Ami Mizuno is a genius girl, almost always at the top of the mock exam results. She was ranked #1 in the nation when she was first introduced and it's rumoured that her IQ is 300. She's shy and polite, but when she gets determined, it's damned scary. She's inexperienced in the ways of romance and has a severe allergic reaction to love letters.
As Sailor Mercury, she's the Soldier of Wisdom and ice/water, and starts off with mostly defensive attacks. She'd typically stay back and help protect the other Soldiers with her mist attack while she tried to figure out the best strategy to defeat the enemy. As the Series progresses, however, she gains a few offensive attacks and can fight alongside the other Soldiers.
When it comes to studying, Ami is like a drill sergeant with herself and her friends, especially when the High School exams tick 'round. She's always there to lecture the girls when they get side-tracked, and she had a training regime of memorising 100 English words a day before she became fluent by Stars. She enjoys swimming and is very good at it. She can be seen wearing glasses occasionally, but her vision is fine, they just help her to feel more confident.

In the past, Ami was Princess Mercury, part of Princess Serenity's court and a princess of her own planet (of course, Mercury). 1000 years from our future and she's one of the four Guardian Soldiers protecting Crystal Tokyo and NeoQueen Serenity.

Ami, despite holding up the farce that she's too busy studying to be in a relationship, has a couple of romantic interests in the Series. In the Classic Season Fillers, she met Ryo Urawa, an intelligent young boy with psychic premonitions due to the fact he was one of the Nijizuishou Carriers. He had a crush on Ami and by the end of the Episode the two had achieved a closer relationship - Ami even gives him a photo of herself to keep. When he returns a few Episodes later, they go out on a date, but we hever hear from him again. He appears in the Sailor Moon: Another Story game, where it's heavily implied that the two are a couple, but SMAS is hardly Canon. The SuperS Special + Dream Arc 'Exam Battle' Special 'Ami-chan no Hatsukoi', or 'Ami's First Love', is all about her infatuation with Mercurius, a mysterious student who keeps beating her on the mock exams. It's obvious to everyone she develops a crush on him, even though she never meets him face-to-face (he looks like Gurio, but with green hair + square glasses). In the Manga, Naoko Takeuchi played with the idea of having the Sailor Soldiers paired up with the Four Heavenly Kings, and Sailor Mercury was with Zoisite. But this never made it into Canon. During the Stars Arc, when the Sailor Team becomes obsessed with the Three Lights, she prefers Kou Taiki. Taiki x Ami is a popular fan-pairing. Another popular fan-pairing between the Soldiers is Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter, but it's not Canon.

• Ami is not Minako's friend in Sailor V. That's Hikari, another student at Minako's school, who just happens to look a lot like Ami (she doesn't act like her at all, though). Ami appears later in the Series as a cameo appearance like all the other Guardian Soldiers (and Naru, too).
• Ami's not a lesbian.

• In the Anime, the only romantic interest Ami seems to have is in Ryo, who didn't exist in the Manga, and then Mercurius, who was also in the Manga. In the Manga, though, she also had a crush on Motoki, just like Makoto.
• In the Anime + Manga, her fate is to become a guardian Soldier for NeoQueen Serenity. In the Live Action, we find out she's about to become one of the youngest doctors in history.
• In the Anime + Live Action, she doesn't have any abilities when she isn't transformed aside from her intelligence. In the Manga, however, she has the power of divination by using a crystal. She can find water this way and has also found a lost child.
• In the Manga she's been able to use the excess power given off from her transformation to teleport. In the Anime, she's able to concentrate her will with her transformation pen to hold open a portal instead.

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Mythology

Mercury, otherwise known as Hermes, was the Messenger of the Gods. He raced around on winged sandals that gave him the gift of flight. He's probably one of the better-known Gods because if it. He was also, however, the God of trade and commerce. He was the Roman's Psychopomp.
Now that you've had a few seconds to giggle at 'Psychopomp', it basically means that Mercury would also ferry newly-departed spirits to the afterlife.

Aside from the winged sandals + helmet, Mercury also carried a staff around which a snake was coiled. As you'll probably know, a staff with two snakes wrapped around it is synonymous with the medical field, which is significant since Ami wants to be a doctor.

Mercury was supposed to have invented the Lyre, a kind of harp, from a tortoise shell. This is worthy of note because in the Dream Arc, Sailor Mercury gains the weapon the Mercury Harp for her 'Mercury Aqua Rhapsody' attack.

Mercury was also supposed to be a mediator, and if there's anything that Ami is with her friends, it's a mediator.

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Technical

Sailor Mercury's Voice Actress in the Japanese Anime is Aya Hisakawa. She's a popular voice actress and plays several other well-known characters in popular Animes, such as Skuld from Oh! My Goddess, Minamo Kurosawa from Azumanga Daioh, Retsu Unohana from Bleach, Yuki Sohma from Fruits Basket and Cerberus from Cardcaptor Sakura and Tsubasa Chronicles. She's also made appearances in Revolutionary Girl Utena, Trigun, Magic Knight Rayearth, Gunsmith Cats and Marmalade Boy. She also played Haruhi Fumina and Nori Sakurada in the Ouran Highschool Host Club and Rozen Maiden Drama CDs respectively. She's also starred in the Japanese Dubs of 101 Dalmations and Drawn Together. In behind-the-scenes interviews with the Voice Actresses, we find out that Aya is actually a confidant, out-spoken woman from Kansai, and isn't much like Ami at all. She expressed concern that this might upset some fans.

For the North American dub, her Voice Actresses are (in order of appearance) Karen Bernstein and Liza Balkan. Karen acted in the animation Beverly Hills Teens.

In the Sailor Moon Musicals - Sera Myu - Sailor Mercury is played by 6 Actresses. From the left;

First Stage: Ayako Morino
Second Stage: Yukiko Miyagawa
Hisano Akamine (also Third Stage)
Third Stage: Mariya Izawa
Chieko Kawabe (also Fourth Stage)
Fourth Stage: Manami Wakayama

Manami also played Berthier in the Musicals. Chieko is the most succesful of the Mercury cast, being very popular in the Live Action + Anime scene. She appears again in the Live Action of Sailor Moon - not as Mercury - but as Naru Osaka. Her singing career is in full swing and she's well-known for singing 'Sakura Kiss', the opening song for Ouran Highschool Host Club, and 'Be Your Girl', the ending for Elfen Lied.

In the Live Action Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon she is played by Chisaki Hama (image on the right). After her role concluded she seems to have gone into semi-retirement, focusing on school and going back from her stage name 'Chisaki Hama' ('thousands of flowers blossoming at the shore') given to her by her Agency to her birth name of Rika Izumi. She struck a cord with a lot of English-speaking fans of the Series when her (now defunct) website blocked access of the 'site for computers with non-Japanese IP addresses. When the Live Action was airing in Japan, all the actresses would write weekly diary entries on the show's website. Since Chisaki's entries all seemed to centre around food, it's become a meme amongst some Sailor Moon fans that she is omnivorous and can, and frequently will, eat anything and everything she can get her hands on.

Sailor Mercury's Image Songs are 'Someday... Somebody...', 'Onaji Namida wo Wakeatte' ('Sharing the Same Tears'), 'Koibito ni Hanarenai Kedo' ('We Can't Become Sweethearts, But...') and 'Ashita mo Mata Jitensha' ('Keep Cycling to Tomorrow'). In the Live Action, her Image Songs are 'Mi Amor' (Spanish, 'My Love') and 'Yakusoku' ('Promise'). In the English Dub, her Image Song is 'Only a Memory Away' sung by Shandi Sinnamon.

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