"Phobos" (フォボス; Fobosu) and "Deimos" (ディモス; Dimosu) are twin crows who live alongside Rei at Hikawa Shrine. In the manga and crystal, they were partners of Princess Mars during the Silver Millennium and originally from Coronis. In the 90s anime, live-action series, Sera Myu and video games, they are normal crows.
Nomenclature and Etymology[]
Phobos and Deimos are the moons of Mars. The manga itself calls attention to this.
In Greek Mythology, Phobos and Deimos are gods and twins who assist Ares in battle. They are the sons of Ares and Aphrodite. Ares' counterpart in Roman Mythology is Mars and Aphrodite's is Venus.
Appearance[]
They normally appear as a pair of black crows.
In their humanoid forms they are twins differing only by the colour of their leotards: Phobos' is red, and Deimos' is purple. At the top of their leotards there is a black symbol and their earrings are silver coloured with the same symbol. They have long black hair which follow down their backs. It is also shaped into large buns at their ears and long strands come from each down their front. At their backs they have two large white bows. They wear high-heels. They have pale skin and blue eyes. When they first appear in this form in the Dream arc are small and almost fairy-like. When they take their humanoid forms in the Stars arc they are full sized and a little shorter than Lead Crow.
Manga[]
Background[]
When Rei was still too young to go to school she visited her Grandfather at Hikawa Shrine and noticed crows there. She quickly recognized them and called their names which prompted Phobos and Deimos to land with her. Her Grandfather is unsure how she did that.
Eventually when Rei came to reside at Hikawa Shrine after her mother died she would come to treat the crows like her pets. She likes to play fetch with them using her ceremonial arrows. They help her with her divination and provide guidance though they only speak while in their humanoid forms, unlike the cats.
Dark Kingdom Arc[]
Their first appearance is when Usagi enters Hikawa Shrine with Luna. They swoop down from the sky and start cawing and pecking at her. Rei is shocked to feel an otherworldly presence and uses Akuryo Taisan on the girl. She apologizes for herself and Phobos and Deimos who don't normally do this to visitors.
Later when Rei becomes Sailor Mars for the first time she calls upon Phobos and Deimos to attack Jadeite before finishing him with Akuryo Taisan in their debut chapter.
Afterwards, during the short story Casablanca Memory, Phobos and Deimos appear in one of the memories induced in Rei by the enemy where she lets them inside Hikawa Shrine during a rainfall. In the present, they help her stop Zoisite and destroy his Giant Rain Tree.
When Usagi, Rei, Minako, Makoto, and Ami are going to the moon, Phobos and Deimos see them off in the park they leave from.
Dream Arc[]
The Inner Sailor Guardians witness the arrival of the Dead Moon Circus during the solar eclipse of April 1st. While they question if what they saw was even real, Phobos and Deimos swoop down from the sky. They caw at and peck at Rei to get her attention and then pierce a nearby newspaper article about the eclipse and a Moon Tarot card with their feathers. This gets Rei to accept the arrival of a new enemy and they leave to check on Usagi, Chibiusa, Diana, and Mamoru.
Rei brings Phobos and Deimos with her to scope out the opening day of the Dead Moon Circus. They save Rei from Tiger's Eye after she succumbs to the Amazoness Quartet's Mirror House. They wake her up and are seen in their humanoid forms for the first time. They encourage Rei and give her the Mars Crystal which lets her regain her ability to transform into Super Sailor Mars with Mars Crystal Power, Make Up. They tell her to use her new Mars Arrow against the enemy as they vanish from sight.
Stars Arc[]
At the end of Act 52, Sailor Lead Crow senses them and hunts them down at Hikawa Shrine. It is revealed that they are from the planet Coronis where they were acquaintances of Lead Crow. All three of them were warriors in training on Coronis but they were chosen to train under Princess Mars and were given her Moons which left Lead Crow behind and jealous. Now, she arrives to boast that she is a Sailor Guardian under Sailor Galaxia.
They argue with Sailor Lead Crow and reject her notion she could be a Sailor Guardian as Sailor Coronis is the only Sailor Guardian from Coronis and joining Shadow Galactica is a betrayal of their people. They dodge her Galactica Tornado but witness her power and are killed and have their star seeds stolen when they are shocked to learn Coronis, its people, and Sailor Coronis are dead at the hands of Shadow Galactica. Eternal Sailor Mars arrives along with Eternal Sailor Venus at that time and Rei tries to help with Mars Flame Sniper but is captured by Sailor Lead Crow instead.
90s Anime[]
In the anime, they only appeared as crows, never in human forms. They warned Rei of Jadeite's energy-draining scheme in episode 10 and attacked Zoisite during the Rainbow Crystal arc.
Crystal[]
When Usagi first arrives at Hikawa Shrine the two crows attacked her and Rei, sensing an evil spirit, attacked Usagi with a Akuryo Taisan, only realizing immediately after that Usagi wasn't one. In act 10, the accompany the Senshi before they teleport to the Moon.
In Sailor Moon Eternal, they accompany the group to investigate the Dead Moon Circus. There, Rei enters the Mirror House and is trapped there so Phobos and Deimos alert the others to her location. They attack Tiger's Eye, forcing him to retreat inside the mirrors, and Rei wakes up and realizes Tiger's Eye's trick with help from Phobos and Deimos who reveal their human forms to Rei. They present Rei with her Mars Crystal and then she has enough confidence to transform into Sailor Mars and destroys Tiger's Eye with Mars Flame Sniper.
In Sailor Moon Cosmos it was revealed that they both came from the planet Coronis, along with Sailor Lead Crow. On Coronis the two were just warriors in training who had big dreams, but the twins were lucky enough to be chosen by the Princess Mars to be her companions and their names were given to the two natural satellites of the planet Mars and their respective castle. The twins clashed with Lead Crow who discovered them through the energy of the star seeds. Both were eventually killed and had their Sailor Crystals removed and stolen.
Live-Action[]
Phobos and Deimos only appeared in act 3 as digitally animated ravens. They were not named. With their cawing, they frightened Usagi, who was going to see Rei.
Musicals[]
In Usagi - Ai no Senshi e no Michi, the two crows are impersonated by the villains in a bid to get close to Ami Mizuno whose Pure Heart Crystal they wanted to steal. They are implied to be normal crows in this musical.
In the Nogizaka46 musical they are a pair of crows who fly agitated around Rei as Usagi approaches making the priestess misinterpret an otherworldly presence as an evil spirit so she pulls out an Ofuda and Akuryo Taisans Usagi. Later they accompany Luna in saving Rei from Jadeite and give her the Transformation Pen so she can transform for the first time. They are puppets each with their own operator.
Video Games[]
They appear as part of one of Sailor Mars' attacks, Phobos Deimos, in the arcade game.
Gallery[]
Manga[]
Crystal[]
Trivia[]
- Fans did not know which was Phobos and which was Deimos for 24 years. Artbook IV and Artbook V both have color pictures of the twins but their labels in these books disagree. Phobos was labelled as the purple one in 4 and the red one in 5. This was resolved with the release of Sailor Moon Eternal which showed Phobos is red and Deimos is purple. This means Artbook V was the correct one all along and had silently corrected the previous artbook.
- Their colors are Rei's favorite colors, and the bow colors on Sailor Mars' uniform.
- Princess Mars' castle is named after them: Phobos and Deimos Castle.
- It's unclear exactly what the manga means when it says Phobos and Deimos were given the moons Phobos and Deimos. Either they changed their names to match the moons or the moons had their names changed to match the twins from Coronis.
