Sailor Moon is one of the most iconic anime and manga franchises of all time. This franchise tells the story of Sailor Senshi (Pretty Soldiers) who fights all evil with moonlight and their love. They also defeat enemies, protect the universe, and form strong friendships along the way. One of the characters that stands out in this story is Sailor Mars.

Many people may already know Sailor Mars or Rei Hino, as a fiery girl who plays an important role in the story of Sailor Moon and also competes for the affection of Tuxedo Mask. However, this character turned out to be much more complex than many people already knew. Curious about Sailor Mars who works as a Miko or a Shrine Maiden? Let's follow the discussion of Sailor Mars below!

1. She is the Daughter of a Famous Politician

In the anime, Sailor Mars aka Rei Hino is seen living with her grandfather, who raised her to become a Shinto priest. The Sailor Moon anime series doesn't really mention Rei's parents.

However, she is given a complicated backstory in a short story titled "Casablanca Memories," which describes her parents. It is revealed that her mother, Risa Hino, died of an unexplained illness when Rei was only four years old. However, her father is a famous politician who seems to care more about his work than his family and leaves his daughter to be cared for by his wife's father who is a temple priest.

Rei harbors a deep hatred for her father because he did not visit his wife at all while she was in the hospital and hardly made time for her either. He is rarely seen in the manga apart from the  Casablanca Memories arc, and her father only visits Rei once a year on her birthday.

2. She Hates Men and All Things Romantic

In the anime, Sailor Mars aka Rei competes with Sailor Moon aka Usagi for Tuxedo Mask's affection throughout the first season. In the following season, it is implied that she has a crush on her grandfather's student named Yuichiro Kumada. However, in the manga Rei is a self-proclaimed men-hater, mainly due to her bad relationship with her father and trauma from her past. 

Because of this, she is not interested in pursuing any kind of romance, although he is filled with doubts about what this means for her life. She doesn't trust men. When she regained the memory of her past life, she remembered that she had made an oath of chastity to Princess Serenity. Once she remembered this, she became more convinced than ever that she would never need a man by her side.

3. Kaido Is One Exception To Her Hatred Of Boys

The closest thing Sailor Mars has ever had to a romantic relationship is detailed in a side story called “Casablanca Memory.” Whenever her father made his annual birthday visit, he brought Rei a white dress, and her father's young male secretary, Kaido, came with him. Even though Kaido had no reason to do so, Kaido always gave Rei a bouquet of Casablanca lilies.

Kaido has always been kind to Rei, and openly expresses his sadness over the negative impact politics has had on Rei's family. As Rei grows up, Rei begins to fall in love with him. Rei is then taken aback when, out of nowhere, Kaido announces his engagement to another girl and his intention to fully pursue his political career.

Kaido admits that he only married as a political move, which was decided by Rei's father. Rei then gets annoyed, and asks why he didn't marry her because of his father's influence, if that political move was the only reason to get married.

4. Inspired by The Author’s Experience as a Shinto Priest

Rei is a miko, who is a Shinto shrine priestess, and basically serves as an auxiliary priest. In modern times, miko are trained to perform sacred cleansings, sacred Kagura dances, and help guard shrines, with duties such as cleaning and receptions.

They were allowed to integrate into modern society, but Rei didn't really care. She abstains from engaging in the frivolous activities of modern society as much as she can. Naoko Takeuchi, the creator of Sailor Moon, based Rei's character on her own real-life experiences as a miko.

Sailor Mars' uniform is red and white, representing the colors of the priestess robes. Miko are also known for their archery skills. This may be the inspiration for one of the famous attack moves from Sailor Mars, the Flame Sniper.

5. She Attended a Private Catholic School

Whenever the Sailor Senshi are shown in their school uniforms, Sailor Mars aka Rei feels quite different. The uniform is described as "classier" than the uniforms of the other Sailor Senshi girls. This happened because Rei attended a Catholic private school institution called T.A Private Girls School.

It might seem strange that Rei, who became a Shinto priest, went to a Catholic school instead. However, it still makes sense because many private schools in Japan are affiliated with a religion. Because Rei is the daughter of a famous politician, she attends a more elite school.

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6. She aspires to be a Head Priest

Since her parents are not in her daily life, Sailor Mars aka Rei is very close to her grandfather. Rei lives and works with her grandfather at Hikawa Shrine, where Rei's grandfather is the head priest. Rei aims to follow in his footsteps one day. 

In the manga, Rei states that her main dream is to become the head priest of the temple. This ambition is a little different from what most teenage girls in Japan dream of. Sailor Venus, for example, dreams of becoming a famous pop idol, while Sailor Moon often thinks about her romance.

However, Rei's true passion in life is spirituality and meditation. Some of the girls at her school mock her for this, and Rei sometimes worries that she won't be able to achieve her goals.

7. She Wears High Heels, Instead of Boots like the other Sailor Senshi

Most Sailor Senshi members wear knee-length boots, which provide extra protection, or ankle-high boots in their respective Sailor Senshi forms. There are a few exceptions, such as Sailors Venus and Neptune, who wear heels with straps that go up to their ankles. However, Sailor Mars chose to fight crime in red high heels, with no straps or extra protection.

This is because Sailor Mars was originally designed with her own unique outfit. Naoko Takeuchi finally decided to make all Sailor Senshi wear the same uniform, except for the shoes.

These high heels can also represent the femininity and strength of women which are the two main themes of this series. In chapter five of the manga, Rei even calls out to a villain: “You will refrain from underestimating women! With my high heels, I will punish you!”

8. Her  Fire Comes From The Japanese Name For Mars

Although the anime series uses Roman mythological names and astronomical symbols of ancient Greek origin to represent planets, much of the Sailor Senshi's powers are also influenced by the Japanese names of planets.

Mars is the Roman god of war, which is perfect for passionate warriors, but Mars is not associated with fire, so why is fire her main strength? This is because the Japanese word for Mars is Kasei, which literally translates to "planet or fire star."

This is the reason why all of Sailor Mars' powers are based mostly on the fire element. Both of these influences are evident in his famous words. After Rei transforms into Sailor Mars, Rei calls out: "Protected by Mars, the planet of fire. The Guardian of War. I am Sailor Mars. In the name of Mars, I'll chastise you!”

9. There is a debate about her name

Most of the names of the characters in the Sailor Moon series translate to something related to their strength or personality, but fans disagree about the name Sailor Mars. To understand the debate surrounding the meaning of the name Rei Hino, we must recognize that there are three writing systems in Japanese: hiragana, katakana, and kanji.

Hiragana and katakana cover the phonetic alphabet. Hiragana is generally used for native Japanese words, while katakana represents foreign language words and onomatopoeia. Kanji are Japanese characters that represent words and phrases. Japanese names can usually be written in hiragana and kanji, while foreign names are translated into katakana.

For some reason, Rei's first name was written in katakana. This is very strange because as her fans know, Rei is clearly from Japan and there is no kanji representation of her name. Therefore the name Rei can have one of many different meanings, including “invulnerability”, “companion”, “zero”, “beauty”, or “spirit”. Rei in Katakana can also be literally translated as "fire ray."

10. Character Design Inspired By J-Pop Idol named Arisa Mizuki

Sailor Moon fans have noticed that Naoko Takeuchi based some of her character designs on real-life people. For example, Sailor Mercury's appearance was inspired by singer and actress Noriko Sakai. In volume 14 of the manga, Takeuchi asserts that Rei's character designs were inspired by singer, actress, and model named Arisa Mizuki. 

Mizuki sang the ending theme for Sailor Moon Stars entitled "Kaze mo, Sora mo, Kitto". She started modeling at the young age of four, and soon turned to acting in the advertising industry. She debuted as a J-pop singer when she was 15 years old, and is considered one of the popular Japanese country idols of the 1990s. When Takeuchi created the Sailor Moon manga, Mizuki was still around 14 or 15 years old, which is about the same age as Sailor Mars.

That’s the list of 10 facts about Sailor Mars, the Pretty Soldiers character who has the power of fire in the Sailor Moon anime, manga, film and game series. Do you think there are more Sailor Mars facts that you know but haven't included in this article? You can share them in the comments.

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