Mamoru Chiba - Character in Sailormoon

Mamoru Chiba (地場 衛 Chiba Mamoru) is the only major male human character appearing in the manga and anime known as Sailor Moon. His 'code name' in battles is Tuxedo Kamen ('Kamen' pronounced {{IPA|}} in IPA) or Tuxedo Mask. References either way are almost even (with "Tuxedo Mask" slightly outweighing "Tuxedo Kamen"). Most recent print sources refer to him as "Tuxedo Mask," while older print sources are mixed between both names. He is known as Darien Shields in the English adaptations. In DIC's first promo for the American adaptation, he was known as 'The Masked Tuxedo'.

He is most known to Sailor Moon fans as the rose-throwing Tuxedo Kamen of the Japanese anime. Wearing a mask to conceal his identity, he interferes with the Dark Kingdom's operations and encourages the Sailor Team with advice appropriate for the situation. However, since he is currently studying in America he is not seen as Tuxedo Mask often.

The kanji breaks down as such: first kanji chi means earth, ground which is the same kanji that is used in the word chikyuu which refers to the planet Earth. The second kanji ba translates to location, place. Together, they form the word chiba which, when the two kanji are placed together like this mean local. The third mamoru litterally translates to protector, guardian. So his name would be translated as "Local Guardian." The English dub parallels this by naming him Darien which means "protector".

Character

Sailor Moon (Dark Kingdom Arc)

Mamoru Chiba's past is completely unknown even by him. This is because his parents died in a car crash when he was very young, and because of the severity of the accident he has blocked the memories of his past life from his head. This often causes him physical pain which makes him vulnerable to mental attacks by the Dark Kingdom, among other enemies.

From the first series, Mamoru Chiba's alter ego is Tuxedo Mask. In the beginning, he would always get these terrible headaches and would blackout wheneverSailor Moon was in danger. He had no idea that during the time when he have these blackouts, he would turn into Tuxedo Mask and go and rescue Sailormoon. Aside from his headaches and blackouts, he would also have these dreams of a princess urging him to help her find the ginzuishou, a mystical silver crystal imbued with great power. (The ginzuishou is called a variety of different names in the dubbed American version, the most popular being "the Imperial Silver Crystal." Literally translated, ginzuishou means "silver water crystal.")~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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In order to find the ginzuishou, one must gather the seven nijizuishou ("Rainbow Crystals" in the dub). It is during this time that both the Dark Kingdom and the Sailor Scouts are also looking for the nijizuishou. Zoisite and Kunzite, two of theShitennou (Sailor Moon), set up a trap so that Tuxedo Mask would come and rescue a fake Sailor Moon. While fighting Tuxedo Mask's fell away, revealing Mamoru's identity and he was also injured in the process. Zoisite calls for a meeting with Tuxedo Mask at the Starlight Tower. The injured Mamoru makes his way to the Tower and bumps into Usagi Tsukino in the process. Usagi realizes that Mamoru is injured and follows him to the Tower. Later, trapped in the elevator, Mamoru finds out that Usagi is actually Sailor Moon! Mamoru's identity as Tuxedo Mask was also revealed to Usagi. Protecting Sailor Moon, Tuxedo Mask was stabbed by spears thrown by Zoisite that was meant for Sailor Moon. Grieving for Mamoru, Usagi's hidden power was revealed and her teardrop was combined with the seven nijizuishou to turn into the ginzusihou. Usagi turns into Princess Serenity (her reincarnation from her past life) and memories from their past life are revealed. One of the revealed truths is that Mamoru turns out to be the reincarnation of Prince Endymion.

During the Silver Millenium times, Prince Endymion was the ruler of the Planet Earth. He and Princess Serenity from the Moon Kingdom fell in love with each other. However, Beryl from Earth was possessed by an evil force, Metallia, and swore to take over the Moon Kingdom. A war broke out between Earth and Moon; Prince Endymion defected and swore to protect Princess Serenity. Beryl, who had her sights set on Endymion, killed both him and Princess Serenity. Queen Serenity sacrificed herself and used the power of the Silver Crystal to seal away Berly and Metallia. With the last of her strength, she sent Princess Serenity, Prince Endymion, the Sailor Senshi to Earth to be reincarnated.

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After everything is revealed of the past, Queen Beryl took the injured Mamoru away and brainwashed him into becoming a villain. He goes by the name Prince Endymion as a villain. In the final fight with Queen Beryl, Endymion dies while protecting Sailor Moon once again. At the end of the first season, Usagi pleads for the ginzuishou to grant her wish that everything would be back to normal. Everyone was brought back to live and memories of the Dark Kingdom their relationship with each other was completely erased.

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Sailor Moon R

Mamoru had no memory of anything that happened in the first series. Usagi did her best to revive his memories of her and their love together. During this time, a mysterious character, the Tsukikage no Knight (literally, "moon shadow knight," known as the Moonlight Knight in the dubbed American version), appears each time that Sailor Moon gets into trouble, similar to the fashion in which Tuxedo Mask/Kamen appeared. Later on, it was revealed that the Tsukikage no Knight was actually a part of Mamoru's soul, whose love for Usagi is so strong that the knight was created so that he could continue to protect his beloved.

After the Makaiju arc of the anime (which did not exist in the original manga), Mamoru's memory was returned but just when things were going well for him and Usagi, Chibiusa appeared. Mamoru started having strange dreams again. In these dreams, he was in the middle of a wedding ceremony with Usagi when disaster struck. A voice in his dream warns him that tragedy will come if he continued a romantic relationship with the princess. Because of these dreams, Mamoru tells Usagi that he needs some time away from her. (This is a source of constant consternation for fans, especially manga purists, for Mamoru more or less disregarded his disturbing nightmares in the manga. However, the anime Mamoru decided to follow the voice because he loved Usagi enough to protect her, even if that resulted in his own discomfort.

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Later on, it turns out the voice in his dreams was actually King Endymion, ruler of Crystal Tokyo in the 30th century -- Mamoru's future self. When Tuxedo Kamen travels with the senshi to the 30th century to save it, King Endymion (or a holograph of him) exapains that the purpose of the dream was to test the strength of the love between Mamoru and Usagi.

Sailor Stars

At the beginning of the Sailor Stars series, the villainess from the previous arc (Sailormoon SuperS), Nehelenia (also spelled Nepherenia and Neherenia) is resurrected. When she shatters the mirror she was trapped inside, shards fall in the eyes of people across Tokyo, including Mamoru. The shard causes him to have extreme pain in his eye; later he also has headaches. At the most advanced stages, he is controlled by Nehelenia, who takes him to her palace/headquarters. As a result, the timeline is bent, causing Chibi-usa to fade out of existence (since her existence is uncertain.) Sailor Moon travels to Nehelenia's point and heals Mamoru.

In the fifth series, Mamoru leaves to study at Harvard University in America. Before he leaves, he slips a ring on the fourth finger of Usagi's left hand. Although he doesn't say anything, most fans see this as a tacit proposal. He promises to answer Usagi's letters as she writes (and the opening scenes/synopsis of the episodes are usually in the form of Usagi's letters to Mamoru.)

However, sometime when plane was in the air, Sailor Galaxia -- the head villainess in this arc -- attacks the plane, having sensed a true starseed (which is something like the essence of life force of a person. Every person has a starseed, but only senshi have true starseeds). Mamoru, as Tuxedo Kamen, attempts to confront her, but she easily extracts his starseed, effectively killing him. As he dies, he warns Galaxia that the Sailor Senshi on Earth would stop her ambition. When the power of Sailor Moon's forgiveness gave Galaxia the power to expel Chaos from her body, Mamoru was resurrected in episode 200. He was last seen kissing Usagi. His current location is unknown. We do not know if he remained in Tokyo or returned to his studies in America.

Actors

• In the anime series, Mamoru is played by veteran voice actor Tohru Furuya, also well-known as the voice of Amuro Ray in Mobile Suit Gundam and Pegasus Seiya in Saint Seiya.
• In the English-language dub, Darien is played by Rino Romano (episodes 1-11),Toby Proctor (episodes 12-65) and Vince Corrazza (episodes 66-82, 90-166, and the movies). Of the three, Toby Proctor is the most popular.
• In the Swedish-language dub, Mamoru is played by Fredrik Dolk and Dick Eriksson (episode 34 and 36).
• In the musical version, Mamoru has been played by 8 actors: Mizuki Sano(Sano Mizuki), Yuuta Mochizuki (Mochizuki Yuuta), Yuuta Enomoto (Enomoto Yuuta), Hironari Amano (Amano Hironari), Edo Hidemasa (Hidemasa Edo), Kenji Urai (Urai Kenji), Yuu Shirota (Shirota Yuu) and Gyo Miyamoto (Miyamoto Gyo).
• In the live action series Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Mamoru is played byJyouji Shibue.

Profile

NAME: Mamoru Chiba

NAME MEANING: Local Protector

BIRTHDATE: 3rd August

BLOOD TYPE: A+

AGE: 18 years old (Manga) 20 years old (Anime)

SOURCE-PLANET: Earth

EYE COLOUR: Deep Blue

HAIR: Black

DISTINGUSHING FEATURES: Electrifying blue eyes, strong jawline, thick and warm eyebrows

ALTER-EGOS: Tuxedo Mask and Moonlight Knight

PAST LIFE: Prince Endymion of EARTH

FUTURE IDENTITY: Neo-King Endymion of Crystal Tokyo