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Black Moon - Manga
The Black Moon is the only group that I prefer in the anime. They are still completely awesome in the manga, but not quite as much.
In the manga, the Black Moon Clan was a group of criminals banished to the tenth planet, Nemesis, because of various reasons. One thing lead to another, and generations and generations passed. Those we see in Sailor Moon are the White Prince Dimando, his brother Safiel, and many of his subjects. They are not vicious people, but years of living on Nemesis and being bred to return to the Moon and take revenge have taken their toll. They plan and plot for their revenge, until the day Wiseman appears.
Unbeknownst to the Black Moon, Wiseman was evil spirit of the planet itself, Nemesis. He was a criminal banished there long before the Black Moon, a criminal so dark and so evil that when he died, he didn't pass away but became a part of Nemesis. He confronted Prince Dimando and gave him a third hypnotic eye as a bribe so he could be involved with the revenge on Earth. Wiseman passed himself off as an advisor, but was really manipulating and brainwashing the Prince and his family.
Much the same as the anime, the Black Moon attacked Crystal Tokyo and almost suceeded in taking over, except they couldn't get into the Palace, and to the Queen inside. She was protected by a crystal the Sailor Senshi threw over it just before the attack. The Princess of the Crystal Tokyo, Neo-Princess Small Lady, Chibi-Usa, miraculously survived the terrible attack on the Moon and traveled back to the past to find the legendary soldier, Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon was the last hope for Crystal Tokyo. Chibi-Usa found her and tried to capture the Silver Crystal to take it back to the future, since the future crystal had disappeared.
The Black Moon's next move was to attack the past, and destroy Tokyo before Neo-Queen Serenity's reign. Then Earth would then be theirs. At least, that was the idea. But Wiseman twisted Dimando's thoughts around and convinced him to try to destroy Earth instead.
They sent the Ayakashi (or Phantom) Sisters first, and one by one they were each destroyed. They were not healed, like in the anime. They just all died, like pitiful little droids. They were not done true justice in the manga, I think. However, they all succeeded in part - each of them captured a sailor senshi before their deaths. Mercury first, then Mars, and lastly Jupiter. Venus managed to survive, however, to battle alongside Sailor Moon until the very end.
Chibi-usa realized the only choice left was to go to the future and fight the Black Moon. She used her Time Key, which she had stolen from Sailor Pluto, the guardian of time, to return to the future. There, they found only ruin. The only thing left standing in all of Crystal Tokyo was the palace. The rest was only rubble. They were met by King Endymion and Diana, who revealed that Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon grew up to be Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion. Diana was Luna and Artemis' future cat-daughter.
The Black Moon anticipated their arrival in the future and sent Esmeraude, along with two droids, to meet them. They easily destroyed the droids and Esmeraude fled. Sailor Moon tried to reawaken Neo-Queen Serenity with the Silver Crystal, but failed. Sailor Moon's body also began to disappear, being in such a close proximity with her future self. Left with no other choice, the Senshi returned to Earth to gather more information.
The Black Moon's plans continued. Chibi-usa, feeling neglected by Sailor Moon on Earth, fled to Sailor Pluto. She was lost in a time storm, where the Wiseman lured her to him and brainwashed her. The senshi only knew that she is missing and panicked. Tuxedo Kamen rushed into the storm after her (pretty dumb if you ask me ^ ^;).
While the senshi desperately searched for Chibi-Usa, Esmeraude attacked with Dark Hands given to her by the Wiseman. Sailor Moon's scepter failed to work because of the energy the Dark Crystal emitted, so Tuxedo Kamen destroyed her with his Smoking Bomber (teehee - poor manga attacks ^ ^). Taking advantage of Sailor Moon's momentarily lapse in power, Prince Dimando, obsessed with Neo-Queen Serenity, kidnapped Sailor Moon as a substitute.
Sailor Moon awoke dressed as Neo-Queen Serenity, on Nemesis, alone with Dimando, and unable to transform. Not the best of circumstances. Dimando forced her to kiss him, and she angrily pushes him away. The kinder side of the Black Moon shows through here (sort of) as they allowed Sailor Moon to walk freely among them, knowing that she had no power without her transformation and could not escape. Talking to Safiel, she learned that her friends were trapped in the Room of Darkness, where their life was slowly being sucked away.
Meanwhile, Safiel's suspicions about the planet Nemesis deepened. He asked Sailor Moon to forgive his brother, Dimando, because after all he was being led by the Wiseman. Then...for a reason I still don't understand, Safiel turned suddenly on Sailor Moon and attacked her. "The warrior Sailor Moon can die, too!" He claimed it was Sailor Moon's fault that his brother had changed. He would have killed her, but all of the sudden a bright light filled the planet. The sleeping Neo-Queen Serenity had caused the Silver Crystal to awaken!
Sailor Moon was able to morph. She telepathically contacted the senshi in the Room of Darkness and awakened them. Lending them power, they too were able to morph and came racing to Sailor Moon's aid. Outnumbered, Rubeus became afraid and tried to escape. Suddenly, Wiseman appeared. Rubeus took the opportunity and began to bad-mouth Wiseman. "I'm not fooled by you! What are you using us for? I won't stay here and be killed like a dog!" Wiseman took him by the thoat and killed him (poor Rubeus. He's not much use in the manga *sniffle*). The senshi used this moment of confusion to escape, and using their combined powers they morphed away from Nemesis.
Meanwhile, Tuxedo Kamen was still searching for Chibi-usa in the time storm. But rather than him finding her, a strange shadow, an adult, brainwashed Chibi-usa, found him...
Back at the Time Gates with Sailor Pluto, the senshi had a happy reunion. But it was short-lived. They discovered Luna P, the toy that Chibi-usa always carried with her...
Prince Dimando and Safiel soon awoke from the terrible light on Nemesis to find the new and improved (in my opinion) Chibi-Usa. They were shocked to disover she had the mark of the Black Moon on her forehead, an upside down black crescent, and an adult's body. She led them to Wiseman's hideout (she now worked exclusively for Wiseman). Dimando rose up in anger against Wiseman, demanding to know why he killed Rubeus and who he was. Seeing their rebellion, Wiseman brainwashed them. They served no purpose to him now.
When Wiseman captured Chibi-usa, he captured the Silver Crystal of the future along with her. He asked Chibi-usa to find the Silver Crystal of the past, because if he had them both he would have ultimate power. Chibi-usa said she had no wish for ultimate power, because she had Endymion. We learn that Endymion was brainwashed along with Chibi-usa! The Black Moon planned to teleport to the Crystal Palace for a final attack.
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