What Ami lacks in offensive strength, she makes up for in intelligence and charity... to a point. She often volunteers to help some of her less scholarly friends with problematic schoolwork. Ami loves school, and wants to become a doctor once she's older.
So far, I have found Amy to be a bit shy and introverted. She is certainly the most reserved of the original Sailors. In one scene, while Usagi and Rei were going nuts over being at the animation school where the Sailor V movie was being produced, Ami was quietly asking questions concerning the behavior of a girl, who had been possessed by the powers of the Negaverse. No wonder Luna likes her.
Although she was picked on a bit in "The Power of Friendship", one should not get the impression that Ami is totally spineless. In "Grandpa's Follies", both Makoto and Ami get ticked at Rei for continued sniping at Usagi. Ami tears into Rei, capping off her stern lecture with: "Brat! Come back when you grow up." Makoto adds her not-too-subtle two cents worth and the two walk away. Both of them later realize that they were a bit harsh toward Rei, they realize that she and Sarena have a unique friendship and peace is achieved again.
In "Mercury's Mental Match, it was revealed that Ami had a boyfriend, and the only reason neither of the two had brought the subject up before "Tuxedo Unmasked" was because they were both afraid of rejection.
Ami was one of the first to put down her life in order to protect Sailor Moon and the ginzuishou. I noticed a bit of the things that DiC cut out, and especially hard-hit were the scenes of Sailor Mercury telling Sailor Moon that since she is the weakest of the Sailors, she could afford to risk her life, the scene of Amy destroying the monster by smashing it with her computer, and the scene of her lying dead at the base of an artic hill. (In fact, if there were more of those death scenes, they were removed, because we simply CAN'T show DEATH in a cartoon! (*Ami giggles*)
In later seasons of Sailor Moon, Ami generally takes a back seat to the rest of the group most of the time. She briefly entertains the idea of continuing her studies in Germany ("Sailor Mercury Moving On?"), but decides not to because of her sense of duty to her friends.
In "Checkmate" she ends up nearly single-handedly defeating Beruche, which leads to that villain's turn away from the Dark Moon family.
A bit later, we get an idea of just how dedicated Ami is to her studies. In "Lonely Amy", some of the other students at school accuse Ami of cheating. While this is the result of one of the Dark Moon family's attempts to infect Tokyo with negative energy, I can't help but think that a lot of those students were jealous.
In "Damp Spirits", Ami begins to believe that the only thing she is good at is studying, and she begins to think that she will not make a good doctor. When Ami is challenged to a swimming race by Michiru, at first she does not give the race her full effort because she wants to become friends with Michiru. This disappoints Michiru, who scolds Ami. Seeing that she has hurt Ami's feelings, Michiru challenges her to a rematch, during which Ami discovers an inner desire to succeed at something other than academics.
Episode Spotlight: Sailor Mercury
The following episodes seem to feature Sailor Mercury:
Episode #6: Time Bomb
Episode #17: An Animated Mess
Episode #23: Mercury's Mental Match
Episode #56: Sailor Mercury Moving On?
Episode #64: Checkmate
Episode #73: Lonely Amy
Episode #90: Damp Spirits
Sailor Mercury Links
Icesenshi's Lake of Illusion
The Scotch Tape Sailor Mercury Page
The Original Sailor Mercury Shrine
Mizuno's Home
The Sailormercury Shrine of Water
Sailor Merc's Page of Whatever
Sailor Mercury Webring