A . b o u t . t h e . s i s t e r

Berthier appears in the second season of the Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon series. She is the second-youngest member of the Ayakashi no Yon Shimai, followers of the Black Moon Ichizoku that dominate the Romance series. The Black Moon journeys from the 30th century Crystal Tokyo to rewrite history and destroy the rule of the Moon Family over the future. Led by Prince Demando and advised by Wiseman, the Black Moon attacks the present and begin a new battle with the Sailor Senshi.

The Ayakashi Sisters is directed by the rebel Rubeus of the Black Moon. It is led by the Petz (Prisma), the eldest sister. She is the parallel of the senshi of thunder Sailorjupiter and uses "Dark Thunder" as her main attack. The next oldest is Calaveras (Avery) who opposes Sailorvenus with her whip. She is the only sister who fails to capture their respective Sailor Senshi. Calaveras deals with the spirit realm and uses "Spirit Energy Attack" to fight against Sailorvenus. The youngest member is Koan (Catsy), the psychic fire-reader parallel to Sailormars. She's the first to appear with her "Dark Fire" attack and is the first defeated. In the anime, the sisters are healed by Sailormoon and made human instead of being killed by her.

M . a n g a . s t y l e

In the manga, Berthier (or Beruche) appears in Act 15, Vol. 04. Her mission is "Code 002: Operation Re-Move," to destroy the Sailor Senshi and capture Tsukino Chibiusa. Disgusing herself as a human, Berthier attracts much attention with her skills as a dowser using a pendulum. Dowsing (divining) is the belief of "feeling" the power of "water, metals, gems, and hidden objects by carrying ... a stick ... over a piece of land and watching for any movement" (Wikipedia). However, she notices Mizuno Ami finding a pipe's leak without the use of an object and deduces that she is a Sailor Senshi.

A . n i m e . s t y l e

In a very offensive ploy, Berthier announces on television that she has come to challenge Ami to a game of chess. Ami accepts and falls prey to the hidden trap. During the game, Berthier calls Ami "Sailormercury" and attempts to capture her with the Black Crystal. The Sailor Senshi appear and Berthier reveals her true form and sends droids after Sailormercury. The droids are destroyed and Sailormercury attacks her with "Shine Snow Illusion" but with no avail; Berthier deflects the attack and chokes the soldier with a blast of sewer water from a manhole. Sailormoon uses her "Moon Princess Halation" to destroy the sister, but Sailormercury is still captured by the Black Moon.

She challenges Sailormercury once again but this time the Sailor Senshi are the prizes. Each time Sailormercury loses a piece, though, she is frozen. Before Beruche can win, her sisters Calaveras and Petz appears to try to take the glory. Tuxedo Kamen takes this time to free the senshi making the other sister leave Beruche to fend for herself. Hurt and alone, she decides to kill herself and everyone in the room because she believes there's "no such thing as love" in the world. Nevertheless, her formerly healed sister Koan is sitting in the audience and comes to tell her that she is loves. Koan asks Sailormoon to heal Beruche and she joins her sister. Her seiyuu is Amano Yuri

M . u s i c a l . s t y l e

The musical Berthier is a bit different. She appears only in the Ankoku no Princess Black Lady Kaiteiban as an additional character to complete the Ayakashi no Yon Shimai unit. Berthier performs in the two Black Moon Ichizoku numbers "Kekki! Hangyaku no Ichizoku" and "New Innocent Demand." Her actress is Wakayama Manami who currently is Sailormercury. It's interesting to see Manami's version of Berthier; because of her age and voice she seems more like the youngest member of the sisters. Her tone, though, is one of maturity and assurance, similar to her manga counterpart. As a dancer, she is one of the most energetic and smooth.

The musical is very manga based, even taking scenes and quotes right from it. I really like the small manga-inspired battles between the Sisters and the Inners; for instance, Sailorvenus is the one who stops Berthier's deflection of Sailormercury and SMerc even begins to choke during it! But there are a few differences. The Sisters fight against the Outer Senshi, soldiers no even created in their arc. Berthier's fall at the hands of Sailorneptune is symbolic and energetic, covered by a hip-dance number performed by Sailorneptune and Sailoruranus (Harsh! Saint Cry).

The biggest difference is her costume which is very much unlike the original. Because it's a family musical, the designers toned down her outfit and added a skirt over her hips to make it look less like a bathing suit. Semi-permeable fabric is sewn on the cover the empty spaces that whould show too much flesh (chest, arms, legs). All that's good, but one thing was adding for new reason: huge feathers in the back for decoration? They ridiculous and very unnecessary for the outfit; it would've looked just fine with the skirt and fabric.