the manga, Chibiusa is introduced as a 4th grader at Juuban Elementary School. In the "Death Buster"s arc, she has reached the 5th grade (and is elected class president). By Stars, she (as well as Hotaru) are both in the 6th grade, Chibiusa in Class 1 and Hotaru in Class 3. Per the real life Japanese school system, a 4th grader is around ages 9~10, 5th 10~11, and 6th 11~12. However, since Usagi, Minako, Ami, Makoto, and Rei are all introduced as a year older than they would be going by the school system, this could mean Chibiusa's grades would represent 10~11 for 4th, 11~12 for 5th, and 12~13 for 6th, respectively (or at least Hotaru's might.) This would also reflect Hotaru's reborn physical age by that point. Also going by this, Chibiusa and Hotaru are both in 9th grade in the Materials Collections' "Parallel Sailor Moon". 9th grade consists of ages 14~15 in the real world; and may consist of ages 15~16 in Sailor Moon.
- She's the only Sailor Senshi who doesn't transform in the Stars Arc and her Sailor form is only seen when she was brought back as Sailor Galaxia's servant to murder Sailor Moon.
Gallery
The Outer Senshi in street clothes.
Hotaru with robotic limbs
Hotaru, Setsuna, Michiru, Haruka, and Minako's profiles from volume 10 of the tankoban version of the manga.
The Inner Senshi on the cover of volume 10 of the Kanzenban manga.
References
