Character Profile #3 ~ Rei Hino A.K.A Sailor Mars

Name: Rei Hino

Birthday: April 17th

Sign: Aries

Bloodtype: AB

Fave colour: Red & Black

Hobby: Divination

Fave food: Fugu

Least fave food: Canned Asparagus

Fave subject: Literature

Least fave subject: Social studies

Weakness: Television

Special talent: Meditation

Dream: Be a chief priestess



Rei Hino is the embodiment of ancient Japanese tradition. She is a Shrine maiden (Miko) at one of the local Hikawa shrines, is elegant and graceful and slightly aloof from the other girls. This attitude has turned her into something of an idol in her high school. Character wise, Rei is the absolute opposite of Usagi whose bouncy and carefree attitude often annoys Rei, who is not subtle in expressing her irritation. In fact, Rei’s serene and confident exterior only serves to mask the raging fire within which is exposed upon meeting Usagi and the other senshi. Behind closed doors Rei is actually fiercely loyal, hard working and tempestuous but outside she hides this so that her peers believe otherwise. For example, during the 1^st season of the anime, Rei sings in a concert of her own creation at her school’s festival. She has taken a long time to write and carefully craft the music for this concert, suffering the usual failures of most artists, however when asked about the difficulty of the task she dismisses it as having been easy and states that the music simply came to her. The viewer knows that this is a lie however and this exposes the frailty in her character. Her insatiable wish to be thought well of by her peers.

Everyone wants to be respected and liked by those in their social group and this delicacy of spirit makes her more accessable, likeable, understandable and interesting to the audience. We also join Rei on a journey upon which she challenges her own prejudices about others. In the manga she gains a very strong friendship with Minako Aino and in the live action version, she forms a robust bond with Makoto Kino and Minako Aino. These deep relationships are unusual for Rei who is originally reticent about joining the senshi and her reluctance to make friends perhaps harkens back to her feelings of abandonment concerning her father.  This exposes another humanising frailty in her character.

Rei lives with her Grandfather following the death of her mother from an illness which is never discussed in any great detail. She was a small child at the time and has since been enraged with her father who left her to deal with the death of her mother alone. Her father is a politician and her poor relationship with him has been the subject of discussion within the anime and an entire episode in the live action.

Rei’s firey attitude and complex home life make her a fascinating character to observe. She provides a window into Japanese spirituality which is unmatched by any other character in the series.

"I WASN'T YELLING!!!" - Rei Hino