Dead Moon Circus
The Dead Moon Circus are a group of fictional characters from the Sailor Moon manga series created by Naoko Takeuchi. They serve as the main antagonists of the fourth arc, called Dream in the manga, Sailor Moon SuperS in its original anime adaptation, and Sailor Moon Eternal in the new anime adaptation. They are first introduced in chapter #39 "Dream 1 – Eclipse Dream", originally published in Japan on September 6, 1995. In the original English dubbed anime by Cloverway, they are called the "Dark Moon Circus".
The Dead Moon Circus is led by the twisted Zirconia, in command by the absence of the dark Queen Nehelenia who is trapped within a mirror. Zirconia is searching for the legendary Golden Crystal, which will allow Nehelenia to break free of her entrapment and take over the Earth. They are the only group of villains with two subordinate groups: the Amazon Trio and the Amazoness Quartet.
Key figures
Zirconia
Zirconia appears as a hunching old woman with lavender skin who is revealed to be a be manifestation of Queen Nehelenia, overseeing the Dead Moon Circus in the real world. Her name is derived from the mineral Zirconium dioxide, which is often called Zirconia. Her connection to Nehelenia varies from version to version. In the Cloverway Inc. English-language adaptation, Zirconia's gender was changed from female to male, though the character's original depiction was maintained in the later Viz English-language adaptation. In the Materials Collection, Naoko Takeuchi mentions intentional insect-like elements in her design, possibly a reference to insect genus Nehalennia.Zirconia communicates with Nehelenia and delivers her orders to the Amazoness Quartet. When Sailor Saturn and Sailor Chibi Moon begin to break through Zirconia's influence on the Quartet, Zirconia captures all of them, imprisoning the Quartet inside four magic balls and Saturn and Chibi Moon within two shards of broken mirror. She sends the objects through the mirror to Nehelenia. When the Sailor Guardians confront her, she rises into the sky and grows in size, but the Sailor Guardians use Sailor Planet Power Meditation to defeat her. Zirconia escapes into Nehelenia's mirror with Sailor Moon in pursuit, Zirconia remaining within it and likely ceasing to exist upon the mirror being destroyed during Nehelenia's demise.
In the anime, Zirconia serves as the queen's representative in directing their followers on missions to find Pegasus in the beautiful dreams of people in Tokyo. While the Amazon Trio feared her, Zirconia has trouble keeping the Amazoness Quartet in line. When the Quartet begins to develop sympathy for the Sailor Guardians and destroy their balls, Zirconia escapes to Nehelenia's mirror. Though able to break Queen Nehelenia free from her mirror, Zirconia is destroyed upon serving her purpose.
In the two-part movie Sailor Moon Eternal, Zirconia's role in the film is the same as the manga.
Zirconia is voiced by Hisako Kyōda and Naomi Watanabe in the Crystal film, Sailor Moon Eternal. In the Cloverway English adaptation she is voiced by Robert Bockstael voice-matching Frank Oz and her gender is changed to male. In the Viz Media English adaptation and the Netflix English dub of Sailor Moon Eternal Pt. 1 and 2, she is voiced by Barbara Goodson.
Queen Nehelenia
Queen Nehelenia, leader of the Dead Moon Circus, is named after the ancient goddess Nehalennia. Nehelenia is like the dark mirror image of Queen Serenity; the self-styled Queen of the dark center of the Moon that existed since Silver Millennium who possesses the ability to inflict powerful curses. She made herself known at the celebration of Princess Serenity's birth, the confrontation that followed ending with Queen Serenity sealing Nehelenia within a mirror. Nehelenia used her final moments of freedom to curse the Moon Kingdom to fall before Princess Serenity could take the throne, making her the cause of Silver Millennium's destruction. With the Moon Kingdom no more, as she used a solar eclipse to breach her seal, Nehelenia decided to focus on conquering Earth. Several millennia later, taking the Sailor Quartet to serve her as the Amazoness Quartet, Nehelenia conquers Elysion before sending the Dead Moon Circus to defeat the Sailor Guardians and retrieve the Silver Crystal from Sailor Moon.Once the Sailor Guardians managed to defeat all of the minions, Nehelenia makes her presence known as she confronts the Sailor Guardians in Elysion and takes the Silver Crystal. But Nelehenia loses the crystal when its power combined with Tuxedo Mask's newly awakened Golden Crystal prevented this yet again. Nehelenia is destroyed by Eternal Sailor Moon using the joined powers of all the Sailor Team, shrivelling into a wizened old woman resembling Zirconia before she and her mirror dissolve into dust that is sealed within the eclipse once more. It is revealed towards the end of the series that Nehelenia is just an incarnation of Chaos, the ultimate antagonist of the series.
In the anime, Nelehenia was revealed to have been a queen of her own kingdom and adored by her people. Due to her having no real friends or loved ones in her childhood, Nehelenia learned to love herself, which led to her vanity, which played into her madness when she asked an enchanted mirror to show her future and saw herself as an old hag. As a result, Nelehenia became obsessed with the notion of keeping herself young and beautiful so she consumed the dreams of her subjects, who became Lemures, and founded the Dead Moon Circus. Nelehenia sought the Golden Crystal possessed by Helios, who escaped her in the form of Pegasus, only to be later sealed by Queen Serenity within her mirror. To rectify her condition, during the events of the SuperS series, Nelehenia creates Zirconia to lead the Dead Moon Circus to hunt down Pegasus. Eventually learning of Helios's close friendship with Chibiusa, Nehelenia realizes that she is the holder of the Golden Dream Mirror that Pegasus is inhabiting. Once obtaining the Golden Crystal, Nelehenia breaks from her mirror and attempts to use its power, but the Amazoness Quartet steal it to give it to the Sailor Guardians who, along with the people of Earth, break Nehelenia's spell and reveal her true aged form. Nehelenia re-enters her imprisonment within the mirror to restore her youthful appearance.
In Sailor Stars, Nelehenia serves as the main antagonist of the first quarter when she is freed from the mirror by Sailor Galaxia and encouraged to annihilate the Sailor Guardians and to exact her revenge through the shards of her Black Mirror. Among the victims is Mamoru, rendered emotionally dead. After dragging Mamoru into her nightmare dimension, Nelehenia captures all the Sailor Guardians before revealing her tragic past to a powerless Usagi. However, Nehelenia is ultimately redeemed by the Sailor Guardians' forgiveness, and reborn as a small child. Signs point to her having learned her lesson, as she is seen making an effort to become close to her subjects as true friends.
In the two-part movie Sailor Moon Eternal, Nehelenia's role is the same as the manga.
In the original Japanese series, Nehelenia is voiced by Yoshiko Sakakibara while her purified reincarnated child version is voiced by Wakana Yamazaki. In Sailor Moon Eternal, she is voiced by Nanao. In the Cloverway English adaptation, her voice is supplied by Kate Trotter. In the Viz Media English adaptation and the Netflix English dub of Sailor Moon Eternal Pt. 1 and 2, she is voiced by Laura Post. In the musicals, Nehelenia is portrayed by Kaori Ishikawa.
Amazon Trio
The Amazon Trio consists of Fish Eye, Tiger's Eye, and Hawk's Eye. They are circus animals transformed into men by the Amazoness Quartet to destroy the Sailor Guardians. They each respectively target a relevant Guardian to kill; the only exception to this is Sailor Venus, who is targeted by Xenotime and Zeolite. While commenting on their looks, series creator Naoko Takeuchi says all three members of the trio show some ambiguity.In the anime, the Amazon Trio's job is to look into the dream mirrors of mortals, searching for the legendary and powerful Pegasus. The Trio choose their victims by seducing various women and men, whether they be young or old, and attacking them while they are vulnerable. Rather than being killed by the Sailor Guardians like in the manga, the Amazon Trio share a different fate in the anime. After their many failures, Zirconia reveals to them their true natures, and while she sends them to steal Usagi's dream mirror, she instructs PallaPalla to send a clown-like Lemures called Mr. Magic Pierrot to finish them. After Usagi's mirror is restored and Mr. Magic Pierrot is defeated, Pegasus grants the Amazon Trio dream mirrors, knowing that the trio have suffered greatly and have truly changed for the better. They cannot, however, retain their current forms as humans and are taken away by Pegasus to the Crystal Forest. As he places them within the forest, he promises that one day they will be reborn as the humans they wish to be, with their beautiful dreams intact.
In the two-part movie Sailor Moon Eternal, the Amazon Trio trapped Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Jupiter in nightmares. They break free and destroy the Amazon Trio.
In the musical Shin Densetsu Kourin, Sailor Galaxia recruits them as her minions. However, in the second stage of the musical, they change their minds and join Sailor Moon instead; since the Sailor Starlights do not appear in this musical, the task of protecting her after the deaths of the Sailor Guardians is taken by the Amazon Trio.
Tiger's Eye
Tiger's Eye was a tiger turned into a human by Zirconia. His name is based on the quartz Tiger's eye. He takes the form of a tall, long haired blond man. He wears tight tiger-striped pants and a white top, and attacks with a whip.Tiger's Eye, in animal form, first assisted PallaPalla and VesVes in flushing out Usagi and Chibiusa when the latter's attempt of returning to her time is detected. He later gains human form and assists PallaPalla by subjecting Sailor Mars with her nightmare while she investigates a mysterious hall of mirrors. He is killed when Rei gains her 'Super' form, using her Mars Flame Sniper attack on him. Sailor Moon Eternal has Tiger's Eye's dream of becoming an artist and he retains his human form even after Rei uses her “Exorcized Charm”, attack on him.
In the anime, his targets of seduction are particularly younger women, as he uses his charming abilities to lure them into his traps until the right time to look into their dream mirrors in search of Pegasus. Tiger's Eye is killed when he and Fish's Eye relinquish their power to rebuild Usagi's destroyed Dream Mirror. However, Pegasus revives him and he is sent to Elysion with the others.
In the original anime adaptation, his voice actor is Ryotaro Okiayu, while Satoshi Hino voices him in the Crystal film, Sailor Moon Eternal. In the Cloverway English adaptation, he is voiced by Jason Barr. In the Viz Media English adaptation and the Netflix English dub of Sailor Moon Eternal Pt. 1 and 2, he is voiced by John Eric Bentley. In the stage musicals, he is played by Ryuji Kasahara.