Nephrite ()

History: Virtually nothing is known about the life of the man known as Nephrite before he fell under the influence of the malevolent demonic creature known only as Queen Metallia. By nature a highly charismatic and charming individual - as fearless and handsome as he is arrogant and overconfident - he first rose to prominence as one of Queen Beryl's four Dark Generals, the leaders of the massive human army that invaded and laid siege to the Moon Kingdom one thousand years ago. Due to the power of Queen Serenity and her Illusion Silver Crystal, Nephrite and his compatriots were banished to and imprisoned within the subterranean realm that eventually came to be known as the Dark Kingdom, but not before he and his allies had utterly decimated the mystical realm and slain most - if not all - of its inhabitants.      
                Having finally succeeded in escaping from his imprisonment in contemporary times, Nephrite was chosen by Queen Beryl to replace Jadeite after the latter was punished with eternal sleep. Unlike his predecessor, Nephrite did not believe that attacking human beings indiscriminately was the most efficient way of gathering the vast amount of energy required in order to revive Queen Metallia, but rather that targeting specific people would prove to be even more effective. A firm believer that human destiny is guided by the movements of the stars in the heavens, Nephrite intended to employ astrological means and consult the stars in order to locate individuals who were approaching major turning points in their lives where their energy output would be at its maximum. By seeking out such a person and marking an object closely related to or representative of his or her greatest skill with a special symbol - his own personal crest - he could place a Youma inside of that object which would hasten that individual's approach towards their maximum energy potential. Once this point was reached, the Youma would be released from that object and drain that person of his or her energy. Despite some malicious teasing on the part of another Dark General, Zoisite, Nephrite was given leave by Queen Beryl to deal with things in his own unique fashion.      
                Establishing both a base of operations in the vicinity of the city of Tokyo in the form of a large elegant mansion located in a wooded area, as well as a human identity - that of millionaire playboy Masato Sanjouin - it wasn't long before Nephrite located his first victim: a young girl named Rui Saionji, a gifted tennis player and close friend of Naru Osaka's. Posing as a professional trainer and coach, Nephrite got close enough to mark her tennis racket with his symbol. Upon reaching her maximum energy potential, she released the Youma Tesni, who, while successful in stealing the young girl's energy, was destroyed following a battle with Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. Nephrite managed to locate two more victims through using the power of the stars, Mr. Kunitachi, a park gardener, and Higure Akiyama, a sewing class teacher, as well as successfully plant his Youmas, though, in both cases, the monsters - Petasos and Widow, respectively - were destroyed by the Sailor Soldiers shortly after they emerged to drain their assigned targets of their energy.      
                Following the destruction of the Youma Cameran during another unsuccessful scheme - this time involving a young photographer by the name of Kijin Shibakawa - Nephrite was called to appear before Queen Beryl, who was curious as to how he intended to deal with the Sailor Soldiers. It was during this time that Zoisite, during one of his more subtle attempts to eliminate his rival, offered to assist him in his endeavors so that they could carry out plans more efficiently, an idea which greatly appealed to Beryl, who supported the suggestion. Nephrite - ever the bastion of pride and arrogance - reacted as expected, curtly refusing the help offered him as he was intent on taking care of the problem himself. This refusal - to say nothing of the matter in which it was done - was one of Nephrite's greatest tactical errors, for, in doing so, he had slighted Queen Beryl by overstepping his authority, doing irreparable harm to his reputation in her eyes. The subsequent failure of his next Youma, Jumo, to eliminate the Sailor Soldiers after absorbing the young doll maker Mika Kayama's energy, did little to improve matters any, for it prompted the Queen of the Dark Kingdom to both criticize Nephrite's effectiveness in gathering energy and to issue an ultimatum: eliminate the Sailor Soldiers once and for all or share in Jadeite's punishment of eternal sleep.       
                Having already discovered Sailor Moon's one great weakness, her love for Tuxedo Mask, Nephrite set a plan into motion in which he sent love letters to all the girls at Juuban Junior High School in the masked man's name, asking them to meet him at the MS Department Store in Tokyo's Shinjuku ward that evening. By doing so, he hoped to lure Sailor Moon out into the open and eliminate her once and for all. Suspecting that Naru Osaka was the Sailor Soldier's alter ego after she correctly deduced that he was the mysterious letter writer - and seemingly having those suspicions confirmed when she showed up and recognized him in costume - Nephrite confronted her and managed to drain a substantial amount of energy from her before the real Sailor Moon showed up to save her friend, at which point the two longtime adversaries finally met face to face. Having his animal Youma Leo chase both her and the genuine Tuxedo Mask into an elevator, the Dark General sealed them inside of it, with the intention of letting the lift rise to the top floor and then allowing it to drop, sending the two of them plunging to their deaths. Yet even though both Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Moon managed to escape with their lives in the end, Queen Beryl was so impressed by the amount of energy Nephrite had managed to gather during this encounter that she decided to waive punishing him for the time being despite his failure, much to Zoisite's annoyance. But this was not the only means by which he had unwittingly profited from this scheme, for it also brought to his attention the fact that Naru Osaka was in love with his alter ego Masato Sanjouin, and this was a commodity the manipulative and deceitful Nephrite intended to exploit mercilessly for his own personal gain. 
                While consulting the stars to find his next victim - which turned out to be an animator named Hiromi Matsuno - Nephrite decided that the time had finally come to make use of his two most powerful Youmas, Castor and Pollux, in order to eliminate the Sailor Soldiers. Though seemingly unbeatable, these twin monsters, whose powers mimicked those of Sailor Mars and Sailor Mercury respectively, ended up being defeated after they got into an argument which dissolved their bond of friendship and with it the tie that lent them their strength. It was after this defeat that Nephrite finally realized how much he had underestimated the Sailor Soldiers as well as in just how desperate a situation he was in, and that the only possible way he had left of redeeming himself was to find the Illusion Silver Crystal. It was an obsession that would ultimately prove to be his undoing.      
                When the Dark Kingdom learned that Princess Dia, a member of royalty from the Diamond Kingdom, was going to unveil her monarchy's royal treasure to the public, and that this treasure might, in fact, be the Silver Crystal the Dark Kingdom had been searching for for so long, Nephrite rather aggressively attempted to snatch the assignment to look into the matter away from Zoisite, despite the latter's protests. Queen Beryl did indeed end up giving him the mission, having already correctly guessed the motive behind his sudden overeagerness and believing that desperation is the best motivation. In any case, however, this particular venture proved to be a waste of time and effort. After going through all the trouble of releasing a Youma from his shadow to take control of Naru, and using her as a "middleman" to "pass" the monster on to Princess Dia so that it could possess the latter and steal the treasure, not only was his Youma destroyed by the Sailor Soldiers, but his "prize" turned out to be nothing more than an ordinary - though beautiful and priceless - 2000 carat diamond statue.    
                After this latest defeat, Nephrite withdrew to the confines of his mansion. His mission to gather energy from human beings forgotten, he began channeling all his effort into finding the Illusion Silver Crystal, which he believed was the key to victory for the Dark Kingdom. This single-minded act of desperation on his part, fueled by both his arrogance and tendency towards being a loose cannon, proved to be a lethal combination, for it led him to infuriate Queen Beryl by repeatedly failing to heed her summons to appear before her and to make a dangerous enemy out of Zoisite when he threatened to usurp the latter's mission by finding the Silver Crystal first, thus making a fool out of him.   
                Using the power of the stars at his command, he fashioned the Black Crystal, a special jewel designed to help him track down the much-sought-for gemstone. When the Black Crystal reacted by producing an image of Naru Osaka, it led Nephrite to believe that she knew something of the relic's whereabouts, whereupon he, as Masato Sanjouin, arranged to meet her at Sankoku Park late one evening. Claiming that certain unsavory characters were after him and that he would rather leave than get her into trouble as well, he mentioned in passing - upon being asked if there was anything she could do to help - that his only hope of salvation was recovering the Silver Crystal. As expected, Naru fell for his ploy, even going so far as to steal a jewel from her mother's store - which she believed to be what he was looking for - in order to try and aid him. Finding that the Black Crystal reacted not to the gemstone she had brought but to Naru herself instead, he was about to spirit the young girl away to investigate her more closely when he was interrupted by the Sailor Soldiers. He engaged the three of them in battle, one in which he might very well have been killed were it not for Naru, who threw herself between him and Sailor Moon's "Moon Tiara Action" rather than see him get hurt. Surprised by the strength of her love and dedication towards him, Nephrite was even more shaken when he found himself returning the favor by rescuing her from one of Zoisite's Youmas, Yasha, after the monster attacked her believing that she had the Silver Crystal. In the end, Sailor Moon destroyed Yasha and the Dark General cooly departed his enemies' company, seemingly unaffected by the display of love and emotion, but perhaps more moved by it subconsciously that even he suspected.  
                Realizing that Sailor Moon had recognized Naru Osaka during their last battle and still bothered by the Black Crystal's reaction towards her, Nephrite once again sought the young girl out. Having verified, as she slept, that the Illusion Silver Crystal was not inside of her body, Nephrite told her, once she had been roused from her sleep by his presence, of his true nature, but lied to her by saying that her love had provoked such a drastic change in him that he now wanted to find Sailor Moon and fight alongside of her. Disappearing when she told him that she knew nothing about Sailor Moon or where to find her, he secretly continued to observe her in order to verify that claim. By sheer coincidence, Naru called her best friend Usagi Tsukino - who happened to actually be Sailor Moon - looking for someone to talk to about her dilemma. Having overheard her conversion, Nephrite sought out Usagi and tricked her into transforming into her Sailor Soldier alter ego, thus verifying her dual identity. Intent on eliminating his adversary, even after Tuxedo Mask appeared to fight him in her stead, the Dark General abruptly departed when he heard Naru's cry for help, though he intended to come back and dispose of Sailor Moon later now that he knew who she really was.  
                Discovering that Naru Osaka had been kidnapped by Zoisite's Youma trio of Grape, Suzuran and Housenka as ransom for the Black Crystal, Nephrite, outraged at being blackmailed and perhaps driven by feelings and emotions even he did not fully comprehend, singlehandedly rescued the young girl, though, as he later confessed to her, even if he did not understand why he had done so. He also admitted that he had lied to her from the start, and that he would probably continue to do so in the future, but she hardly seemed to care about such things as long as they could be together.    
                Bandaging a wound on his arm he had received during his rescue attempt with scraps from her pajama, Nephrite and Naru had their first honest talk with one another, wherein she confessed that she had always secretly dreamed of sharing a chocolate parfait with him, a dream which he suggested they make a reality. For a brief moment, it seemed that the two of them had finally found happiness with one another, but that moment was cut short when Grape attacked them, and Nephrite was impaled in the right shoulder by energy-draining thorns from her arm while pushing her intended target, Naru, out of the way. Agreeing to give them the Black Crystal in exchange for the girl's life, he told her to run, but Naru refused to abandon the man she loved, trying to help him by pulling out the thorns and nearly succeeding in the process. Forced to protect her once more after her actions provoked a second attack, this time by the Youma Housenka, Nephrite was critically injured in the explosion which ensued, losing the Black Crystal in the process, whereupon Zoisite appeared to claim it as his own.  
                Following the destruction of the three Youmas, the dying Nephrite reassured Sailor Moon that no one would know her true identity. Turning to Naru one last time, he apologized that he had lied to her to the very end and that they would now no longer be able to share a chocolate parfait, not out of any malicious intent, for once, but because he knew the end was near. Touching his hand to her cheek, Nephrite smiled at the young girl, telling her that he was glad to have met her, then finally succumbed to his injuries and expired. His body proceeded to dissipate into multicolored light and rise into the early morning sky, leaving behind only his makeshift bandage and the memories of a heartbroken young girl to mark his passing. How Nephrite truly felt about Naru Osaka may never be known, but, given his propencity for deceiving others, perhaps his belief that he did not love her was the biggest lie of them all.     
   
Height: Unknown    
Weight: Unknown      
Eyes: Blue      
Hair: Brown    

Abilities: A firm believer in the ancient astrological belief of the power that the stars held over human destiny, Nephrite not only used them as tools of divination in order to find his victims, but could apparently tap into their power directly and release it from his body in several different forms, including swirling blasts of pale blue energy from the palm of his right hand, energy spheres which would fly out and bombard his opponent from above in a circular pattern, and even in tremendous bursts, such as during his immensely powerful "Starlight Attack". Aside from planting Youmas inside of objects by marking them with his special symbol, his other supernatural powers included teleportation, the power of flight, releasing explosive blasts of pink energy from his right hand, generating force blasts, draining human beings of their energy and using illusions to seemingly warp the space around his opponents in order to confuse and disorient them. In addition, he could also summon forth a shadowlike Youma from his body - that more or less resembled him - which could possess people and whose actions he could control from a distance. It should also be mentioned that, unlike the other Dark Generals, Nephrite demonstrated the makings of a superb athlete and hand-to-hand combatant, possessing great strength, stamina and agility, though he rarely made use of these abilities except in closed quarters.
Paraphernalia: Given his vast powers, Nephrite had little need for conventional weapons, though he did conjure a sword - which he wielded quite proficiently, it should be added - to use while rescuing Naru and also created the Black Crystal to help him find the Illusion Silver Crystal. As Masato Sanjouin, Nephrite enjoyed driving around in a red Ferrari Testarossa, which bore his evil crest on its license plate.

Japanese Voice Actor: Katsuji Mori
North American Voice Actor: Kevin Lund

This entry first appeared on: July 28, 1998 
This entry was last modified on: December 10, 2000 

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