Tuxedo Mask
Tuxedo Mask, also known as Mamoru Chiba, is a fictional character and one of the primary protagonists of the Sailor Moon media franchise created by Naoko Takeuchi. He disguises himself to support the series' central heroines, the Sailor Guardians. Wearing a mask to conceal his identity, he interferes with enemy operations, offers the Sailor Guardians advice, and sometimes physically aids them in battle.
Like the Sailor Guardians, Tuxedo Mask possesses a power item: a Sailor Crystal, which gives him guardianship over the planet Earth. He also has psychic powers, including psychometry and healing, which evolve and become important to the storyline in the manga, but which play only a minor role and remain static in the anime. Along with his primary love interest Sailor Moon, a significant player in much of the story, he has royal credentials in the "past life" storyline as well as in the future.
Profile
Mamoru Chiba first appears as a high-school student studying at Moto-Azabu High School. Before the beginning of the series, his parents are killed in a car crash on his sixth birthday, which revealed the memories of his previous life as Prince Endymion. Living alone, Mamoru befriends school student Usagi Tsukino. In the beginning of the series, dreams of Princess Serenity haunt Mamoru. Unaware of his dual-identity as Tuxedo Mask, he suffers painful visions whenever Usagi becomes endangered, and he transforms unknowingly into Tuxedo Mask. As Mamoru, he tries to piece together his strange dreams, and as Tuxedo Mask, he tries to remember his past and identity, while searching for Princess Serenity. He seeks the Legendary Silver Crystal in the belief that this will fully restore his previous memories. In the anime adaptation, he seeks it because Princess Serenity tells him to in a dream. Of all the characters, Mamoru gets brainwashed and captured the most throughout the series.Mamoru and Usagi share romantic feelings well before they discover their identities. Once they became a couple, they remain deeply devoted to each other and their love survives many trials. In the manga they briefly show jealousy towards each other. Usagi always addresses him as "Mamo" throughout the series during this time-period. After dating for two years, Mamoru gives Usagi an engagement ring at an airport. Five years later, Mamoru and Usagi marry. In the future, they become king and queen and have a child together whom they name "Small Lady", known in the majority of the series as "Chibiusa".
Image:Bssm0.png|thumb|left| Mamoru Chiba as seen in the 1990s anime
Mamoru struggles with his identity and function throughout the series, worrying first about his true nature, then later whether he gets in the way of the Sailor Guardians. A fair amount of subtle characterization is made for Mamoru, and later extending his role within the manga as to who he is. He also is given the power of psychometry, which also showed up in the anime, but was not given a name. This manifests in his ability to see and read dreams, to heal people and to monitor the status of the Earth. This does not develop fully until the Black Moon arc, and is used occasionally throughout the series.
In the original anime adaptation, Mamoru is a generally outgoing person, though somewhat acerbic, and appears as a college student. He demonstrates interests in a variety of subjects and emerges as smart. The musical Kakyu Ouhi Kourin shows that he is aspiring to become a doctor. He also "dates" Rei Hino for a short time before the revelation of all the past-life identities, though he believes they are just friends. This history stirs jealousy in Usagi in later seasons. Sailor Moon Crystal, the second anime adaptation, follows the manga continuity and thus has Mamoru as a high school student, without much interaction with Rei. Unlike the original anime, Mamoru and Usagi start getting along relatively quickly instead of having to warm up to each other.
Most of Sailor Moon's transformations and final victories come as a result of her and Tuxedo Mask cooperating together. In the final battle against the Dark Kingdom, Queen Metaria absorbs Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask into her body. However, they succeed in combining their powers through the Silver Crystal and destroy Queen Metalia from within. Tuxedo Mask also combines his power into Super Sailor Moon's last item with the rest of the Guardians using the Golden Crystal. In the Infinity story arc he combines his powers with Sailor Moon to create the next scepter. This happens in episode 91, "The Rod of Love is born: Usagi's New Transformation." The manga tends to show Mamoru as quiet, studious, mysterious and stoic. The student body of his high school often admires him for these qualities. The anime adaptation also tends to make him appear in every episode to save Sailor Moon's life. His attacks in the anime resemble those shown in the manga, but are not named.
In the musical adaptations, Mamoru protects Usagi and generally appears at her side. However, several of his relationships change in different settings: for example, one musical reveals Queen Beryl as Mamoru's fiancé from his time as Prince of the Earth. Associating with Silver Millennium was against Earth law, and Endymion violated this law when he fell in love with Princess Serenity. In this version of events, Serenity and Endymion are outlaws who drive an otherwise innocent woman, Beryl, to evil by making her jealous. Sailor Pluto also reveals that she is in love with Endymion, though she has contented herself with watching from afar.
Another variation occurs in the Ryuusei Densetsu musical, when Galaxia does not kill Mamoru, leaving him able to fight alongside the Sailor Guardians. Mamoru typically gets very involved in the Sailor Guardians' battles, fighting alongside them as opposed to his anime role of throwing a rose and then letting Sailor Moon deliver the finishing blow.
Tuxedo Mask always gets his own song; these songs vary from musical to musical. One musical featured multiple songs as both the present Mamoru appeared as Tuxedo Mask and later King Endymion appeared in disguise as Space Knight to look out for Chibiusa.
In the live-action series, Mamoru is a more silent, yet dedicated person. For example, he stays loyal to his girlfriend Hina, despite not loving her, on the basis of a promise they made as children. He searches for the Silver Crystal due to his amnesia: dreams told him that the magical object could restore his memories. To do this, he donned the Tuxedo Mask disguise and became a thief, searching for the Silver Crystal. Once he regained his memories of his past and present lives, he assumed his Endymion form to help the Sailor Guardians and tried his best to protect Usagi from the dangers of overusing the Silver Crystal. However, because of his dedication he has to join the Dark Kingdom or the Four Kings of Heaven will be killed. He also joins to keep a promise with Usagi that they will not destroy the planet. Learning that the Silver Crystal made Metaria stronger every time Sailor Moon used it, Endymion took Metaria into his body before succumbing to its dark power. Now an evil parody of himself, Dark Prince Endymion, he almost kills Sailor Mercury when Sailor Moon was forced to kill him to stop Metaria, causing Sailor Moon to kill herself but they survive. However they were saved. Mamo's pocket watch stops the sword from through Sailor Moon. His knights from a past life’gems saves him though the knights were killed. He revives once Sailor Moon manages to finally control the Crystal's power and destroys Metaria for good.
Aspects and forms
As a character with different incarnations, special powers, transformations, and a long lifetime spanning the Silver Millennium era and the 30th century, Mamoru gains multiple aspects and aliases as the series progresses.Tuxedo Mask
"Tuxedo Mask" represents a disguise Mamoru created for himself in order to hunt for the Silver Crystal incognito and—later—to assist the Sailor Guardians in battle. In addition to his white mask, he wears a full-dress tailcoat with a red-lined black cape, white gloves, and a top hat. In the anime and live-action series, he carries a black baton which he uses like a sword. He takes the place of Sailor Earth.The anime shows him standing on poles, defying gravity, and acting as a "swoop-in" type. He appears less developed, and has no special powers or named attacks, but remains a constant force in helping the Sailor Guardians throughout the series when they are in trouble. At the beginning he cannot control the transformation and his body automatically transforms if Sailor Moon is in danger. By the end of the first story arc, he can willingly activate the transformation. In a stylized henshin sequence, this is indicated by pulling a rose out of his pocket which then changes colors, and his tuxedo and mask fly in. Later in the series he is shown transforming instantaneously.
In the manga, he starts out as an ordinary thief trying to find the Silver Crystal. Luna initially tells Usagi not to trust him, but relents when they begin to fall in love and his true identity emerges. His function goes beyond that of the rescuer portrayed so often in the anime - it is frequently Sailor Moon who goes to his rescue, and he lends her strength, support, and guidance to use the Silver Crystal to defeat the enemies in return.
In the fourth story arc of the manga Helios reinforces Tuxedo Mask's role as a hero by revealing that he, as the Prince of the Golden Kingdom, Elysion, possesses a holy stone in the same way that the Princess of the Silver Millennium owns the Silver Crystal. This holy stone is the Golden Crystal, the Sailor Crystal of the Earth.
Prince Endymion
Prince Endymion was the crown prince of planet Earth during the age of Silver Millennium and Mamoru's identity in his previous life. He resided in the Golden Kingdom, which protected the Earth from within. Even though he and Elysion's guardian Helios never met each other in person during that time, they shared the common desire to protect the planet. Endymion also had four guardians, the Four Kings of Heaven, who protected him. He and Princess Serenity fell in love, breaking the taboo between their peoples which was exploited by Queen Metaria when she corrupted the people of Earth. Being killed by Beryl when she attempted to kill Serenity, the 90s anime depicting his death with the princess committed by Metaria herself, Prince Endymion is reincarnated in the 20th century as Mamoru Chiba.The manga often portrays Prince Endymion as the silent protagonist; his past life remains a mystery. Mamoru usually does not transform into Prince Endymion willfully, but is usually used as a power-up from his Tuxedo Mask form. Mamoru was under Metaria's thralldom, he assumed an evil form of Endymion and used his power to hypnotize Motoki Furuhata to assume he was his best friend "Endou". In the 90s anime, Mamoru can transform into Prince Endymion. Often this occurs when Sailor Moon transforms into Princess Serenity. As in the manga, he wears black armor.
In the live-action series, Endymion wears white, and after obtaining this form it becomes Mamoru's primary combat form. He gains the power of teleportation, a power shared by the Four Kings of Heaven. After he takes Metaria into his body, his armor and accessories blacken as he becomes known as Metaria Endymion with trace remnants of his white armor in his possessed state.