Sailor Moon theories ☽

The Shitennou

Original Post: https://prismatic-bell.tumblr.com/post/97245986871/so-theres-this-theory-ive-seen-about-the
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Like Mamoru, the Shitennou carry Sailor Crystals that are/may be the source of their powers, but as men, can't actually transform into Sailors. You know where this theory gets really interesting? If you said "Classic?", you're right.
Let's start with what we know the Sailor Crystals do: they allow the Sailor avatar to be reborn; they create a transformation into the avatar; they grant some kind of power, usually elemental, to defeat and/or heal enemies. Naoko has stated that men cannot become Sailors. However, Mamoru's "Golden Crystal" (and the presence of a true Star Seed in him) indicate that he carries a Sailor Crystal. He has been reborn; he has powers; he has an avatar. He just can't transform into Sailor Earth, which is the place Naoko intends him to hold on the team (she's stated that there is no Sailor Earth because Endymion was from Earth). In SM92, this rule is bent with the Starlights, who are men–but their avatars are female. Naoko was furious about this change, although she clearly has no problem with transgender characters in her work (Haruka and Zoisite both present as some form of trans in the manga, and the anime adds Fisheye to this number), and the most logical conclusion is that it's because male Starlights break the established rules of the universe.
So what's all this have to do with the Shitennou? If their powers are tied to semi-dormant Sailor Crystals and Sailor Crystals can only be used fully by women, suddenly their power levels make a hell of a lot more sense.
First, let's look at Jadeite. He's fuckin' useless. I'm sure somewhere out there is someone who has Jadeite as a favorite Shitennou, but I've never met them. On the whole, I hear that people dislike him for being annoying and incompetent. So what can Jadeite do, if we assume that every single thing we see tied to one of his plans is his own power and not a proxy? He can create illusions–false storefronts and buildings, a derelict ship becomes a luxury liner–and he can gather energy. (Moving the planes in Episode 13 is just an example of using the energy he's gathered.) Oooh, big deal. There are level one mooks in the next season who can do more than Jadeite. So now let's look at Jadeite himself: He has so little respect for women it's amazing he didn't die before the show began by making a play for Beryl's throne, since clearly some "silly, foolish woman" couldn't be trusted to rule. The level of misogyny he shows is so great it borders on caricature–women are "stupid" and "foolish" for wanting romance, wanting to get in shape and/or be thinner, grieving for a fallen friend, and at the same time, a pair of friends who choose to go on a "romance cruise" together are "pathetic." Interestingly, although we have no reason to assume he didn't know Zoisite and Kunzite, he doesn't draw the logical conclusion about a pair of girls walking arm in arm on a "romance cruise"–that perhaps they're a lesbian couple–but instead calls them "pathetic" for not having boyfriends. In Jadeite's world, women exist to be sex toys for men (also implied in his interactions with Thetis) and sources of energy. His powers? Weak. Lame as hell. He dies. MOVING ON!
And then there's Nephrite, who's a giant loner and surprisingly flat–he broods, he sulks, he meditates. Pretty much he falls along a spectrum of emotions we'd classify on the internet as "lineface" (the one that looks like :|, if you're lost). He's also evil as fuck, but unlike Jadeite, he doesn't belittle people (male or female) for their passions. You're of use to him and you love your garden heart and soul? Give him energy through your gardening hat. You're a woman in a male-dominated field, animating a children's movie? Fine, just make sure you're giving him energy while you do it. He's pretty egalitarian in his approach to women, all things said–Nephrite as any kind of romantic or sexual being doesn't actually exist until quite literally two episodes before he dies, and in his role as Chaste Villain we see that most of his powers actually involve using himself as a channel. The stars speak, he just follows orders. He can divine; he can summon and plant youma; he can remove part of his own soul or essence from his body and use it to manipulate others; and in a case of New Powers As The Plot Demands, he can call on the stars much as Jupiter calls on her home planet to give him power to throw energy balls. So, y'know ... . a Season Three level one mook.
Kunzite is an interesting case, because he's the Final Boss before Beryl, and he also functions as a foil to Mamoru/Endymion (as Zoisite does to Usagi and KunZoi as a unit does to UsaMamo). He's everything we'd expect out of our Shoujo Romantic Lead–from the sweeping hair and cape to "oh no, I've bruised your feelings, have some flowers." He just also happens to do it while being insanely evil and sadistic. So what powers does our Dark Romantic Lead have, keeping in mind that he's a foil to Mamoru? Pretty much Jadeite's and Nephrite's powers combined, only useful (rather than throwing random energy balls, he makes himself a sword of energy; he creates more solid illusions for things like the etiquette school). To this we add the ability to create and seal off dimensions, and not a bad brain, either. (His idea to locate Sailor Moon by DNA-testing her hair? It has a few holes, but that's actually not too shabby, especially for 1992. Where he failed was in assuming a girl with hair that long wouldn't shed like a Labrador–had he assumed that a girl with hair matching hers could be her or a member of her family and reasonably-close friends, he would've killed her that episode.)
And finally, Zoisite. You knew I did him out of order for a reason, right? Here you go: he's the closest thing to a woman among the Shitennou. He clearly identifies as at least partially male, because Nephrite and the Senshi refer to him as male and it doesn't faze him–Zoisite is the kind of character who would 10000% say "excuse you, I'm a woman" if he felt he were being misgendered when referred to as male (actually, that's not true; he'd probably kill you, because in Zoisite's world homicide is a perfectly reasonable response to being snubbed). But he refers to himself as female when talking to Kunzite, Kunzite calls him female at least once, and while he doesn't wander around randomly in a dress in the anime as he does in the manga, his appearance is actually more feminine in the anime (compare the ridiculous bushy shoujo ponytail and heart-shaped bangs to the rumply "I couldn't be assed to brush it this morning" thing he's got going on in the manga, and realize the anime also made his eyes bigger). There are two possible assumptions here: one is that he's some form of trans or genderqueer. The other is that he's supposed to be a stereotypical "uke" character, but that falls flat as soon as you realize how demanding and powerful he actually is. Even if we assume this is a case of the tropes being turned sideways again (if the women can fight, the uke can too), uke are "feminine" characters. They're not just guys who like dick, they're treated in media almost like women with penises. Whichever label you choose to append to Zoisite, he's still so far from the barrel-chested masculine competent Shitennou he can't even see the barrel-chested masculine competent Shitennou.
... . and he mimics Senshi attacks.
I'm dead serious. Let's go through a rundown: he can create and seal off new dimensions, something he probably learned from Kunzite. He can summon youma, as can all Shitennou (and interestingly, he appears to be able to summon youma that Kunzite can't). He can float and teleport (the former seems to be strictly his own power, but the latter is shared by all Shitennou). He can obscure his own location via illusions, similar to Bubble Spray in function if not execution, and some of his physical skills are mimics of hers, too (although clearly not all). He attacks Usagi and Mamoru with fire in a way that looks stunningly like Fire Soul. He has no actual magic tiara to kill baddies with, but we do see him comically mimicking Tiara Action with a boomerang (which doesn't make a whole lot of sense because you have to have pretty good spatial awareness to throw one and Zoisite 99% of the time seems to be deliberately characterized as spaceblind, but we'll bend this one on Rule of Funny), and of course the kurozuishou is an invert of the Moon Wand and, later, the ginzuishou. And he can't use thunder–but appearing in a swirl of flower petals and using them to incapacitate an enemy? Guess what. That's Jupiter's manga attack. It's called Flower Hurricane and you can see it in action in Episode Five of Crystal, if you're in doubt.
You'll notice Venus isn't on that list, and that's because he only fights her once before he dies–he has no chance to actually learn her attack. Which is probably a good thing for the Senshi, really, because imagine what Zoisite would do five minutes after discovering he could shoot laser beams out of his hands. I'll leave you to your imaginings, mine are pretty scary.
Zoisite is the one closest female and the one with powers closest to actual Senshi powers. It doesn't prove the Sailor Crystal theory–but it sure puts some interesting spins on it.