Villains of Sailormoon

Sailormoon's first set of villains comes from the Dark Kingdom, aka the Negaverse. Queen Beryl was exploring haunted ruins at the North Pole, and awakened Queen Metallia. She and her generals collect energy to feed to Metallia, who grows stronger and stronger until she can finally break free from her imprisonment. But Queen Beryl, who has been commanded to discover the ginzuishou, wants to be the one to rule the Earth.

She has four generals at her command: Jadeite, Neflyte, Zoisite, and Kunzite. However, before they joined up with Queen Beryl, they were Prince Endymion's trusted lieges. In the future, he still has their spirits, imprisoned in four gemstones. In the past, there was a romance going on between the Four Generals and the Four Inner Senshi. The Princess of Mercury and Zoisite were together; Kunzite's beloved was the Princess of Venus; the Princess of Mars and Jadeite were attached to each other; and the Princess of Jupiter and Neflyte were in love. A side question arises: it was said that Chibi-Usa was the first child of a being of the Moon Kingdom and a citizen of the Earth. This also brings up the question of how old Chibi-Usa really is versus how old she looks; and there is a debate as to whether or not her time travels or experience as Black Lady have further affected her age. (Remember that Usagi is pregnant at the end of SailormoonSS, and Chibi-Usa's stated age is 900 years old.) But what would've happened if all of the Senshi married Earth people?

In the anime, Jadeite is killed by Sailor Mercury, Mars, and Moon at the airport. In the manga, he meets his fiery death from Mars. Sailor Moon pins his arms by throwing her tiara at him, and Mars sics her pet crows, Phobos and Deimos, on him. (They somehow managed to appear at this crucial moment but no sign was shown of them boarding the Phantom Bus when Jadeite kidnapped Rei.) Ami throws Rei her henshin stick, and she instantaneously transforms and exhibits no surprise at her newfound powers. She shouts, "Akuryo Taisan!" (It's her Shinto priestess attack, which she used on Usagi in the temple when she threw that ofuda at her.) But this time, flames shoot from her hands and Jadeite is toast. Then, after all is said and done, and the people are returned to the bus stop, Sailor Mars suddenly begins to ask questions and exhibit wonder. By the way, "Akuryo Taisan!" means, "Evil Spirit, Begone!" and the full chant is, "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan." But that would take even longer than Sailor Moon's soliloquies... :o)

The next General to be defeated is Neflyte. In the anime, he genuinely falls in love with Naru, or Molly, depending on how you prefer to think of her. He uses the stars for power and guidance, and Zoisite is jealous at his success and infuriated by his weakness. Eventually, it is his fellow-general who is responsible for his downfall, and he dies in Naru's arms under a tree as a good guy after all. He knows Sailor Moon's secret identity, and the knowledge dies with him. In the manga, things go a bit differently. He's the main aggressor for two episodes, the first one where he has Princess D possessed, and the second being where he causes a mannequin in a wedding dress, the bride ghost, to seduce men out late at night, trapping their bodies within mannequins and draining their energy. It is in this second episode where he meets his doom, at the hands of the newly introduced Sailor Jupiter. Motoki (aka Andrew) is seduced, and imprisoned in a mannequin. At this point, things are a bit confusing. Either he, or a false Motoki, stops Makoto, who just so happens to be walking in the area late at night. She, who like Ami and Usagi, has developed a crush on Motoki, seemed flattered that he had been waiting for her, and offered no resistance. She seemed oblivious to the great blinding ball of light nearby which hid the presence of the bride ghost. However, Mamoru is walking nearby (reading a book at nighttime!), and did notice that something was amiss. He turns into Tuxedo Mask, leaps onto Usagi's open windowsill, and leads her to the scene. She notifies the others, uses her disguise pen to transform into a groom (she makes a rather handsome man, actually!), and after she has the bride ghosts' attention, transforms into Sailor Moon. By this time, Mars and Mercury have arrived on the scene, and Makoto finally realizes that maybe this isn't for real. She lifts the bride ghost over her head-- reminiscent of the anime scene where she lifts the monster form of Game Machine Joe (I don't know his anime name, forgive me!)-- and the sign of Jupiter appears on her forehead. Luna gives her the henshin stick, she transforms, attacks Neflyte with "Flower Hurricane", followed promptly with thunder and lightning... and General Neflyte is no more! Zoisite, as soon as she finds out, expresses great emotion at his death. It is Kunzite who seems aloof from it all, and reprimands her for being so excitable. It is at this point that Sailor Moon receives her moon wand, and all is well.

Thirdly, Zoisite is killed. In the anime, he is killed by Queen Beryl for attempting to destroy Tuxedo Kamen against her direct orders. This occurs after all of the Inner Senshi have been awakened, the ginzuisho found, and after it has been determined that Sailor Moon is also the Moon Princess for which they have been searching. Instead, in the manga, he is killed by Sailor V 's timely appearance, after both Mars' and Jupiter's attacks have failed to save Sailor Moon from Zoisite. (Not only does Sailor V bear the moon crescent upon her forehead, but she wears her Venus Love Me Chain around her waist--which is cute and should've been included in the anime, IMHO.) Artemis is at her side. But back to Zoisite... in the manga and Japanese episodes, He is a He. In the American dub, He is a She. In the anime, there is a romantic interest between Zoisite and Kunzite; in the manga, there really isn't much evidence to show for it. No hugging scenes, no affectionate talk, nothing like the anime has. They seem to work together well, but that's about it.

Kunzite is the same as the American character, Malachite. Not only is he the strongest of the four Generals, but he kidnaps Tuxedo Kamen because part of the ginzuishou merged into his body, and Queen Beryl wishes to remove it. In the anime, Tuxedo Kamen is brainwashed to serve the Dark Kingdom. However, an interesting thing happens when the ginzuishou appeared, forming from Princess Serenity's tear. The bodies of Jadeite, Neflyte, and Zoisite come back to life, and have a flashback of their previous lives, where the Dark Kingdom convinced them to rebel against the Moon Kingdom because it did whatever it pleased, and they argued with Prince Endymion to join them. He tried to dissuade them. Then Kunzite remembers, also, and realizes that they had been reborn to find Prince Endymion, but had been once again tricked into joining the Dark Kingdom before they could regain their memories. Jadeite, Neflyte, and Zoisite turn into the little stones (which Endymion later possesses) and Kunzite continues on to kidnap Tuxedo Kamen. All of this takes place in Act 2, Episode 9.

Back to Castle Miranda