My fellow pretty Sailor Senshi, Sailor Moon here again with a very important issue to discuss. That issue is our dear friend and fellow Sailor Soldier, Rei Hino, or Sailor Mars. Now, I know what your thinking, this is just another extension of Usagi's and Rei's constant fighting...but that is far from the truth, quite the contrary in fact. Now, we all know that Sailor Mars and I don't always see eye to eye and that most times Rei-Chan comes off as a "bitch" or a "skank" or a "bitter, pathetic loser who is only trying to further her own career and gain material wealth and fame, despite her obvious destiny of fighting the evil of the universe", but what all of you loyal Senshi must understand is that Rei does not really mean all the terrible things she says and does to me. This is article's purpose is to shed some light on that myserious and somewhat disturbed yet beautiful and powerful SAILOR MARS!

The first myth to dispell is that Sailor Mars and I are enemies, or dislike eachother in any way...this is far from the truth, Rei and I are are good friends - the best of friends really (although despite what Michiru said we aren't as close as she and Haruka) - and I certainly would never do anything to upset Rei, despite the frequent verbal and somtimes physical abuse that she so eagerly serves to me. No, I care about Rei very much, too much to treat her the way she often treats me. Besides, I know the truth of why Rei is so mean to me; it doesn't take much to figure out. You only have to know the inner workings of Sailor Mars' sadly flawed psyche.

Sailor Mars is jealous in nature, she does not like it when someone else is put in a higher place of esteem then her. This is not really her fault, it is simply the way her mind works (something that someday may be treated with intense therapy and medication). Although Rei often times implies (or ouright says) that she should be the leader rather than me, she knows in her heart that in her mental state, she really couldn't be a good leader. Usually she says these things simply to lash out at me, who she views as prettier, more powerful and smarter...superior in all ways really. Ms. Hino spends too much time dwelling on what she doesn't have, or what others have, than focusing on the talent that she does have. Rei has performed a few times through out the show, singing "Oh Starry Night" for instance. Now that was beautiful, wasn't it? We other Senshi were very impressed with Rei and gave her an abundance of compliments, but yet she still focuses on the things that I (Usagi) have that she simply does not.

Poor Rei, being her closest friend, I really feel the pain that she does. It makes me sad to know that she feels all of this inferiority that is mostly unfounded! Still, Sailor Mars has a ways to go; she viciously picks on myself and some of the other Senshi (although usually focusing on me because the extreme inferiority she feels). When she finds a weak spot on someone , even if that person is a friend, she feels the need to exploit it. For instance, she constantly brings up my bad grades in school. She of course gets good grades. This of course can be attributed to the lack of stress she feels as opposed to myself who must deal with the mental strain of being a leader every day. Also, Rei has less academic worries because being in a "special" private school, she does not have to take the rigorous High School enterence exams that we must take. She does not really mean to be so cruel when she capitolizes on other's seaming weaknesses it is merely her unconsious defense mechanism to the jealously and inferiority she feels.

Now many people dislike Rei for her what seems like her extreme abraisiveness, but I implore those people not to look at what a terrible person she seems to be on the outside, and to instead understand the motives of her actions by looking at what a troubled, sad, distrurbed person lies underneath that bitchy exterior. Rei has had a hard life after all - she has grown up with her equally if not more disturbed grandfather, who forces her to do manual labor all day long at the temple, and who enrolled her in a school for "special" children believing that Rei could not cut in in a "real" school. Although rei seems to have a lot of friends at that school, she still feels like a loner. None of her other friends really understand Rei like we the Sailor Senshi do, although they admire her for her talent. None of them really spend a lot of time with Rei, fearing her anger and bitterness, not understanding that it comes from jealously and self-loathing. No, Sailor Mars spends all of her time at the temple, keeping her insane grandfather in line, sweeping and cleaning, and talking to fire.

For all of these reasons I have pointed out, I must reiterate that Rei-Chan is a good person beneath it all and we, her friends, should, rather than scorning her as she does to us, treat her with respect and love. Only then will she see that she has no reason to be so jealous and hatefull. Although over the seasons some Senshi have grown to bitterly resent Sailor Mars because of her unrelentless tearing down and taking advantage of others, we should instead try to understand her. Then we realize that Rei Hino does not deserve our hatred, but our pity.

-Usagi Tsukino