Sailor Jupiter

Sailor Jupiter (セーラージュピター, Sērā Jupitā^?) is one of the central characters in the Sailor Moon metaseries. Her real name is Makoto Kino (木野 まこと, Kino Makoto^?, or Lita Kino in the English versions), a strong schoolgirl who can transform into one of the series' specialized heroines, the Sailor Senshi.

Sailor Jupiter is the third member of the Sailor Team to be discovered by Sailor Moon, and serves as the "muscles" of the group.^[3] In addition to being physically tough, she is able to manipulate electricity and uses some plant-based powers. Her friends rarely use her full given name, normally shortening it to Mako-chan.

Aside from the main body of the Sailor Moon series, Makoto features in her own manga short story, Mako's Depression. A number of image songs featuring her character have been released as well, including the contents of three different CD singles.

Profile

Makoto's strong, independent personality is hinted at in her most striking physical feature—her unusual height. She is stated at her first appearance in the series to be very tall, and considerable notice is taken in the Japanese versions, although this trait is downplayed in English translations (as her relative height is not all that uncommon in the West). She is also physically very strong, and in fact was rumored to have been kicked out of her previous school for fighting. She is introduced to the series after transferring to Azabu Jūban Junior High, where Usagi and Ami are students, and where she stands out all the more because her school uniform is different from everyone else's; unable to find anything in her size, the school's administration tells her to wear her old one. It has a long skirt, which when coupled with her curly hair, was a common visual cue for a tough or delinquent girl at the time the series was created.^[4] However, unlike these delinquent girls, her curly hair is natural.^[5] Despite her tough appearance, she is very gentle. She always wears pink rose earrings and a sea-green hair tie, even when transformed.

One of the most consistent characters across the many versions of the series, Makoto is always depicted as simultaneously the most masculine and most feminine of the younger Senshi. She is tall, strong, physical, and practices martial arts and other sports, but at the same time is rather busty and an excellent cook and house-cleaner. Her most closely-held dream is to marry young and own a cake and flower shop,^[6] and she loves romance novels. Her favorite class is home economics and her least favorite is physics. After entering high school, she also joins the cooking and gardening clubs.^[7] She likes all foods, but especially cherry pie, and meatloaf, and her favorite colors are green and pink. She loves horses and hates cheaters.

Her domestic talents are explained as a deliberate effort to overcome her tomboyishness.^[8] In the anime, she is given the additional character trait of being highly prone to random crushes. In the live-action series she enjoys shopping, but eschews "girly" things; she cooks, but also physically overpowers bullies; she reorganizes her home, but does so with a sledgehammer.^[9] She insists that she is not the least bit feminine, and seems surprised and touched when someone tells her she is.^[10]

This dual nature comes from a need to be self-sufficient: in the manga continuity her parents died in a plane crash when she was very young and she has since then looked after herself. She is self-sufficient almost to a fault, and becomes extremely nervous anytime an airplane passes overhead. In the anime, Makoto lives alone, but it is never explicitly stated that her parents are dead — in the English adaptation, she says she cannot take care of a cat because her mother is allergic — and later in the series she is shown boarding an airplane without any mention of fear.^[11] In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Makoto's parents' death is told in a flashback in Act 6, but how they died is not mentioned.^[12]

Makoto has at least one former boyfriend; the importance of this subplot, as well as her level of obsession with cute men, varies wildly between adaptations. Fans of the anime typically have a perception of Makoto as extremely boy-crazy; a recurring gag is her obsession with people who look like the older classmate (sempai) who once broke her heart (unnamed except in the English dub, where he is called Freddy). In the manga, her "sempai" is mentioned only once or twice, and in the live-action drama is an integral part of why Makoto feels she needs to be alone.^[12] In each version, there are mentions of other men who were very briefly a part of her life. Makoto is generally attracted to Motoki Furuhata, especially in the anime, but only in the live-action show do they become close.^[10] By the end of the direct-to-DVD Special Act, they are engaged to be married.^[13]

One quirk of Makoto's was made famous among English-speaking fans due to the translation of a particular anime scene. The girls are arguing over which of them should play the part of Snow White in a play.^[14] In Japanese, Makoto insists that she would be best for the role because she has the largest breasts. In the English adaptation, she still points at her chest, but states instead that she has the most "talent." As a reference to this, anime fans occasionally use the term "talented" as a euphemism for "busty.

Aspects and aliases

As a character with different incarnations, special powers, transformations and a long lifetime virtually spanned between the Silver Millennium era and the 30th century, Makoto gains multiple aspects and aliases as the series progresses.

Sailor Jupiter

Makoto's Senshi identity is Sailor Jupiter. She wears a uniform colored in green and pink, with rose-shaped earrings and green, laced-up boots. In the manga and live-action series she has a belt carrying a small ball of potpourri. She is given specific titles throughout the various series, including Soldier of Protection,^[15] Herculean Jupiter,^[16] Soldier of Thunder and Courage,^[12], and Soldier of Caring.^[17] 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 Jupiter is Mokusei (木星, Mokusei^?), the first kanji meaning 'tree' and the second indicating a celestial object. Although the Roman planet-name is used, Sailor Jupiter's dominant element is wood^[18] due to this aspect of Japanese mythology. Unusually, most of her attacks are based in her secondary power, which is lightning in reference to the Roman god Jupiter. She is by far the physically-strongest of the Guardian Senshi, able to lift a full-grown man above her head^[19] or to stop a stone pillar from falling.^[20] In the early manga, she always has a short antenna coming from her tiara, which serves as a lightning rod; eventually this takes on the same role as in the anime, and extends upward only when she summons lightning. It does not appear in the live-action series.

As she grows stronger, Sailor Jupiter gains additional powers, and at key points her uniform changes to reflect this. The first change takes place in Act 37 of the manga, when she obtains the Jupiter Crystal and her outfit becomes similar to that of Super Sailor Moon. She is not given a new title.^[6] A similar event is divided between Episodes 143 and 154 of the anime, and she is given the name Super Sailor Jupiter. A third, manga-only form appears in Act 42, unnamed but analogous to Eternal Sailor Moon (sans wings).^[21]

Princess Jupiter

Planetary symbol of Jupiter

In the Silver Millennium, Sailor Jupiter 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 Jupiter, she dwelt in Io Castle and wore a green gown — she appears in this form in the original manga, as well as in supplementary art.^[22][23] Naoko Takeuchi once drew her in the arms of Nephrite, but no further romantic link between them was established in the manga or anime,^[24] In the stage musicals, it is stated that the two of them were in love at the time of the Moon Kingdom,^[25] and this is also implied in the Another Story video game.

Special powers and items

Makoto is not shown using any special powers in her civilian form, although she is unusually strong for a teenage girl. She must first transform into a Sailor Senshi by raising a special device (pen, bracelet, wand, or crystal) into the air and shouting a special phrase, originally "Jupiter Power, Make-up!"^[26] As she becomes more powerful and obtains new transformation devices, this phrase changes to evoke Jupiter Star, Planet, or Crystal Power.^[27] In the anime, Sailor Jupiter'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 the animation remains essentially the same. They all involve electric charges forming an atom path which encircles her body.

In the manga, Sailor Jupiter's first named attack is Flower Hurricane, which is immediately followed by calling down lightning.^[28] Emphasis is quickly placed upon her electric-based powers, and these are the norm in all versions of the series.^[29] Her primary attack for the first story arc and most of the second is Supreme Thunder,^[30] for which she calls down lightning from the sky with a tiny lightning rod that extends from the stone on her tiara (or, in the live-action series, with her leg). Although she channels this power, she is not immune to its effects, and can use her body to focus the electricity in a suicide move.^[31] It is upgraded twice for one-off attacks in the anime series: once to Supreme Thunder Dragon,^[32] and much later to Super Supreme Thunder.^[33]

In the second story arc Sailor Jupiter gains Sparkling Wide Pressure,^[34] which, aside from a manga-only power called Coconut Cyclone, remains her primary attack for the rest of the second story arc, all of the third, and much of the fourth. When she takes on her second Senshi form (Super Sailor Jupiter in the anime), she acquires a special item, a wreath of oak leaves, which is described in the manga as "the emblem of thunder and lightning." It appears in her hair and enables her to use Jupiter Oak Evolution.^[35]

Sailor Jupiter's earrings, large pink roses, are occasionally significant. She wears them in both her Senshi and civilian forms, and can use them as a projectile weapon if she needs to. When they first meet in the manga, Usagi thinks the roses have a nice fragrance, and late in the anime the sight of them brings her back from temporary memory loss because it reminds her of Tuxedo Mask.^[36] Much more important, in the manga, are the Jupiter Crystal and Leaves of Oak. The former is Makoto's Sailor Crystal and the source of all of her power, which becomes especially important in the fifth story arc. In the live-action series, she frequently uses unnamed electric attacks, and is given a tambourine-like weapon (the Sailor Star Tambo) by Artemis. In the final episode, the Tambo transforms into a lance.

Development

Makoto is present in the original proposal for a hypothetical Codename: Sailor V anime, but her name is given as Mamoru Chino. Creator Naoko Takeuchi confirms that this character eventually became Makoto, and writes that the original concept was quite different—Makoto was not only tough, but in fact was meant to be the leader of a female gang as well as a smoker.^[37] A very similar name was later given to the series' male protagonist, Mamoru Chiba.

Sailor Jupiter's original costume design, like the others', was fully unique. It featured buckles, very long gloves, blue and yellow highlights, a bare lower torso, and a profusion of thin, dark pink ribbons—along with a face-plate and communicator. Later, Takeuchi was surprised by these sketches and stated that she did not remember drawing them.^[38] Her instructions to the animators included a note that Makoto should appear muscular, "a little meatier than normal."^[3]

Certain background details of Makoto's character were chosen symbolically—for instance, her Western astrological sign is given as Sagittarius,^[2] which in astrology corresponds to the planet Jupiter. In reference to a popular Japanese belief, her blood type is given as O,^[2] supposedly indicating friendliness and vanity.

The kanji of Makoto's surname translate as "tree" or "wood" (木, ki^?) and "field" or "civilian" (野, no^?). Her given name is in hiragana (まこと, makoto^?) and therefore difficult to translate. Possible meanings include "truth," "wisdom," and "sincerity." The given name "Makoto" is usually a male name, but is sometimes given to girls; its use here highlights Makoto's tomboyishness.^[39] Her entire name is structured as a pun, as the syllable "no" indicates a possessive, so that her name can also be understood as "Makoto of Trees."

In an early DiC promotional tape that advertised Sailor Moon to television stations, Makoto was called Sara.^[40] Another preliminary name, appearing on Kodansha's English website in an advertisement for the series, was Maggie.

Reception and influence

The official Sailor Moon character popularity polls listed Makoto Kino and Sailor Jupiter as separate entities. In 1992, readers ranked them at eleventh and fifth respectively, out of thirty eight choices.^[41] One year later, now with fifty choices, Jupiter dropped to the eleventh most popular while Makoto was twelfth most popular.^[42] In 1994, with fifty one choices, Sailor Jupiter was the seventeenth most popular character and Makoto was eighteenth.^[43] In early 1996, with fifty one choices, Makoto was the twenty third most popular character and Jupiter was the twenty seventh.^[44]

A five-book series was published, one book on each of the Guardian Senshi and Sailor Moon. Makoto's was released in 1996.^[45] This book was later translated into English by Mixx.^[46]

Actresses

In the original anime production of Sailor Moon, Makoto is voiced by Emi Shinohara. For the English-language dub, the voice of "Lita" is provided by Susan Roman. She is the only significant human character in the English-language dub to be played by the same voice actor through the entire series run. Patricia Tollett provides English vocals for songs sung by Lita in the English dub.

In the musical version, Makoto has been portrayed by 12 actresses: Noriko Kamiyama, Marie Sada, Takako Inayoshi, Emika Satoh, Akari Tonegawa, Chiho Oyama, Emi Kuriyama, Yuriko Hayashi, Ayano Sugimoto, Kaori Sakata, Karina Okada and Mai Watanabe.^[47]

In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Makoto is played by Myū Azama. Also, child actress Misho Narumi portrays Makoto in flashbacks, dream sequences, and childhood photos.^[48]

See also

• Jupiter (planet)
• Jupiter (mythology)
• Zeus

References

Sailor Moon Franchise Chapter list • Musicals • Video games • Live-action series • English adaptations • Codename: Sailor V (chapters) Episodes Sailor Moon • Sailor Moon R • Sailor Moon S • Sailor Moon Supers • Sailor Stars Movies Sailor Moon R • Sailor Moon S • Sailor Moon Supers Characters Protagonists Sailor Senshi • Sailor Moon • Tuxedo Mask • Chibiusa • Sailor Mercury • Sailor Mars • Sailor Jupiter • Sailor Venus • Sailor Pluto • Sailor Neptune • Sailor Uranus • Sailor Saturn Antagonists Dark Kingdom (Shitennou) • Black Moon Clan • Death Busters • Dead Moon Circus • Shadow Galactica Supporting characters Silver Millennium • Luna, Artemis, and Diana • Sailor Starlights • ChibiChibi • Minor characters