Reading back over all my fics recently, I realized there are a lot of things that pop up over and over, as well as some details that are important in one or more stories. Since I don't want anyone to get confused about whether or not these things are canon (that is, existing in the anime and/or the manga), here's a list of the more noticable things I made up, and their rationales (where there is one).
1. Nephrite comes back to life. Sadly, this is made up. But throughout the series, other villains, and the Sailor Senshi themselves, die at least once and are brought back to life. (If you've only seen the dub of Sailor Moon, in the original, the Senshi/Scouts all die at the end. So does Usagi/Serena, and Mamoru/Darien. I think it's the Crystal that brings them back to life and hides their memories.) So it's well within the rules of the Sailor Moon cosmos for someone to come back to life.
2. Nephrite has a big skylight in the ceiling over his bed in his mansion. Actually, his even having a bed is made up. But if this is his base of operations, he's got to sleep sometime, I suppose. And having the skylight would allow him to see the stars. I doubt the stars are visible from the Dark Kingdom.
3. Nephrite runs a luxury item/arts and crafts import business. This is made up. We know he has some sort of legitimate business going on as part of his cover; people who've never met him have heard of it. I thought of luxury item/arts and crafts imports because of the dollmaker episode, where he seems to be commissioning an order of dolls from Mika. Yes, it's part of his scheme, but he seems to be pretty discerning about arts, handicrafts, and luxury goods (see also, the length of silk in the wedding dress episode). Besides, imports/exports is an appropriately vague-sounding occupation; for example, Universal Exports in the James Bond movies.
4. Umino breaks up with Naru because "she isn't smart enough." Actually, I don't think this would really happen, and I kind of regret using this idea. I may go back and re-write the places where it's used. I think it's more likely that their relationship would just sort of lose steam because they don't really have anything in common. I'm never convinced that Naru really likes Umino all that much, even in later seasons of the series. At best, she mostly seems to tolerate him, and honestly, a lot of the time she isn't very nice to him. Yes, he was there when she was lonely and needed someone, so she's grateful. You can base a few dates on this, but not a long-term relationship. Eventually, I think, they would drift apart, and Umino would realize, at some point (in college?) that there are girls who would have a lot more in common with him and a lot more respect for him than Naru does. (I love Naru, but I think Umino deserves better than a girlfriend who hits him all the time.)
Why I don't think Naru and Umino's relationship has much long-term potential.
(She just whacked him on the head with his recorder.)
5. Jadeite and Minako/Venus as a couple. Made up, since Jadeite is long gone before Venus comes on the scene, though I'm not the only one who thinks their personalities would complement each other and they would look just adorable together. Yes, there are other Jadeite/Minako 'shippers out there. And the great thing is, you don't even have to break up a canon couple to put them together! (Sorry, manga fans. I don't accept the Generals/Senshi picture as being anything significant. If you're going to accept it as canon, you also have to accept the Minako Molesting Usagi in Lingerie picture.)
6. Yuuichirou/Chad is a rock drummer. Hmm, tough call. In the dub he's a rock musician with stage fright; but most subtitle fans won't accept anything from the dub as canon. In the original, he's a rich slacker boy who ends up at the Hikawa Shrine on accident. Frankly, I think that making him a musician adds some much-needed dimension to his character. So in my fics, he's a rich slacker boy who is also an amateur/aspiring rock drummer.
7. Naru's father died when she was little. We don't know anything about him; he's just never around. In the dub he's mentioned once, but this is a fluke. Him being dead seems as good an explanation as any; I believe divorce is much less common in Japan than in western countries.
8. Crane Machine Joe making any appearance at all outside of the episodes where he has a Rainbow Crystal. Totally made up. But even though he was a jerk, I was kind of amused by his interaction with Makoto/Jupiter and couldn't help wondering what it would have been like if he'd been around more. I think there might have been a little chemistry there, though it would probably turn into a love/hate sort of thing. Sometimes I need someone to pair up with Makoto, and whenever possible I prefer to use a pre-existing character rather than a made-up one.
9. Naru grows up to be a ????? (anything). We just don't know. Contrary to my little fancy in #4, she's really very intelligent. Plus she seems to be a very warm and caring sort, so I tend to think she would end up in some sort of helping profession, such as a teacher, nurse, or counselor. Or the ultimate helping profession, being a stay-at-home mom, unfashionable though this may seem. The jewelry thing seems obvious, since that's what her mom does, but I think Naru would be more of a people person than that. Of course, if Nephrite came back, he'd want to have her around all the time, so he'd hire her as a top executive in his company ^__^
10. Zoisite deciding to become an obstetrician. Well duh, of course I made this up. Not really sure why, except it seemed amusing at the time.
11. Usagi becoming a decorator. We don't know what Usagi grows up to be, besides Queen of the World. Academics aren't her thing, but she likes people and appreciates pretty things (even if her taste isn't quite what it should be).
12. Naru in the Silver Millennium. This is a biggie, one of my favorite ideas to play with, but totally made up. Though there's no reason why she couldn't have been -- in the scene after the Moon Kingdom is destroyed, it shows a lot of people drifting to Earth in those bubble things - not just the Senshi, Serenity, and Endymion, but LOTS of people, enough to make a river of bubbles visible from a long way away. (This reminds me, I love those canister things that Luna and Artemis get encased in.)
Who's to say Naru *isn't* in one of those bubbles?
13. Nephrite as a health-food nut. Made up, and seems pretty unlikely. Though admittedly, he does look like he takes care of himself. (Same deal with the weight machines.) I just thought this would be kind of funny. I like Jadeite's line in "All I Can Do" (which I think is my story with the most OOC-ness): "You'd think he'd be more concerned about his organic liver." Har har har.
14. Nephrite as a jazz fan. Hey, he's a rich guy with a taste for the finer things in life. Of course he likes jazz. (This is also my little wink to my husband, who is also a jazz fan, and listens to the same artists and style that Nephrite does. ~_^)
15. Umino studies entomology (yikes, I think I've been spelling it wrong all this time :P) and goes on research trips. I don't remember where his interest in insects was mentioned, the dub or the Japanese, but it was mentioned in some version of the show. He seems like the scientific type, and this just seems like the sort of thing he'd like. Making him a field researcher is a good way to evolve his character without changing him too much.
16. Naru's age. At the beginning of Sailor Moon, Usagi announces that she's 14 years old and in the 8th grade. Naru is in Usagi's class, so obviously she is also in the 8th grade. Typically, I guess 8th grade would be 13-turning-14-year-olds. I have some real problems with taking that age range literally, so I tend to bump the girls' ages up a year, and make them 14 turning 15. Sometimes I have Naru turning 15 during the course of that season. There are some good reasons why I do this. As the mother of a teenager (age 18) and a soon-to-be-teenager (age 11), 13-turning-14 is awfully young for how these characters look and act. At that age, people are still pretty much little kids. Also, if you watch a lot of anime, you come to realize that just about everybody is 14 years old and in the 8th grade, though these characters' appearance and behavior is more like that of young adults (age 16-18, perhaps) than young teenagers. I've come to the conclusion that this is more of a convention than a literal thing, representative of that short time in life when kids pretty much look and act like young adults but are still unburdened by adult responsibilities. Again, ages 14 to 16 seems like a more accurate age range for this stage of life. (The convention may also exist to make the characters more accessible to younger fans.) Plus, yes, just-turned-14 is way too young for the sorts of feelings and relationships the girls have. Naru's relationship with Nephrite would be way more inappropriate than at 14-turning-15 (depending on how old Nephrite is - discounting the time in the Dark Kingdom. Some sources put his age at 19-22, which I think is too young, but I'm currently trending towards a slightly younger Nephrite than I've written in the past, maybe about 24). Even Mamoru, as a college student, would be way too old to be dating Rei and Usagi if they had just turned 14. 14-turning-15 is much more appropriate and realistic for these relationships. (Though I still have a strict rule about my own kids not dating before they're 16.) So that's why I fudge the ages to be a bit older than the official line, and frankly, given the context and the conventions in anime, I think my way is just as good.
17. Zoisite wants to grow up to be a Teletubby, and Barney has the hots for Kunzite and Nephrite. Um, you must have missed that episode...
Anyway, that should clear up a few things. If I think of anything else that should go here, I'll add it.
(May 2007)
return to IMHO
The Nephrite and Naru Treasury