, better known as , is a fictional character in the Sailor Moon manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. In the series, Rei is her sailor form's alternative human identity as part of the Sailor Guardians, female supernatural fighters who protect the Solar System from evil.
Rei is the second Sailor Guardian to be discovered by Usagi, following after Ami Mizuno. She possesses powers associated with fire, the Ofuda charm, and psychic clairvoyance. Aside from the main body of the Sailor Moon series, Rei is featured in two different manga short stories. The first, Casablanca Memories, is entirely about her and her past; the second, Rei and Minako's Girls School Battle, is shared with Minako Aino. A number of image songs mentioning her character have been released as well, including the contents of three different CD singles.
Takeuchi based Rei on her own personal experience as a miko. Originally designed with her own unique outfit, when Takeuchi decided to give all of the Guardians identical outfits, Rei's high heels were the only aspect that was carried over. A cold and aloof character in the manga, her personality was drastically changed in the anime adaptation at the behest of Kunihiko Ikuhara, where she became stubborn.
Profile Rei first appears as a miko at the Hikawa Shrine, and is shown to have an affinity with two crows who live there. It is revealed in the manga that as a child, the crows "told" her that their names are Phobos and Deimos (the same as Mars' two moons). In the manga, she is portrayed as imperial, ancient, conservative, old-fashioned, traditional, serious, disciplined, and practical, having contempt for men and disliking modern romantic relationships.
In the anime adaptation, Rei is a disciplined and practical person. She is also greatly interested in pop culture, and she excels at music—composing songs for a school festival. Rei and Usagi Tsukino have a very tempestuous relationship, and argue frequently. Though these arguments are usually petty, early in the series Rei attempts to usurp Usagi as the leader of Sailor Guardians. Even though Rei does become more loyal to Usagi, with slightly calmer emotions in the later seasons, she still remains somewhat more of a typical teenager than her manga counterpart. In the anime, Rei also tends to engage in long periods of antagonizing Usagi (who returns the same reaction), as a running gag in their arguments.
Rei goes to a different school from the other girls, namely T*A Private Girls School, a Catholic institution run by nuns. She herself is a practitioner of Shinto, living and working at Hikawa Shrine with her grandfather, its head priest. Her mother died when Rei was very young; her father is a famous politician who cares more about his job than about her (though in the live-action version he still tries to be involved in her life), and who only visits Rei on her birthday. She carries a certain amount of dislike towards him, especially in the live-action series, in which the character of her grandfather does not appear.
Because of the lack of respectable males in her life, Rei harbors a generally low opinion of men. She considers them untrustworthy and seems genuinely uninterested in romance. The one exception is in a manga side-story centering on her, Casablanca Memories, which tells of Rei's friendship with her father's young secretary, Kaidou. He had been kind to her for her entire life and, in the story, she fancies herself in love with him. She is shocked when he suddenly announces his engagement to another girl and his decision to become a politician, despite having once said that he did not like what had happened to Rei's family as a result of her father's work. Proof of her feelings are further cemented when she moves to kiss Kaidou, asking why, if he wanted to marry into the profession, why not choose to marry her due to her father's political influence. In the manga, this is the only potential romance in her life; in the live-action series, nothing of the sort is ever shown, as Rei unquestionably detests boys.Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Act 6. When questioned by Usagi about whether she likes boys, Rei answers, "No. Didn't I say I was that type?" In the anime only, she "dates" Mamoru Chiba in the first season (though he thinks they are just friends), and occasionally seems open to a relationship with Yūichirō Kumada, her grandfather's pupil. In one episode, on the brink of death, she states that she wished she had kissed Yūichirō before leaving. In the original anime, she states in episode 152 that she dreams of one day getting married.
Later on, members of the Dead Moon Circus harass Rei with a reflection of her young self, which mocks her for her friendships and her dream of being a priestess. The reflection tells her that the only way for her to be happy is to try her luck with numerous men until she ends up married to someone rich. Rei is able to defeat this illusion, and in the process gains her Sailor Crystal along with the memory that, long ago, she had in fact made a vow of chastity to Princess Serenity. After this realization, she is never again shown having any doubts about her lack of interest in romance. This is never mentioned in the other series.
Rei's lifelong dream is to become the head priestess at Hikawa Shrine, and much of her life is influenced by spirituality, particularly in the manga. Meditation is given as her strong point, and she enjoys fortune-telling as a hobby. The elegance of her character is further underscored by the contrast between her favorite subject, ancient writing, and her least favorite, modern society. She also belongs to the Archery club at school, which later provides the context for her most powerful weapon, the Mars Arrow. Rei is also skilled in martial arts and a talented skier in the anime. As for more general tastes, Rei likes the colors red and black, plum juice, fugu, Thai food, white casablancas, ruby gemstones, little lizards, and pandas,From the back of the Irwin Toy Boxes and dislikes men in general. The manga states that she once enjoyed Devilman, which the English manga changes to Buffy.
In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Rei has problems trusting people, even her fellow Sailor Guardians, and has a tendency to rely too much on herself.Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 23. She says that she hates karaoke (which the other girls love, especially Usagi),Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Act 3. but is later forced by Minako into posing as an idol. As "Mars Reiko," she appears on three occasions: performing for hospitalized people, working alongside Minako, and staging a contest with Minako in order to stop her from quitting the idol business.Episodes 23, 37, and 40 respectively. She has a complex relationship with Minako; though they often disagree and compete with each other, they also share great respect. Minako even sometimes lets her guard down around Rei, and eventually confides to her about what she feels is her destiny as a Sailor Guardian. Rei is told that she is to be the secondary leader of the Guardians, and alternately admires and resents Minako's teachings about what that means.Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Act 17 et seq. She later becomes aware of Mio hurting Usagi just to keep Mamoru at Beryl's side and confronts her while in the Dark Kingdom. Rei tells her off it is her own selfishness that is encouraging Serenity to keep using the crystal and give her a choice: allow Mamoru and Usagi to see each other even for a day or she will tell her friends about Mio (which will not end well for her). Mio wisely chooses to let them see each other in order to keep Rei quiet about her. Mars uses her own dagger with Venus' to attempt to stop Serenity from destroying the Earth.
In the Special Act movie, Rei senses Mio's return and investigates it with Luna. She is later incapacitated by Mio's growing dark powers.
Aspects and forms As a character with different incarnations, special powers, transformations and a long lifetime virtually spanned between the Silver Millennium era and the 30th century, Rei gains multiple aspects and aliases as the series progresses.
Sailor Mars Rei's Sailor Guardian identity is Sailor Mars. She wears a sailor suit colored in red and violet, along with red high heels, and in the manga and live-action series has a small red jewel at the waist, though this vanishes upon upgrades. (Concept art shows this was supposed to appear as a necklace when not transformed but never does) She is given specific titles throughout the various series, including Guardian of War and Guardian of Flame and Passion.Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Act 3 Her personality is no different from when she is a civilian, although certain powers are unavailable to her in that form.
In Japanese, the name for the planet Mars is , the first kanji meaning 'fire' and the second indicating a celestial object. Although the Roman planet-name is used, Sailor Mars' abilities are fire-based due to this aspect of Japanese mythology. Most are offensive attacks, although as a priestess, she also possesses a certain amount of psychic ability, and is able to do fire-readings, sense danger, and subdue evil spirits. In the manga, she is listed as the secondary leader of the Sailor Guardians, after Sailor Venus. This fact is especially significant in the live-action series.
As she grows stronger, Sailor Mars gains additional powers, and at key points her uniform changes to reflect this. The first change takes place in Act 41 of the manga, when she obtains the Mars 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 152 of the anime, and she is given the name Super Sailor Mars. A third form appears in Act 49 of the manga, unnamed but similar to Eternal Sailor Moon (without wings). In the official visual book for Sailor Moon Eternal, this form was named "Eternal Sailor Mars".
Princess Mars In Silver Millennium, Sailor Mars 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 Mars, she lived in Phobos-Deimos Castle and wore a red gown—she appears in this form in the original manga, as well as in supplementary art. Naoko Takeuchi once drew her in the arms of Jadeite., Naoko Takeuchi quote about it from the artbook: "This is the title page for the conclusion of the first series of Sailor Moon. It had a great deal of impact on the first series. Probably because the four couplings on the right side were very unexpected. I was thinking of love stories of the previous lives of these couples. I'd like to be able to draw that someday..." In the manga, he expresses at least a physical attraction to her, and in Sailor Moon CrystalSailor Moon Crystal act #12 "Enemy –Queen Metalia" and in the stage musicalsDescribed by Luna and Artemis in Gaiden Dark Kingdom Fukkatsu Hen, the first musical. it is clearly stated that Sailor Mars and Jadeite were in love at the time of the Moon Kingdom.
It is revealed later in the manga that Phobos and Deimos are actually maidens from Planet Coronis sent to protect Princess Mars. They take the form of crows during the present time and were near Rei when she first came to the shrine as a child, supposedly "telling" her their names. Phobos and Deimos reveal their true forms when delivering the Mars Crystal to her and refer to her using her princess title.
Special powers and items