You either love or hate Serena (Usagi for those who know the Japanese Anime and manga) from Sailor Moon. For the sake of this article, we'll be talking mostly about the meatball head version from the anime series and her heartthrob of a partner, Tuxedo Mask AKA Darien, AKA Mamoru, AKA King Endymion, AKA Moonlight Knight... You get the point. All of these "also-known-as" personalities are all a part of why the relationship between Serena and 💙Darien is so twisted and beautiful, but holds some surprises that people may not knꦑow about. In America, it's safe to say that the first season was the most well-known and after that everything just became, well, complicated and so did the dynamic between the two fated lovers. While the Japanese anime and manga depicted certain relationships in a different light (Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus being in love rather than "cousins", for example), the relationship between Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask remained constant, if not occasionally tortured.
Things turn out okay in the end, but for quite some time (I mean, we're talking centuries) their love life was crazy, at times out of control, and intense. Throw in some other superhuman women with insane powers, a slightly terrifying evil version of your future child, and multiple villains whose only gꦯoal is to gain control of your beau and end you, and we've got one relationship that Serena rightly bawled over. Some fans find it frustrating that Serena's love for Darien never once faltered, while others fully understand that they were implied to be eternal lovers, fated from the beginning of the Silver Millennium. Regardless of where you fall on the scale, we can't argue that there were definitely some interesting attributes of their predestined relationship
20 Serena Is Quite Young 💯 🅺
Perhaps the most commonly known fact is that Serena is much younger than Darien. From the first episode this is made quite obvious. However, it never seems to affect their feelings for each other, other than the fact that Darien ౠteases her ruthlessly. It's implied that Serena is 14 in both the anime and the manga, while Darien's age changes depending on which source you're consulting. The manga has his age set at a mere two-year age difference of 16, while the anime portrays him as nearly 18 and a college student.
We have a feeling the meet-the-parents dinner got a little awkward.
A two-year age difference isn't much to stress over and even a four-yea﷽r age difference isn't a big deal, most of the time, unless you're dealing with someone who is under the age of 18. For the most part, the age of maturity, or "coming of age" as it's referred to in Japan, is anywhere between the ages of 18-21. This means that according to the anime, Darien is, in fact, an adult while Serena is still a minor. The aspect that makes it relatively easy to overlook for most fans is the fact that all of the Sailor Scouts, Darien and Serena included, are reincarnated into new bodies on earth. Scientifically and m🍌etaphorically making them ageless despite their new, younger bodies.
19 ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ They Were Fated Fro꧑m The Start
Long story short, and with many smaller details of course left out, the love story between Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask goes far beyond their current lives on earth as depicted in the first hal🐭f of the first season. Speaking to the point of reincarnation, Sailor Moon is the reincarnation of Princess Serenity of the Moon Kingdom, daughter of Queen Serenity. Darien was a prince of planet earth, Prince Endymion. The two fell in love nearly 1,000 years prior to their eventual reincarnated earth lives and were fated to find each other from that moment on. Sadly, the Moon Kingdom fell to darkness at the hands of Queen Beryl and her accompanying Negaverse, an army of darkness powerful enough to destroy an entire planet... and they succeeded.
Darien, being a member of Serenity's court as well as a loyal protector, fought bravely with the entire Moon Kingdom and Sailor Scouts in an effort to defeat Queen Ber🌳yl, b🃏ut ultimately failed. Queen Serenity uses the last of what she has left to seal the powers of the Negaverse and Queen Bery, and sends the scouts and Darien to earth. This loss is what starts the manga and anime, and the scouts are seen flying through space in the form of colorful star seeds at the opening scene of the anime as well. The Star Locket that Princess Serenity gives to Prince Endymion shortly before their almost-marriage, becomes the key to saving themselves as well as their eternal love.
18 ꦑ Daughter From The Future
Oh, adorable Chibiusa! This tiny soon-to-be sailor scout is known as "Rini" in the American adaptation of the anime. She doesn't actually make an appearance until chapter 13 of the manga, which came oꦓut roughly a year after the manga premiered. Chibiusa is, indeed, the daughter of Serena and Darien. More specifically, Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion. How is that possible, you ask? Simple -- Immortality! Rini travels from the future ⛦to seek the Sailor Scouts and request their help, which makes her a unique addition to not only the manga/anime, but also to Serena and Darien's relationship as well.
Who's idea was it to throw Serena and Darien's an oddly mature daughter into the mix, when he still calls his future wife "bun-head"?
In the future, Princess Serenity is Neo ("new")-Queen Serenity, whom Rini knows as her mother. When she flies back into the past to find them it causes instant confusion. She somewhat recognizes Serena and Darien to be resemblant of her parents, but doesn't trust that inference completely. This is made even more challenging for her due to the fact that Serena and Darien are so wildly immature at the time, starkly contrasting their future king and queen selves. In the manga, Rini is estimated to be roughly 900-years-old, but ma🌞nifests as a five-year-old on earth in front of Serena and Darien. It's bad enough that Serena is a 14-year-old girl who just found out she has to save the world and is a futuristic princess.
17 ꦛ ⛎ Serena Would Give Her Life For Him
On more than one occasion, we witness Sailor Moon throwing herself in the midst of danger to save the Sailor Scouts. However, she would also give anything to protect the love she has for Tuxedo Mask, including nearly risking her life for him. In Sailor Moon R: The Movie, also known as Sailor Moon R: The Movie: Promise of the Rose as an American release in 2000, Sailor Moon faces a daunting task. If you take the mov🍌ie as canon, Darien is being controlled by his long-term childhood friend Fiore, who has a mild obsession with him and a severe jealousy of Serena. After many realizations and tears, it's꧒ up to Serena to (literally) save planet Earth.
By the end of the movie, all of the Sailor Scouts are rendered weak and powerless against Fiore, even though Tuxedo Mask is finally back to his (often useless in these situations) self. Princess Serenity is the only one who can actually make a dent in what is about to be complete destruction. In a scene where we all cried like babies --don't lie, we know you did -- Sailor Moon transforms into Princess Serenity to use the power of the Silver Crystal to save literally everyone. Sadly by doing this, she herself uses all of her life force and sadly dies with the ultimate sacrifice. Of course, Fiore realizes how beautiful and pure-hearted she is, and uses a flower with his life-energy to bring her back. Poetic and tear-inducing, the way Sailor Moon should be.
16 Rini, The T꧙h🔴ird Wheel
Rini, Sailor Mini Moon, Black Lady. It's all the same, right? Wrong. Yes, Black Lady is Rini after a lengthy abduction post space-time world and Wiseman villain. He was able to prey on all of her negativity and turn her into Black Lady, who is older and seemingly much more mature as far as her womanly features go. When Rini -- Chibiusa -- is transformed into Black Lady, she has ♕aꦗ growing obsession with Tuxedo Mask who doesn't realize who she actually is. She kidnaps him (surprise, surprise) and forces him to be her personal slave, all while Sailor Moon is losing her mind out of jealousy.
When Chibiusa first appeared on the scene, she had what most people refer to as an "innocent" crush on Darien, which already infuriated the slightly immature Serena. After Chibiusa comes back as Black Lady, jealousy isn't even a word to correctly convey what's going on between the three. In the manga, at one point, you find Tuxedo Mask and Black Lady entwined in a kiss, and it's game on. Sailor Moon ultimately transforms into Princess Serenity in order to save Chibiusa from Wiseman and herself, which is probably for the best considering she's giving some very unnecessary attention to the last person on eartඣh or moon who needs it from her.
15 ꧙ Your Future Self Is Trouble, You Know ✃
It would seem to be that Darien is trouble for Serena in more ways than one, which leads us to occasionally question their ongoing love. But, then we remember that in the future they're perfect and that's that. In the meantime, Tuxedo Mask does some questionable things, including being put into weird situations by his future self. The Black Moon arc iꦬs an interesting one and arguably full of more complex drama than the rest. Amongst that drama, we find Tuxedo Mask's future self. While the reasoning behind this made fans question the authenticity of Tuxedo Mask, because how silly it all was in the end.
If your future self tries meddle in your love life, turn them away. Or just kick the back to the future.
King Endymion (future Darien) claims his reasoning was out of compassion. The reasoning for what, exactly? Breaking Serena and Darien up, of course. In a high school-esque plot designed to "test their love", King Endymion exposes Darien to nightmares that portray his current relationship bringing the ultimate demise to the world, their future second-go at a wedding, and Sailor Moon's unexpected end. Because of this horror, Darien seemingly randomly breaks things off with no explanation whatsoever, only to break Serena's heart in the process. When the two finally meet up with King Endymion, it's explained that it was done as a test and trial to the effect of their love for one another. For some of us, it just doesn't excuse the impulsive and i✃rrational breaking of Serena's heart.
14 𓃲 It Wasn't Just The Moon Locket That Saved You, Darien ꦬ
If we were given a quarter for each time Sailor Moon had to save Darien, we'd be able to get some cute Sailor Moon pop figures. If we had a dollar for every t𝓰ime she saved him from being kidnapped, we'd probably be able to buy the entire series in both Japanese and American versions. Obviously, that's a dramatic exaggeration, but no so far-off from the series as a whole. Depending on your take on the n🥀umber of times Sailor Moon has gotten down and dirty to fight off evil to save her one true love, you may see their relationship in one of two lights.
Some fans will draw the conclusion that Tuxedo Mask is ultimately eye candy and fairly🤪 insignificant when it comes to fighting with the Sailor Scouts. Even though he possesses the power of the rose, he's not really much of a match against most of the villains they face including Queen Beryl herself. If you fall on the other end of the scale, you might consider Serena to be the ultimate representation of a feminist, a super strong, incredibly powerful girl who can save herself while saving everyone around her. Regardless of which argument you support, it's pretty undeniable that Tuxedo Mask gets himself into trouble like clockwork. Luckily Sailor Moon is always there to bail him out. Love can make us do crazy things sometimes.
13 👍 Darien's Feisty Fiore Past ♏
For the sake of Fiore and his slightly scandalous flower power stamens, we're going to take Sailor Moon R: The Movie as legitimate in regards to the ent🐽ire anime and manga series. Let's discuss Fiore, the cynical control-freak who has an overwhelming love for Darien. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this, except for the fact that Darien is, well, somewhat taken. At this point, it's been confirmed that Serena and Darien are an item (if their fated romance from the Silver Millenium didn't imply otherwise) and Fiore comes in seemingly out of nowhere to take Darien back. By spreading these crazy-looking scandal flowers all over planet earth, Fiore marks his new-found territory. He is able to control humans and stop anyone who tries to stand in his way.
Initially, Sailor Moon is reasonably creeped out by Fiore and doesn't realize that he was the first friend her love ever had. Once she and the Sailor Scouts realize what's g𝔍oing on, Darien has already been taken by Fiore. During their battle to save him, Fiore realizes that a rose Dari⭕en once gave him when children was actually that of Sailor Moon's, which she had given to Darien only hours prior. Up until this point, Fiore is a crazy mess of a serial flower-thrower, rendering the scouts weak and unable to fight him off. He is essentially the cause of Sailor Moon's death and the reason she's brought back. Darien chooses Serena in a heartfelt speech to her aid and Serena changes Fiore's heart by using the purity of her own. Serena and Darien are a power-couple at this point and you can't even deny it.
12 ♐ A Whole Lotta Hatred Turned Into A Whole Lotta ܫLove
The beginning of the love story between Serena and Darien is hilariously comical. At first, it is nothing but a bickering match. The age difference initially makes it a little weird and it's not total൲ly cle♛ar that Serena has some pretty major feelings for Darien, nor does she know that he's Tuxedo Mask. In the manga and the Japanese anime, Darien resorts to calling Serena "bun-head", which is later changed to "meatball-head" in the American version. We don't know why he came up with those nicknames, but it's hilarious and makes us super hungry.
A little harmless teasing never hurt anyone.
Serena is also notoriously clumsy and is constantly falling (usually over herself) and randomly tripping over, um, air. This makes her the subject of insults not only from Darien, but from the other scouts (except Amy, Sailor Mercury, she is the calm peace-maker). As light-hearted as they may be, they are insults nonetheless. Darien and Serena are complete opposites, with her being overly emotional and him being the toned-down, uber cool older guy. Their constant back-and-forth is so bad that it's even confusing to Rini, their daughter from the future who comes back in search of them. Chances are if your younger, immature Earth selves confuse your own dau𝓰ghter, it's time to back up a step or two and lay off the meatballs.
11 𒉰 A Beautiful Journey To Maturity 🐎
Yes, Darien and Serena do eventually become adults. It's even implied that in the future, which is referred to as "Crystal Tokyo" (futuristic Tokyo) they're 𒁏finally married with a child, presummably Chibiusa/Rini. This doesn't happen overnight though, throughout season one we see Serena breaking down and complaining that she doesn't want to be Sailor Moon or fight anyone, although it's her destiny to do so. This comes into play most notably in the episode "A Crystal Clear Destiny" and the episodes shortly following, where Sailor Moon blames herself for Tuxedo Mask's abduction and injury.
She cries of how tired she is of fighting and that she doesn't want to do it anymore, until Sailor Mars ultimately slaps her across the face. The fire goddess herself, Rei, is the one to snap Sailor Moon out of her pitiful crying session by asking if that's really how she wants to repay Tuxedo Mask. Darien is less of a crybaby about who he is, instead he uses the few facts he does know about himself to propel him forward with his destiny. He doesn't know the reason for why he is who he is and half the 🃏time he doesn't even remember what he's doing as Tuxedo Mask, but knows he has to get all of the crystals at any cost. Between the two of them, they find a way to grow together and eventually work as a team to save the world and bring about the peaceful future that they know is possible.