Originally published in volume fourteen of the manga, this was the only of three "Exam Battle" stories to be made into a special for the anime which makes her one of the most recognizable and popular characters in the series.

[4] Her peers view her with a mixture of awe and distaste, misinterpreting her inherent shyness as snobbery, and so she tends to have a difficult time making new friends.

[7] Early on in the story, she relies heavily on the approval of her mother, teachers, and friends, but as the series progresses she becomes stronger and more confident in herself.

She loves to read, and dreams aloud of one day being a doctor like her mother and becomes one in both Parallel Sailor Moon and the live action series.

She faces a similar dilemma in the anime, but very directly; given the opportunity to study in Germany, she gets as far as the airport before deciding to stay in Japan and fight evil alongside her friends.

In both the anime and the manga, Ami's diligence in her studies becomes a running gag; she often comically scolds Usagi and the others for not doing their homework, and she can become obsessive about being the best student.

[2] In the anime, a classmate named Ryo Urawa learns her identity and expresses attraction to her, but this is never resolved, as he disappears after just two appearances in the first series.

[12] Other loves include cats,[15] the colors aquamarine and blue, the flower Water Lily, and the gemstone sapphire.

The manga says that he never visits them, having decided one day not to come home from the forest where he was relaxing and painting, but he sends her postcards on her birthday.

[18] However, in the anime Ami seems to appreciate her father and seems to share some of his artistic traits, at one point even composing matching lyrics for a tune that had none.

[20] Ami is shown testing the strength of a sword that the Sailor Guardians received on the Moon by using it to chip a diamond ring.

As a character with different incarnations, special abilities, powers, transformations, and ageless extended longevity; an extremely long lifetime virtually spanned between the Silver Millennium era and the 30th century, Ami gains multiple aspects and aliases as the series progresses.

In Japanese, the name for the planet Mercury is Suisei (水星), the first kanji meaning "water" and the second indicating a celestial object.

[26] Initially most of her powers are strategic rather than offensive,[5] and she possesses various pieces of computerized equipment to help her study the enemy.

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.

Her sailor suit has black tulle and lace on the back bow and sleeves, and tribal designs appear on her tiara and boots.

In promotional photos prior to her premiere, she was shown with a different sword, which seemed to have strings on it like a harp or violin; the latter seems more likely, as she is also seen holding a bow.

Dark Mercury is created when Kunzite manages to kidnap Ami in a moment of vulnerability while the other Sailor Guardians are busy.

He exposes her directly to the power of Queen Metaria, causing drastic personality changes as well as the alterations to her uniform.

She is self-confident to the point of egotism, and continues to attend school in civilian form, mainly to antagonize Usagi by brainwashing all of her former friends.

Dressing predominantly in black, evil-Ami tends to move about slowly and dramatically, and when confronting the Sailor Guardians gives a sense of sadistic glee.

In Act 28, the catalyst for her finally returning to normal is when, having defeated Sailor Moon in battle, the sight of her injured friend causes her to realize she cares about Usagi, and to remember who she really is.

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.

[31][32] Naoko Takeuchi once drew her in the arms of Zoisite, but no further romantic link between them was established in the manga or the first anime adaptation.

[40] For the entire first story arc, she uses her water-manipulating capabilities only to create solid and dense clouds of mist and fog, chilling and blinding the enemy while her allies prepare more direct attacks.

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.

Creator Naoko Takeuchi designed Ami as the "team brain",[1] 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.

It featured full-length sleeves, pink ribbons, shoulder guards, green accents, buttons on the stomach, and high-tech goggles.

[52][53][54] Ami has been portrayed by 18 actresses in the stage musicals: Ayako Morino, Yukiko Miyagawa, Hisano Akamine, Mariya Izawa, Chieko Kawabe, Manami Wakayama, Miyabi Matsura, Momoyo Koyama,[55] Yume Takeuchi, Riria Itou, Miria Watanabe, Cocona, Umino Kawamura, Momoko Kaechi, Hazuki Mukai, Kanon Maekawa, Aya Ogawa, and Aruno Nakanishi.