Four King Hell is a Sailor Moon webcomic written by Frizzy
, focused mainly on Mamoru Chiba and his reincarnated guardians, the Four Heavenly Kings.
So, what do you do when you've suddenly been corporeally reanimated after a couple of years as rocks? Why, search out booty! Jadeite's challenge—whoever beds his chosen Inner Soldier first gets to be "main character" for a day—sends the newly humanized Kings and Mamoru into a frenzied contest to win the accolades of their peers and the dignity bestowed on the protagonist of an otherwise Amazon Brigade.
However, things are not as simple as they appear at first glance. While the boys either try to woo their girls (hampered by battery-inducing pick-up lines and violently protective fan clubs) or vehemently deny any attraction at all, it seems that every previous enemy and best-friend-of-the-day is returning to Tokyo for mysterious reasons.
Who will win this contest of mojo? Why are all the important people of the past converging at one place and time? Will Mamoru get his deposit back after his posse finishes with his apartment?
Four King Hell can be found here or on the author's DeviantArt account, although only the Smackjeeves account is currently updated. Frizzy also does occasional artwork on their Tumblr.
Besides many, many of the tropes found in Sailor Moon, Four King Hell also provides examples of:
- All Love Is Unrequited: Played for comedy (with the Inners/Kings, as well as Demande/Usagi) and for drama in regards to Endymion/Beryl, Endymion/Pluto, and Petz/Saphir.
- Ambiguously Brown: Kunzite (based on the original anime) and Setsuna (based on the manga) are both noticeably darker than the other characters.
- Amicable Exes: Kunzite and Zoisite broke up at some point prior to the comic but remain friends and fellow soldiers.
- Anatomy of the Soul: The comic's magical internal organs are cages, which apparently only truly living people possess (as Kunzite doesn't have one to unlock).
- Art Evolution: pages 1-164 are sketchy and have mostly dot shading. Page 165 on (after the hiatus ended) are fully inked line-art with a multitude of shading techniques.
- in Frizzy’s own words, “it's been really interesting looking back at 4KH because it's gone through about three or four different "evolutions". There was the first jump when I started fully inking the pages (page 77), then another jump when I got my first working tablet and started making pages 100% digitally (page 100), and then another small style jump after a half-year hiatus (page 163). Then of course the most recent jump (page 165) after a... uh... 5 year hiatus, lmao.”
- Belligerent Sexual Tension: Ami and Zoisite want nothing to do with each other. Really.
- Bland-Name Product: Beryl’s photograph-based social media account is on Prontogram.
- Brainwashed: Ikuko has been brainwashed so much that her mind is basically putty at this point.
- Butt-Monkey: Nephrite is on the receiving end of mountains of physical pain. He only deserves most of it.
- Camp Gay: Zoisite is technically a Camp Bi. However, he mentions that women have to be extraordinary to catch his interest, so he clearly leans homoromantically.
- Casanova Wannabe: Nephrite thinks that he's a hit with the ladies. The key word here is "thinks."
- Casual Kink: Ali and En are surprisingly blase about asking for a foursome with Mamoru and Usagi. Then they visit the Tsukino home...
- Cerebus Syndrome: The first few strips are gag-heavy, and the fourth wall is pretty shaky. Now, though the main plot continues and humor is always present, complex drama has appeared as more characters visit and more mysteries pop up.
- Comfort Food: Chocolate is Mamoru's...and when sent into a panic he will wolf down copious amounts.
- Crisis Crossover: Characters from the anime, manga, and even the spin-off media are fair game for appearing in this comic. Such as Nergal from the Sailor Moon: Another Story RPG, who is part of Master Nineteen's team.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Kunzite is shocked to learn that Minako isn’t always a space-case. The Kings themselves are starting to exhibit this, as well.
- Flashback Stares: Kunzite and Setsuna both do this at different points.
- Fourth-Wall Mail Slot: Jadeite has a livejournal which is routinely hijacked by the other guys as well as several mysterious fanboys.
- Harmless Villain: Demande openly plots to kill Mamoru and steal Usagi, but his plans are rather mundane and his general ineptitude leads nobody to take him seriously. Even Kunzite, who is the most loyal of the Kings to Endymion, merely humors him.
- He Cleans Up Nicely: Urawa Ryo has significantly improved from his canon appearance.
- Heel–Face Turn: The titular Kings had theirs in the series proper, as did many of the revived enemies, but Beryl and Esmeraude are specifically trying to pull this off in the comic currently.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Esmeraude cannot catch a break.
- Heroic BSoD: Played for comedy. Kunzite pointing out that Mamoru's attempt to convince Usagi to sleep with him could jeopardize the entire future sends Mamoru into such a state of panic that they later find him in the kitchen in a corner wolfing down chocolate in terror. Fortunately, a strong punch snaps him out of it.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Kunzite assumes this about Zoisite, but he’s wrong. Beryl and Demande are examples, however.
- I Always Wanted to Say That: Master Nineteen has fun with the franchise's "taking all of your energy" shtick before simply putting his victims to sleep.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Usagi walks into her home just as her parents are in the middle of an orgy with Ali and En. Her mother hastily tries to cover for them and the naive Usagi is oblivious.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Petz and Saphir's tearful reunion is short-lived when Petz reveals that she is in another relationship now, on account of Saphir having died and all. Saphir lets her go gracefully for this exact reason.
- Lethal Chef: Zoisite proves to be this; even when in super-femme housewife mode, he still can't cook.
- Limited Wardrobe: Mamoru's habit from the anime of wearing the same outfit is mocked when Kunzite flashes back to looking into his closet for clothes and finding an entire closet of green jackets, black turtlenecks, and grey slacks.
- Mama Bear: Setsuna is not messing around once Horaru is involved in the plot. Beryl even calls her Mama Bear.
- Mr. Fanservice: As the webcomic stars five (and counting) handsome men of varying types, this is a must-read for anyone who loves Sailor Moon but always wanted more beefcake.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Demande makes some half-assed attempts at poisoning Mamoru before Kunzite stops him. Now he seems to be content with just annoying Mamoru to death.
- Mythology Gag: Mamoru's chocolate habit was a reference to his character sheet from the anime, which listed his favorite food as chocolate despite Mamoru never being shown even possessing chocolate, let alone eating it.
- Demand's job interview has the company's boss call him "Mr. Diamond," which is a reference to both what his name actually means, and his altered name from the English dub.
- Every outfit worn by the Four Kings in their first appearance is an outfit worn by Mamoru in the anime or Sailor Moon: Another Story.
- Nephrite is shocked and horrified that, thanks to the economy tanking, girls aren't in the market for private tennis tutors any more.
- Official Couple: Mamoru/Usagi and Haruka/Michiru, obviously, but the Kings would like to upgrade to this with the Inner Soldiers.
- Orwellian Retcon: in Jauary 2019, the author rewrote the entire comic to fit their current desires for the story. The rewrites remove most of the problematic language (such as Jadeite claiming Rei’s fan club are crazy lesbians and Nephrite claiming that he can always spot a woman, which could be seen as transphobic) and what remains is characteristic of explicit assholes. Also, the actual plot is clearer, sooner, than in the original script. Frizzy redrew quite a bit of the comic, as well.
- An entire side plot of Jadeite and Yuuichirou starring in a yaoi manga got the ax.
- Past-Life Memories: The Kings only have the vaguest of memories regarding both past lives. Then Kunzite goes to sleep. Sadly, Zoisite can’t remember anything from the Golden Kingdom at all.
- Patchwork Fic: The author likes to mix and match canon when it comes to characterization, using Usagi's more innocent anime personality, giving manga Rei the dating history of her anime counterpart, and drawing personality traits of Jadeite and Nephrite from the live action, just to name a few examples. Both manga exclusive characters (like Asanuma and Kotono) and anime exclusive characters (like Ali and En) have appeared as well, including several very obscure characters, some of which weren't even given names in the source material. References to the SNES RPG, Sailor Moon: Another Story, appear as well as the story progresses. Clearly, Frizzy knows the canon.
- P.O.V. Sequel: The comic is told from Mamoru and the Kings' point of view. Despite being the impetus for the very plot, the sailor soldiers haven't featured as much until recently.
- Pretty Freeloaders: Pretty much the entire main cast currently living with Mamoru, save Demande (has a job) and Kunzite/Saphir (actually doing something constructive), have no jobs or means of income. Nephrite's magical counterfeiting doesn't count.
- Psycho Lesbian: Rei's fan club intimidates and stalks Jadeite. Before the rewrites, Jadeite even calls them crazy lesbians.
- Pun-Based Title: Say it out loud a few times, but maybe not while you're at work.note
- Punny Name: Ali and En's children are named Yuu and Fo.
- Reincarnation: Most of the characters seen so far are either reincarnated in the Sailor Moon canon or have been for the comic itself, not least of which are the titular Kings. Except they’re not actually reincarnated, exactly.
- Reincarnation Romance: Mamoru/Usagi are the best example of this. However, the comic heavily implies that this is also the case for Minako/Kunzite, if not all of the Inner/King couples (Ami/Zoisite, Rei/Jadeite, and Makoto/Nephrite).
- Recurring Extra: Nanako, once a victim-of-the-day, can be seen as A) the hostess at the cafe where Kunzite and Minako are supposed to have their date and B) the usher at the Thirteenth Hour psychic show. Only time will tell if she'll pop up again.
- Shout-Out: Rei is seen reading an issue of RanRan, which is a play on RunRun, the now-defunct magazine in which Codename: Sailor V ran.
- Spell My Name With An S: Demande and Saphir have about ten possible spellings apiece for their names, so Frizzy chose two of the most accepted and the closest to canon.
- Tamer and Chaster: The comic started out as an addition to a planned adult-oriented Sailor Moon fanzine. The fanzine never materialized but the comic was popular enough to warrant continuing—without the explicit content.
- According to Frizzy, “But the other one... I wanted Sailor Moon to be taken seriously and also appeal to more male fans, which, being a kid going thru kiddy gender/sexuality nonsense, I thought meant being ~sexy~. It was in my head going to be like Playboy magazine, only specifically about Sailor Moon. 9_9 I don't think either of those things are important any more, but even if I did, that's definitely not the way to do it!“
- The Stoic: Kunzite isn't always calm, but he certainly has shades of this.
- Unexpected Virgin: Everyone who finds out is shocked to learn that Mamoru, the man in a long-term monogamous relationship spanning multiple lifetimes, is still a virgin.
- Unresolved Sexual Tension: Ami and Zoisite are simultaneously disgusted by each other and also determined to bed each other, if only to prove their desirability. Nephrite thinks that he has this with Makoto; he’s sorely mistaken.
- Virgin-Shaming: Mamoru may be a Man's Man and the future king of the world, but he still gets flack for not having gotten jiggy with Usagi yet.
- Wham Line:Petz: Saphir...I'm seeing someone.Beryl: You pretty soldiers are about to see war with the chaos of another world.Master Nineteen: I can't tell you how long I've been waiting. The Second Silence can finally begin.
- Younger Than They Look: When Ali and En visit Mamoru, En mentions that at the time they first met, she and Ali were actually only four years old and their race ages rapidly.
