So I've been thinking lately, of the Inner Senshi, how do they all perform as students after Ami who's way out in front? We all know Usagi is likely at the bottom, but I'm curious where you all think the others fall. Feel free to include the Outers as well!


My ranking:
Ami
Rei
Makoto
Minako
Usagi



Expanded ranking:
Ami
Setsuna
Michiru
Hotaru~Rei
Haruka
Makoto
Minako
Usagi

My ranking would be:

Ami
Mamoru
Michiru
Haruka
Sestuna
Rei
Hotaru
Makoto
Minako
Chibi-Usa
Usagi

My Ranking
Ami
Mamoru
Michiru
Setsuna
Rei
Hotaru
Haruka
Makoto
Chibiusa
Minako
Usagi

ranking: Best guess i guess.
Ami
Rei
Mamoru
Michiru
Hotaru
Setsuna
Makoto
Haruka
Minako
Chibiusa
Usagi

My ranking would be:

Ami
Mamoru
Hotaru
Setsuna
Michiru
Chibiusa
Rei
Makoto
Haruka
Minako
Usagi

Obviously, Ami loves to study the most and hardest, thus she ranks the senshi with the highest grades in their school. Mamoru comes next and Hotaru seems to spend more time in books than with peers on campus. In order of my ranks: Rei, Michiru, Haruka, Makoto, Setsuna and Minako are normally "B" students; and Usagi-the leader of the senshi is known for not so good test scores.

After Ami, probably Rei. Besides being smart she's hardworking and seems pretty adament to study.

Aaaand after Rei, probably Makoto, Chibiusa?, Minako and Usagi. Though the last two are probably tied. XD

1.) I find it interesting how people have placed Haruka all over the place. It's really hard to pinpoint her intellectual prowess, as we don't see it in an academic setting very often. However, I could see her being like Seiya and destroying academics when she needs to get down to business.

2.) I ranked Setsuna so high because of the manga. In Dream, Ami makes reference to Setsuna helping her with some science-related things before she left to raise Hotaru with the others. And she studies Physics at the University level which is not easy stuff.

Actually, "best" can be used for other factors. Not only the academic part, I mean. There´s also the social part, at which Ami is probably just better than Hotaru.

So...

Academic: Ami and Hotaru

Both are very intelligent, but their social skills are terrible. They get better, but not that much.

Social: Minako, Usagi and Makoto. The first two are very friendly and get along with lots of people. Makoto was lonely at first, but from Black Moon onwards, we can see she made plenty of new friends at school.

Let´s face it. Their grades are the worst from the bunch.

Academic and social: Setsuna, Haruka/Michiru, Rei and Chibiusa.

We can see that Setsuna is pretty popular with her university friends, teachers and the children in Stars. And she studies pretty advanced subjects. Chibiusa thankfully seems to have inherited her father skills.

My Ranking

Ami
Mamoru
Michiru
Rei
Setsuna
Makato
Haruka
Hotaru
Chibiusa
Minako
Usagi

Remember guys that this is a debate so you should list your choices and also argue why your believe your choices are the most fitting. 

That being said, Minako and Usagi are definitely at the bottom because it's stated repeatedly how horrible they are at school. 

I believe Rei would be best in school after Ami because she goes to a very strict and elite private school and is involved heavily in school clubs and projects. Pretty much all the students look up to her because of how great she is as an overall student. Keeping up good grades while also being involved in extracurricular activities can be challenging.

I can see Makoto being an average A/B (or whatever the equivalent of those grades are in Japan) type student. She is kind of in the middle where she isn't an exception student but isn't bad either. She makes pretty decent grades if she applies herself but every now and then she does slip up and earn a bad grade on a test.

Ami - she's consistently shown as #1 in the class in the anime, so this spot was pretty easy.
Setsuna - she's in college studying physics at one point during the anime, which probably takes serious brains.
Michiru & Haruka - they are introduced as going to an elite local school and are obviously talented
Rei - Rei is always encouraging the others to focus and study, so she probably has pretty good grades
Hotaru - I rank Hotaru the lowest of the outers because she was always "sick" and missing school. I have no doubt she's intelligent, but as far as her studies go she's probably behind.
Makoto  - In The Melancholy of Makoto she's shown getting a 40% on a test and largely spends her time avoiding studying, so Makoto is probably just scraping by in school.
Minako & Usagi - they were the only ones who had to do summer school in the anime, from what I remember. Plus that infamous test score of Usagi's.

Ami - Stated in the series many times that she is the most intelligant and has an IQ of 300
Setsuna - Since she's in college studying physics (anime) and became the nurse at Chibiusa's school (manga) she obviously has a high IQ
Rei - Her school has advancement tests, and since if you fail you get left down a year she would be pretty smart and have good grades
Michiru - Attends the elite Mugen Academy and is very talented
Hotaru - While she has missed a lot of school, she is shown to be a fast learner.
Makoto - Hobbies include avoiding studying
Haruka - While she also attends Mugen, i think she's only interested in her racing really
Minako/Usagi - both as lazy as each other, both have to do make-up tests and who can forget Usagi's 30% grade at the start of the series

Agree with OPs ranking.  I always felt that Rei would be good at school, especially in the manga.

I want to put a Myu perspective in this (because I can). Myu makes it clear that Usagi is bad at grades (there are jokes here and there about it). And we know based on other versions of SM, Minako isn't that great at school either. The musicals also reinforce that Ami is a genius girl with a 300 IQ so she's definitely at the top.

However! In the 2000 Summer - Transylvania no Mori (The Forest of Transylvania) musical and its revised version, it seems Makoto and Haruka (only in the revised version) are lumped into this group as they all fail their exam before their Summer Vacation (Winter Vacation in Revised). Its so bad that Rei has to have a special study camp "from hell" at the shrine to help them out. (To be fair, Ami notices that the exams are oddly harder than usual, but she was still able to pass even though there was one question she didn't know).

(Side note: we also learn that Usagi is really really low on this list because she believes it isn't a true test unless its true or false and tried to take the test like it was True or False...)

So from that perspective, I'll make a guesstimate list from best to worst.

1. Ami
2. Setsuna
3. Michiru
4. Hotaru
5. Rei
6. Chibi-usa
7. Haruka
8. Makoto
9. Minako
10. Usagi

If we included Mamoru, he's probably tied with Ami or Setsuna. The only thing about Minako is even though she's not good at school, you can defintiely arguet that she's not dumb either. She's pretty good at strategy. She saves everyone in the TnM musicals with that skill (while working with Michiru). So if we were to include other types of "smarts", then I'd definitely move Minako higher up.

IIRC, in the manga grades (on exams at least) at Usagi's school was given on a 1-100 points system, so I'll use that for my ranking.

100-90: Ami, Setsuna, and Mamoru
Ami would definitely rank the highest most consistently when it came to doing well in academics. I can see Setsuna and Mamoru also doing quite well, but unlike Ami who gets 100s on every subjects, they'll mainly excel in subject that they have a deep interest in (i.e. Physics for Setsuna, and Medicine for Mamoru) but still be well-rounded in other subjects to remain the top of their class.

89-80: Rei, Michiru, Haruka, Hotaru
I think all four of these characters are quite smart, and are known for being good students. But they don't completely devote themselves to studying like Ami does (which is not a criticism, as studying just happens to be Ami's hobby), and have other things they are interested in, for example, managing the shrine for Rei, practicing the violin for Michiru, and doing track and fields for Haruka. I included Hotaru in this group because she's so introverted that I think she'd read a lot in her spare time, be it novels or magazines, and has accumulated a lot of knowledge. She's also good at picking up small details, which I think is handy for school, where she can recall bits of information that other students might've overlooked or forgotten.

79-60: Makoto
I made the score range a bit wider because I think Makoto would be an average student, who does well enough that she doesn't have to constantly worry about passing her classes. But when it comes to taking her high school entrance exams, then her average scores can cause her grief, as we saw in the Exam Battle short stories.

60-0: Usagi and Minako
With Usagi, I genuinely think she just isn't book smart, kinda like a Teflon coated pan: information just doesn't stick to her. XD;; With Minako though, I think her case is different. She's very interested in subjects outside of academia, and for the stuff she's really into (i.e. pop stars and popular culture), she's a veritable guru at it. She's like a reverse Ami almost, except for fun stuff and not school stuff.

bump

Adding this as a little proof of Makoto's ranking among the girls: "my grades aren't much better than Bunny's"

Ami
Mamoru 
Rei
Hotaru
Michiru
Setsuna 
Haruka
Chibiusa
Minako 
Makoto 
Usagi

Luna Love, can you explain why you ranked Rei above Setsuna? Just because...Setsuna is seen studying physics in the Infinity arc and then is a nurse in Stars...Maybe they are both as dedicated to studying but it seems Setsuna might be a bit better?

I think you're spot on on the bottom three though. xD Personally I'd rank Chibiusa higher becuase she seems a bit more studious with school than Usagi ever was lol

I ranked Rei higher because Setsuna was never really  a student in the manga, she appeared to be doing what the others were doing by being under cover and then she seems to have a job as a scientist and a nurse later on.

I believe Setsuna is smarter than Rei but believe I Setsuna still isn't as concerned and as studious with schooling as Rei also because of that reason.

I believe in the Manga Rei cares about studying almost as much as Ami, even though she is pretty much guaranteed a place in high school because of her special school.

I feel like it even makes her work harder and she is admired and a role model in her school because of this.

Ami is naturally gifted but she's studying because she wants to and she's goal oriented towards it because of her future dream of being a doctor.

Mamoru is the same as Ami, so he goes before Rei.

I ranked Hotaru higher because like Ami and Setsuna, she is naturally gifted but despite seeming to not favor studying, she has a dedication to doing as Michiru-mama wants.

This is also why Michiru is above Setsuna. She takes learning seriously but also enjoys it. As seen when she returns to school in the final arc.

Haruka is below them because while she studied and does what she has to like Michiru probably wants, she doesn't seem a fan of school as much as Michiru.

Chibiusa is above the rest of the inners and Usagi because she does take school more serious and tries but she struggles with her studies as much as her mama and the others but she is above Minako, Makoto and Usagi because while she has slacked off and avoided studying before, she also showed during certain lessons she really cared about learning.

Makoto is below Minako because she pretty much hates studying and will do anything and everything to avoid it.

I wanted to rank Makoto below Usagi for this reason but Usagi literally falls asleep and eats during class and avoids homework with video games lol... unlike others, the only reason she hates getting bad grades is due to Ikuko-mama punishing her otherwise I don't see her caring at all.

Makoto's studying ethic in Makoto's Melancholy was a funny competition for Usagi's though.

Minako is placed above them because she seems a bit like a class clown and a jock. She might not get the best grades but she does put in some effort, enough to get into a new school even, when she wants to.

Those are my takes on it 

Luna Love wrote:

I ranked Rei higher because Setsuna was never really  a student in the manga, she appeared to be doing what the others were doing by being under cover and then she seems to have a job as a scientist and a nurse later on.

Maybe I completely misunderstood the scene where Setsuna comes back, but it shows that she is studying at a university where Reika and Motoki attend and that she seems to also be a teacher's assistant, perhaps at that point she's a graduate student rather than undergraduate. Second, you need to study A LOT to become a nurse, even if it is not shown in the manga, I would imagine that she must've been dedicated enough to study that much thus making me feel she would be 3rd highest just on that context alone. You simply don't become a nurse over night (even though the manga may have made it seem that way). If she wasn't that concerned or studious, then I think she would have considered another career option besides nurse.

Do you have the page this occured? I'd like to read it. I don't really remember Setsuna being a student in Infinity, I recall her rarely being seen unless she was with Michiru and Haruka or transformed. I remember we saw more in the arc after in Dream where she is a scientist though.

As I already said. I do believe Setsuna is SMARTER than Rei.

I just happen to feel she is naturally gifted, and isn't as serious about studying as she is about just living her life with her loved ones.

Ami studies so hard because she enjoys it, and because she is nagurally gifted and her dream is so passionate. She doesn't just want to be a doctor for typical reasons
 She does so because of an admiration for her mother. That's her role model and she aspires to be just like her as soon as she can.

Mamoru has never had anyone or anything except for hard work and school before Usagi. He take a his studying so seriously, he's willing to leave the only thing he has come to live in this world to accomplish his goal.

Rei works hard at school, she has an image to maintain, she's worked hard to achieve this and she makes sure her grades are a priority.

I think there is miscommunication due to difference of opinion.

I am not saying Setsuna is not smart. I'm fact I said she is on par with Ami and Mamoru and maybe even smarter.

I don't think studying and GIFTED intelligence have to go hand in hand.

From what LITTLE we see if Setsuna, I see a woman who cares more about living life, loving and protecting her friends, experiencing all she can and discovering her self OUTSIDE of her senshi form.

Setsuna is one of my favorite characters and thus is how I have interpreted her.

She changed jobs to what she enjoys in regular life, her final career choice, so far, is to be a school nurse. Not the same thing as an ER nurse. 

She does this not for a love of studying, whether it requires any amount... studying for school is almost always long and hard for careers, but to me... that's beside the point.

Because to me in my opinion, she's not doing it out of love of school, studying or learning or to look like a role model student or even doing it for a forever lifelong DREAM or passion. 


In my opinion, She's doing it because she has that choice now and she doesn't care so much as the way getting there or about being at the top of her classes and having choices of schools... as long as she gets there. 

She doesn't take studying seriously because to me, she already knows EVERYTHING. She's a certified genius to me.

Ami is a certified genius but whether she's ahead of her classes or not, she's going to study because she enjoys it and wants to be ahead. It's even a competition to get to be first in grades.

This has nothing to do with her intelligence or ability to study because everyone with effort or tutoring can put in effort for studying.

To me, someone who is best at school isn't just going to be the smartest or who actually does their required work but a combination of both of those and the reason and motivators behind them and how much one is passionate about the studying part and not just the end goal.

This is why in my opinion, I've placed them this way.

If this were about who is most intelligent the order of my list would be way different.

If it was about who works the hardest, it would depend on what they were working on and would be different.

I understand where you are coming from but I guess I'll just have to disagree in terms of my interpretation of the character.

As far as the scene I'm talking, on this page she states she's a freshman studying physics.

I kind of remember this now. This strengthens my belief about why I placed her there. She's not so much about being a student as she is about living her life. 

She's either finished her school and became a theoretical scientist, or she started going to school for the work she's seen doing in Dream and then dropped that and became a school nurse in the final season. 

I think she finished each degree unless these degrees don't allow for skipping ahead as much college's have specifications for accelerated classes and there is only a 2 year gap from this moment and then stars so unless she was able to convince professors to give her these degrees in a certain amount of time then she would quit a course and or change her majors or simply can manipulate the system to appear to be a graduate and still secure a job in whatever field she wants cause magic lol.

This is just my take on the time gap and the changes in careers she makes during it. It's probably a too realistic take on it and just a continuity error though.

Looks like most people have differing lists in some way or another though so it's good to agree to disagree either way but I'm glad you wanted to know why I made my list the way I did, I enjoyed sharing my thoughts. I'll make sure to include them from now on when I make lists like these in the future

Luna Love wrote:

I kind of remember this now. This strengthens my belief about why I placed her there. She's not so much about being a student as she is about living her life. 

She's either finished her school and became a theoretical scientist, or she started going to school for the work she's seen doing in Dream and then dropped that and became a school nurse in the final season. 

I think she finished each degree unless these degrees don't allow for skipping ahead as much college's have specifications for accelerated classes and there is only a 2 year gap from this moment and then stars so unless she was able to convince professors to give her these degrees in a certain amount of time then she would quit a course and or change her majors or simply can manipulate the system to appear to be a graduate and still secure a job in whatever field she wants cause magic lol.

This is just my take on the time gap and the changes in careers she makes during it. It's probably a too realistic take on it and just a continuity error though.

Looks like most people have differing lists in some way or another though so it's good to agree to disagree either way but I'm glad you wanted to know why I made my list the way I did, I enjoyed sharing my thoughts. I'll make sure to include them from now on when I make lists like these in the future

Can you explain why you believe Setsuna dropped out? Is there anything to support that? I personally doubt she would "manipulate the system" (I assume you mean some kind of time travel here?). Why choose to get a degree in theoretical physics when she could have chosen to do anything else? I believe she would complete it properly or would not have started it at all.

I also want to point out that someone mentioned Setsuna helps Ami with a project. I don't think that a person with an IQ of 300 needs help often, so Setsuna must be pretty smart based on that alone. In contrast, we can watch the clip below where the reverse happens for Rei - she asks Ami for help. If we use Ami as the comparison, it's easy to see that Setsuna is likely the better student.


(^This is a fandub. I had trouble finding the original.)

I actually did explain it already, right there in the text.

To clarify again, I said she probably got the degrees by either a continuity error or by some other means.

As I said, only 2 years have passed so I dont't understand according to the college I went to or any other I have heard that lets you get any hard degree that includes theoricial physics or nursing in TWO years.

This was a response to the comment involving realism about how nursing is a hard and long study subject.

I also already said I find Setsuna the most intelligent.

Numerous times.

I was also basing my opinion off of the manga, not the anime but that still stands for anime since, again, my opinion is not about who is most intelligent but who is best at school...

Again, based on my own explanation from before for what in my opinion counts as best at school not solely having to do with studying or intelligence but a combination of that and other things, as I said.

Double checking the OP to make sure I'm basing my opinions on the original question, it asks "how do they all perform as students". So we actually can't really say for certain with Setsuna based on the little content we've got of her. Maybe she did drop out of school to care for Hotaru along with Haruka and Michiru. We just don't know.

However, we can say that based on her intelligence shown in the series and the fact that these are all Japanese people living in a Japanese society where studying is generally very important, we can assume that she must perform really well in school (even if she drops out, or whatever she does to suddenly be a school nurse by Stars lol). When she's introduced as her civilian reborn life, she's a physics student. We can only assume that she did have a life prior to awakening as Pluto in the present day and I would imagine that you have to perform and do very well in school to get to college and study physics.

So I think the problem here is that the OP asked one question in the thread title and a slightly different one in the post itself. The question in the thread title can be interpreted differently thus why we're going round and round here xD

Oh I definitely didn't check to see whether or not the question was the same as the title so if it was about performance than my list would definitely change.

Not even just for Setsuna but for a couple of them.

My whole reasoning on who was best at school is because I like to view it as people who actually enjoy school and enjoy learning and do it because they have goals and things in mind.

To me it seems like Setsuna is more focused on being able to live her life freely now that she actually has that option instead of being forced to be guarding the gates of time for her only career option. 

This was my interpretation of why she went to school for different things had different career options and ended up settling on being a school nurse because it wasn't school or a career she was focusing on it was the love of her friends and the love of being able to live her life with them whether it was a career like a school nurse or a physical theoretical a botanist, astronomer or anything of the sort.

To me it just seemed like she was doing her own thing not because she likes to go to school and likes studying or things like being at the top of her class but just because she could now that she can.

When it comes to performance as a student my list is.

Ami
Mamoru
Setsuna- I'm listing her below Ami and Mamoru because she doesn't need to get top grades or exclusive schools to enhance her learning experience, she'll pass and that seems like that's important to her rather than being at the top of her class like Ami or getting experience and prestige abroad like Mamoru. She seems more down to earth about it and that effort is effort to her and she'll still get what she wants.
Rei
Michiru- she is higher than Hotaru here because I don't think she needs much encouragement to peform her studies or learn whether Hotaru is more intelligent or not.
Hotaru- I took her down a beg here based also on the fact that despite being good at studies, she's normally wanting to play and be a kid, she deserves that too in my book, so for having to be encouraged, she's at this spot now.
Haruka
Minako 
Makoto 
Usagi

Luna Love wrote:

I actually did explain it already, right there in the text.

To clarify again, I said she probably got the degrees by either a continuity error or by some other means.

As I said, only 2 years have passed so I dont't understand according to the college I went to or any other I have heard that lets you get any hard degree that includes theoricial physics or nursing in TWO years.

This was a response to the comment involving realism about how nursing is a hard and long study subject.

I also already said I find Setsuna the most intelligent.

Numerous times.

I was also basing my opinion off of the manga, not the anime but that still stands for anime since, again, my opinion is not about who is most intelligent but who is best at school...

Again, based on my own explanation from before for what in my opinion counts as best at school not solely having to do with studying or intelligence but a combination of that and other things, as I said.

I was just confused about what you meant by manipulation but I understand better now that you've clarified so thanks for doing that.

Right, two years have passed since we see Setsuna in the anime, but that doesn't mean she wasn't attending University prior to that/her awakening. Usagi was running around as a student for a long time before she was awakened as a senshi so who's to say Setsuna isn't in the same boat? Based on Small Lady's post, we can put her in her sophomore year. If she takes summer courses, it'd be a tough but doable two year degree from then onward. Also, do we ever see her doing a job/something that is not school (aside from taking care of Hotaru)? She could be going to school at night or still going and it just isn't shown in the anime. I don't remember these arcs 100% so maybe I'm forgetting something though?

Small Lady wrote:

Double checking the OP to make sure I'm basing my opinions on the original question, it asks "how do they all perform as students". So we actually can't really say for certain with Setsuna based on the little content we've got of her. Maybe she did drop out of school to care for Hotaru along with Haruka and Michiru. We just don't know.

However, we can say that based on her intelligence shown in the series and the fact that these are all Japanese people living in a Japanese society where studying is generally very important, we can assume that she must perform really well in school (even if she drops out, or whatever she does to suddenly be a school nurse  by Stars lol). When she's introduced as her civilian reborn life, she's a physics student. We can only assume that she did have a life prior to awakening as Pluto in the present day and I would imagine that you have to perform and do very well in school to get to college and study physics.

So I think the problem here is that the OP asked one question in the thread title and a slightly different one in the post itself. The question in the thread title can be interpreted differently thus why we're going round and round here xD

I also want to add that we don't see/know if Rei ever attends university and likely wouldn't as you don't need a degree to be a shrine maiden (though I'm really only familiar with the 90's anime). I would say that University level study in general is more difficult than high school and below, so if we want to talk specifically about how studying relates I would still say Setsuna is the better student just by virtue of attending a University where the level of study is higher than what Rei might have ever experienced.