Sheet:Makoto Kino

Makoto Kino's Sheet

Background

In the days of the Silver Millennium, Jupiter was an inhabited world just like the other planets of the solar system. Its people were tall, strong, and graceful, and foremost among them was their princess. Along with the princesses of Mercury, Mars, and Venus, Princess Jupiter served as one of the protectors of Serenity, Princess of the Moon Kingdom... a duty which the princess of Jupiter was happy to perform, since not only were she and the other three princesses Serenity's guardians, they were also her confidants and dear friends. What greater happiness could Princess Jupiter ask for than the ability to use the great strength of her home planet for the sake of someone she cared for?

When Princess Serenity fell in love with Prince Endymion of Earth, as much as she worried, Jupiter was happy for her friend. How could she not be? Troublesome as it was, that kind of love was too precious for Jupiter to begrudge.

Then everything went wrong. The Silver Millennium came to a violent end.

But the story doesn't end there. No trace remains of the civilization which once existed on Jupiter, but thanks to Queen Serenity's final wish, Princess Jupiter was reborn in modern-day Japan as Makoto Kino, without any memory of her former life or her celestial heritage.

The Kinos were a warm and loving family, and little Makoto was a happy child. Her mother taught her to cook and to help keep the house in order; her father encouraged her natural athleticism, which led to her enrollment in martial arts classes; and both of her parents encouraged her to value honesty and sincerity and to help others when she could. Unfortunately, before Makoto had even reached her teens, both of her parents were killed in a plane crash, a traumatic loss which left Mako all but alone in the world.

For a few years, she lived with distant relatives, but the situation was comfortable for no one. By this time Makoto had already grown quite tall for her age, which intimidated her peers and - combined with the strong sense of justice that drove her to get involved whenever she saw someone being bullied or taken advantage of - caused her problems at school. Problems at school led to problems at home, especially after one too many fights caused her relatives to feel they had no choice but to relocate her to a new school.

The fights, however, did not stop. Although Mako wanted very much to meet the cultural ideal of the ways in which a girl should be feminine and ladylike, and devoted considerable effort toward perfecting domestic arts like cooking and cleaning in order to offset her more tomboyish qualities, she could never bring herself to look away or remain uninvolved if someone needed help in defending themselves. It wasn't long before she had an unpleasant reputation as a brawler.

Worse still, Mako was lonely. She had few friends, fewer still who could be called close, and even these found it difficult to stay in touch after she transferred to a new school. Her romantic heart longed for affection, to be loved, but romance at that age is awkward enough even without her height and strength and her reputation causing boys to rarely look her way.

This didn't stop Makoto from falling head-over-heels for a boy in the class above hers. For a while, she even began to hope that he might return her feelings - only for her hopes to be utterly dashed when, one rainy day, he coolly rejected her, telling her that she wasn't feminine enough and that a big girl like her wasn't his type. Mako was heartbroken.

In spite of all this, however, Makoto never gave up. Even as she resigned herself to being alone and unwanted, she continued to hope for love, and to step in to defend people who could not defend themselves. And with the arrival of an invitation to attend Radiant Heart Academy, her fortunes have finally begun to change, almost as if the winds themselves have guided her to where she needs to be.

Personality

For all her rough reputation, Makoto is a gentle, warm-hearted girl, an endless wellspring of affection that she's glad to pour out upon those around her. She is happiest when she's able to take care of people and make them happy in return, whether it's by cooking for them or helping them out when they're in trouble or anything else that is within her power.

Unfortunately, much of her life has been defined by the fact that she's a big, tall, strong girl in a culture where the ideal woman is small, petite and cute. Her size and strength have tended to intimidate many of her peers, and by this point she's developed a kind of complex about it. She's invested herself in cooking and other domestic arts both because she enjoys them and in the hopes of balancing out her (perceived) unfeminine strength and stature.

But as much as she longs to be seen as ladylike, Makoto can never bring herself to stop standing up for people in trouble. Looking the other way when someone is being bullied or taken advantage of would have kept her out of the fights that gave her a bad reputation and forced her to transfer schools, sure - but as strong as her desire to fit in and be accepted may be, her sense of justice is stronger still.

She believes very firmly in fair play, and in the responsibility of the strong to use their strength on behalf of those who don't have the same advantages. To instead abuse one's strength, whether physical strength or social status or anything else, to benefit oneself at the expense of others, or worse still to hurt others just for the fun of it - as far as Mako is concerned, that's something you Just Don't Do. Anyone doing any such thing in Makoto's presence will quickly discover the other side of her, the short-tempered and fierce protector who won't hesitate to open up a can of beat-down and put a stop to their shenanigans.

This is true whether the offender is a random punk on the street or a genuinely dangerous supernatural threat. Mako is brave to the point of foolhardiness, and very hard to intimidate. It's not that she doesn't get scared - but where protecting others concerned, Makoto won't let that stop her. When danger rears its head, she's the first to charge into battle or place herself between the threat and someone else. That, as far as Makoto is concerned, is what her strength is for.

Makoto is an honest, direct, straightforward girl. With her, what you see is what you get. She doesn't have the inclination or the patience to make things more complicated than they need to be by saying one thing when she means another or trying to conceal her true feelings. She might lie for the sake of a friend if she felt that she had to, or fib a little to spare someone's feelings and prevent awkwardness. Even then, though, she's not very *good* at it. Sincerity is not just the meaning of her name, it is one of Mako's virtues.

Of course, she also tends to expect the same out of others, and can find it confusing and frustrating if the other person happens to be someone whose outward behavior can't always be taken at face value - being naturally forthright herself, she's not great at reading between the lines for the deeper meanings behind others' words and actions. But after all, Makoto has a big heart, and she can make allowances for her friends even if she doesn't always understand them.

Ultimately, Mako tends to think in straight and simple lines. She's more of an emotional person, someone who feels and does and takes things as she sees them more than thinks things through and analyzes them in any depth. Presented with a cat who suddenly talks and tells her to pick up this pen that appeared out of nowhere and say something about Jupiter and transform so that she can help Sailor Moon, Makoto's brain glosses over the many ridiculous things about the situation and jumps straight to 'if I do the thing, I can help Sailor Moon'. She can puzzle over the details later - or not. More often not. Mako doesn't feel the need to understand every little thing; much more important to her is the overall effect on the people around her.

She's not especially good with words, and when presented with a problem Mako needs to feel as though she's taking some kind of action toward solving it. If she doesn't, then she can easily lose her patience. She's also a very physical person - even transformed, she's a full-contact fighter who relies as much on her physical strength as she does on her lightning, and even more than that she's quick to show affection with hugs and handgrips and pats (or thumps, when she gets too excited and forgets her own strength) on the shoulder or back.

Along with her sincerity and her sense of justice, Makoto's other great virtue is perseverance. Before she found her way to Radiant Heart, she spent years being misunderstood and avoided, with barely anyone close to her who would give her their friendship and trust and the outlet for all of the affection she craved to give. In such a situation, it would have been understandable if she'd become bitter and closed off, but Mako never did.

Even as crushed and heartbroken as she was by her senpai's rejection, when she says that a boy reminds her of her senpai (and let's face it, she says just about any attractive guy reminds her of her senpai), she says it with starry, admiring eyes. It's not that all these different boys actually look or act or sound all that much like him, really - but they all remind her of how he made her feel. Not the heartbreak of his rejection, but the hope and the thrill of infatuation that came before it, the romantic dream of falling in love and being loved. This, more than any actual resemblance to her old senpai, is what causes Mako to fall in love at the drop of a hat, and to bounce back ready to dream of romance again the next time... but that's all a bit too complex for Mako to really understand within herself, and she condenses it down into a simpler (if slightly nonsensical) explanation.

The plane crash that took her parents has left her with a phobia of planes and flying. Even the sound of a jet engine is enough to trigger her fear - actually getting on a plane would be nigh impossible for her. Mercifully, living in Tokyo as she does, it's not much of an issue in her day to day life.

Makoto's main hobbies tend to the domestic: she loves cooking and baking and gardening, enjoys housework and sewing and handcrafts, and is a member of the cooking club. She also enjoys video games and is a frequent customer of the arcade. She's a fan of shoujo manga and romantic movies, but most of the pastimes that Mako enjoys the most involve some level of physical activity: she's a talented ice-skater, for example. And of course she's trained in judo and drops into the dojo whenever she feels like she needs a workout.

Schoolwork, on the other hand, is not one of her particular strengths, particularly not since she has a bad habit of letting herself get distracted from studying by making snacks or tomorrow's lunch bento or suddenly deciding that the room needs to be cleaned - things she does whenever she needs to distract herself from something unpleasant.

Makoto dreams of finding love, getting married, and building the kind of family that she and her parents used to have. She also wants to become a professional chef or patissier, and hopes to one day open her own bakery... or florist shop. Or combination. She isn't quite sure of the details yet; she just knows that she wants to live surrounded by beautiful and delicious things with the people she loves.

Given that lightning is such a large part of Jupiter's power, it's not surprising that Makoto is sensitive to the weather, wind and storms particularly. Although calling it a psychic sense of any kind would be an overstatement, she does at times feel attuned to and even guided by the wind - when she's uncertain of her course and stops to listen to the wind, it rarely steers her wrong. She also tends to sense it when the weather is going to turn stormy, and her body is more prone than most to building up a static charge, especially when her system is out of whack due to illness or something of the kind.

Her love of flowers may also stem to some degree from her connection to Jupiter - Jupiter's other elemental affinity being wood - but likely as not it's probably equally just Makoto. She loves beautiful things in general, but flowers in particular are a symbol of the femininity she aspires to, and growing plants and flowers requires the kind of care and attention which appeals to her mothering nature.

Focus

Sailor Senshi draw their power from their Sailor Crystals. The Jupiter Crystal is both a part of Makoto's soul and a conduit for the power of the planet Jupiter.

The physical key to her transformation into Sailor Jupiter, meanwhile, is the Jupiter Pen provided to her by Luna: a green pen with gold accents, including the symbol of Jupiter crowning the cap. Flourishing her henshin pen and saying the phrase "Jupiter Power, Make Up!" triggers her transformation. (It's also a functional pen, with green ink.)

Style

Sailor Jupiter's fuku follows the standard uniform of the Guardian Senshi: a white leotard with a grass-green pleated skirt and sailor collar, with pink bows on her chest and at her lower back, long white gloves trimmed with green, and laced green ankle boots. She also sports a green choker and a golden tiara with a green gem at the center of her forehead. The tiara manifests a tiny lightning rod to help channel the electricity of powers like Supreme Thunder and Supreme Thunder Dragon.

In addition, Sailor Jupiter possesses the Leaves of Oak, an artifact of Silver Millennium Jupiter. A crown of oak leaves similar in style of a laurel wreath, the Leaves of Oak manifest when Jupiter channels her more powerful abilities.

Powers

Sailor Jupiter's powers are based in storms and in plants, mainly flowers and trees. She can generate and channel electricity, from small shocks all the way to lightning bolts, and to a somewhat lesser extent she can also control wind - enough to allow her to fly short distances.

Makoto possesses unusually great physical strength, even when not in henshin, and transforming into Sailor Jupiter further enhances her strength and durability. Even though her magic gives her considerable range, she's a highly physical fighter, making use of her strength and durability and her martial arts training to get in close and fight enemies with punches, kicks, grapples, and throws. She often uses her magic to enhance her melee fighting by adding an electric charge to punches and kicks, rather than relying on magic alone as her primary weapon. She's studied aikido and Judo since she was young, and puts those skills to use in battle.

By combining her power with those of other senshi (principally her fellow Guardian Senshi: Mercury, Mars, and Venus), Sailor Jupiter can access Sailor Teleport and the extremely powerful energy blast Sailor Planet Attack.

Fashion Pen: A gift from Luna. The pen functions as a less-versatile version of Usagi's disguise pen, allowing Makoto to project whatever appearance she envisions onto her clothing. Unlike the disguise pen, it cannot disguise Makoto's appearance. It's just for fashion purposes.

Flower Hurricane: Summons a gust of wind and a flurry of flower petals with which to barrage the enemy. She mainly uses this ability to confuse and hinder her opponent, and as a buffer against large-scale attacks. Makoto can influence what type of flower petals appear, though it usually defaults to rose petals.

Magical Confections: Using the petals created by Flower Hurricane in cooking allows Makoto to infuse a little bit of the power of Jupiter into snacks: for instance, by infusing rose petals in honey. She can manifest any earthly edible flower for this purpose. Regardless of the type of flower, the effect is consistent: eating one of these snacks provides a low-level boost to the eater's strength, endurance and physical resilience, making them a little bit tougher and bolstering them against fatigue.

Lightning Fist: Sailor Jupiter channels lightning through her hands, adding an electric charge to her punches.

Supreme Thunder: Manifests a brief and very localized thunderstorm which strikes the target with a bolt of lightning.

Supreme Thunder Dragon: An evolution of Supreme Thunder. Sailor Jupiter shapes the lightning bolt of Supreme Thunder into a dragon which crashes into (or outright swallows) the target.

Sparkling Wide Pressure:

Unused/Unrevealed Abilities

Jupiter Coconut Cyclone:

Jupiter Oak Evolution: