Death Busters
The Death Busters are a group of fictional characters in the Sailor Moon manga series written by Naoko Takeuchi. This group comprises the villains of the third major story arc, which is called the Infinity in the manga, Sailor Moon S in the original anime adaptation, and Death Busters in Sailor Moon Crystal. They are first introduced in chapter #27 "Infinity 1 – Premonition", originally published in Japan on July 7, 1994. In the Cloverway English adaptation, they are called the "Heart Snatchers".
Originally from the "Tau Ceti Star System" in another dimension, the Death Busters acquire human host bodies to act through with Kaolinite and Professor Tomoe as acting leaders. Based in Mugen Academy, an elite high school built in the middle of Tokyo's Sankakusu District, the Death Busters work to gather human souls which would prolong their dying homeworld. Their ultimate goal is the revival of their commander Mistress 9 so they can bring their master Pharaoh 90 to Earth and terraform it into a new home at the cost of the current life forms.
Key figures
Professor Tomoe
Professor Souichi Tomoe is the leader of the Death Busters and Hotaru Tomoe's father. A genetic scientist forced out of the scientific community for his unethical experiments, he sold his findings to companies and bought the entire Sankakusu District to continue his research to create "Super Beings". But a fire occurs in Tomoe's apartment that killed his wife Keiko and gravely wounded his daughter Hotaru. Tomoe saves his daughter by outfitting her body with cybernetic limbs during a freak storm that brought the Death Busters to Earth, the aliens apparently attracted to his darkness. Witnessing his assistant be reborn as Kaolinite, Tomoe sold his soul to Pharaoh 90 and willfully discarded his humanity by ingesting a Daimon Egg to become a hybrid as he began to build Mugen Academy while working to perfect the stability of Daimon/human hybrids. When Super Sailor Moon and the Outer Guardians arrive at his lab and dispatch his Daimon test subjects, Tomoe changes into his Daimon form Germatoid. Sailor Moon is forced to kill him with her Rainbow Moon Heart Ache, Hotaru has briefly seen saying goodbye to her father while accepting that he died a long time ago after her mother's death.In the original anime, Hotaru's injury and the Death Busters' arrival occur at the same time. Professor Tomoe's story is the same with the exception that he was forcefully possessed by Germatoid. Tomoe also survives the ordeal as Germatoid leaves his body and is destroyed by Sailor Uranus and Neptune, attempting to reach Hotaru. Following the final battle, Tomoe loses his memories as he is entrusted with his reborn daughter's care until the season premiere of Sailor Stars, when Setsuna Meioh comes to retrieve her, and after that, he is not seen again in the series.
Professor Tomoe appears in several musicals. In the Last Dracul arc, his body is possessed by an alchemist known as Dreadful Berserk. Using Tomoe's laboratory, Berserk tries to create perfect homunculi in order to replace human beings; however, his first homunculi, the Death Mannetjes, turned out to be flawed creatures. Although Tomoe is possessed by Berserk, the latter shows concern for Hotaru. In Kessen / Transylvania no Mori - Saikyou no Kataki Dark Cain no Nazo, the Amazoness Quartet, known as "Samael Quartet" in this revision, are homunculi created by Tomoe from Chibiusa's star seed.
Professor Tomoe is voiced by Akira Kamiya in Sailor Moon S and by Takuya Kirimoto in Crystal. In the Cloverway Inc. English adaptation produced in association with Optimum Productions, he is voiced by Jeff Lumby, and the Germatoid creatures are voiced by a range of actors including Tony Daniels, David Fraser, and Steven Bednarski. In the Viz Media English adaptation, he is voiced by Keith Silverstein. In the musicals, he has been portrayed by Shunsaku Yajima, Ryuuji Kasahara, Kaname Aoki, and Yuuki Kaon.
Kaolinite
Kaolinite is the Commander of the Witches 5 with the title of Magus, named after the mineral of the same name. Originally Kaori Kuromine, she was Tomoe's assistant before being infected with a Daimon Egg that consumes her humanity while pledging her loyalty to Pharaoh 90. Serving as Pharaoh 90's emissary, with access to Tairon Crystal, Kaolinite convinces Tomoe to offer himself and Hotaru to the Death Busters. Despite no longer being human, Kaolinite retained some of her former self like her infatuation with Tomoe. Posing as Mugen Academy's headmistress, communicating with Pharaoh 90 to relay his orders, Kaolinite directs the Witches 5 to deal with the Sailor Guardians and eventually take the Legendary Silver Crystal while also making attempts to prevent the awakening of Sailor Saturn whom she deemed a threat to her group. After the Witches 5 have all been killed and Mistress 9 had awakened, Kaolinite is given the task to kill the Sailor Guardians herself before the Outer Guardians intervene. This forces Kaolinite to assume her Daimon form prior to being destroyed by Super Sailor Moon's Rainbow Moon Heartache attack.In the original anime adaptation, her role is changed to oversee the initial Death Buster attacks, Kaolinite seeks out the three Talismans to obtain the Legendary Holy Grail. Her Daimons having attacked Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Jupiter prior, Kaolinite targets Sailor Moon while deducing her identity and ends up appearing to fall to death from Tokyo Tower in the resulting battle. But Kaolinite survived, though she lost her memory and Tomoe placed her Hotaru's guardian. Kaolinite eventually regains her memories, stealing Chibiusa's Pure Heart to offer to Mistress 9 so she can win Tomoe's love. But Kaolinite, after Tomoe congratulated her, is killed off when she is thrown into an electrified wall by Mistress 9 for "having served her purpose".
The stage musicals follow the manga version, though no mention of what was occurring at the time of the lightning strike is made, and the event is not shown, only mentioned. The musicals imply Kaori to be her original name, as she is always addressed as Kaori-Kun in Hotaru's presence by Professor Tomoe who states she has been helping them out since, at least, his wife's death. In Usagi Ai no Senshi e no Michi, she leads another set of minions, the Death Nightmares.
In Sailor Moon S, she is voiced by Noriko Uemura. In Crystal, she is voiced by Hikari Yono. In the Cloverway Inc. English adaptation, her name is changed to Kaorinite and is voiced by Kirsten Bishop. In the Viz Media English adaptation, she is voiced by Tara Platt. In the musicals, Kaolinite is played by Keiko Hanayama, Mutsumi Fukuma, and Miki Kawasaki.
Mistress 9
Mistress 9 is a malevolent extraterrestrial entity who is Pharaoh 90's main partner, sent to oversee her master's arrival to Earth with Tomoe implanting her Daimon Egg in the comatose body of Hotaru. But Mistress 9 did not fully awaken despite Hotaru having seizures while in the presence of a Taioron Crystal fragment, though Mistress 9 slowly becomes more active when exposed to the light of the Legendary Silver Crystal. After the Witches 5 have all been killed, her influence overwhelmed Hotaru as she force-grows her vessel into a woman with long hair. Mistress 9 steals Chibiusa's soul and Legendary Silver Crystal while using the latter as a replacement power source when she conducts the ritual to summon Pharaoh 90 to Earth. As Pharaoh 90 begins to manifest, Mistress 9 attempts to rip herself out of Hotaru's body to assume her true form. But Mistress 9 is surprised to find that Hotaru's soul still exists and is inhibiting the entity from leaving her body, managing to thwart her by forcing her to be paralyzed on the ground, so Hotaru has enough time to restore the souls of the Inner Guardians and Chibiusa to their bodies. Mistress 9, who turned into her true Daimon form and broke free of Hotaru's force, attempts to steal Sailor Moon's Silver Crystal before Sailor Chibi Moon arrives, Sailor Moon and Chibi Moon assume their Super forms to overwhelm Mistress 9. But when Pharaoh 90 fully manifests, Mistress 9 allows herself to be assimilated into her master with Sailor Saturn's spirit possessing Hotaru by later manifesting from what remained of Mistress 9.In the original anime's third season, Mistress 9 makes her presence known early as she occasionally controls Hotaru to communicate with the other Death Busters, making Hotaru's eyes glow red and emit a red aura of pure evil, in contest to Sailor Saturn's light purplish one. But Mistress 9 fully awakens once obtaining Chibiusa's Pure Heart Crystal, killing Kaolinite for serving her purpose in her full revival. Mistress 9 attempts to use a large machine to guide Pharaoh 90 to Earth so that he may destroy it. Sailor Moon tries to stop her and Tomoe, now freed from Germatoid, attempts to reach her, still seeing her as Hotaru, and the vessel of Sailor Saturn; a fellow Sailor Guardian. She attacks both of them but is seriously injured by energy emanating from the machine. Professor Tomoe takes her in his arms and Hotaru's consciousness begins to respond. Mistress 9 attempts to subdue her once again but Hotaru's memories of both her father and of Chibiusa prove to be overpowering. It results in Hotaru awakening by merging with the spirit of Sailor Saturn within her, their combined strength destroying Mistress 9's dark essence for good.
In Sailor Moon S, Mistress 9's voice is provided by Yuko Minaguchi and Yukiyo Fujii provides her voice in Crystal. In the CWI English dub, she is voiced by Susan Aceron. In the Viz Media English dub, she is voiced by Christine Marie Cabanos. In the musicals, two actresses have played her: Tomoko Inami and Chinatsu Akiyama.
Master Pharaoh 90
Master Pharaoh 90 is a malevolent interdimensional being from "Tau Ceti Star System", an amorphous being who is both the mastermind of the Death Busters and the originator of the Daimons. He is Mistress 9's partner. As the Taioron Crystal that he uses for substance is nearly spent with his domain on the verge of collapse, Pharaoh 90 uses the spatial distortions in Tokyo's Sankakusu district to send an advance guard of Daimon Eggs to make preparations for his coming. Pharaoh 90's goal is to assimilate Earth and terraform it into a new home for himself and his Daimon spawn. As his right-hand Mistress 9 was inactive at the time, Pharaoh 90 communicated with Kaolinite at the top of Mugen Academy as he senses both the Legendary Silver Crystal and an unawakened Sailor Saturn whom he expresses dread towards.Mistress 9 retrieved Chibiusa's future Silver Crystal with Pharaoh deeming it as a replacement for the obsolete Taioron Crystal as he is brought to Earth via an established portal. Once on Earth, Sailor Moon describing his form as that of "black lava reeking of death", Pharaoh absorbs Mistress 9 while beginning to cover the entire Earth despite the Outer Guardians' attempts to contain him within Sankakusu. With Pharaoh 90 able to absorb their attacks, Sailor Moon attempted to sacrifice herself by unleashing the powers of the Legendary Holy Grail and the Silver Crystal while within the entity. But the gambit caused the Outer Guardians' Talismans to resonate and awaken Sailor Saturn, who uses her "Death Reborn Revolution" to weaken Pharaoh 90 but stayed her hand from killing him when Sailor Moon emerged unharmed. The dying Pharaoh 90 attempts to flee back into the Tau System as Saturn gives chase, having Sailor Pluto use her "Dark Dome Close" to seal the dimensional distortion and trap Pharaoh 90 within his dying world to destroy for good. Like all of the head villains in the manga, Pharaoh 90 is later revealed to be an incarnation of Chaos, the ultimate enemy of the series.
In Sailor Moon S, Pharaoh 90 appears as a huge, black eyeball-like sphere with tentacles who are simply acting on an impulse to destroy Earth and recruited Tomoe by providing him with Mistress 9's Daimon Egg. When a portal is opened by Mistress 9, Pharaoh 90 begins to surface before being destroyed by Super Sailor Moon and the newly awakened Sailor Saturn.
Pharaoh 90 is voiced by Takaya Hashi in Crystal, with Michael Sorich and John Eric Bentley voicing him in the English version. Tony Daniels provides vocal effects in the Cloverway Inc. English adaptation.