Mamoru Chiba
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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 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 was the Prince of the Earth in an ancient kingdom, then known as Prince Endymion. According to The Sailor Moon FAQ (http://www.sailormoon.org/faq/), the dubbed version kept the name Prince Darien, causing several contradictions in the English adaptations.
Like the various Senshi, the first kanji of his family name matches the first kanji of the name of his associated planet, Earth (地球 Chikyū in Japanese).
In his current incarnation, his parents died in a car accident; he seems to be living on an inheritance. In the anime, Mamoru can seen working various small jobs.
The creator of the manga designed Mamoru to be the perfect 'boyfriend.' He is romantic, kind, and protective, but sometimes brooding and fierce. In the manga he is around eighteen, only slightly older than his betrothed, Usagi Tsukino.
Mamoru is a slightly different character in the anime, in addition to being a much older college-age student. He is more overtly a smart-aleck, and tends to be annoyed at times by Usagi's well-meaning but childish behavior. His pet name for Usagi, which she initially detests but grows to enjoy, is "odango-atama" (or "Meatball Head" in the English-language dub), referring to Usagi's "two little spheres" hairstyle. He gets along more easily with Chibi-Usa, who, in addition to being somewhat mature for her age, kindles his protective and fatherly instinct.
In the car crash that killed his parents, Mamoru lost his memories and was raised in an orphanage. We know little of his life from then until he met Usagi, except an encounter with a young alien named Fiore. After initial negative encounters with Usagi, they begin to become attached and eventually begin dating.
In the second season, after learning that they were royalty in their past lives, Mamoru and Usagi are confronted with their futures, as king and queen of a new kingdom in the 30th Century, where their daughter Chibi-usa is from.
As many American fans are only familar with his portrayal in the anime, he is one of the least popular (though technically important) characters. Criticisms include the flimsy justification for his 'token boyfriend' romantic relationship with the franchise's title character, caustic attitude, and his poor development and characterization in the series. Although he helps in skirmishes, Mamoru is typically not an important front-row fighter. In addition, many find his general absence from the series in the fifth season to be no large loss, particularly due to the introduction of another 'male' character, Kou Seiya (Sailor Star Fighter). In an inversion of Sailor Moon's character, brave Mamoru seems to have an extremely weak will, and has been influenced and brainwashed repeatedly by various villains in the series. In the manga version, Mamoru demonstrates a much stronger personality and powers. His contributions include posessing the Golden Crystal, which is a compliment to Usagi's Silver Crystal, both of which posess great magical energies.
Mamoru's powers include using an extendable cane to fight, as well as the ability to throw roses like darts to pin or injure his enemies. He has a magical attack in the manga, and in both adaptations is shown to have powers of life support and healing injuries.
It is thought his cornier aspects - which were eventually parody fodder even within the series - were purposely excised from the recent live action series to make his character more popular. These aspects have also been parodied in other anime, typically his costume (a black tuxedo, top hat, cape, and white mask) and rose weapon fixation (which is exclusive to the anime).
Live-Action
In the live action version, Mamoru is a much more silent, yet dedicated person. He loses the tuxedo identity when his memories of his past life in favor of his prince identity and is a skilled swordsman. He is in search of the Silver Crystal due to his amnesia and dreams that tell him that the magical object can restore his memories. To do this, he donned the tuxedo disguise and became a thief, searching for the legendary crystal. Once his memories of his past and present lives were restored, he joined the Sailor Senshi with his new powers and tried his best to protect Usagi from the dangerous aspects of overusing the Silver Crystal. But this went a bit far when he joined the Dark Kingdom to understand more of the link between the Silver Crystal and Metallia. Learning that the Silver Crytal makes Metallia stronger everytime it is used by SailorMoon, Endymion took Metalia into his body before succumbing to its dark power. Now a evil parody of himself, Endymion almost killed Sailor Mercury when Sailor Moon was forced to kill him to stop Metallia. He was revived once SailorMoon managed to finally control the Crystal's power & destoryed Metallia for good.
Myth
In Greek mythology, Endymion was a handsome shepherd, whom Selene, the Moon Goddess, that considered so beautiful that she asked Zeus to grant him eternal life, so that he would never leave her.
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).
- 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 Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon, Mamoru is played by Jyouji Shibue.
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| Protagonists | Usagi Tsukino | Ami Mizuno | Rei Hino | Makoto Kino | Minako Aino | Setsuna Meioh | Michiru Kaioh | Haruka Tenoh | Hotaru Tomoe | |||
| Mamoru Chiba | Chibiusa | Chibi Chibi | Sailor Starlights | Princess Kakyuu | Luna | Artemis | Diana | Queen Serenity | ||||
| Manga and Anime Villains | "Dark Kingdom" Sailormoon/ Sailormoon: Queen Metallia | Queen Beryl | Shitennou ("Four Kings") | |||
| "Doom Tree" (Does Not Appear/R (Return)) : Ail (Alan) | En (Ann) | Makaiju (Doom Tree)
"Black Moon" (Black Moon/ R(Romance)): Death Phantom | Demande | Saphir | Esmeraude | Rubeus | Ayakashi Sisters | ||||
| "Death Busters" (Infinity Arc/ Super): Pharaoh 90 | Mistress 9 | Professor Tomoe | Germatoid | Kaolinite | Witches 5 | ||||
| "Dead Moon Circus" (Dream Arc/ SuperS): Nehelenia | Zirconia | Zircon | Amazon Trio | Amazoness Quartet | ||||
| "Shadow Galactica" (Stars Arc/ Sailorstars): Chaos | Sailor Galaxia | Iron Mouse | Aluminum Siren | Lead Crow | Tin Nyanko | Heavy Metal Papillon | Sailor Lethe | Sailor Mnemosyne | Sailor Phi | Sailor Chi | Sailor Chaos | ||||
| Live Action and Myuu Villains | "Sera Myuu" (Musicals) : | Pewter Fox | Titan Kerokko | |||
| "Pretty Guardian Sailormoon" (Live Action Sailormoon): | Mio Kuroki | ||||
| Support Cast | Shingo Tsukino | Ikuko Tsukino | Kenji Tsukino | Naru Osaka | Gurio Umino | Haruna Sakurada | Motoki Furuhata | Unazuki Furuhata | Yūichirō Kumada | |||