Makoto Kino
is a fictional character, a
Sailor Senshi, one of the central characters in the
metaseries known as
Sailor Moon. She is known in the English translations as
Lita Kino.
Makoto can transform into
Sailor Jupiter. Her dominant element is wood, but unusually most of her attacks are based in her secondary power: electricity. She is by far the strongest of the "inner" senshi, able to lift a full-grown man into the air. Her uniform colors are green and light pink, and she wears short laced-up boots. In the manga and live-action series, she carries a transparent ball filled with
potpourri on a chain belt at her waist. In the early manga, she always has a short antenna coming from her tiara; eventually this takes on the same role as in the anime, and appears only when she summons lightning. It does not appear in the live-action series.
Makoto is from 14 to 16 years old (as all of the series last for some time) with medium-length brown hair and green eyes, and is more often known as
Sailor Jupiter. She is also 170 centimeters (about 5 ft 7 in), often considered a generic "tall" height of schoolgirls in anime. She is the tallest of the
Inner Senshi.
Her default school uniform for most of the story's run is different from what the other young women wear. It is white and brown with laces in the front and a long brown skirt (the long skirt is also a common visual costume choice in anime to imply a tough or delinquent personality). This outfit is immediately recognizable to fans, more so than the high school uniform she acquires later, which resembles those of the other girls.
The explanation for the outfit is Makoto being uncommonly tall, and her school simply lacked one in her size. This is referenced in some arguably
canon promotional material, and is mentioned in both the manga and the anime.
She is a great cook, as Usagi discovered later after their first meeting when Makoto rescued her from a small gang of bullies. Usagi saw her again alone under a tree at school. Usagi had forgotten to bring her lunch to school that day and Makoto offered to share hers, earning her a life-long friend in the process. Her most infamous trait is her seemingly random puppy-love affliction for cute boys, whom she invariably compares to a boy she knew when she was younger. She was the penultimate senshi introduced in the first major story arc, although she has fewer character-specific episodes than the others.
As Sailor Jupiter, her uniform is coloured green, white and "sugar pink". She uses elemental attacks involving either
lightning, which is commonly associated with the
Roman god
Jupiter, or
plants, since the planet
Jupiter is associated with the
element wood in
Chinese astrology.
Her personality is slightly different in the various adaptations of the
Sailor Moon story, although generally more consistent overall than the other main characters.
Princess Jupiter - During the
Silver Millennium, Sailor Jupiter was also the Princess of her home planet. She was among those given the duty of protecting
Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom. As Princess Jupiter, she dwelt in Io Castle and wore a green gown.
Naoko Takeuchi once drew her in the arms of
Nephrite, but no further romantic link between them was established.
* Name (Japanese): 木野 ま"と
Makoto Kino* Name (North America): Lita Kino
* Senshi alias: Sailor Jupiter
* Guardian Planet:
Jupiter* Element: Electricity, wood
* Hair: Reddish-brown, slighty wavy, usually in a ponytail
* Eyes: Green
* Height: 5'7"
* Age: 14 (beginning of storyline), 16 (end of storyline), early to mid 20s (as Guardian of
Crystal Tokyo)
* Birthday:
December 5* Astrological sign:
Sagittarius*
Blood type: O
* Special traits: Strong, loyal, brave, and compassionate
* Favorite colors:
Green and
pink* Favorite animal:
Horse* Favorite gemstone:
Emerald* Favorite food:
Cherry pie,
meatloaf* Least favorite food: None
* Favorite subject: Home economics, History, Gym
* Least favorite subject:
Physics* Hobbies: Cooking, shopping, reading romance novels
* Dislikes: Airplanes (both parents died in plane crash), cheaters
* Dreams: To own a
bakery or
flower shopAnime and manga
Transformations
*
Jupiter Power, Make-up! — Used to transform into Sailor Jupiter. In the English anime, Lita does not say
Make-up!.
*
Jupiter Star Power, Make-up! — Used to transform into Sailor Jupiter. In the English anime, Lita does not say
Make-up!.
*
Jupiter Planet Power, Make-up! — Used to transform into Sailor Jupiter. (Manga only.)
*
Jupiter Crystal Power, Make-up! — Used to transform into Super Sailor Jupiter during the Dreams Saga, and in final arc of the manga, into Sailor Jupiter (similar to Eternal Sailor Moon's form). In the English anime, Lita does not say
Make-up!.
All of Sailor Jupiter's transformation sequences are relatively the same. They all involve electric charges forming an atom path which encircles her body.
Attacks
*
Flower Hurricane — Sailor Jupiter summons a whirlwind of petals capable of blinding the target. Manga only.
*
Supreme Thunder — A bolt of lightning is brought down upon an antenna that comes out of Sailor Jupiter's tiara, which she then hurls at her opponent. In the English dub, it is variously called
Jupiter Thunder Crash,
Supreme Thunder Crash and
Jupiter Thunderbolt Crash. In the manga, it had no name at all the first time it was used--she simply said "My protector, Jupiter, call down a storm! Thunder and lightning, shower down!"
*
Supreme Thunder Dragon — A powered-up variation of 'Supreme Thunder', in which the captured thunderbolt takes on the form of a dragon-like projectile. This attack is only used once in the anime. In the English version, the name was changed to
Jupiter Thunder Dragon.
*
Sparkling Wide Pressure — Sailor Jupiter hurls a ball of compressed lightning at the target, which explodes upon impact. In the English anime, it was called
Jupiter Thunderclap Zap,
Jupiter Thunder Power,
Superior Sparkling Thunder,
Supreme Thunder Crash, or occasionally the original name.
*
Jupiter Coconut Cyclone — An incongruously-named attack only used in the manga version. Lightning is projected all around her body.
*
Jupiter Oak Evolution — An attack that Sailor Jupiter gains in her Super form. She spins in place gathering power and summoning oak leaves, which she then hurls at the enemy.
*
Galactica Oak Evolution — Sailor Jupiter used this attack when she was under the control of
Sailor Galaxia in the manga.
Live-action drama
*
Jupiter Power, Make Up — Makoto's words to transform into Sailor Jupiter.
*
Supreme Thunder*
Flower Hurricane*
Jupiter Thunderbolt — A PGSM-only attack using her
Sailor Star Tambourine in which she releases a powerful stream of green lightning from her weapon.
Manga version
Makoto is a transfer student and is often depicted with her hair up.
In this version, her parents died in an
airplane crash, and subsequently, she lives alone in an apartment and has a fear of airplanes (She dives behind the couch when she hears one on the televison). Although very strong and athletic, she considers herself "overly"
tomboyish and compensates by being very good at domestic tasks.
Nearly all of Sailor Jupiter's attacks are plant and/or electricity based.
There's a boy named Asanuma (one of Mamoru's school friends) who seems attracted to her and knows she is Sailor Jupiter, but nothing comes of the crush.
Makoto in this version is much more feminine than in the anime version. She is more of a balance of a 50-50 relationship between tomboy and feminine. Also, she does not chase after "sempai" as much as she does in the anime. She does mention it once to Rei, but it is not a main feature.
Anime differences
Makoto is a transfer student who is thought by the characters to be a former delinquent who got into fights (This is referenced in the Sailor Moon R movie, but only as an incorrectly-spread rumor). Makoto's hair is seen up in a ponytail.
In one episode of the Doom Tree/Makaiju story arc, which did not exist in the manga, she is shown to have had a male friend since childhood, Kenji. She denies being in love with him, though, and explains to Usagi and Ami that they don't need to reach the "in love" stage since he means more than a lover to her.
Makoto's admiration of Haruka is referenced, although the two are not close; there's a whole episode where Makoto chases after Haruka to learn how to be cool and the other girls think she's out to declare her love for Haruka.
Anime (English dub) differences
|
Makoto Kino as Sailor Jupiter |
Despite criticism against the
English adaptation of Sailor Moon, Lita's personality is generally consistent with the original Japanese portrayal. Some aspects of her personality are downplayed, such as her height (presumably because American children would not consider a 170-cm-tall teenaged girl as unusual as Japanese children would) and her obsession with proving her femininity (including "running a
restaurant" as a life goal rather than "getting married young"). Her "
senpai" was given a name, Freddy; when later episodes were dubbed by a different company, Cloverway, he was given a different name. Lita was voiced by Susan Roman, who also provided the voice of Megaman Trigger in the
English version of the
Mega Man Legends 2 videogame. Lita is notable in that she is the first Scout to explicitly say "
Sailor Soldier".
An often cited error in the English dub was an episode where Serena asks her friends to take care of some stray cats. Lita says she cannot because "my mother is allergic to cats", which is impossible because Sailor Jupiter's parents are dead. However, the anime never explicitly states that Makoto's parents are dead.
Lita's dub name is considered to be either a corruption of
Leda, a moon of Jupiter, or short for
Hippolyta.
In an early
DiC promotional tape that advertised
Sailor Moon to
television stations, Lita was called
Sara. Another preliminary name, that appeared on Kodansha's English website in an advertisement for the series, was said to be
Maggie.
Live action differences
Makoto is more similar to the manga version than the
anime version, including her attacks. However, her obsession with boys and proving her femininity are even more downplayed than in the American dub. She is much more overtly boyish in dress and manner, tends to reject overly girly things, and her
senpai complex is treated with great seriousness rather than a recurring gag as in the original anime. She, like in the anime and manga, also has a feisty attitude that got her kicked out of school.
Her family life is also similar to the manga with her parents being killed in a plane crash. This gives her a sort of lonliness complex that makes her believe it is her destiny to always be alone.
One major difference from the manga is that Makoto is also given a love life. There is a reoccurring flirtatious relationship between Makoto and
Motoki Furuhata, after she gives him a scarf that she knitted for school.
Makoto and Motoki's relationship eventually becomes a bit more serious. They do go out on a date, but Makoto pushes him away from her, citing that she must always be alone because it is her destiny. Eventually there is a situation where
youma are attacking the city and Makoto has to transform into Sailor Jupiter in front of Motoki, revealing her
secret identity to him. Their connection grows stronger from this as he buys her a small
turtle good luck
charm to protect her while she's fighting.
During the
special act, which takes place four years after the series proper, Makoto owns a floral shop and Motoki is shown helping her out with the shop as well. The two seem to be dating, but it is never explicitly said that they are. At the end, Motoki catches the bouquet at Usagi and Mamoru's wedding and proposes to Makoto, who accepts.
* "Talent": A fan term meaning "large breasts". This comes from a dialogue change in the second season from the original to the English dub when the characters are debating who should be the lead in a play. Makoto implies she should because she has the "largest chest", while Lita retorts it is because she has the most
stage "talent" (the gesture of pointing to herself/her breasts was accompanied with a "boing" sound effect). This
slang is recognized by most anime fans due to the popularity of
Sailor Moon.
* "My Mother is Allergic to Cats": In the second episode of
Sailor Moon S, Usagi wants to have the girls adopt some cats from a house that is going to be torn down. Makoto says that she lives alone and so does not think she knows how to look after a cat. In the English dub, Lita says that her mother is allergic to cats. Although the TV series never makes direct mention of her family situation, much of the original series assumed common knowledge from the manga (a trend slightly less prevalent in anime lately). Some cynical viewers saw this as either an uninformed translation or deliberate edit in the dub, despite associated merchandise indicating her lack of parents. A common
fanon explanation is that Lita could be fibbing to evade answering the question truthfully, while others argue such a thing would be difficult to hide from her longtime friends.
|
Makoto (live action) as portrayed by Myū Azama |
* In the anime, Makoto is played by
Emi Shinohara.
* In the English dub, Lita is played by
Susan Roman. She is the only significant human character in the
English-language dub to be played by the same voice actor through the entire series run.
* In the musical version, Makoto has been played by 11 actresses:
Noriko Kamiyama,
Marie Sada,
Takako Inayoshi,
Emika Satoh,
Akari Tonegawa,
Chiho Oyama,
Emi Kuriyama,
Yuriko Hayashi,
Ayano Sugimoto,
Kaori Sakata and
Mai Watanabe.
* In
Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Makoto is played by
Myū Azama.
