| Sailor Chibi Moon | |
|---|---|
| Sailor Moon character | |
Chibiusa in her Super Sailor Chibi Moon form as seen in the anime. |
|
| First appearance | (See below) |
| Created by | Naoko Takeuchi |
| Played by | (See below) |
| Profile | |
| Aliases | Usagi "Chibiusa" Tsukino Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity Princess Lady Serenity Small Lady The Rabbit Wicked Lady |
| Age | Physically 5+; Chronologically 900+ (manga only)[1] |
| Affiliations | Sailor Team Sailor Quartet Black Moon Clan (as Black Lady) |
| Powers and abilities | Generation of damaging energy, distraction of enemies, attack in tandem with Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, call on the powers of others |
| English adaptation | |
| Name | Rini Tsukino (anime) Bunny "Rini" Tsukino (manga) |
| Aliases | Sailor Mini Moon (anime) Wicked Lady Little Lady (S onwards) |
Chibiusa (ちびうさ, or Rini in the English versions), is one of the central characters in the Sailor Moon metaseries and the youngest of the Sailor Senshi. When she first appears, she is a small child from the 30th century who visits the past to seek help from the series' primary heroines, the Sailor Senshi. She later returns, a few years older, in order to train as a Senshi herself—Sailor Chibi Moon (セーラーちびムーン Sērā Chibi Mūn, or Sailor Mini Moon in the English anime).
Chibiusa is formally named Usagi Small Lady Serenity (うさぎSLセレニティ),[2] but in the 20th century she goes by the name Chibiusa Tsukino. She is given her nickname by Mamoru Chiba in the manga[3] and Usagi in the anime[4] in order to differentiate from the older Usagi Tsukino, Sailor Moon. The nickname is a combination of chibi (meaning small person or small child) and her given name, Usagi. In her own time period, she is always called Small Lady. In the English-language adaptations, where Usagi had been changed to Serena, the diminutive "Rini" was used for Chibiusa's name.
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Creator Naoko Takeuchi describes Chibiusa as a precocious brat who likes pulling pranks.[5] She is the daughter of Usagi Tsukino and Mamoru Chiba. Her real name is the same as her mother's, but is called Chibiusa in Japanese (and Rini in English) to avoid confusion between the two. Her name in the English-language version of Sailor Moon, Rini, is a diminutive of "Serena", the name of her mother. She is known for having pink hair put into a unique style that resembles rabbit ears on top of her head. Chibiusa's hair is apparently truly pink, and not just colored that way for stylistic purposes; its color is stated in the manga's first Picture Diary[6] and in the poem about her in the Sailor Stars CD single.[7]
In Act 20 of the manga, it's mentioned that she is 900 years old, her youthful appearance attributed to the fact that she suddenly stopped growing when she was five. The reason for this is never fully understood, but she begins to age after she becomes Sailor Chibi Moon. By the time of the Dream story arc, she claims to be 902.[8] Her exact age was not disclosed in the anime, and her time traveling complicates guessing. The candles on a birthday cake in one memory indicate that she is about five years old when first introduced,[9] and she seems to be 5 or 6 years old when she returns later on. Exposure to the Silver Crystal renders all of Crystal Tokyo's inhabitants functionally immortal.[10]
Chibiusa's affections come into conflict because she generally does not immediately identify Usagi and Mamoru as being her parents, although she is aware of the fact.[11] There is evidence that Chibiusa has a hard time identifying Usagi and Mamoru as being her parents since she sees such a sharp contrast in personality between their present and future selves. She also reacts differently toward Usagi and Mamoru than she does towards King Endymion and Neo-Queen Serenity, being more respectful to the latter but more spontaneous to the former;[11] it is not clear if she prefers one set over the other. However, she always calls her father Mamoru as Mamo-chan (in the 20th century), an affectionate nickname by Usagi, and has an innocent crush on him, much to Usagi's fury.[11]
Chibiusa is usually very upbeat, extroverted and outgoing. Though she started out socially awkward, she quickly became popular with her classmates. In the manga, she once became president of her class.[12] Her initial shyness could be attributed to the fact that she was teased in the 30th-century for not having any Senshi powers.[13] As the manga progresses, she gradually matures, becoming more comfortable with herself and more confident with her Senshi abilities. Because her dream in the manga is to become a beautiful lady, her actions often are based around this. She tries to be a perfectionist and starts off trying to do everything alone and for herself. This view evolves as she realizes what maturity really is and what it really means to be an adult.[14]
In the anime, she is more judgmental and does not mature as much as her manga counterpart. She often picks on Usagi for being so scatterbrained.[11] In the Supers movie, she describes Usagi as "a klutz, a ditz, and a crybaby." However, there are many instances where Usagi and Chibiusa show their love and concern for one another, such as when Sailor Moon breaks down crying after Mistress 9 takes Chibiusa's pure heart crystal,[15] or when she dives off a balcony to save her.[16] Nevertheless, the two often bicker, often behaving more like sisters than mother and daughter.[11]
Chibiusa's dream is to one day become a real lady,[17] to have her own prince, and to be friends with everyone she knows.[18] Meanwhile, she is a fairly ordinary little girl; she likes pink and red, pudding, pancakes,[19] and rabbits. Her favorite school subject is drawing, while her least favorites are language classes. Her least favorite food is listed in the manga as carrots, just like Usagi, but they both eat them in the anime.[20] Chibiusa hates taking care of the house[21] and is afraid of such things as thunder and lightning,[22][23] ghosts, vampires,[24] dentists,[25] and needles.[26] She also likes to collect things with rabbits on them, and belongs to the Gardening Committee at school.[8] She is very short when she first appears, but grows slightly taller as she gets older.
| First appearance | |||
| Form | Manga | Anime | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chibiusa | Act 13 | Episode 60 (54 in the English dubbed version) | |
| Wicked Lady | Act 20 | Episode 85 | |
| Small Lady | Act 9 | Episode 88 | |
| Sailor Chibi Moon | Act 23 | Episode 103 | |
| Super Sailor Chibi Moon | Act 33 | Episode 128 | |
| Eternal Sailor Chibi Moon | Act 42 | ||
| Princess Lady Serenity | Act 42 | ||
As a character with different incarnations, special powers, transformations and a long lifetime virtually spanned between the 20th and the 30th centuries, Chibiusa gains multiple aspects and aliases as the series progresses.
Chibiusa's Senshi identity. Her title is changed to "Sailor Mini Moon" in the English anime. Her uniforms resemble Sailor Moon's, colored primarily in cherry blossom pink and red, with a prominent motif of small hearts, joined later by crescent moons and stars. Due to her small stature, certain details of her uniforms are slightly abbreviated. She is given various titles throughout the series, including Princess Soldier,[17] Apprentice Soldier, and Soldier in Training.[27] As the daughter of Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, she exhibits traits of both parents in battle. Her personality is no different from when she is a civilian, although certain powers are unavailable to her in that form.
In the manga Sailor Chibi Moon's powers are significant, able to destroy and kill enemies. She attacks in tandem with Sailor Moon, often combining attacks with her, and combining one with Tuxedo Mask. Late in the series, it is heavily implied that she will marry her own prince in the future, Helios. She also develops and matures as a Sailor Soldier throughout the manga, assisted by her own guardians, the Sailor Quartet, and eventually saving Sailor Moon's life.
In the anime she is made into more of a comic character that has little to no effect on her enemies. She uses mainly distraction techniques and plays a side role, instead of a role that is directly useful to the Senshi. While her powers are specifically based on Sailor Moon's in words, they are more like that of her father's — distractions rather than effective attacks. She links her powers with her parents' in the movies, but not in the TV series. It is clear, though, that she does have some true raw power, as seen in Episode 81, and in the final battle sequences where she uses the Silver Crystal. However, when she uses her powers as a regular character this rarely comes into play.
Her powers in the musicals are based on both her anime and manga incarnations. In Last Dracul she heads to the enemy hideout alone only to have her attacks fail; In the revised version of Transylvania no Mori she laments that a phrase from a game similar to Red light Green light is more useful than her most powerful attack when dealing with the Sammael Quartet. Conversely, in the same musicals she is able to combine her powers with Sailor Moon for multiple powerful attacks that damage/heal enemies. It is only in the fourth season of the anime that she gains a more relevant role as Pegasus gives her a new compact to become Super Sailor Chibi Moon for the first time, and she becomes the only one able to summon him to give assistance to Sailor Moon in performing the attacks that defeat the enemies' minions.
As she grows stronger, Sailor Chibi Moon gains additional power, and at key points her uniform changes to reflect this. The first change is first seen in Act 33 of the manga, when the Holy Chalice of the future allows her to turn into Super Sailor Chibi Moon. Later, Pegasus gives her a compact which lets her transform without the Grail. In episode 128 of the anime, this gift is what causes her to become Super Sailor Chibi Moon for the first time. A third, manga-only form appears in Act 42, unnamed but analogous to Eternal Sailor Moon (sans wings).[28][29]
Often shortened by her parents and family friends to Small Lady, this is the name that Chibiusa is known by in the future. It is unchanged in the part of the English anime dubbed by DiC, but changed to Little Lady in the episodes dubbed by Cloverway.
In the manga, this form appears more frequently and receives more explanation. It is the name given to her by her parents so she often uses this to identify herself in the future. The only other character to use it, besides the royal family and its friends and allies, is Diana, who periodically calls her by Small Lady and uses honorific endings to indicate that Chibiusa is a princess. Her princess form also appears in Artbooks IV and the Materials Collection, in which she is drawn among the other Senshi in their specific gowns. She wears a light pink gown unique from all the others.
In the anime, Chibiusa changes into her princess form when she needs more power than her Senshi or civilian forms allow, similar to how her parents can become Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity when they need more power. In this form, she wears a dress and jewelry identical to that of Princess Serenity, albeit smaller. This happens twice, during the final battles of the second and fourth series.[30] Like her mother, she grows a pair of functioning, angelic wings during the Supers climax. She does this after Usagi, as Serenity, grabs her while they are falling, and the two of them collide with Pegasus. It is unknown if she grew the wings on her own or with Usagi's or Pegasus' help. The Chibiusa of the future, Small Lady, is also shown in her princess dress when she is not transformed, so this form is not exclusive to power-ups.[11]
In the anime, it's not told where she got the name from, but again it is only used by the royal family and friends. She mainly goes by Chibiusa, even to the point where in the 20th century she asks Setsuna to call her Chibiusa instead of Small Lady.[31]
In Act 40 of the manga, it is stated that when she is old enough she will become Princess Lady Serenity. This form is shown in Artbooks IV and V and in Helios' dreams.[28][32] In the end, when the enemy is defeated and Elios has departed on the back of the "real" Pegasus, Chibiusa thinks to herself that when she has grown up, he will become her "prince."[33] This older future form is never shown or mentioned in the anime, though an older Chibiusa is shown in episode 158 when she and Usagi switch ages.
When she returns to the future with Sailor Moon, Chibiusa becomes Black Lady (Wicked Lady in the English adaptation) when she is captured outside of the Palace. Wiseman comes across the lonely Chibiusa, who is feeling frustrated after a failed attempt to revive her mother, and twists her memories of her family to make her do his bidding. Wiseman converts her by laying the seeds of guilt for what she has done, and by telling her nobody loves her. He makes her feel that her parents didn't want her. So he said he would take great care of her and decide to join forces
Infected with the power of the Black Crystal, she grows older, donning an organdy and satin dress and the earrings worn by the Black Moon Clan.[5] Her hair becomes even longer than Usagi's. Her crescent becomes that of the Clan, and she is frequently seen with Prince Dimande or Wiseman.
Her history and personality differs between the anime and the manga. In the anime, Black Lady hates her family and the Sailor Senshi and tries to kill them because she believes she is unloved. She also considers her toy, Luna-P, as her only friend. In the manga, she throws away the Luna-P after her transformation and derides it as a childish toy.
Black Lady uses her brainwashing powers to try to seduce her future father, Mamoru Chiba, and tries to destroy the Senshi for their various acts of insensitivity toward her. She first appears in Act 20 of the manga and Episode 85 of the anime. In the anime, Black Lady tries to kill Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, but is saved from her anger by Sailor Moon, who changes into Neo-Queen Serenity and embraces her daughter, allowing her to turn back into Chibiusa. In the manga, her sorrow over the death of Sailor Pluto shatters Wiseman's power over her, her tears activating the future Silver Crystal, and she changes into Sailor Chibi Moon for the first time.
Black Lady also appears in the Sailor Moon musicals Tanjou! Ankoku no Princess Black Lady and its revision Tanjou! Ankoku no Princess Black Lady [Kaiteiban] -Wakusei Nemesis no Nazo-.
From Chibiusa's first appearance, it is clear that she is not just a normal girl: she falls out of the sky, pulls a gun on Usagi apparently from nowhere, and hypnotizes the Tsukino family into adopting her. All of these "powers" are assisted by objects and by other people. Her primary tool is the cat-faced rubber ball called Luna-P (alternately called "Lunaball" or "Luna Sphere" in the DiC anime). Luna-P is a mechanical object (strongly resembling Luna, much to the real cat's alarm) which Chibiusa regards as her closest friend and which acts as her guardian. It can be used as a communication device, particularly with Sailor Pluto, and can be transformed into other objects Chibiusa may need by use of a special phrase—"Abracadabra Pon" in the manga and "Luna-P Transform" or "Luna-P Magic" in the anime.[34] Because of her status as a princess, the crescent-moon mark of the Silver Millennium appears on Chibiusa's forehead when she is in danger. She is the heir to the Silver Crystal of the 30th century.
Chibiusa travels through time at various points in the series[35] using the Key of Space-Time given to her by Sailor Pluto (in the manga, she stole it). She time-travels by holding up the key and shouting, "Time Guardian! Tear apart the sky, and open the space-time door to me! I call the true name of the almighty god of time, the time guardian's father! Chronos! Reveal to me the path of light!"
Chibiusa is not shown using unassisted powers until she transforms into a Sailor Senshi by activating a special device and shouting a certain phrase. Originally this is "Moon Prism Power, Make-up!",[36] In the manga, her becoming a Senshi at the end of the second story arc is shown, whereas in the anime it happens off-screen and is not revealed until partway into the third arc. She does not initially have a full anime transformation sequence.[11]
In the manga, Sailor Chibi Moon's first act as a Senshi is to use the Moon Rod of the future (analogous to Sailor Moon's rod of the present) to perform a double "Moon Princess Halation" with Sailor Moon, destroying Death Phantom.[37] During the third story arc, she uses her own Moon Rod (called the Pink Moon Stick in the anime) in conjunction with her first solo power, "Pink Sugar Heart Attack".[38] This is a reasonably effective attack in the manga, but is nearly useless in the anime and is mainly used for comedic effect.[27] It often lacks sufficient range to hit a monster or fails to initiate at all.[27] The damage it deals can be strong enough to shatter glass.[39]
At the end of the manga's third arc, she assists Super Sailor Moon by briefly upgrading to Super form herself using the Holy Grail of the future.[40] Neither is able to maintain this form under her own strength until the fourth story arc, when they are empowered by Pegasus to take on Super forms whenever they need to via "Moon Crisis, Make-up!"[41] In the anime, this is the first time Chibiusa takes on her Super form, and throughout the fourth series she and Sailor Moon share a single transformation sequence.[42]
Sailor Chibi Moon is strengthened significantly in the fourth story arc by Pegasus, who takes refuge in the Golden Mirror of her dreams. He grants her a new transformation (shared with Usagi, in the anime), and gives her two special items with which to contact him: the Stallion Reve, for simple communication, and the Crystal Carillon to summon him in battle. Using the latter, fashioned from her old Pink Moon Stick and retaining all its powers, she summons Pegasus by shouting "Twinkle Yell!"[43] This allows Sailor Moon to power up and make her final blow. Furthermore, in the anime only, Sailor Chibi Moon is given the Golden Crystal, which she uses to call on the power of dreams. In the manga, Chibiusa is also briefly entrusted with the Deep Aqua Mirror, Sailor Neptune's Talisman, and can use it to teleport to Neptune's location.[44]
Together with Tuxedo Mask, she performs "Pink Sugar Tuxedo Attack,"[45] and continues to occasionally join Sailor Moon in one-off power-ups of the latter's attacks, including "Rainbow Double Moon Heart Ache"[46] and "Double Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss".[47] Only one of these is used in the anime: "Moon Gorgeous Meditation," which is only ever shown as a joint power, using the Kaleido Moon Scopes, which are given to them by Mamoru in the manga and Pegasus in the anime.[48] She also uses several comedic one-offs, including fending off a vampire with "Garlic Attack"[6][24] jump-kicking with Sailor Moon,[49] and amplifying the sound of her crying to a deafening level with her hair-pieces.[50]
At the end of the fourth arc, in the manga only, the Silver Crystal of the future evolves into Chibiusa's own Pink Moon Crystal,[51] and she gains the ability to transform into her third, most powerful Senshi form.[52] When she returns from the future in the final story arc with her guardians, the Sailor Quartet, they perform "Pink Ladies Freezing Kiss" together.[53]
Adding in Usagi's child to the Sailor Moon storyline, as well as her name, Chibiusa for a chibi (little) Usagi, was the idea of Naoko Takeuchi's editor, Fumio Osano.[54] Takeuchi has stated that she did not think much about how Chibiusa's hair would look, besides it having odango like Usagi's hair and being pink; and that she used a Chibiusa doll for reference on the hair.[55]
The first appearance of Chibiusa as a Sailor Senshi is in a side story, a year and a half before Sailor Chibi Moon made her debut in the manga. In the first Picture Diary, Chibiusa is rescued by Sailors Moon and Venus and dreams that night about becoming a "soldier of love and justice" herself. She calls herself "Sailor Chibiusa Moon" and appears in a uniform slightly different from the one she wears later, most notably including a cape.[56]
Takeuchi struggled with a name for Black Lady, initially calling her "the Black Queen" and retaining her childlike appearance.[5] Takeuchi also noted that the leg-slit on Black Lady's dress was even more revealing in the anime than in the manga, something which shocked her as she had wondered if the slit was going too far in her drawings of Black Lady.[55]
The official Sailor Moon character popularity poll listed Chibiusa, Sailor Chibi Moon, Princess Lady Serenity, and Black Lady as separate entities. In 1993, with fifty choices, Chibiusa was the most popular character, Black Lady was the thirteenth most popular, and Luna-P, an item of Chibiusa's, was the seventeenth most popular character.[57] In 1994, with fifty one choices, Sailor Chibi Moon was the second most popular character, Chibiusa was the eighth most popular, and Luna-P was the twenty sixth most popular character.[58] In early 1996, with fifty one choices, Sailor Chibi Moon was again the second most popular character, Chibiusa was the eleventh most popular, and Princess Lady Serenity, an older form of Small Lady, was the twenty fourth most popular character.[59]
Despite this, Chibiusa has been described by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy as "unpopular" even among Japanese audiences, at least in the anime.[60]
In the Japanese anime series and movies, Chibiusa is voiced by Kae Araki (who also played Usagi for a few episodes while her normal actress had her appendix removed).[61] In the English-language dub, the voice of "Rini" is provided first by Tracey Hoyt (in the R series and movies) and then by Stephanie Beard (in the S and SuperS series). Liz Wartenberg Brown provided the voice of Wicked Lady.
In the stage musicals, Chibiusa was frequently double-cast, and has been played by 14 actresses: Ai Miyakawa, Mao Kawasaki, Tamaki Dia Shirai, Natsumi Takenaka, Ayano Gunji, Arisu Izawa, Kasumi Takabatake, Noël Miyazaki, Aisha Yamamoto, Nanami Ota, Mao Ono, Mina Horita, and Moe Osaki. Years later, Mao Kawasaki went on to portray her evil adult form, Black Lady. This character was also played by Shion Nakamaru.[62] Ayano Gunji, the longest running Chibiusa actress, stated that the manga and anime of Sailor Moon was #1, and she was happy to watch the show. She also stated she became even happier when she was able to wear Chibi Moon's costume, and wanted to live actively like Chibiusa.[63]
Chibiusa does not appear in the live-action series. Usagi shows signs of being pregnant (such as morning sickness) during the direct-to-DVD Special Act, as well as when Usagi and Mamoru are in a toy store, Usagi holds a baby doll but when she looks at Mamoru, they both look away quickly, but it is not clear if she is intended to be pregnant with Chibiusa or not.
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