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Black Moon - Anime
I like the Black Moon in the anime more. You see a bit more of their pure side than in the manga.
The stories start out much the same. The Black Moon Clan was banished to Nemesis as criminals. There was barely any flowers or vegetation on Nemesis, and their descendents grew up bitter, wanting revenge on Earth. The people we see are the White Prince Dimando, his brother Safiel, Crimson Rubeus, Esmeraude, and the Ayakashi (or Phantom) sisters.
One day a being named Wiseman appeared among them. He urged action in the fight against Earth, and pointed out that sitting around day dreaming wouldn't do a thing. He bribed their leader, Dimando, with a hypnotic eye. Soon, Dimando was eating out of Wiseman's hand. Wiseman told Dimando of the Dark Crystal, which if handled properly could be more powerful than the Silver Crystal itself.
The Black Moon, in a bold move, rallied their forces and attacked Earth. They planted a huge chunk of Dark Crystal in the ground, and attacked Crystal Tokyo. They nearly won, except the Sailor Senshi threw a protective layer of quartz around the Queen, Neo-Queen Serenity. The only people left to fight were a weakened King Endymion, the sleeping Queen, their daughter Small Lady (Chibi-usa), and the four sailor senshi. They used all their power to protect the palace, making it impossible for the Black Moon to conquer it.
Dimando was discouraged. Wiseman coyly suggested that they go back into the past, when Crystal Tokyo didn't exist, and destroy the Earth then, when everything was weak. Dimando agreed. The plan began immediately. Dimando sent Rubeus, along with the Ayakashi sisters, to earth. They located five star points, at which they would plant Dark Crystals. If they could capture all five points, Tokyo would be theirs. They could open the Dark Gate and destroy the Earth, finally taking revenge for their banishment.
But the plan did not go as expected. Small Lady, the Princess of Crystal Tokyo, had also taken action. She went to the past, having heard stories of the legendary sailor soldier, Sailor Moon. She begged Sailor Moon for her help, and tried many times to steal the Silver Crystal of the past and take it back to the future. If Crystal Tokyo was to survive, they needed to awaken Neo-Queen Serenity, and the Silver Crystal was the only thing that could do that. The Silver Crystal in the future had mysteriously disappeared on the day of the attack.
Having been warned, Sailor Moon knew what to look for and beat Rubeus and the Phantom sisters at every turn. They failed to capture even one star point. Even worse, one by one the sailor senshi were healing the Ayakashi sisters. First Cooan, then Beruche, and lastly Petz and Calaveras. Also, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen were being plagued with terrible dreams telling them to stay apart from each other.
Rubeus was left alone to complete the mission, and things were not looking bright. Esmeraude came from the future and mocked Rubeus, saying a failure like himself had no place in the glorious clan of the Black Moon. He protested, saying that this last plan was full proof and he would for sure capture Chibi-usa and destroy the senshi.
Rubeus attempted to capture Chibi-usa twice but failed. But the second time, the senshi (minus Sailor Moon) showed up to protect her. They used Sailor Planet Power on him and his spaceship, but in vain. He sucked them up into his spaceship. As an incentive for Sailor Moon to rescue them, or maybe just sheer cruelty, Rubeus crucified the senshi. Sailor Moon and Chibi-usa, after a bit of thought, decided that it was worth it to put their own lives at risk to rescue the senshi, and allowed themself to be captured by Rubeus.
Rubeus, cocky as always, played around with the girls when he should have been destroying them. He put Sailor Moon in an anti gravity hold. While Sailor Moon was suffering, Chibi-usa noticed a small dark crystal nearby glowed when he used his power. She ran over to it and grabbed hold of it, trying to dislodge it. Sailor Moon saw what she was doing and rallied her strength to fight Rubeus. Rubeus saw what Chibi-usa was doing, but couldn't stop her because he had to use all his power to fight Sailor Moon.
Chibi-usa succeeded in disloding the crystal, and Rubeus' powers shrank. The senshi were freed from their crosses! But Rubeus quickly pressed self-destruct on the spaceship, saying he would take them all with him. But the senshi used Sailor Teleport to escape, leaving Rubeus to die. In his final moments, Esmeraude appeared to him and mocked him. He asked why she wouldn't save him, and she said he was a failure and a disgrace to the clan. She teleported away with an evil laugh. The ship blew up, and Crimson Rubeus with it.
Dimando put Esmeraude in charge of the take over of the crystal points. But she did no better than Rubeus, never capturing a single one. Finally, Chibi-usa decided that they were getting nowhere on Earth. The only way to defeat the Black Moon was to fight them in the future. Using her time key, Chibi-usa teleported back to the Gates of Time, where they were met by the mysterious soldier Sailor Pluto. She allowed them to pass. Esmeraude, furious at this change in plans, meet the senshi with a droid. But they easily destroyed it, and entered the future Crystal Tokyo.
They found only ruin. A hologram of King Endymion met them, and Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen recognized him as the voice in the terrible nightmares. He told them that those dreams were necessary to test their love and devotion to one another, because the trials ahead would be difficult. He also told them the story of Crystal Tokyo, the Black Moon clan, and the sleeping Neo-Queen Serenity - and also that Small Lady was their future daughter. Later, Sailor Moon tried to awaken Serenity with the Silver Crystal of the past, but failed.
Dimando, meanwhile, had become obsessed with Neo-Queen Serenity, and her past self, Sailor Moon. He attacked her, using his third hypnotic eye to persuade her to kiss him. She was helpless to resist. When she was in his grasp, he teleported away to Nemesis, where she awoke dressed as Neo-Queen Serenity. She tried to transform, but being in such close proximity to the Dark Crystal rendered the Silver Crystal helpless. Dimando opened his third hypnotic eye and tried to force Sailor Moon to kiss him once more. She struggled, but was no match for the power of the White Prince. Suddenly, Tuxedo Kamen appeared! He had hanglided in to save her (how cheesy is that! HA! oh..sorry -_-;;)! He took Sailor Moon in his arms and they glided to safety, leaving a angry Dimando to brood.
More disession stirred amongst the Black Moon. Safiel, Prince Dimando's younger brother, doubted the intentions of the Wiseman. Dimando only daydreamed of Neo-Queen Serenity. Esmeraude, desperately in love with Dimando, saw this and could only think of ways to destroy Sailor Moon, eliminating her competition. At her wits end, she went to the Wiseman for help.
He told her lies about how he foresaw she would rule the future Nemesis alongside Dimando as his Queen. He clouded her mind and offered her a crown made of Dark Crystal, telling her this was the answer. Desperate, a jealous Esmeraude took the crown. The evil crystal entered her bloodstream and transformed her into a vicious dragon. Realizing she had been tricked, she angrily set out to destroy the sailor senshi, all she could do. Esmeraude was loyal to the Black Moon to the end. Unfortunately, she was easily beaten by Sailor Moon's scepter, and destroyed. Dimando...
This was the final straw for Safiel. He related his suspicions about Wiseman to his brother, Dimando, but Dimando would hear none of it. He angrily threw Safiel into a pillar with a blast of power, and stalked off angrily. Safiel, hurt, only thought of making his brother see the truth.
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