Sailor Mercury

Sailor Mercury is one of the central characters in the Sailor Moon metaseries. Her real name is Ami Mizuno (Amy Anderson in the DIC English dub and Amy Mizuno in the CWI dub), a genius-leveled schoolgirl who can transform into one of the series' specialized heroines, the Sailor Scouts. Sailor Mercury is the second member of the Sailor Team to be discovered by Sailor Moon, and serves as the "brains" of the group. Her powers are associated with phases of water, and she can use her supercomputer to quickly analyze a foe in battle.
In the Japanese version she is voiced by Aya Hisakawa in of the first anime, and Hisako Kanemoto in Sailor Moon Crystal. In the English version she is voiced by Karen Bernstein and Liza Balkan in the DiC and Cloverway dubs, and Kate Higgins in the ViZ dub and Crystal.
==Appearance==
===Ami Mizuno===
Ami Mizuno is a teenage girl who has short, dark blue hair that reaches her neck, and blue eyes. At times, Ami will be seen wearing reading glasses but they are usually worn only when Ami reads.
Like Usagi, she wears a standard Azabu Juban school uniform. During summer, she wears a summer version of her school uniform.
Her primary casual appearance has her wearing a pink long-sleeved sweater jacket with a white long-sleeved button shirt with a dark blue ribbon on the collar, a cream-yellow long skirt, white socks, and black shoes.
In Sailor Stars, Ami also wears the standard Azabu Juban high school uniform like Usagi, Minako, and Makoto.
===Sailor Mercury===
Sailor Mercury wears golden tiara with a blue gem in the middle and blue stud earrings. Her sailor fuku has a blue skirt with lighter blue ribbons tied into a bow on her chest and a blue round gem and on the back of her skirt in the middle of her back bow. She also doesn't have a shoulder sleeves. She has blue knee-high boots with short heels and white trim. Her gloves are white elbow length with a blue trim.
===Super Sailor Mercury===
Her choker gains a yellow star within the center. A large, blue heart sits in the center of her front-bow. The bottom of the shoulder pads now has a short, translucent sleeve. Her left ear now has three blue studs. The back bow was enlarged and lengthened.
===Princess Mercury===
She wears a blue strap dress that goes past her feet and a blue choker that is tied into a ribbon at the back. She has a gold necklace and her straps have three gold ornaments each. The necklace and ornaments each have blue gems in them. She wears small blue stud earrings. She wears high-heeled shoes.
==Personality==
At the beginning, Ami was a lonely girl who did not make friends easily, preferring to be alone with her books instead. Her classmates mistook her withdrawn nature for arrogance, so they did not approach her either until Usagi started doing so, and Ami's character became gradually increasingly more open and more outgoing since. 
She studied very hard and regularly finished at the top of national exams, leading her classmates to speculate that she was superhuman and had an IQ of 300. Math and science were her favorite subjects, and she was aiming to become a doctor like her mother. Usually calm and level-headed, she was the voice of reason of the Sailor Scout team. The others often relied on her plans and analyses, but they often thought she should "loosen up" more.
Ami was a kind and sweet girl who disliked quarrels and abhorred harming innocent people. This trait was even cited in the title of anime episode 122, where she persuaded Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune not to kill Hotaru. Like her comrades, her loyalty to Sailor Moon was unwavering, and she would sacrifice her life for her princess if necessary.
==Aspects and forms==
First appearance
*Form Manga Anime Live-action
*Amy Anderson Act 2 Ep. 8 Act 1
*Sailor Mercury Act 2 Ep. 8 Act 2
*Dark Mercury -- -- Act 21
*Second (Super) form Act 35 Ep. 143 --
*Princess Mercury Act 41 -- --
*Third Sailor Scout form Act 42 -- --
As a character with different incarnations, special powers, transformations and a long lifetime virtually spanned between the Silver Millennium era and the 30th century, Ami gains multiple aspects and aliases as the series progresses. Sailor Mercury Ami's Scout identity is Sailor Mercury. She wears a uniform colored in shades of blue, and is given specific titles throughout the various series. These include Soldier of Water and Intelligence, Soldier of Wisdom, Soldier of Justice and Wisdom, and Soldier of Love and Exams. Her personality is no different from when she is a civilian, although certain powers are unavailable to her in that form Super Sailor Mercury now add on wikipedia.com: Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars.
In Japanese, the name for the planet Mercury is Suisei (水星, Suisei?), the first kanji meaning 'water' and the second indicating a celestial object. Although the Roman planet-name is used, Sailor Mercury's abilities are water-based due to this aspect of Japanese mythology. Initially most of her powers are strategic rather than offensive, and she possesses various pieces of computerized equipment to help her study the enemy. As she grows stronger, Sailor Mercury gains additional powers, and at key points her uniform changes to reflect this. The first change takes place in Act 35 of the manga, when she obtains the Mercury Crystal and her outfit becomes similar to that of Super Sailor Moon. She is not given a new title. A similar event is divided between episodes 143 and 151 of the anime, and she is given the name Super Sailor Mercury. A third, manga-only form appears in Act 42, unnamed but analogous to Eternal Sailor Moon (sans wings).
===Princess Mercury===
According to the manga, during the Silver Millennium, Sailor Mercury was also the Princess of her home planet. She was among those given the duty of protecting Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom. As Princess Mercury, she dwelt in Mariner Castle and wore a light blue gown—she appears in this form in the original manga and in supplementary art. Naoko Takeuchi once drew her in the arms of Zoisite, but no further romantic link between them was established in the manga or anime. In the first stage musical, it is stated that the two of them were in love at the time of the Moon Kingdom this is further established in the later Eien Densetsu, where Amy and a disguised Zoisite share a duet, "A Fabricated Forevermore" (偽りのForevermore, Itsuwari no forevermore?).
Special powers and itemsEdit In the manga, Amy can dowse without any aids. Otherwise, she is not shown using any special powers in her civilian form, and may not be able to. In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Episode 31, Usagi asks Amy to transform in order to produce some water. She must first transform into a Sailor Scout by raising a special device (pen, bracelet, wand, or crystal) into the air and shouting a special phrase, originally
"Mercury Power, Make-up!" As she becomes more powerful and obtains new transformation devices, this phrase changes to evoke Mercury Star, Planet, or Crystal Power."Star Power" starting in manga Act 15, anime Episode 62, when she acquires the Star Power Stick. "Planet Power" starting in Act 24 of the manga only. "Crystal Power" starting in Act 35, when she acquires the Mercury Crystal and her second uniform, and in Episode 151, when she acquires the Crystal Change Rod and becomes Super Sailor Mercury.
In the anime, Sailor Mercury's transformation sequence evolves slightly over time, whether to update the background images or to accommodate changes to her uniform or a new transformation device, but all of them involve a stream of water which she whirls around her body as she spins, forming her outfit with a ripple effect. Sailor Mercury has the power to manipulate water. For the entire first story arc, she uses her powers only to create dense clouds of mist, chilling and blinding the enemy while her allies prepare more direct attacks. 
In the manga, she usually does this without speaking, while in the anime it is given the name Shabon Spray (Mercury Bubbles Blast). In the updated renewal manga, this power is renamed Mercury Aqua Mist to match the live-action series, in which she has an offensive beam attack by that name, capable of destroying weaker enemies. She uses a total of five attacks in this series, most of which are variations on the first.Her named PGSM attacks are: Mercury Aqua Mist, Shining Aqua Illusion, Mercury Aqua Storm (with Tambo), Mercury Aqua Cyclone, and Mercury Aqua Blizzard. Sailor Mercury's first major offensive attack is Shine Aqua Illusion (Mercury Bubbles Freeze), introduced in the second story arc, which can be used as a simple projectile, to freeze the enemy in solid ice, or to create a defensive barrier. Shine Aqua Illusion first appears in Act 14 of the manga and Episode 62 of the anime. 
It is sometimes called by this name in the English anime, but sometimes Mercury Ice Storm Blast and Mercury Bubbles Freeze. When she is Super Sailor Mercury in English this becomes Super Aqua Illusion, except in Sailor Moon SuperS: The Movie, where it is Mercury Gas. Aside from variations on her other powers (mostly improving their strength with the addition of "Freezing" or "Snow"), her next named attack is Mercury Aqua Mirage (Mercury Ice Storm Blast), used during the third arc of the manga and again in the special side-story "Amy's First Love" (manga and anime). 
Her final and most powerful power comes in the fourth story arc, when she takes on her second Scout form (Super Sailor Mercury in the anime). At this stage, she acquires a special weapon, the Mercury Harp, and with it, Mercury Aqua Rhapsody, which is her primary attack for the duration of the story. In the anime, Mercury gains the harp deep within her subconscious. However, both versions of this episode never got any subsequent airings because the episode itself had a subconscious scene depicting a completely naked Ami telepathically communicating with her Sailor Scout alter-ego and said scene also left the former's butt and a small portion of her breasts in full view (For the latter body parts, they, for obvious reasons, were never given nipples, most likely due to the anime having an age demographic for kids at 12-or-under-years old). The manga took a different approach with the Mercury Harp making it more of an item rather than a harp formed due to the attack.
Furthermore, Sailor Mercury gained the harp through her power guardian. In the manga the Mercury Harp, as well as the other inner senshi's weapons have their own "wills" and can even speak and give input.
In addition to her own powers, Sailor Mercury has more non-magical items than any other Scout. Early on in the series she makes frequent use of an extremely powerful "Micro-miniature Super Computer" The name "Microminiature Super Computer" (超小型スーパーコンピューター, "Microminiature Super Computer"?) is shown in TV manga Volume 2 and is said by Luna in Episode 9. that enables her to make special calculations, scan her surroundings, track the movements of allies as well as foes, and determine her enemies' weak points. The computer works in sync with her Mercury Goggles; this name is given in singular form on page 49 of the BSSM Authorised TV Magazine. 
It is called the "VR Visor" in the English anime. which analyze the area around her and display information in front of her eyes and on the Computer. The visor may be a hologram of some sort; it materializes across her face when she touches her earring. The manga sometimes shows her wearing a small microphone connected to her earring, which she uses to communicate with Luna at the Scout hideout during the manga's first arc. All of these devices gradually fall out of use as the series progresses. In the live-action series, like most of the other Sailor Scouts, she receives a tambourine-like weapon called the Sailor Star Tambo. Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 26 She is one of two Scout to use it for a named attack (Mercury Aqua Storm), and later can transform it into a sword. She also creates swords out of water, both as Sailor Mercury and as Dark Mercury.
In the manga, the Mercury Crystal and Mercury Harp are among her most significant magical possessions. The former is her Sailor Crystal and the source of all of her power, which becomes especially important in the fifth story arc. The harp's form is actually that of a lyre, a stringed instrument smaller than a harp, which according to Roman myth was invented by the god Mercury.
==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 from that series, Hikaru Sorano. She was present, however, by the time the concept was expanded to center on Sailor Moon.
Creator 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, so Ami became a fully human character.
Sailor Mercury's original costume design, like the others', was fully unique. It featured full-length sleeves, pink ribbons, shoulder guards, green accents, buttons on the stomach, and high-tech goggles. Later, Takeuchi was surprised by these sketches and stated that she did not remember drawing them. She also describes Ami as looking like Noriko Sakai, a J-pop idol of the early 1990s, and in Ami's original debut, Usagi thinks to herself that Ami resembles Miss Rain, a character from another Takeuchi series. This reference was removed in the 2003 renewal manga. In the English manga, a similar comment was made, but referencing Demi Moore.
Certain background details of Ami's character were chosen symbolically—for instance, her Western astrological sign is given as Virgo, which in astrology corresponds to the planet Mercury. In reference to a popular Japanese belief, her blood type is given as A, supposedly indicating sensibleness and fastidiousness. In the English manga and other books, "Amy" retains her family name of Anderson. One early episode of the anime shows her answering the phone in her house by saying "Anderson residence," where in the original she had answered with "This is Mizuno," but this surname never appears again, and she is reverted to Anderson by Cloverway in the series' third season. In an early DiC promotional tape that advertised Sailor Moon to television stations, Ami was given the name Blue.
==Reception and influence==
The official Sailor Moon character popularity polls listed Ami/Sailor Mercury as separate entities. In 1992, readers ranked them at seventh and fourth respectively, out of 38 choices. One year later, now with fifty choices, Ami was the eighth most popular while Mercury was ninth. In 1994, with 51 choices, Ami was the fifteenth most popular character, and Mercury was sixteenth. In early 1996, with 51 choices, Ami was again the fifteenth most popular character, and Mercury was the nineteenth. Amy was the most popular female character in Animage's May 1993 poll, and an episode featuring her, "Love for Amy?! A Boy Who Can Predict the Future", was the eleventh favorite episode. The following year she came second behind Belldandy, and in 1995 she came fifth. In 1995, an episode featuring Ami, "The Labyrinth of Water! Ami the Targeted", was the ninth favorite episode. In 1996, after the debut of Neon Genesis Evangelion, she came sixteenth, and in 1997 she came twentieth.
A five-book series was published, one book on each of the Guardian Scout and Sailor Moon. Ami's was released in 1996. This book was later translated into English by Mixx. The episode where Sailor Mercury gained her powers was novelised by Mixx.
She was popular with the male audience of Sailor Moon due to her computer use and skills, and still retains one of the most loyal (if not the most loyal) fanbases among the Sailor Scouts.
==Voice Actresses==
In the original anime production of the original Sailor Moon series, Ami is voiced by veteran voice actress Aya Hisakawa. After the show's conclusion, Hisakawa wrote in an artbook that she was "raised by" the character of Ami, and was "really, greatly happy" to have met her. In Sailor Moon Crystal, Hisakawa was replaced by Hisako Kanemoto, who also voiced Yayoi Kise/Cure Peace in Smile Pretty Cure!. For the English-language dub, the voice of "Amy" is provided first by Karen Bernstein, for the original and R series and the movies, and later by Liza Balkan for the S and SuperS series. In the VIZ Media English redub of the first anime and Sailor Moon Crystal, her current voice actress is Kate Higgins. Shandi Sinnamon provides the English vocals for a song attributed to Ami's character in the second story arc. Ami has been portrayed by 6 actresses in the stage musicals: Ayako Morino, Yukiko Miyagawa, Hisano Akamine, Mariya Izawa, Chieko Kawabe, and Manami Wakayama.
In the live-action series, she is played by Chisaki Hama. Child actress Kanki Matsumoto portrays Amy in flashback sequences and childhood photographs.
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.
==Trivia==
*Manga Editor Fumio Osano considered Sailor Mercury to be his favorite Sailor Moon Character.
==External Links==
*Sailor Mercury on Wikipedia
*Sailor Mercury (anime) on the Sailor Moon Wiki
*Sailor Mercury on the Pure Good Wiki
*Sailor Mercury on Pooh's Adventures Wiki
*Sailor Mercury on Sailor Moon Dub Wiki
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