When enjoying the Sailor Moon series, you may have wondered why two Sailor Scouts use the element of water in their attacks while all the others are gifted with their own specific elements. Though it seems like an oversight, Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of Sailor Moon, intended for both Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune to have water-based attacks, which shows in the etymology of their names and the Greco-Roman mythology behind the planets.
Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune’s surnames actually both possess kanji related to water. In Sailor Mercury’s surname, Mizuno, the kanji for mizu means water and the no means “field.” Thus, “Mizuno” translates to “water field.” For Sailor Neptune, her surname, Kaiou, has kanji which translates to “sea king,” where the kanji kai means "sea" and the ou means "king."
Furthermore, the kanji for the planets, Mercury and Neptune, also have some significance to water. In Japanese, Mercury is called "Suisei” and is written in kanji using the character for water, sui. Meanwhile the planet Neptune, like Michiru Kaiou's name, is written with the kanji for “sea king,” in reference to the Roman god, Neptune. Thus, Naoko Takeuchi's planned elemental powers for Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune complement the Japanese kanji for their respective planets, rather than the physical nature of them or balancing out the team.
However, although both Sailor Scouts’ powers are based on the element of water, they use water in different forms when it comes to their attacks. For Sailor Neptune, her power pays homage to the Roman God, Neptune, the God of the Deep Sea. As a result, many of her attacks involve the ocean and deep sea. One of her attacks, “Submarine Reflection,” uses her Deep Aqua Mirror to release a blast of seawater. Another one of her popular attacks, the "Deep Submerge," gathers ocean water to form a blue ball of energy shaped like the planet Neptune, which Michiru then releases at her enemies.
As for Sailor Mercury, her attacks incorporate the different forms of water, mainly those related to weather, like mist, ice and snow. For example, one of her attacks, “Mercury Aqua Rhapsody,” transforms water into the shape of a harp, which then produces a water funnel. The harp alludes to the Greek God, Hermes, who invented the harp and was the messenger of Mt. Olympus. Hermes is also known as Mercury in Roman mythology. For more even significance to the planet Mercury, Ami Mizuno’s birthday is on September 10th, and according to Western astrology, that period is Virgo season, whose ruling planet is Mercury.
For Naoko Takeuchi, having both Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune’s powers be water-based was clearly thought-out, albeit, not immediately obvious to the average viewer. The pair's powers come not only from Greco-Roman mythology, but also from the meanings of specific kanji for their planets and names. Sailor Mercury and Sailor Neptune may share an element when it comes to their attacks, but there’s a deeper significance as to why they both have power over water.
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