Name: Jadeite, [je-da-i-to]
First appearance: volume 1, act 2
Defeated: volume 1, act 3
Estimated age: 18
Hair: blond, short
Eyes: blue-grey
Height: shorter than Nephrite and Kunzite, same height as Zoisite
Dark Kingdom uniform: dark blue with blue piping (see: Dark Kingdom Uniforms)
Division: Far East
Powers: He often uses youma to do his work for him, however he does act on his own during one of his plots. He can create rather large portals, even big enough to drive a bus through them. He can use telekinesis, and is able to hypnotize Rei into coming onto his bus, even when she knows that he is evil.

Personality
Not a whole lot is known about Jadeite's personality. This is the result of two major factors. One is that he is the very first villain in the series, and appears at a crucial moment in the story--the point when the heroines are being introduced. As such, there simply is not enough time to present him in any other way than "that evil guy whose plans must be foiled by the sailor senshi."

The other reason for this is that the one thing that truly brings out the personalities of the other three Shitennou--Nephrite's temper, Zoisite's emotionalism, and Kunzite's feelings of regret--is watching the death of one of their comrades. Jadeite is the first of the Shitennou to appear, thus the first to die. As such, we are never given an opportunity to see how he would react to the death of one of his friends. Instead, all we see of Jadeite is the cocky, youma-toting energy-loving villain that he is.

Which, really, is quite alright. While we never see how he acts behind closed doors, Jadeite does reveal a few aspects of his personality, even when around the sailor senshi.

The first time Jadeite appears, he is watching Sailor Moon battle one of his youma at the Osa-P jewelry store. He expresses a certain level of respect for Sailor Moon's abilities (or, at the very least, acknowledges that she did a fairly good job at dusting his youma). This immediately shows what earns Jadeite's respect--power. In this scene, he also remains completely confident in his abilities, despite the fact that some strange schoolgirl has just shown up out of nowhere and ruined his plans. This tells us that Jadeite is somewhat overconfident, even cocky.

Jadeite is most often seen being chewed out by Beryl. In addition to presenting to the audience who Beryl is and what she is after, these scenes also stress an important aspect of Jadeite's personality. With the exception of Kunzite, Jadeite is the only one who is ever shown bowing or kneeling before her. When he speaks to her, his head is always lowered, his left fist always clasped over his chest in a sort of salute. One would think that this is normal conduct for one of Beryl's soldiers, if not for the scene in Volume 1, Act 3, in which both Nephrite and Zoisite are also present in the throne room while Jadeite is being yelled at. Neither of them bow, or even lower their heads while speaking to Beryl. Indeed, both of them are shown casually leaning against the wall, Nephrite going so far as to be holding a drink. At the very least, Nephrite clasps his fist over his shoulder the way Jadeite does, but even while he is doing it, he is looking Beryl in the eye. Zoisite and Nephrite, while somewhat respectful, treat Beryl almost as an equal. Jadeite, however, acts as though he is her servant.

What does this say about Jadeite? It could be that he is especially humble, but the arrogance he shows around the senshi or when speaking privately with Nephrite suggests otherwise. It could also be that he has a fear of Beryl that the others do not feel. Or it could be that he is more loyal to his Queen than the other two; perhaps he was brainwashed more thoroughly than them, or perhaps he's a naturally loyal person who would show special reverance for whoever he is serving, regardless of who they are. Or it could simply be that Jadeite's whipped.

Whatever the reason, it is obvious that his attitude about Beryl is significantly different than those of the other three Shitennou.

Jadeite is obviously big on elaborate plots in order to get the job done. His first plot involves having a youma pose as a jewelry store owner in order to find the ginzuishou. The youma is so cleverly disguised and so closely resembles the woman it is posing as, that even the woman's daughter Naru is decieved at first. When one takes into consideration how much research and planning must have gone into such a plot, it is easy to see how much of a schemer Jadeite is.

His second scheme involves him disguising himself as a bus driver and driving his busses through a portal into the Dark Kingdom, bringing busloads of young girls with him to serve as hostages in order to attract the sailor senshi. One question this raises is, why does he target only girls? Even though he has entire busloads of people at his disposal, he is very picky about which people he takes, choosing only females who are in junior high or even elementary school. He claims that they are simply hostages, but couldn't men or older women work just as well? It could be that he realizes that the sailor senshi are fairly young women, and therefore targets only people fitting that profile on the off-chance that he accidently captures one of his real targets. Or perhaps his reasoning is that the sailor senshi are more likely to come after him if he captures people who may be close to the sailor senshi. Or maybe Jadeite has a Lolita complex.

During his kidnapping plan, Jadeite shows an interest in Hino Rei. He first spots her from the driver's seat of the bus while she's sweeping the steps outside the shrine. While the passenger he targets is the little girl who Rei calls Mii-chan, his devious look is on the miko outside. The second time he spots her, Jadeite uses his powers to lure the unsuspecting Rei onto his bus, intentionally choosing to kidnap her among the many other girls in the city he might have taken. Safely back in the Dark Kingdom, he thinks to himself about how beautiful she is and how he has wanted her since the first time he saw her.

Some may argue that this points to a possible relationship between Rei and Jadeite. While he is obviously attracted to her, Rei does nothing to indicate that she returns his feelings. Indeed, after gaining her powers as Sailor Mars, she does not even hesitate to kill him with her Akuryo Taisan attack. Regardless of whether or not they had any kind of relationship during the Silver Millenium, the two do not have anything of the sort in present times.

One interesting thing about Jadeite's character is how he is often portrayed in the Sailor Moon fandom. While he is presented as serious and calculating in both the manga and the anime, the Jadeite that fans most commonly write about is the joker, the trickster, the troublemaker. It's really an interesting phenomenon, and one that seems to have no logical explanation. It can be seen in fanfictions, on websites--even the Jadeite of Peppermint Storm has somehow developed into the comic relief, without any conscious effort. How could this man possibly go from being the most serious member of the Dark Kingdom to being the least serious?

One reason could simply be the way that Jadeite looks. He is often shown with a devious grin on his face--a look that, in a more lighthearted story, could easily be worn by someone who has just played a practical joke. It could also be that since Jadeite seems to have an apparent lack of personality in the canon plot, he is given new traits to make him more interesting (although this fails to explain why many different people--who may or may not have been influenced by each other's works--give him generally the same personality traits). Or, it could simply be that someone in the Shitennou had to be the comic relief, and it might as well be the guy who otherwise has very few defining traits.



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