Ah, Mamoru – the “cool” guy that young boys wanted to be and young girls wanted to be with. Putting aside his absolutely atrocious fashion sense for a moment, it’s hard to deny that the image of Tuxedo Mask is nearly just as recognizable as that of Sailor Moon herself.

Today we’re going to take a quick look at some of the characters Ms. Takeuchi looked to for inspiration when she created Tuxedo Mask, and her reasons behind making him wear a tuxedo in the first place.

When talking about the history of Tuxedo Mask, obviously I’d be remiss if I didn’t bring up Ms. Takeuchi’s mention of the time that she actually witnessed a man in a tuxedo walking through Azabu-juban with a mask on.¹ Time-wise, this likely happened after Sailor Moon had been created, but it’s worth mentioning.

With that out of the way, I think it’s also worth bringing up the the original Tuxedo Mask – also known as “the fiend with 20 faces.” He has quite a storied career and the history behind his character development – and all the IP infringement involved! – is pretty fascinating.

But alas, that’s all old hat.² We’re here to talk about something new, namely:

• Why did Ms. Takeuchi decide on a tuxedo design?
• What anime characters was she inspired by?

To answer the first question, we need to talk about why she settled on a school girls’ sailor uniform in the first place. Obviously, this was a continuation of her Codename: Sailor V storyline, so I guess we’ll have to go back to why she decided to give the sailor of love and beauty a school girl look. Fortunately, Naoko answers this for us:³

去年の夏に『なかよし』の増刊として『るんるん』という雑誌が出たときに、「好きなジャンルを描いていい」といわれたんです。それで、担当編集者さんに「前からやってみたかった正義の味方もの描いてみたい」っていったら、担当さんが「だったら、僕はセーラー服の正義の味方がいいなァ」って（笑）。

… and in English?

Last summer, when RunRun was going to be released as a sister magazine to Nakayoshi, they told me that I could do whatever genre I’d like. I told my editor “I’ve been wanting to write about a soldier of justice for awhile now,” to which he responded “in that case, I think a sailor-suited soldier of justice would be good.” (laugh)

I think it’s probably a safe bet that the “editor” in question here is Ami-aficionado,  Fumio “Osabu” Osano.⁴

So his fetish is to thank for us getting these sailor-suited warriors of love and justice? Huh, good to know. But that is really a long aside for me to get around to answering the question on why Tuxedo Mask wears a tuxedo in the first place. Well, Ms. Takeuchi goes on to explain:⁵

セーラー服は担当さんの趣味なんですが、タキシードはわたしの趣味なんですよ。（笑）タキシードがすきなので、タキシードのヒーローを出そうと思ったんですよ。

For those who don’t read squiggles:

Sailor uniforms may be my editor’s kick, but I’ve got a thing for tuxedos. (laugh) I really like them, so I thought it’d be nice to make a hero who wore one.⁶

So that basically answers our first question – much like Osabu loves school uniforms, Ms. Takeuchi loved the look of a man in a tux. Nothing wrong with that.

She continues on in the interview and goes straight into answering question number two, about anime inspirations when asked about who Tuxedo Mask is modeled after:

いろんな人に聞かれるんですけれど、これといったモデルはありません。ただ、アニメでは「宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック」とか、「装甲兵士ボトムズ」のキリコといったカゲリのあるキャラクターが好きだったんですよ。そんなキャラクターのすきなところを集めたのがタキシード仮面なのかもしれません。

… what? OH!

I get asked this by a lot of people, but there wasn’t a specific model. But I like did like gloomy anime characters like [Captain Harlock] of Space Pirate Captain Harlock ⁷ and Chirico of Armored Trooper Votoms.⁸ Maybe Tuxedo Mask is a collection of the things I liked about those characters.

She goes on to give her opinions on how manga and anime Mamoru differ, but alas, that’s beyond the scope of this article. However, I will talk about it – and her opinions on other anime changes – soon!

So what did we learn? Well, not only does Ms. Takeuchi have an extensive background in gems and astronomy, her interests in anime are pretty well varied. Not only does she do excellent work in the world of shojo manga, but she’s also quite a fan of science fiction space operas and elsewhere in the interview discusses her interest in the many super sentai series, on which Sailor Moon is based.

Have any of you seen either of these series? And, if so, do you notice any similarities between the main characters and Sailor Moon‘s Tuxedo Mask? I have to admit that while I’m aware of them by name, I haven’t seen Harlock or Votoms. Truth be told, I’m more of an late-80s to late-90s anime fan, but that’s neither here nor there.

I’d love to know if there are any notable character traits, though!

---

References: