The original Sailor Moon anime adaptation from the 1990s diverges from the original plot in the source manga by Naoko Takeuchi, Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon. The Dark Kingdom arc in both the ’90s anime and the manga introduces mid-tier villain named Nephrite. He serves Queen Beryl as one of her powerful and cunning Shitennou.

The anime explores a bit more of Nephrite’s personality and showcases his ethereal celestial powers and tastes. It also gives him a redemption arc, the nuances of which leave fans torn about how they feel about it. Nephrite is both a controversial and compelling figure, and the anime’s treatment of him invites speculation and analysis of what he means to the series and what he could have become if different creative choices were made regarding his redemption arc.

Nephrite Becomes an Active Player After Jadeite’s Sentenced to Eternal Sleep

Jadeite Failed Queen Beryl One Too Many Times

Nephrite is the second Shitennou to actively serve Queen Beryl after the first Shitennou, Jadeite’s death. Jadeite spends the first thirteen episodes of the Dark Kingdom arc crafting schemes to steal and harvest human energy for the Dark Kingdom. Their goal is to gather enough energy so that Queen Beryl can awaken the Dark Kingdom’s true mistress, Queen Metalia. Jadeite had a sassy and determined personality, and he had a penchant for wearing diverse and creative disguises as he posed to be different humans tailored for each scheme. Jadeite also made use of the Dark Kingdom’s youma.

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Between accidentally destroying one of Queen Beryl’s favorite youma, Thetis, and failing to destroy the Sailor Guardians, Queen Beryl sentences him to Eternal Sleep. Queen Beryl calls on her next Shitennou, Nephrite, to take Jadeite’s place. While he continues to weave together more schemes to collect energy from humans on Earth and to discover the Sailor Guardians’ identities, Nephrite adds his own flair, interests, and strengths to his work.

Like Jadeite, Nephrite adopts different disguises to fool humans and lure the Sailor Guardians. As he is also a tall and dark-haired bishonen, he pretends to be Tuxedo Mask, and wears a cape and tux nearly as elegantly as Mamoru does. Nephrite also has a recurring disguise as Masato Sanjouin (Maxfield Stanton in the DiC dub), a rich socialite. The recurring disguise also ties in with his romantic subplot with Usagi’s best friend Naru.

Nephrite Has a Beautiful Lair & His Own Brand of Celestial & Spirit Powers

The Second Shitennou Has Delightfully Gothic Style & Key Character Development

Where Jadeite was a confident and sassy master of disguise, Nephrite is a sly and brooding astrologer and psychic. While Nephrite uses youma in his plans the same as Jadeite, he also sends out his spirit in the form of a sentient shade called Nephrite’s Soul Shadow. He resides at D Point, the capitol of the Dark Kingdom, along with the rest of the Shitennou. Nephrite also has a gothic lair of his own. Nephrite plots his energy-gathering schemes by receding to an old, seemingly abandoned cathedral. He meditates in front of the cathedral’s gorgeous rose window, similar to the way that Rei Hino scries the sacred fires in the Hikawa Shrine.

In that cathedral, Nephrite consults the stars and celestial patterns in the night sky. In his words, the movement of the stars rules everything. And in the Sailor Moon universe, especially, Nephrite’s catchphrase is quite correct. These stars give Nephrite psychic information, and point out key targets, including people like Naru. Between Nephrite’s personality, his psychic and astrological abilities, and his gothic tastes, many fans agree that Nephrite is one of the Shitennou with the most fleshed-out personality and character development.

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Nephrite Has a Controversial Romance With Usagi’s Human Best Friend, Naru

Nephrite & Naru Had the Potential to Be the More Villainous Version of Tuxedo Mask & Usagi

Something which exists in the ’90s anime adaptation and not in the original manga or in the anime reboot, Sailor Moon Crystal, is Nephrite’s romantic subplot with Naru. Naru is Usagi’s best friend and classmate, who knows nothing of the Sailor Guardians, their enemies, or the Dark Kingdom’s energy-draining schemes, despite being a victim of those schemes more than once. Nephrite meets Naru in his Masato disguise, and he sets his sights on her as a strategic target.

Naru is incredibly sweet and all too trusting, and she becomes infatuated with Masato almost immediately, despite the threat he poses. Nephrite and Naru’s interest in each other could have been a great setup for a villainous enemies-to-lovers romance, but a substantial cross-section of fans have some understandable qualms about the details of the relationship. There’s the obvious power imbalance of Naru being a human with no supernatural abilities or defenses and Nephrite being a powerful henchman to the Dark Kingdom.

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Nephrite is depicted as somewhere around 18 or 19 years old in the ’90s anime. He also looks quite like a grown man, especially when he pretends to be Masato. In contrast, Naru is 14 years old, at least four or five years younger than Nephrite. Nephrite’s estimated age in the anime is the same as Mamoru Chiba’s age. Mamoru was aged up two years in the ’90s anime, but both Usagi and Naru’s ages remain 14. Mamoru and Nephrite are most likely meant to be the same age in the manga, because Nephrite was once one of Mamoru’s closest knights.

Mamoru’s former knights mirror Usagi and her Inner Sailor Guardians during the Silver Millennium. If Mamoru is aged up in the anime, it seems like so is Nephrite. The problem comes when Usagi and Naru’s ages remain the same as in the manga. The Naru/Nephrite relationship could have existed perfectly without the implied age gap, so many fans wish the writing choice was never made.

Another cross-section of Sailor Moon fans actually like the romance between Nephrite and Naru. They enjoy the relationship not because of the age difference in the anime, but because of the enemies-to-lovers romance and how Nephrite’s love for Naru has redemptive qualities. Nephrite and Naru’s relationship is similar to other iconic supernatural romances, like Edward and Bella’s relationship in the widely adored YA vampire novel Twilight. Edward is an immortal vampire who falls in love with a human girl named Bella, who is totally vulnerable to his vampiric bloodlust. And like Nephrite, Edward’s heart tempers his darker urges, and he ultimately chooses love and nonviolence over everything else.

Nephrite’s Redemption Arc Sets Him Apart From the Other Shitennou

Nephrite Forsakes the Dark Kingdom & Queen Beryl to Save Naru

Naru has an inexplicable faith in Nephrite. At first, Nephrite dismisses Naru’s kindness as naïveté and something that marks her as weak. Her faith in him eventually moves him and gives him something that perhaps he was afraid to believe in — hope that there is something more to him than being a henchman. In the ’90s anime, Nephrite is the first and only Shitennou to fully reject the Dark Kingdom and forsake his vow to Queen Beryl. He switches sides solely to save Naru, losing everything and incurring the wrath of the Dark Kingdom.

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That redemption turns into a sacrifice as Nephrite dies for his “crimes” to the Dark Kingdom. It’s that heroic, just, and compassionate deed which ties in with some backstory threads about the Shitennou that Naoko Takeuchi set in her official Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon manga notes and artwork. That backstory thread shows that Nephrite wasn’t always a villain. According to the more manga-accurate reboot, Sailor Moon Crystal, Nephrite was once the noble Knight of Intelligence and Comfort. Perhaps Naru’s love reminds Nephrite on some level of his past life, which is a common theme throughout Sailor Moon romances.

In an Alternate Universe, Nephrite’s Powers & Backstory Could Have Served the Plot

Tuxedo Mask Could Have Had One of His Inner Circle Come Back to Him

Nephrite’s death is truly heartbreaking and beautiful as he tries to ignore his pain to reassure the panicking Naru. As he finally succumbs to his injuries, his body dissolves into a beautiful cloud of gently twinkling stars. If the stars are a symbol of Nephrite’s ascending soul, then Nephrite seems like he would have been a genuinely pure and powerful person outside of Queen Beryl’s brainwashing.

While Nephrite’s death certainly makes sense and doesn’t detract by any means from the themes, plot, or scope of the Sailor Moon epic, he nevertheless could have been a compelling character had he survived his redemption from evil. Another redeemed villain with close backstory ties to Mamoru Chiba is Fiore from the first Sailor Moon movie, Sailor Moon R: The Movie, The Promise of the Rose. Fiore dies at the end of the film, sacrificing himself to save Sailor Moon, and Mamoru is once again robbed of a former friend and ally.

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In an alternate universe, where Nephrite doesn’t die after saving Naru, he would be left with an interesting future before him. Theoretically, it would make sense for him to join Tuxedo Mask and the Sailor Guardians, as fighting for the Dark Kingdom is no longer an option. Tuxedo Mask is a tragic and lonely hero, as he lost everything from his life as Prince Endymion, from the girl he loved to his closest knights. Even in Tuxedo Mask’s present life on Earth, he is orphaned at a young age and grows up alone, for the most part. When he transforms into Tuxedo Mask, he doesn’t have a guide like the Sailor Guardians have in Luna and Artemis. Once Nephrite separated himself from Queen Beryl and her dark influence, perhaps he could have remembered his past life duties to Mamoru. It would have been lovely to have at least one Shitennou resume his role as Prince Endymion’s knight and friend.

Sailor Moon

Release Date

March 7, 1992

Directors

Junichi Sato, Kunihiko Ikuhara

Writers

Sukehiro Tomita

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