Common Myths

For some odd reason, the Shitennou are one of the most commonly misportrayed groups in Sailor Moon. Even the most knowledgable BSSM fan will often make mistakes regarding these characters. Most likely, this is the result of being seen by most fans only in dub form. For this reason, I built this page with hopes of pointing out and correcting some of these errors.

The group working for Queen Beryl is known as the Four Generals
I have noticed that people hesitate to use the word Shitennou. Granted, it's a long word, but most people don't seem to mind using ginzuishou in reference to the silver crystal. They were actually never called "generals," even in the DiC dub--this seems to be an entirely fan-created name. However, even such well-known sources as Hitoshi Doi's website and Alex Glover's translations have referred to them as this. But, this really isn't a very accurate translation. Shitennou roughly means "four heavenly kings". Saying that it means four generals is like referring to Uranus as Haruka General (boy, doesn't that sound weird). If the Japanese word is too hard, calling them Kings would make a suitable substitute.

The group working for Queen Beryl is known as the Shittenou
See: A Rose By Any Other Name

There is a Shitennou called Zoicite, Zoesite, or Malikite
Sorry, there is no such thing as a mineral called any of these things in the dub or the original. There is, however, a mineral called Calcium Aluminum Silicate Hydroxide, aka Zoisite and Lithium Aluminum Silicate, aka Kunzite . These names were Zoycite (not a mineral) and Malachite (Copper Carbonate Hydroxide) in the dub. Some have tried to argue that the mineral zoisite can be spelled with either a C or S. However, the mineral was named for Sigmund Zois (note the S), and is much more commonly spelled with an S. See: A Rose By Any Other Name.

Kunzite's hair reaches to the middle of his back
This is only in the anime. In the manga, his hair barely reaches past his shoulders. In a fanfic, it could be whatever length a person wants.

Jadeite's color is red
In the anime it is red. However, in the manga he is more often depicted as dark blue (especially in more recent images, which are less likely to be victims of Naoko's constantly changing mind). Jadeite is also the king of the Far East division, and blue is often associated with the East in Buddhist mythology.

The Shitennou and Inner Senshi were lovers in the Silver Millenium
This is a mere speculation on the part of many fans. While there is quite a bit to support this in the manga, there is no actual "proof" that they were ever paired up, thus it cannot be taken as fact.

Kunzite and Zoisite are lovers
Once again, nothing but an anime thing. In the original manga, very little to indicate this. Naoko herself said that they do not have a relationship like that.

Nephrite and Jadeite are lovers
In some doujinshi perhaps, but there was no indication of this in the manga or anime.

Nephrite fell in love with Naru
Anime only. Nephrite didn't even meet Naru in the manga.

The Shitennou have no personality in the manga
I've often seen this statement with villains in BSSM. While their personalities are not blatently handed to you on a silver platter like they are in the anime, they are certainly not altogether missing. They are simply much more subtle. Being that most of them are only around for about two acts, there really isn't much time to reveal every aspect of their personality. However, if you look hard enough you'll find that each character really does have a deep personality.



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