Minako is the original sailor-suited soldier. She began her Sailor Senshi life nearly a year before Usagi. In "Code Name wa: Sailor V" Minako fought the villains of the Dark Kingdom with Artemis. Naoko's editor liked her idea of a sailor-suited heroine, and he encouraged her to continue the story. Thus, the complete Sailor Team came into existence. Minako's manga persona is similar to her anime one. She is still the fun-loving girl who laments about boys and first loves. Go figure--> the goddess of love and beauty remains unattached!

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Minako is Sailor Venus, the true leader of the Senshi. With the help of various henshin phrases, Minako can transform into Sailor Venus, Super Sailor Venus, and Eternal Sailor Venus (in the manga, all of the Sailor Senshi achieve an eternal henshin, although they are not called "Eternal". Their skirts have two ruffles, they wear white boots, and they are sans wings).

In order to shield Princess Selenity and hide her true identity, Luna and Artemis disguised Minako as the Moon Princess. When the Senshi first meet Sailor Venus, she has a crescent moon on her forehead, the symbol of the royal family. It isn't until later in Volume II that her true identity is revealed.

Since she was created before Naoko developed the name scheme for the Senshi, Minako's name is slightly different from everyone else's. When broken down, her name reads "little beautiful child of love" (na mi ko no ai). Unlike the other Inner Senshi, her name has nothing to do with her powers except that the word "love" is often repeated. The dub shortens her name to Mina; actually, the Senshi often refer to her as Mina or Mina-P in the manga, so it's not much of a stretch.

Minako's birthday is on October 22, making her birthstone the topaz. Topaz is defined as a number of stones, ranging in color from brown to pink. The topaz we are most familiar with is "a yellow variety of sapphire." This suits Minako since she is most often associated with the colors gold and yellow (and possibly the orange color of her fuku).

Possibly the most intelligent Senshi (with Mamoru and Michiru coming in as close seconds), Ami is the anchor of the Inners. When there is trouble, Sailor Mercury is around to analyze the situation and offer solutions. Some people complain that Ami is boring and weak, but she is also very cute and endearing. Who else would be allergic to love letters? With her high IQ (rumored to be 300), Ami always has her nose in a book, a good thing as it turns out for her fellow soldiers.

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Ami is Sailor Mercury, the Senshi of water and the brains behind the Inners. With the help of various henshin phrases, Ami can become Sailor Mercury, Super Sailor Mercury, and Eternal Sailor Mercury. She is the first Senshi found by Sailor Moon (who initially thought Ami could help her out on tests if they were friends).

True to the naming scheme, Ami's full name corresponds to her ability to use water-based attacks. Her name means "friend of water" (ami no mizu). It is important to remember that Ami (ah-me) is different from Amy (ay-me). The dub probably saw Ami, read Amy, and that's what her name ended up as.

Everything about Ami from her hair to her fuku is blue. Therefore, it's only fitting that her gemstone be the sapphire. Her birthday is September 10, making her (quite fittingly) a Virgo.

The fiery Shinto priestess is almost unrecognizable in the manga to anime fans. Far from the boy-crazy, show biz-tuned teenager of the anime, manga Rei has a much different set of values. In her one act side story "Casablancas," we learn how an older man broke Rei’s heart and about her lousy relationship with her father, both of which have led her to give up on men. She never dates Mamoru, nor does the thought even enter her mind. She still retains her quick temper, but she remains aloof from the rest of the Senshi. Indeed, Rei can sometimes seem antisocial, but deep down she loves her friends. It's just not in her nature to be very open about her feelings.

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Rei is Sailor Mars, the Senshi of flame. With the help of various henshin phrases, Rei can become Sailor Mars, Super Sailor Mars, and Eternal Sailor Mars. She is the second Senshi found by Sailor Moon.

Unlike the other Inner Senshi, Rei has a job of sorts. She lives with her grandfather at his Shinto shrine and acts as a priestess in training. Her psychic powers and evil spirit charms are independent of her Senshi form.

Rei's name corresponds to one of her attacks. Hino Rei means "soul of fire" (rei no hi), which can be also written as "fire soul." The dub does not really change her name; they just changed the spelling to "Raye."

Rei's birthday is on April 17 and her gemstone is the ruby. As you can tell, she is fond of the color red.

Mako is the tomboy of the group. Tall and very strong, she stands out in a crowd. Although Mako tends to act tough, she has a soft side, especially when it comes to cooking and boys. Most people never get the chance to see Mako's other self. When she first transferred to Usagi's junior high school, everyone was afraid of her. Only Usagi was brave enough to go up to her (also, Mako had a delicious lunch and Usagi was hungry!).

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Mako has the power to transform into Sailor Jupiter. With the help of various henshin phrases, she can become Sailor Jupiter, Super Sailor Jupiter, and Eternal Sailor Jupiter. She is the third Senshi to be found by Sailor Moon.

In Japan, wood is considered an elemental, just like water and fire. Hence the meaning on Mako's name: faithfulness of wood (makoto ni ki). Anime fans may wonder why Mako is associated with wood if her attacks are mostly electrical. In the manga, Sailor Jupiter uses attacks that deal with flowers and plants (like "Flower Hurricane").

There appears to be no connection between Makoto and the dub name Lita. Frankly, I don't think there is a connection. However, the name Lita sounds a lot like Leto, one of the many mistresses of Zeus. Leto was the mother of the twins Apollo and Artemis (aka Diana). Maybe someone at DiC was a mythology buff....

Not surprisingly, Mako's color is green and her gemstone is the emerald. Her birthday is December 5.