Ayakashi Sisters
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Kōan, Berthier, Calaveras, and Petz. |
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| Ayakashi Sisters | |
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| Story arc: | Sailor Moon R |
| Dub name: | Weird Sisters |
| Leader: | Crimson Rubeus |
| Part of: | Black Moon Clan |
| Key figures: | Kōan, Berthier, Calaveras, Petz. |
| Tools: | Elemental powers, UFO |
The four Ayakashi Sisters (あやかしの四姉妹 Ayakashi no Yon Shimai?) are subordinate antagonists in the Sailor Moon metaseries. They appear in the second major story arc--called Black Moon in the manga and Sailor Moon R in the anime series--and are known as the Weird Sisters or Four Sisters of Nemesis in the English dub. The ADV release subtitles their name as The Four Phantom Sisters, though this translation is not accurate. They belong to the Black Moon Clan and are under the supervision of Crimson Rubeus.
In the manga, the Ayakashi Sisters appear as the first line of offense in the Black Moon Clan's attack on Tokyo in the 20th century. They were sent back with the mission of attacking Sailor Moon's four guardian soldiers, which they present a nearly even match to. The sisters live up to their surname (which translates as "weird") in that they are associated with things like UFO's, fortune telling, and communion with the dead. Each of the four sisters lures and attacks their counterpart Sailor Soldier in a very violent way before being killed by Sailor Moon. While each of the Sailor Soldiers are badly injured, Rubeus appears out of nowhere and captures them. The single exception to this is Calaveras, who is able to weaken Sailor Venus but as Rubeus had just been attacked, she is able to escape with Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. The Black Moon Clan doesn't seem very concerned in the end about the loss of the sisters.
In the anime, the four sisters receive considerably more "screen time," and thus their characters are expanded. Instead of taking up 'weird' hobbies, the four sisters are obsessed with makeup, clothes, jewelry, and perfume, much to Rubeus's chagrin. The standoffs in the anime between the sisters and their counterparts begin to take place, except at the end each of the sisters is healed by Sailor Moon's Silver Crystal. The four of them become powerless humans and mourn their traumatic past on the Planet Nemesis while running a makeup stand.
Like the rest of the Clan, they all have the Black Moon insignia and wear earrings made of Black Crystal.
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[edit] Kōan
Kōan (コーアン? , Catzi in the English versions) is the youngest of the sisters (oldest in the dub) with the attack called "dark fire" and called "ice fire" in the dub, and represents a counterpart of Rei Hino. Her name is short for kōankō (紅安鉱?), the Japanese word for kermesite.
In the manga, Kōan tells Rubeus she feels someone like her that is kindred to fire and could be convinced to join the Black Moon. Rubeus gives her "Code001, Operation Re-cruit" to convert humans to their cause. She poses as a student named Kurozaki Kōan at the T*A Girl's Academy where Rei Hino attends and becomes the leader of a paranormal club called the Black Moon. The leader of the other supernatural club on campus is disturbed by how cold her hands and eyes are. A black saucer-shaped object flies away after she leaves. Rei later has a nightmare about Kōan using her powers to burn the body of a child. At the school's culture festival, she sets up a booth telling fortunes of how and when her clients will die, but when Rei appears, tells her that everyone must die, but those who follow the Black Moon will die better. After Rei uncovers droids disguised as nuns, she transforms into Sailor Mars and defeats them, at which point Kōan reveals herself. In the ensuing battle, she blasts Sailor Mars with fire and she is abducted by Rubeus. Kōan is killed by Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. In her appearance, Kōan is shown to be strong enough to deflect Sailor Moon's tiara.
In the anime, Kōan, like all of her sisters, is very vain about her appearance to the point of swearing death upon anyone who smudges her make-up and she relies on her charms to get what she wants. She believes that she and Rubeus are in a relationship, and competes with her sisters for his love. However, upon getting him a gift of cologne, he cruelly crushes it in front of her and tells her that her next mission will be her last if she fails him. While trying to survey the Hikawa Shrine for the appearance of Chibiusa, she appears condescending of the relationship Rei and Yuuichiro possess and often compares them unfavorably to her perceived strong relationship with Rubeus. She later gets caught up in a discussion with Rei and Usagi, when Rei claims that the most important thing in a relationship is you believe in and love the other person, and Koan disagrees, claiming it only matters how much the other persons loves you. Her beliefs are put to the test when Chibiusa finally arrives and Kōan goes to kill her. Yuuichiro and Rei (as Sailor Mars) both get seriously hurt trying to protect each other, which surprises Kōan because of how she had perceived the two of them before. She ultimately fails to kill Chibiusa, and Rubeus appears to evaluate her. She begs him for his help, believing their love will be enough, but he tells her he has no use for her anymore and that he never loved her. He gives her a time-bomb and tells her to kill herself and the Sailor Senshi, and then abandons her. Before she can use it, the other Sailor Senshi arrive and knock the bomb away from her where it explodes harmlessly in the sky. She finally starts attacking everyone in a blind rage, believing she has nowhere left to go, but Sailor Mars, after getting hurt protecting Kōan from the other Senshi, convinces her that she can have a second chance. Sailor Moon then purifies her with the Silver Crystal and she becomes a normal human woman. She later talks her next oldest sister, Berthier, out of killing herself and the other Senshi after she too is tossed away by her sisters and Rubeus, and later convinces Petz and Calaveras that they too are being used.
Kōan is voiced by Wakana Yamazaki in Japanese. In English, she is voiced by Alice Poon and then Mary Long in her final appearance.
[edit] Berthier
Berthier (ベルチェ Beruche?, Bertie in the English versions though sometimes implied to be Birdy) is the second-youngest sister. Her name is French, coming from the mineral berthierite, and is pronounced roughly as "BEAR-tyay." Her magical attack is called "dark water," and she is a counterpart of Ami Mizuno. She fears Rubeus but has no love interest for him unlike her other sisters.
In the manga, Berthier is given the mission "Code002, Operation Re-move" to kill the Sailor Senshi and capture Chibiusa. She disguises herself as a normal human and wows people with her dowsing abilities using a pendulum. When she sees Ami Mizuno find a leak in a pipe without using a pendulum, she deduces her identity as a Sailor Senshi. Skilled at chess, Berthier goes on television to challenge Ami to a chess match. At the match, she calls her "Sailor Mercury", and tries to use the Black Crystal to manipulate and capture her. A fight breaks out between Berthier, Mercury, Jupiter, and Moon, in which Berthier is shown to be powerful enough to deflect Mercury's Shine Snow Illusion attack. At the end, Berthier uses the water from a sewer to surround and choke Mercury, allowing Rubeus to abduct her. Berthier is then killed by Sailor Moon.
In the anime, Berthier has a very darkly playful personality, but is shown to have great respect for all of her siblings. She is the only one shown to be upset when Kōan is purified by the Silver Crystal. Much like her counterpart in Ami, she is also a strategist and is incredibly talented at chess, though she apparently also cheats. On her final mission, Berthier plays a deadly game of chess with Sailor Mercury, but her plan to freeze them all fails when Petz and Calaveras arrive and tell her they will claim credit for her success regardless of what it means for her. Momentarily distracted, she loses her chance at the killing blow against Sailor Mercury when Tuxedo Mask arrives and rescues her and the other Sailor Senshi. Her two older sisters then abandon her as a failure. Distraught, Berthier decides she will sacrifice herself to kill the Sailor Senshi and uses all of her power in one final blizzard. However, a newly healed Kōan convinces her the she is still loved and has a second chance. Berthier relents in her suicidal gambit, and allows Sailor Moon to heal her. Later, she and Kōan, along with the Sailor Senshi, are able to convince their other two sisters to join them and become normal women.
In the Japanese anime she is voiced by Yuri Amano. In English, she is voiced by Kathleen Laskey and is changed to the youngest sister.
[edit] Calaveras
Calaveras (カラベラス Karaberasu?, Avery in the English versions) is the second-oldest of the sisters and has the ability, much like Tuxedo Mask, of communing with spirits of the dead. She uses the energy of her deceased sisters to attack Sailor Venus in the manga whom she fails to kidnap. She is named for the mineral calaverite, and is a counterpart of Minako Aino. She attacks with a whip similar to Venus' Love Me Chain attack, known as the "Dark Beaut" according to the Sailor Moon R anime album and the Another Story Super Famicom RPG. Calaveras is the only sister in the manga who Rubeus appears to flirt with.
In the manga, she is the last sister to appear, and her mission is "Code:004, Operation Re-birth." She is shown to have the power of channeling, and channels the spirit of Rubeus into Tokyo to brainwash the humans and change their allegiance from the White Moon to the Black Moon and to get them to destroy the Silver Crystal. When Sailor Venus confronts her at the channeling, Calaveras channels the three captive Sailor Senshi through Kotono, Asanuma, and Naru, as well as the spirits of her dead sisters, and has them use a Spirit Attack against Venus and holds her captive. However, because Rubeus was already injured by Tuxedo Mask, he is not able to collect Venus, and Calaveras is killed by Sailor Moon when she comes to rescue Venus.
In the anime, Calaveras is shown to be a petty woman who indulges in relentlessly teasing her other siblings, especially Petz. She also appears unwilling to do anything for herself. She never accepts a single mission and instead tags along on several of Petz' missions and also follows Petz on one occasion to steal credit for Berthier's final mission. Even her final mission is one of Petz', in which the elder sister was asked to use a powerful stick to kill the Sailor Senshi and her now purified siblings Kōan and Berthier. While on the mission, she tells Petz to go ahead and kill the other two girls, but Petz, corrupted by the stick, decides to kill all three of them. Shocked by Petz' betrayl, Calaveras is shown pity by Sailor Moon and eventually comes to understand human love. She then tells the other Sailor Senshi about the stick's power. When Rubeus arrives and uses the stick to create a time-vacuum on the bridge, Calaveras stops Petz from falling into the vortex by using her whip. After the Sailor Senshi destroy the stick, Calaveras accepts purification and becomes a normal human woman.
In Japanese, she is voiced by Akiko Hiramatsu. In English, she is voiced by Jennifer Griffiths and is changed to the second youngest sister.
[edit] Petz
Petz (ペッツ Pettsu?, Prizma in the English versions) is the oldest of the four sisters, with the magical power called "dark thunder" in the anime, though she is only shown using a tornado in the manga, paralleling Sailor Jupiter's Flower Hurricane. She is named for the mineral petzite and is the counterpart of Makoto Kino.
In the manga, Petz is assigned "Code003 Operation Re-new" and she and her UFO release viruses onto Tokyo to infect the population. Makoto Kino is infected by one of the viruses and passes out in her apartment. She awakens to her double trying to choke her, and she transforms and attacks it as Sailor Jupiter, revealing it to be a droid. Petz then arrives in her UFO, expresses amusement that Jupiter is still alive, then swears vengeance for her two dead sisters. She and Jupiter fight, but Petz captures her inside of a tornado she summons using the Black Crystal. Petz watches Jupiter in the tornado and doesn't see the arrival of Sailor Moon and Sailor Venus, and she is killed from behind by Moon Princess Halation, though Rubeus still succeeds in kidnapping Jupiter.
In the anime, Petz often clashes with Calaveras, but the majority of both women's operations end up with them working together. She is very proud and is willing to step on others to achieve personal glory and power. She also appears bitter over a past relationship and reacts strongly when Calaveras teases her about it. After the betrayl of Kōan and Berthier, Rubeus gives her a stick that will infinitely increase her dark powers and instructs her to use it to kill both the Sailor Senshi and her fallen sisters. He also warns her that if she fails, she will not be allowed to return. The stick dramatically increases Petz' powers and also corrupts her personality, allowing her to quickly gain the upper hand against the Sailor Senshi. She then turns on Calaveras and tries to kill her along with the other two sisters. However, the Senshi regain the advantage and knock the stick away from her, reducing her power again. Rubeus then appears and reveals to Petz that he had actually expected Petz to fail. His goal was not for her to succeed, but to lure the Sailor Senshi out and sacrifice all four sisters to kill them. He then activates the stick's true power and it creates a massive time-vacuum that threatens to pull in everyone around it. Petz, no longer possessed and remorseful, decides that she has enough power in her body to destroy the stick and jumps into the vortex to sacrifice herself to stop it. However, she is stopped by her other three sisters. After the vortex is destroyed by the Sailor Senshi, Petz is purified along with Calaveras.
Later, Petz and her sisters discover a wounded Saphir, whom Petz tends to even though she at first thinks he came to punish her sisters. It is then that Petz and Saphir are revealed to have been romantically involved. After Saphir is killed by Wiseman, Petz senses his death and is heartbroken, but remembers how he smiled for her.
In Japanese, Petz is voiced by Megumi Ogata, who would go on to lend her voice to Sailor Uranus.[1] In English, she is voiced by Norma Dell Agnes and is changed to the second oldest sister. Petz is one of two female characters in the musical series to have been played by male actor Shūsuke Yoda.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Doi, Hitoshi. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon. Retrieved on October 6, 2006.
- Anderson, Jeffrey. The Facets of the Silver Crystal: Museum. Retrieved 2004-02-05.
- Doi, Hitoshi. Sailor Moon Character guide. Retrieved 2004-02-05.
- IMDb: Sailor Moon. Retrieved 2004-02-05.
[edit] External links
- http://solstace.net/pink/datafile/darkside/sisters.htm - A page about the Ayakashi Sisters' role in the manga
- http://web.archive.org/web/20050307214821/www.selenity.net/junjun/petz.html - A website about Petz
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