Sailor Neptune - Special Powers and Items

Special Powers and Items

Even in civilian form, Michiru has some precognitive gifts, as she occasionally states that "the sea is stormy" when there is an evil presence at work. She is not shown using any other special powers in her civilian form, and must first transform into a Sailor Senshi by raising her hand or a special device into the air and shouting a special phrase, originally "Neptune Planet Power, Make-up!" In the manga she eventually gains her Neptune Crystal and this phrase changes to evoke Neptune Crystal Power. In the anime, although she does upgrade to Super Sailor Neptune, the Crystal is never mentioned and her transformation is never shown on screen after the upgrade.

Sailor Neptune's powers are inspired by Roman mythology, where Neptune is the god of the ocean. She never uses the element of water in a general sense, that being Sailor Mercury's domain; instead, she draws energy from the "deep waters" and blasts this at her foes (rather than attacking with physical ocean water). She is given three major attacks in the series, and although they all have English names (like those of the other Sailor Senshi), each is also given kanji in the manga to denote the meaning to Japanese readers. For example, her first attack, Deep Submerge, is given kanji which translate precisely to "deep" (深?) and "submerge" (水没?). The intended English pronunciation is given in furigana. This is Sailor Neptune's primary attack for most of the anime series.

In the manga, Michiru owns a special hand mirror which supplements her precognition. This turns out to be the Deep Aqua Mirror, one of three powerful Talismans, the other two of which are carried by Sailor Uranus and Sailor Pluto. In the anime, she does not gain the mirror until she is revealed as one of the Talisman bearers; in either case, it is used in her second attack, Submarine Reflection (深海鏡射?, "deep sea mirror shoot"). In both the anime and manga, she can use to launch an extremely powerful and devastating attack. In the anime, Michiru can also use it through and dispelling illusions, as seen in the SuperS movie. In the manga, she can also use it for astral projection, and lends it to Chibiusa while she and the other Outer Senshi are away. Chibiusa invokes the Deep Aqua Mirror's strength and power by stating its name and is able to teleport to Sailor Neptune's location.

Michiru's violin, a Stradivarius worth some five million dollars, is called the Marine Cathédrale and is named after "the temple of the sea". Aside from playing it in concert, she uses it in her third and final attack, which (like the instrument itself) has a French-inspired name: Submarine Violon Tide (深海提琴潮流?, "deep sea violin tide"). This third attack is only used in the manga, and was never shown in the anime. This attack is also used by the evil Sailor Neptune in Act 50, where it is renamed Galactica Violon Tide.

The Neptune Crystal is perhaps her most important possession, as it is her Sailor Crystal and the source of all her power, which becomes especially important in the fifth story arc. It is given to her by Sailor Saturn.

Attacks

• Deep Submerge - A powerful blast of oceanic water that strikes Neptune's enemies with a formidable force.
• Aqua Mirror Reflector - Using her magical mirror, Neptune can fire a beam of watery energy at her enemies, destroying them or uncovering the truths behind them.