Sailor Uranus
Real Name: Haruka Ten'ou
Identity/Class: Human transformed by magical heritage
Occupation: School girl
Affiliations: member of the Senshi of the Outer Rim; ally of Tuxedo Kamen, Artemis, Luna
Enemies: Bureau of Bad Behaviour, Nehelenia, Eudial, Mistress Nine, Pharoah 90, Galaxia
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Amara Tenoh (U.S. version of her name)
Base of Operations: Mugen Gakuen High School, Japan
First Appearance: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon S (Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S, Kodansha/Toei Animation, 1992)
Powers/Abilities: Sailor Uranus weilds the Space Sword, a deadly talisman which grants her a variety of powers. By using the phrase "World Shaking", she can generate a glowing yellow energy ball which evokes earthquakes.
History: Haruka Ten'ou was her school's track star when she met Michura Kaiou through a mutual friend. Michura was secretly the heroine Sailor Neptune, and was immediately attracted to Haruka. Her first attempt to express her feelings were rebuffed by Haruka, but Michura tried again a little later, drawn by the bond between them she knew they both felt. When Haruka was attacked by a youma (a demon which feeds off human energy), Michura was present, and her henshin stick (the talisman she used to transform into her costumed identity) manifested...as did one for Haruka. Micura told Haruka not to use the talisman, and then, as Sailor Neptune, she swiftly dealt with the demon. Afterwards she explained to Haruka how she had sensed that the girl was destined to be Sailor Uranus, her partner on a mission to save the world. However she didn't want to force Haruka to choose this path. Haruka, finally giving in to her feelings, took her henshin stick and transformed for the first time.
It wasn't long before the two Senshi of the Outer Rim (a.k.a. the "Outer Senshi", Sailor Scouts who get their powers from the more distant planets in the solar system) encountered their counterparts in the Sailor Team (a.k.a. the Inner Senshi). The friction was immediate - the Senshi of the Outer Rim were charged with protecting the solar system from threats from outside, and had more power than their Inner cohorts, as they were expected to act alone much of the time. They were charged with retrieving three sacred talismans - the Garnet Orb, the Aqua Mirror and the Space Sword - each one trapped within the pure crystal heart of a living person, a good soul who would die when the object was taken from them. The Outer Scouts accepted that this sacrifice was needed in order to save millions more, but Sailor Moon and the other Inner Senshi disagreed, leading to friction.
The first time the two groups met was in their civilian identities. Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon) and Minako Aino (Sailor Venus) mistook Haruka for a particularly handsome boy, in large part because of her preference for wearing masculine clothing. Haruka encountered them in a video arcade, when she easily beat Minako at a racing game, even after giving her rival a head start. Unaware of her true gender, the other girls began to develop a crush on the "new boy". After defeating Minako, Haruka met up with Michiru, and their apparent closeness led the other girls to jealously wonder if the two were a couple. Haruka, not unaware of the interest in her, and somewhat amused by it, eventually admitted she was actually a girl...but didn't do anything to confirm or deny that she might be involved with Michiru.
After this interesting start Haruka became good friends with Usagi Tsukino (Sailor Moon) and the rest of the Scouts, not realising they maintained superhero double identities just as she did. However when Usagi, Michura and Haruka were all forced to transform in front of one another to battle the witch Eudial, the secret was out, and their non-costumed relationship severly strained - the Inner Senshi unable to understand their allies apparent ruthlessness in the pursuit of their mission, and the Senshi of the Outer Rim viewing their counterparts as more of a naive burden than a help.
Not long after this, the true irony of their mission was shown, when Eudial revealed that two of the pure hearts containing the talismans belonged to Michiru and Haruka themselves (the Aqua Mirror and the Space Sword, respectively). Eudial removed the talismans, bringing both girls close to death. Only the arrival and intervention of Sailor Pluto (whose heart housed the Garnet Orb) saved them, as the powers of all three talismans together revived them, and summoned the Holy Grail too.
The three Senshi of the Outer Rim now adopted a new mission, to find the Messiah. They also had the Messiah's nemesis, the "Messiah of Silence", and stop him or her from awakening, taking the grail, and ending the world. At first they suspect that their target was Hotaru Tomoe, whom they believed to be Sailor Saturn, the senshi of death, and they planned to kill her to save the world...once more bringing them into conflict with the Inner Senshi. It eventually transpired that Hotaru was not the Messiah of Silence, though she did house her spirit, when the being known as Mistress Nine awakens inside of Hotaru's body. In the subsequent battle, Sailor Pluto was apparently killed, but Sailor Saturn managed to regain control of her form and destroy Mistress Nine. Some time afterwards, Sailor Neptune and Uranus challenged Sailor Moon to a duel, claiming her to be unfit for her apparent destiny. When she succeeded in defeating them, they bowed to her, informed her they had finally completed their mission to find the Messiah, and left, literally driving off into the sunset.
Much later the pair were attacked by the forces of Nehelenia while visiting an aquarium. The unexpected arrival of their "dead" ally Sailor Pluto evened the odds somewhat, and after a pitched battle, they managed to defeat their opponents. The group then decided they had a new mission, to defeat Nehelenia, and rejoined the other Senshi for this endeavour.
Later the evil Senshi Galaxia attacked the solar system. The four Senshi of the Outer Rim attacked her, only to be defeated. Given the choice of joinig Galaxia or dying, Sailor Neptune and Uranus apparently turned traitor, and killed Saturn and Pluto by removing their star seeds, the source of their powers. However it later transpired that they were under Galaxia's mental domination, and when they finally managed to throw it off, Galaxia killed them both. With their powers and very souls removed, they began to fade away. In their dying moments, they struggled to reach one another, and succeeded in touching hands before vanishing. Like the rest of their fellows, they would eventually be restored to life after Sailor Moon managed to defeat Galaxia.
Comments: Created by Naoko Takeuchi. Voiced by Megumi Ogata. The S in the show's title is short for Super.
Her Japanese name, Haruka Ten'ou, translates as "Distant Sky King", which refers to the fact that Uranus was considered the original king of the gods in Greek mythology.
Because her implied lesbian relationship with Sailor Neptune was seen as being unsuitable for a cartoon showing in America, the U.S. version changed the relationship between Haruka and Michiru to that of cousins, and the dubbed dialogue was modified to remove suggestions of their affair.
CLARIFICATIONS: Not to be confused with
any of the other Sailor Scouts
Any Additions/Corrections? Please let me know.
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