The "Shitenno" (四天王, Shiten'nō, meaning "Four Heavenly Kings") are the four loyal and faithfully devoted generals and bodyguards of Prince Endymion. When they are possessed by Metalia's vast negative energy, they become evil and serve Queen Beryl and the Dark Kingdom. The members are Jadeite, Nephrite, Zoisite, and Kunzite. Each of them are named after a different stone.
History[]
Anime[]
The Shitennou during the major assault on the Moon Kingdom.
In the anime, the Shitenno each have distinct personalities and motivations while they serve under Queen Beryl. The first of the Shitenno is Jadeite, and his mission is to gather energy from humans in order to awaken the Dark Kingdom's great ruler, Queen Metalia. Jadeite is a master of disguise and enacts various schemes to obtain energy. He poses as a radio host, a gym trainer, a talent show promoter, a cop at a carnival, a shrine worker, and a sea captain, all as part of various energy schemes. While he is often unsuccessful, it is stated by Queen Beryl that he has gathered a significant amount of energy for the Dark Kingdom. In episode 13, Queen Beryl commands Jadeite to defeat the Sailor Guardians, and when he fails to do so, he is sentenced to eternal sleep. Jadeite has never been shown to interact with the other three Shitenno, but it is implied by later comments that they are at least familiar with him.
After Jadeite's demise, Nephrite is chosen by Queen Beryl to serve as the next strategic commander. In contrast to Jadeite's energy gathering schemes, Nephrite's plans focus on collecting large amounts of energy from a single target at the peak of their energy. The stars are what provide Nephrite with each of his targets. While infiltrating the human world, Nephrite takes on the persona of Masato Sanjoin, a successful entrepreneur. Masato Sanjoin/Nephrite is noted numerous times to be exceptionally handsome, so much so that he becomes the love interest of Usagi's good friend Naru Osaka. While he initially uses Naru in an attempt to obtain the Silver Crystal, Nephrite eventually starts to develop feelings for her. His confusion over why Naru keeps appearing in his thoughts finally culminates with him saving Naru from three Yoma. He and Naru retreat to the park, where he promises Naru that someday he will try a chocolate parfait with her. He is unable to keep his promise, however, when the three Yoma he had previously spared ambush him. Nephrite sacrifices himself to save Naru from their assault, and to her despair he dies beside her, telling her that he is glad to have met her.
From as early as his initial appearance, Nephrite has an ongoing rivalry with Dark Kingdom commander Zoisite. Zoisite first appears in episode 14, along with Nephrite, and insists that Nephrite's downfall would be his own overconfidence. Nephrite simply dismisses his cohort, and Zoisite doesn’t appear again for several episodes. However, animosity between the two later build up, as a result of Zoisite's numerous provocations and Nephrite's resulting hostility. After Nephrite appears before Queen Beryl to steal Zoisite's job in searching for the Silver Crystal, Zoisite is shown being comforted by his lover Kunzite, and the duo later plot against Nephrite to prevent him from being the one to obtain the legendary silver crystal. It is Zoisite who orchestrates Nephrite's demise, by sending the Yoma who defeats him via a surprise attack.
Beginning in episode 25 after Nephrite's death, Zoisite is tasked by Queen Beryl in obtaining the seven Rainbow Crystals, of which the original Silver Crystal is divided into by Queen Serenity. He is able to obtain the majority of the crystals but loses some to both the Sailor Guardians and Tuxedo Mask. Throughout his arc, Zoisite is often accompanied by his partner Kunzite, who encourages him and is ultimately the sole source of Zoisite's determination and persistence. In episode 33, Zoisite states in an internal monologue that he is only doing things for Kunzite and that he would even die for his beloved. Later in this episode, Zoisite dresses up as Sailor Moon in order to get the final Rainbow Crystals in Tuxedo Mask's possession. The plan which he and Kunzite coordinate is spoiled in the end by the appearance of Sailor Venus, however, Zoisite is still able to reveal Tuxedo Mask's identity. Upon recognition of the unmasked Mamoru Chiba as the former Prince Endymion, Queen Beryl orders Zoisite and Kunzite to bring back Tuxedo Mask alive. After tricking Mamoru into giving up his Rainbow Crystals, Zoisite lets his contempt get the best of him, and he attempts to murder Mamoru despite Beryl's orders. When he ends up impaling Tuxedo Mask with a crystal, it catalyzes the Moon Princess's awakening, and she delivers a critical blow to Zoisite from the Moon Stick. Kunzite appears and helps Zoisite to his feet, but a furious Queen Beryl shoots a powerful attack at Zoisite, bringing him to near-death. In his final moments, Kunzite holds Zoisite in his arms and grants him his final wish of a beautiful death.
Kunzite takes over after Zoisite's death, but he is often antagonized by the brainwashed Prince Endymion. Before his departure, Zoisite informs Kunzite that the Moon Princess is Sailor Moon, so Kunzite's schemes focus on determining the identity of Sailor Moon, as well as obtaining the Silver Crystal from her. He is never able to succeed in these plots, due in part to meddling by Prince Endymion, who occasionally turns back into Tuxedo Mask to defend Sailor Moon despite his brainwashing. Kunzite is killed by Sailor Moon, when she reflects his dark energy boomerangs using the Silver Crystal. Kunzite uses his dying words to call out to Zoisite and asks for him to guide him to the world where his soul is.
In the anime, there are no references to the Shitenno's past lives as servants of Prince Endymion whatsoever; nor is there any slight indication that they had any romantic relationships with Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, or Venus. They are often rivals and are discarded once they are no longer useful or when they serve their purpose.
Queen Beryl ruthlessly murders both Zoisite and Jadeite, while Nephrite brutally dies at the hands of Zoisite's Yoma, and Kunzite perishes when his attack is deflected back at him by Sailor Moon's supremely strong Moon Healing Escalation attack combined with the almighty Silver Crystal's own abilities. While they aren't directly seen or heard from again in future seasons, there are two cameos in Sailor Moon R featuring the Shitenno. The first is of Jadeite, in which someone appears dressed like him in a Sailor Moon play during the Makai Tree arc. The second cameo is of Zoisite in episode 70, where he appears as a chibi when Koan hits Yuichiro in the head with a bag.
Manga[]
They were originally the guardians of Prince Endymion, like the Inner Guardians to Princess Serenity. Suspicious of The Moon and its constant surveillance of Earth, they often argue with their prince about it. Their suspicion led them to turn on the prince and turn to Beryl. Despite this, they still care for their prince and are shocked by his death. They are still rivals but also care for each other and are shocked by each other's deaths. When the Silver Crystal appears, it returns the dead Jadeite, Nephrite, and Zoisite to life and returns Kunzite's memories of the past. They then dissolve into stones bearing their name, as does Kunzite when he is later killed. They later speak to Mamoru through the stones, telling him how Metalia can be killed and to be happy. Mamoru keeps these stones and calls on their spirits for advice and guidance throughout the manga, especially during the Dream Arc, when he comes into his powers as the holder of the Golden Crystal, the Earth's Sailor Crystal.
Romances with the Inner Sailor Guardians[]
Naoko Takeuchi drew a picture at the conclusion of the manga, showing each general posed with a Sailor Guardian: Zoisite with Mercury, Jadeite with Mars, Nephrite with Jupiter and Kunzite with Venus.
Naoko claims she was thinking of the past lives of these characters, which implies a possible love affair between the four inner Sailor Guardians and Shitenno in the past. However, only Kunzite's relationship with Sailor Venus and Jadeite's with Sailor Mars have canonical support. This is subverted with Crystal, which clearly states that all Shitenno were romantically involved with a Sailor Guardian.
Live-Action[]
Endymion and the Shitennou
The live-action series combines elements from the anime and manga: the Shitenno are still Mamoru's guardians, and are also evil and vying for Queen Beryl's attention. They can also come back after being killed, unlike in the other two continuities, so the relationships last longer and are more complicated. They are also closer to being human, with Nephrite being turned into one and Kunzite being turned from one. Their personalities are developed and their memories of the past life are much closer to the surface, which result in more tension with Mamoru. This is especially apparent with Kunzite, who blames his master for what happened to the planet Earth. Their character designs are completely redone. In the Special Act, the Shitenno work with Mamoru so they can defeat Queen Mio. They all later watch Usagi Tsukino and Mamoru's wedding.
Musicals[]
The Shitennou appearing in, the La Reconquista Sera Myu.
The Shitenno appear in several musicals, with slightly different roles in each. In "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon ~ An Alternate Legend - Dark Kingdom Revival Story", the Shitenno are romantically paired with the Inner Soldiers, making the musicals the only version of the series in which those relationships were canon. In "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon ~ Starlights - Legend of the Shooting Stars", they appear again disguised as the "Jewel Metalias".
The Shitennou as a boy band.
The musical "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon ~ The Advent of Princess Kakyu - The Second Stage Final" introduces a group that call itself the "Neo Shitenno" or the "Neo Four Heavenly Kings" and include three members who were not in the original group. The members of the Neo Shitenno are Kunzite, Hematite, Hiddenite, and Kalunite. No explanation is given for why they have different names, although Hematite, Hiddenite, and Kalunite strongly resemble Zoisite, Nephrite, and Jadeite respectively. They work with the reborn Queen Beryl under Sailor Galaxia, though the five of them are simultaneously plotting ways to get out from under the powerful Sailor Soldier's rule. As part of their plans, they have civilian guises as the "Jewel Managers".
In Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon - La Reconquista, the Shitenno disguise themselves as a boy band known as Pandemic 4.
Crystal[]
The Shitennou appearing in Sailor Moon Crystal
In Sailor Moon Crystal, the Heavenly Kings are much more like their manga counterparts. Unlike the 90's anime, they are not rivals and cooperate more like teammates. Queen Beryl doesn’t try to destroy them for failure or threaten them for doing so, and they survive for much longer unlike in the manga. Like the manga, they are the loyal and devoted servants of Prince Endymion during the age of Silver Millennium, and they recover these memories in Episode 10 only for Queen Beryl to brainwash them again. In the same episode, they are revealed to be the lovers of the four inner Sailor Guardians when they had followed their Princess to Earth.
They are fully released from Queen Metalia's control when the Guardians combine their own Sailor powers to perform Sailor Planet Attack. Before they can have a proper heartfelt reunion, however, Queen Metalia intervenes and obliterates their physical selves entirely. Distraught and heartbroken, their voices remind the Sailor Guardians about their true mission and not to cry.
Although their physical bodies have perished, their strong spirits still exist within their respective colored stones to give advice, guidance, and wisdom to their one true master. In the 12th episode, their stones protect their master from being stabbed to death by the sacred, Sword of the Silver Crystal to return Prince Endymion to life once again. The spirit of Kunzite later appears and gives Endymion vital information on how to eliminate Queen Metalia once and for all. The other three appear and assure Mamoru that they will always stay by his side and know that he and his Princess will live happily ever after.
In Episode 18, Mamoru uses his newfound mystical abilities to call upon his four subordinates. Kunzite says that he detects very strong evil energy coming from the Black Crystal earring and that Endymion needs to believe in his own abilities if he wants to protect the person most dear to him. Despite appearing in the Dream Arc of the manga, the Heavenly Kings don't appear and aren't even mentioned in Sailor Moon Eternal.
Trivia[]
- Interestingly, in the anime, three of the four Shitteno have appeared as cameos or referenced after their deaths; Jadeite's likeness appears as a character in an (in-universe) live-action Sailor Moon performance in episode 58; Professor Tomoe quotes Nephrite's phrase in episode 119 when he uses the phrase Nephrite used to find his victims in various episodes, ("'The stars see all, the stars know all...' was something someone once said."); finally, Zoisite appears in a very brief cameo after Koan bumps into Yuichiro during episode 70.
- In the 90s anime, three of the four Shitenno discover Sailor Moon's civilian identity shortly before their deaths:
- Jadeite discovers the identities of Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, and Sailor Mars in episode 13, the same episode where he dies.
- Nephrite discovers the identity of Sailor Moon in episode 24, the same episode in where he dies.
- Zoisite discovers that Tuxedo Mask is Mamoru Chiba in episode 33, and that Sailor Moon is the Moon Princess in episode 34, before dying in episode 35.
- In the 90's anime, of the four Sailor Guardians and Shitenno pairings, only Sailor Jupiter and Nephrite never meet each other in the present (as he died in the episode prior to her first appearance). In the manga, however, she is the one who kills him. Jadeite and Nephrite are the only ones killed directly by the Sailor Guardian paired with them by one of Naoko Takeuchi's sketches in the manga, while Zoisite is killed by Sailor Venus and Kunzite by the Sailor Planet Attack. In the anime, Sailor Moon kills Kunzite, Queen Beryl kills Zoisite and Jadeite, and Zoisite's Yoma kill Nephrite.
- Zoisite is featured in the manga side-story, Casablanca Memory.
- During the 90s anime, Kunzite is the only one of the Shitenno to never use a disguise; Jadeite uses numerous disguises, Nephrite plays the extended role of Masato Sanjoin as well as dresses as Tuxedo Mask once, and Zoisite dresses up as Sailor Moon.
- In the 90's anime, Jadeite is the only one in the group to not introduce himself as a member of the Shitenno. He never once uses this term, and Nephrite is the first to introduce himself as one of the Shitenno. Zoisite and Kunzite also follow Nephrite in referring to themselves as part of the Shitenno of the Dark Kingdom.
- While 四天王 directly translates to "Four Heavenly Kings," this term can also be translated to mean something along the lines of the "Great Four" or the "Big Four".
- In the anime, the Shitenno have a unique effect shown when they teleport: Jadeite teleports in blue flames, Zoisite surrounds himself in flower petals, while Kunzite fades into vertical lines.
Gallery[]
Manga[]
Sera Myu[]
Sailor Moon Crystal[]
