Mizuno Ami. Sailormercury. Synonymous names, two identities in one person. We are talking about a girl with a lot of mysteries surrounding her, clouding our senses so that we cannot see what she really is. Why don't we try to uncover the real Mizuno Ami, the one hiding underneath her watery illusions?

Ask anyone at Juuban High who Mizuno Ami is. They'll show you a girl who's really smart (so smart that she's become a nerd), beautiful, and gentle, although a little too shy for her own good. They'll show you a girl who fascinates them in all fields academic, but with her is a martyr who doesn't know how to use her knowledge so that people won't push her around. Well, what do they know?

There's a lot they don't know. And if you share the same beliefs they have about Ami, sadly, you are no better than the people at Juuban High. You, too, have fallen prey to her illusion.

Ami grew up with her mother who is a doctor, but unfortunately, Dr. Mizuno and Ami's father were separated. As a result, she had to grow up without a dad, so she never got used to dealing with the opposite sex. Whenever she meets a guy, she always blushes and turns her head to the floor, as if to avoid the guy's eyes. Ami acts more awkwardly when she's with guys than when she's with girls because she never had her father to teach her how to deal with them.

The Mizunos are a very well-to-do family; the very fact that they actually live in a mansion should vouch for that (in the anime, though, there are evidences that she lives in an apartment; however, I myself am very unclear about this). Ami never had to want for anything material, but, still, there were some things that money couldn't buy.

Like friends, for one. There was never any account in Ami's childhood that she had really close friends. She was always faced with rejection, because even when she was a child, she was being discriminated against for being the smart girl who just can't seem to do anything but study. As a result, Ami developed a fear of rejection, and she was careful not to offend anyone in fear of losing that person as a friend. She was always careful not to seem too straightforward, so she was shy. She was careful not to blame people in case they might get angry with her, and because of this, she always said sorry for everything that happens, whether it be her fault or not. She was careful not to say anything bad, so she always kept quiet. She was careful not to bother anyone with her problems, so she always kept them to herself.

Though Ami has close friends now, she's still that way, shy and unsure. She's still that way because she still has that fear of rejection, though it's not as much as the one she had before. Luckily for her, the friends she found are the best ones she could ever have, and there's no need to even think about rejection, because it will never happen.

To her friends (and to everyone else, for the matter…) Ami is especially sweet and caring. But even if she has real friends now, somehow Ami feels that she should not bother them with her problems, and so she still keeps her problems to herself.

But, in one time or another, Ami did confide to some people, but she never poured her heart out completely in any of those instances. One of those people was Urawa Ryo. Also, she once confided in Mamoru, about a problem she had concerning her studying. It's not surprising to think that she confides in the most unlikely people, since we find it easier to tell a stranger what we can't tell our friends.

She may not show it much, but Ami is beset with more problems than anyone would ever think. Just look into her eyes, there's always a certain sadness surrounding it. Besides the fact that her parents are separated (which doesn't seem to bother her all that much), Ami has a more serious problem to face, and that is: herself.

Yes, herself. Ami's biggest dilemma is her low self-confidence. She's a perfectly capable girl with a lot of talent, beauty and intelligence, but she doesn't believe in herself, and it's yet another reason for her excessive shyness.

Ami is an excellent swimmer, contrary to the belief that most smart people aren't that athletic. She also plays a great game of basketball, and she knows the strategies of the game even when she was still a child, because she did some coaching for her friends back then. I guess there's no need anymore to say that she's also very beautiful; that would be stating the obvious. And there's also no need at all to tell you that this girl is super-smart, having inherited some of her mother's brains, and her dad's sense of abstract reasoning (he's an artist). Why, anybody can see that Ami is a very accomplished girl! Not only is she incredibly beautiful, but also she is smart, athletic, and

It's just too bad that she herself can't seem to accept that fact. It's hard to imagine how she could have been brought to think that way about herself. How did this come about?

Having always been at the top of the class, Ami has long been known as the smart girl by everybody who knew her, even when she was a child. This must have made it difficult for her to make friends. Her childhood pals always scorned her for being so smart, and for seeming do to nothing else but to study. Because of this, she began to see her intelligence as nothing to be proud of, and she brought herself to agree to the charges that those people faced against her, that the only thing she could do very well was to study.

So Ami found a friend in this studying of hers. Not only was it something she was good at, but also, it was something she could do to take her mind off her problems. This must be why she constantly says, "let's go study!". For her studying was an escape from everything that was bugging her, and it brought her closer to her dream, which was to become a doctor someday, to follow in her mother's footsteps.

These problems of hers are unbeknownst to a lot of people, because she keeps them to herself. She may not be as physically strong as Haruka-san, but she is emotionally strong (though not as much as Minako-chan is). This makes her an ideal senshi, being smart and strong both at the same time. She acts rationally even under pressure, and she knows what to do, without panicking or giving up.

And she has an edge over the other senshi. While the others look intimidating and powerful, Sailormercury seems to look gentle and unassuming, so the villains tend to underestimate her. As a result, they end up going easy on her, and that gives her the chance to move in for the kill (well, not exactly…).

Sometimes, Sailormercury tends to surprise people by doing things that aren't expected of her at all. There was one time when she slapped Sailormoon on the face (heh, heh!) to stop her from panicking. There was also a time when she surprised Sailoruranus by defeating a youma that was holding Uranus hostage.

Ami may not be as predictable as anybody may think, she holds a lot of surprises for everyone. Whether as Sailormercury or as herself, Ami is still that kawaii smart girl that everyone loves. You'll come to love her too, especially after you've seen beyond her illusion. All she needs is a little understanding on our part, and that's all…