Happy Birthday Mamo-chan!
A Tribute to The Protector of Earth

* Even though Mamoru is the reincarnated form of Prince Endymion, the "Protector of Earth", his ruling sign is Leo, which rules over the sun. There is no astrological sign which rules over the Earth. This little tidbit makes me wonder... why is "Sailor Sun" always a relative of Serena/Usagi's, and never Mamoru's?

** Mamoru is a Knight, as opposed to a Senshi, and thus isn't considered to have rule over an element, like the Senshi do. Rather, his presence and words inspire hope --an emotion of influence over the Senshi, allowing them to keep fighting, to power up, and so forth. Plus they provide a nifty distraction to stupid enemies...

In 4 weeks (as of July 10th, 2002), our favorite cape-and-masked hero will be 28! But of course, when one is reincarnated, reanimated and brought back from the brainwashed dead all number of times...

Let me explain. Mamoru, or Darien to the dubbies out there, is the reincarnation of a Prince that ruled the Earth over a thousand years ago. As such, he is the beloved of the star of Sailormoon, Usagi Tsukino, the reincarnate of Princess Serenity. He is the central male character in the anime and the manga, being the only one with a significant past and powers to boot.

This makes him a target. In the beginning, there was the Evil One, Queen Metallia, who used the Terran (Earth people) people's jealousy of Lunarians (Moon people) to take over and infiltrate their minds. One person -a noble woman by the name of Beryl- had a very strong jealousy. She was jealous of the love Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion shared, though it was a forbidden one. Her jealousy increased until she became the host of Queen Metallia.

In the anime, Beryl was pretty much bad to begin with, and when Endymion refused to leave Serenity, her anger worsened. Trapped by the Imperium Silver Crystal for a thousand years, she waited for a chance to break free, and capture Earth once again. She knew Prince Endymion would be reincarnated. Her need for energy caused all number of strange happenings to occur in the Minato-ku area of Tokyo. When the legendary Sailor Senshi appeared, so did a mysterious caped and masked man who called himself Tuxedo Kamen. After many difficult battles, Tuxedo Kamen discovered his true identity- having been orphaned in a car accident at 6, his memories of his past were erased. He learned that he was Mamoru Chiba, as well as Prince Endymion. Injured horribly, he was kidnapped and made into a slave of the Dark Kingdom.

In the manga, he blocked a fatal blow meant for Sailor Moon. He died, but not before he was given back his memories as Prince Endymion. Beryl "reanimated" his corpse, making it stronger, and blind to the desperate pleas of Sailor Moon to remember their love. Sailor Moon had to make a difficult decision-- let him continue to be the dark servant of Metallia, or kill him and watch him die again. She chose the latter, but killed herself as well. The Imperium Silver Crystal healed their wounds-- Prince Endymion's guardians and Beryl's former lackeys --Kunzite, Zoisite, Nephrite and Jadeite-- shielded him, and the Star Watch shielded Sailor Moon. In the end, Endymion was freed of Metallia's influence, and while he was blind, he still helped Sailor Moon fight. They were able to restore Earth, and the former Moon Kingdom to its former peace.

You can definitely see the difference between the anime and the manga-- not just because of new characters, but the original character's attitudes. In the original manga, Mamoru was a tease-- Usagi seemed to look forward to meeting Mamoru every day, even if he laughed at her for ridiculously low scores on her tests. In the anime, however, he was cold, callous, and downright mean sometimes, though he explained his actions as "something he couldn't quite explain". ^^ Interpret that how you will. People believe that Mamoru is the most changed non-Senshi character between the manga and the anime.

Mamoru has had the toughest of adversaries to face to live a "relatively" normal life. Firstly, he has six years of amnesia, no known relatives, and is thusly a loner. Sometime later, he made friends with Motoki Furuhata (Andrew). Thanks to Motoki, he isn't so much of a loner, but he is still dark, mysterious and teasing. In fact, he has an "obsession" with teasing one "Usagi Tsukino Odango Atama" who goes to the arcade regularly to play Sailor V.

Something to ponder: why (or how, for that matter) is his hair PURPLE (okay, okay, Lavender. Think Shampoo from Ranma 1/2 or Trunks from DBZ) in Crystal Tokyo? No, it's not just the hologram; when Rini/Chibiusa runs home, and you see him on the hilltop, he DOES have lavender hair. Very strange, ne?

Oh yes, we MUST talk about his past. Or in many cases, the lack thereof. He was the only survivor of a car accident that occured on his sixth birthday, leaving him orphaned and without any memory of who he was or the past six years of his life. His only clues to a decent future were dreams of a princess... but WHEN they started haunting him is unknown. However, in the English dub, he seems to imply that the dreams didn't begin until he started high school (Grade 10; Age 15-16). VEEERY weird.

Anyways, in the anime, his age is unknown-- he doesn't wear a high school uniform, so it's possible he's a University freshman (I dunno, what kind of school is The Moto-Azabu Institute of Technology anyway?). Usagi, if you remember correctly, is in Year 2 of Junior High (8th grade) which means he'd be all of 5 years older than her.

BUT! In the manga, he goes to Azabu High, and is in Year 2-- 11th grade! Meaning he's only 3 years older than her. So I'm guessing that because he's born in 1974 is like the median... not 5, not 3, but 4. ^^;

In the anime, there is an arc that is nonexistent in the manga. Why? Because manga takes longer to do than anime. Naoko Takeuchi reportedly planned Sailormoon to end after what we now call "the first arc", with Beryl, Metallia and all those other baddies. But it was a booming success, and in order to keep the manga up with the anime, a "filler arc" was inserted.

This filler arc was the first segment of Sailor Moon R, titled "Sailor Moon Returns". In it, Sailor Moon loses her memories, but when a new evil arises, she is reawakened, and "returns" from her life as a normal girl. Unlike the dub, where Serena supposedly goes back in time to the point before she became Sailor Moon, the original Japanese storyline takes place in Spring, only a few months after the defeat of Beryl and Metallia. Usagi and Co. are finishing up their 8th grade year (not starting it all over again-- and they are not in Grade 9, or Year 3 ofJunior High --the final year-- as the dub implies).Two mysterious aliens arrive, sapping the energy from humans in order to feed their Makaiju (Doom Tree). Sailor Moon and her Senshi are reawkened, but Mamoru doesn't remember his past at all! Rather, the mysterious caped hero who saves Sailor Moon calls himself "Tsukikage no Knight", or "Moonlight Knight". Usagi believes Mamoru and Tsukikage no Knight are one and the same-- until she sees them together in the same room!

It turns out TnK was created by Mamoru's desire to protect Usagi in all her forms. Because they both died at the end of the first season, his dying wish was to have her protected no matter what. His soul created TnK to fulfill this wish.

The aliens also spurred a movie-- all of the movie ideas except Sailor Moon R's movie were based off of special arcs within the manga. In the Sailor Moon R movie, we get a glimpse into Mamoru's otherwise shady past, when he remembers a mysterious child named Fiore. The child, as it turns out, is the same young man that attacked Mamoru and the girls at an arboretum! He is an alien of the same species as Ail and An (though that subject never comes up...) but has been corrupted by an evil Kisenian flower.

Fiore spent most of his life searching for a flower that he could give to Mamoru-- you see, Mamoru, while in the hospital after his accident, found Fiore and helped him get back to health. The alien, only 6 "years old" at the time, crash-landed on Earth (not in Roswell, and not in a spaceship! ^^;) and was found by Mamoru. Fiore's constitution wouldn't allow him to live for very long on Earth, and he left, recieving a rose from Mamoru as he vanished. The rose, however, was from a young Usagi, who had also been in the hospital for the birth of her brother.

Fiore doesn't believe Mamoru when he says he has changed, and he no longer hates the world that left him alone. Fiore wants Mamoru all to himself, and will stop at nothing to "make him happy". He launches an attack on Earth from his hollow meteor, containing the spores of millions of Kisenian flower demons.

Naturally, Sailor Moon and the Senshi go to stop the attack, but Sailor Moon nearly gets killed in the process. It is the shock of being injured by Mamoru -who had been kidnapped by Fiore, in order to heal from a blow he himself had inflicted (though it was meant for Sailor Moon)-- that temporarily releases him from the Kisenian's spell, and destroys the flowers. Once Sailor Moon transforms into Princess Serenity, and Mamoru into Prince Endymion, they stop Fiore's reckless plan to crash the meteor into Earth-- burning the Senshi up with it. The energy Sailor Moon pours into the Silver Crystal destroys it, killing her in the process. Having healed Fiore in the process of using so much pure energy, Fiore, an uncorrupt little child, offers Mamoru the Flower of Life. Mamoru drinks its nectar and kisses Sailor Moon, restoring her and the Crystal to life.

However, much is still unknown about Mamoru's past-- including what happened to his parents in the Silver Millenium.

Got something Mamoru-ish to say? Post? Send it here...

Last Updated 07102002: 4 Weeks till Mamo Day!
Mamo-chan's age as of 07102002: 27 years and 11 months