Development
The character of Sailor Neptune was not developed until partway through the Sailor Moon series, after the Guardian Senshi were well-established. She was created in tandem with Sailor Uranus, as a pair of "complementary but opposite characters", and meant from the beginning to work alongside Sailor Pluto. Creator Naoko Takeuchi has said that she was shocked by the changes made to Michiru's personality in the anime series, but that she was glad fans still liked the character.
Sailor Neptune's visual design is intended to evoke images of her element, from the choice of colors to the wavy quality of her hair, which Takeuchi even joked might be thought of as seaweed hair. In street clothes, Michiru is supposed to be an "artist type" and to dress accordingly; in fact, initial drawings are extremely elegant and "adult", because she was originally intended to be involved in the all-female Takarazuka Revue with Haruka. Although this was not included in the series itself, Takeuchi stated in an interview that she feels Takarazuka is "the maximum level of feminine emancipation," that as such it was her inspiration for the character of Haruka, and that it seemed natural for Haruka to fall in love with another woman—namely Michiru.
The kanji of Michiru's surname translate as "sea" (海, kai?) and "king" (王, ō?). Together, they constitute most of the name of the planet Neptune in Japanese, Kaiōsei (海王星?, "Sea King Star"). Her given name is in hiragana michiru (みちる?) and so its meaning is not inherent, but the word itself means "to rise" (満?). The packaging of Irwin dolls released in Canada in 1998 called Michiru by the name Nerissa.
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