Dark Kingdom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- See also: Dark Kingdom (disambiguation)
 The two leaders of the Dark Kingdom in one body. |
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| Dark Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| Story arc: | Sailor Moon (first arc), Live-action series |
| Dub name: | Negaverse |
| Leader: | Queen Beryl |
| Chaos form: | Queen Metaria |
| Key figures: | The Shitennou, Mio Kuroki, Dark Sailor Mercury, Danburite |
| MOTD: | Youma |
| Tools: | Crystal Ball |
The Dark Kingdom (ダークキングダム Dāku Kingudamu?) is an organization of antagonists in the Sailor Moon metaseries. They are the primary villains of the first story arc in every version of the series. The English dub of the anime calls them the Negaverse, which is actually a catch-all term for all enemies in the English dubs of the first two Sailor Moon series. In the original Japanese anime, the Dark Kingdom is separate from the origins of any other set of antagonists, and is the extra-dimensional location of the evil Queen Beryl and her minions.
This kingdom came into being in the 20th century when the servants of those who had served the evil Queen Metaria millennia before (in the battle against the civilization on the Moon) were reawakened. Queen Beryl and her four Shitennou lead this group, attempting to gather human energy with which to reawaken Metaria.
Creatures called youma (meaning "monster") serve as monsters of the day in the anime. They are summoned by the Shitennou in order to drain energy, hunt the Princess, distract the Sailor Senshi, or perform various other tasks. In the English version, the youma are only referred to as "Negamonsters" by the Sailor Scouts (and Tuxedo Mask).
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[edit] Queen Beryl
Queen Beryl (クイン・ベリル Kuin Beriru?) is the first major villain in every version of the Sailor Moon series. Beryl has immense magical power, but she uses most of it to channel the life energy harvested by her servants to the entity called Queen Metaria.
In most versions of the story, she has the ability to corrupt others into serving the powers of darkness. Her generals, for instance, were once the bodyguards and best friends of Prince Endymion, and in most versions of the story she is able to use her powers to sway Tuxedo Mask into her service.
In the manga, Beryl was a beautiful girl on Earth during the age of the Silver Millennium. She is shown holding a staff and kneeling before a cauldron, so it is possible (but not known for certain) that she had some kind of power even then. Beryl was in love with Prince Endymion, but her love was unreturned; when she discovered Endymion with Princess Serenity of the moon, she was crushed. She later states that having Endymion was her sole reason for siding with the evil force from the sun, Queen Metaria. She was corrupted and empowered by Metaria, and used her new powers to mobilize the Earth in a war against their protectors, the Moon Kingdom.
Beryl killed Prince Endymion as he was trying to protect Princess Serenity, leading to the princess's own suicide. At some point after this, Sailor Venus killed Beryl with the holy moon sword. Queen Serenity, greatly weakened, sealed away Metaria again, and before dying sent the whole of her Kingdom to be reincarnated on Earth.[1]
Beryl is stated to be "reborn" when the Senshi meet her again in the 20th century. She became Queen of the Dark Kingdom, communicating with Queen Metaria and wielding her reincarnated generals Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite to find the Silver Crystal and defeat the newly awakened Sailor Soldiers.
Queen Beryl was able to summon the reincarnated Prince Endymion (Tuxedo Mask) to her side, but only after he had been killed and merely existed as a mindless zombie. In the end she failed to attain the Mystical Silver Crystal, and was again killed by Sailor Venus who drove a sword through her body. As she fell, she said Endymion's name, and murmured that she had always just been watching him.
She is portrayed in a more tragic light in the manga than she is in the anime, with a brief scene of personal regret knowing that she can no longer turn back.
In the anime, Queen Beryl is the mastermind behind the various attacks against the citizens of Tokyo while Sailor Moon, and later the other Sailor Soldiers, are searching for the Moon Princess. She also kidnaps and brainwashes Prince Endymion in order to force him to kill his lover. But when he breaks free of her control and attacks her she lies in a swoon and begs Queen Metaria for more power, which results in Beryl becoming Metaria's vessel for the destruction everything on Earth. Queen Beryl is soon vaporised along with Metaria when Sailor Moon, who has transformed into Princess Serenity, combines the power of the Silver Crystal with that of the Moon Stick.
In the English-dubbed anime no mention is given to her origin and she is merely said to be the ruler of the Negaverse, an evil alternate dimension. Her love for Endymion is not mentioned (she does not even know anything about love, vaguely saying that she has heard of it when Jadeite mentions this human phenomenon), although she does seem to have something of a crush on him and when he is brainwashed she states that he will rule the universe with her. At the end of the season Beryl is said to be merely banished back to the Negaverse when Sailor Moon defeats her. This leads to a continuity error when Artemis mentions during the second series that Queen Beryl had been "completely destroyed." (Alan and Ann also mention her, saying that she had told them about the Earth. They imply that all villains who appear thereafter are being dispatched by Queen Beryl as revenge.
In the live-action series, as in the manga, Beryl sends out her Shitennou to collect energy for Metaria, find the princess, and obtain the Silver Crystal. Beryl had problems, however: Jadeite and Nephrite were rivals for her affections; Zoisite was more loyal to Prince Endymion than to her; and Kunzite had set his sights on taking Queen Metaria's power for himself. However, it was soon revealed that Beryl had revived the four and used her magic to bring them into her service, though only Jadeite and Nephrite are completely under her spell as they have forgotten their past memories. At one point, Beryl creates a shadow of herself, Mio Kuroki (Kuroki Mio), who sets out to ruin Usagi Tsukino's reputation while being Beryl's eyes and ears.
When she learns that Mamoru Chiba was Endymion, Beryl forces him to come with her by showing him that she can easily kill the Shitennou, with Nephrite as an example. Once she has the object of her desire under her services, Beryl has Jadeite implant an item in Mamoru's body that will shorten his life when he is with Usagi. However, Mamoru still risks his life for Usagi, to Beryl's dismay. Even more, thanks to Usagi's overuse of the Silver Crystal, Beryl loses control over Metaria's actions. She dies in the finale when her castle crumbles under the stress of a distraught Princess using the Silver Crystal to destroy the world. However, for all her sadness she is not alone, as Jadeite stays by her side after she removes her spell on him until she dies.
Beryl's original form appears, blurrily, in a flashback in the later episodes of Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. Beryl's original form also appears in the manga, where she wears a gypsy-like outfit. [1]
In the original Japanese anime, Beryl is voiced by Keiko Han, who also voices Luna. During recording, this contrast resulted in occasional fits of giggles among the cast when she would change from Luna's cute, catlike voice to the deep, evil tones of Queen Beryl. In the English dub, the character was played by Naz Edwards.
In the stage musicals, Queen Beryl has been played by two actresses: Yuri Nishina and Akiko Miyazawa (who previously played Sailor Venus). In the live action series, she is played by adult film star Aya Sugimoto.
- See also: Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon#Mio Kuroki
[edit] Queen Metaria
Queen Metaria (クイン・メタリア Kuin Metaria?) is an amorphous energy being, born as a result of radioactivity in the sun, who is the true mastermind behind the Dark Kingdom. Like all arch-villains in the Sailor Moon manga, she is an incarnation of the final arch-villain, Chaos.In the English dub of the anime, she is referred to only as the Negaforce, a god-like creature to the peoples of the Negaverse, and her role is greatly downplayed. Her name is sometimes romanizaed as Metallia, but later editions of the manga included the author's preferred spelling of Metaria.[2]
In the manga, when Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity were to be wed, Metaria took advantage of those on Earth who despised the union. Such a person was Beryl, whose affections for Endymion were preyed on by Metaria. After the war, Metaria was sealed at the North Pole and placed in suspended animation.
In the 20th century, Metaria manages to return a reborn Beryl to her service and orders her to find the Silver Crystal so it may be used to free Metaria. After Endymion's reincarnated form is captured, Metaria enters the young man's body to use him as a suitable host, letting Beryl die in battle. After Sailor Moon is forced to kill Endymion, Metaria is freed to resume her evil. She is eventually destroyed by Sailor Moon.
In the anime Metaria is much the same, with a few exceptions. She eventually becomes powerful enough to resurrect on her own and then took possession of the dying Beryl, transforming into a towering goddess like creature.
In the live-action series, Metaria lacks a personality other than the desire to destroy the world. Beryl originally intends to use the Silver Crystal to control Metaria, but later learns that the gem's power only makes Metaria stronger due to Usagi's rage transmitted through it. This escalates to the point where Beryl can no longer control the actions of her own youma and fears that Metaria may destroy everything. During Acts 45-46, Metaria transferred her will into the strongest youma at its service. In a vain attempt to stop Metaria, Endymion takes the creature into his own body with the intent of committing suicide to take it with him. This has nightmarish results, as Metaria takes control of Endymion and then uses him in an attempt to force Sailor Moon to use the Silver Crystal's power. The monster's plan succeeds, but only after Sailor Moon was forced to kill Endymion. But Sailor Moon managed to revived Mamoru with the Silver Crystal's power, with Metaria gone for good.
In Japanese, Queen Metaria is voiced by Noriko Uemura, who reappears in the Death Busters story arc as Professor Tomoe's assistant, Kaolinite. In the dub, Metaria's voice actress is Maria Vacratsis. In the live-action series, she was voiced by Miyū Sawai, who also played Usagi Tsukino and who had her voice digitally deepened and altered for this role.[citation needed]
[edit] Servants
[edit] The Shitennou
The Shitennou, often referred to as Generals in English, although this name never appears in the series. They are Queen Beryl's primary servants and do most of the work of hunting down human energy, unleashing youma, fighting the Sailor Senshi, and searching for the Princess and Silver Crystal.
Their group title means "four heavenly kings" in Japanese, and during the Silver Millennium they lived on Earth as the guardians of Prince Endymion. At the end of that period they were duped into the service of Queen Metaria, and died in battle. Having been resurrected by Queen Beryl, they sold their souls and throughout the first series are generally obedient to her will. They are called Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite, and have very distinct personalities, goals, and relationships.
[edit] Dark Sailor Mercury
In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Kunzite attempts an experiment in which he turns one of the Sailor Senshi evil. In Act 20, he kidnaps Ami Mizuno, who at the time is the loneliest and most vulnerable member of the team, and exposes her to the power of Queen Metaria, changing her into Dark Sailor Mercury. A black motif is added to her uniform, and she uses "Dark" powers and an icicle sword. Kunzite keeps her fairly close, being careful to withdraw her whenever Sailor Moon attempts a healing, but he does take advantage of her newly-sadistic personality by allowing her to attend school and antagonize Usagi. While a part of the Dark Kingdom, Mercury is as arrogant as her allies, but she does extend a small amount of kindness to Nephrite. Queen Beryl finds the experiment interesting, but does not entirely trust it. In the end, Dark Sailor Mercury is very nearly able to kill Sailor Moon, but the knowledge that she has injured her friend finally reverts her back to herself. She has no memory of her experiences afterward.
[edit] Danburite
In the Sailor V manga, Danburite is a subordinate of the Shitennou. He takes a human form as Ace Kaitou, Minako Aino's love interest, and fights alongside Sailor V until revealing his true identity as a servant of the Dark Kingdom. He is later revealed to be Adonis, a lowly foot soldier posted to Sailor Venus in her past life. He had fallen in love with Venus but the love was one sided. It is because of him that Minako learns of the existence of the Dark Kingdom and joins the Sailor Team.
[edit] Youma
Youma are the monsters of the day in the first arc of the Sailor Moon anime and in the live-action series. They do not appear in the manga. All of the Shitennou, as well as Queen Beryl and occasionally Metaria herself, use youma to achieve their goals. Although the origin of earlier youma is not shown, in the anime later youma are created from human beings. These can be returned to their human form by Sailor Moon. In the English anime members of the Negaverse refer to the youma as their "servants", while the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask just call them "Negamonsters".
[edit] Seven Daiyouma
In the anime, the Seven Great Youma ( Daiyōma?, Seven Shadows in the English dub) are most powerful youma in the Dark Kingdom. Thanks to the power of Queen Serenity, they were sealed within seven separate shards of the Silver Crystal and carried to Earth where they were reincarnated centuries later, with no memories of their prior existences. Zoisite managed to reawaken them one by one, only for Sailor Moon to heal them and revert them to their human forms.[3]
- Gēsēn (ゲーセーン?): The keeper of the red Rainbow Crystal, he was a cyber-youma reborn as Crane Joe, a pro at arcade games. His name is short for "game center."
- Bokushī (ボクシー?): The keeper of the orange Rainbow Crystal, he was a winged, boxing youma reborn as a priest who Naru was with at a cemetery. His name is a pun on bokushi, meaning "minister" in Japanese, and bokushingu, meaning "boxing."
- Bumbō (ブンボー?): The keeper of the yellow Rainbow Crystal, he was a reptilian youma reborn as Ryo Urawa, who Ami developed a crush on. Though the beast awakened, Urawa attempted to retain control himself and attacked Zoisite, only to end up completely under his control.
- Bīna (ビーナ?): The keeper of the green Rainbow Crystal, she was an angelic plant youma reborn as local artist Yumeni Yumeno. Her attacks are art-based.
- Rikokeidā (リコケイダー?): The keeper of the blue Rainbow Crystal, she was a youma reborn as Motoki's girlfriend, Reika Nashimura.
- Jiji (ジジ?): The keeper of the indigo Rainbow Crystal, he was an Oni-like youma who is reincarnated as Rei's grandfather. Its name may be derived from the Japanese word for grandfather, ojīsan.
- Bakēne (バケーネ?): The keeper of the violet Rainbow Crystal, he was a beastly youma reborn as the cat Rhett Butler, who had a thing for Luna, even in youma form.
[edit] DD Girls
The DD Girls (Doom and Gloom Girls in the English dub) are a group of five youma who work together in the penultimate episode of the first anime series. They are not chosen, but rather volunteer, to try and kill the Senshi as they try to find the entrance to the Kingdom.
The DD Girls have the power to fly, to produce powerful tentacles from their bodies, and to disguise themselves as people the Senshi care about. The source of these illusions is the stone in one of the Girls' foreheads, which is eventually destroyed by Sailor Mercury.
One by one, each of the Inner Senshi sacrifices herself to protect Sailor Moon and ensure that she reaches Queen Beryl. Sailor Jupiter is the first, damaging the Girls and herself with a suicidal lightning strike. Next is Sailor Mercury, who uses her mini-computer to smash the stone that allows the Girls to create illusions. She is followed by Sailor Venus, who knocks Sailor Moon away from a trap and sends a Crescent Beam attack into the head of one of her assailants. Finally, Sailor Mars moves in to take out the last two, clearing the way for Sailor Moon to proceed.
In the English dub, the death scenes are all removed, and the episode is combined with the one following. Rather than killing the "Scouts", the "Doom and Gloom Girls" merely capture them and declare that they are being held hostage in the "Negaverse".
[edit] Live-action youma
In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, youma serve much the same purpose as in the anime, except that they are most often monsters in their own right, rather than possessing the bodies of human beings. The creature designs used for individual youma are not thematically influenced by the story of the episode, and they are usually portrayed by human actors in suits, with only two being computer-generated. They never speak, and are commanded by the Shitennou.
In the second half of the live-action series, swarms of cloaked youma begin to appear after Sailor Moon is revealed to be the Princess. Their loyalty is to Metaria herself rather than to Queen Beryl and her servants, and their abilities include earth-swimming and fast movement. The costumes for these entities are recycled from the Golem Soldiers/Puttie Patrol from Kyouryuu Sentai Zyuranger/Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.[citation needed]
In Act 41, the remains of numerous cloaked youma pile up on top of one another and merge into a single youma. This composite entity is an agent of Metaria, gathering energy from everything around it and responding to the Silver Crystal. Naru and Motoki are among its numerous victims. Using the energy it gathers, the youma is powerful enough to withstand attacks by the Sailor Senshi. By Act 45, Metaria turns it into her host, Youma Metaria, in order to absorb every bit of energy in the world. However, she is soon forced to leave her host, which is then destroyed by a group attack. This Youma was capable of speech while Metaria was using it as a host.
[edit] References
- ^ Takeuchi, Naoko. Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon Act 12.
- ^ Takeuchi, Naoko. Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon reprint 1st and 2nd edition, Vol. 3, Table of Contents.
- ^ Bunny's Tour Through the Silver Millennium. Retrieved on 2007-02-18.
- The Oracle - Detailed information on all villains
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