Nipas

A ceremonial elegance defines Nipas. She wraps herself in an airy robe of pale blue and white, its broad sleeves hanging loose and gathered at the waist by a deep blue sash that lends the flowing garment some shape. Crowning her brow sits an ornate headpiece, its centerpiece a blue jewel ringed with fine metalwork that signals rank and refinement. Two thick lengths of teal hair spill down the front of her body, reinforcing the cool, watery cast of her whole look, while her calm, gentle face carries the composed dignity of a priestess or noblewoman. The overall effect marries traditional East Asian styling with a serene, faintly otherworldly beauty.

Beneath that tranquil poise runs a much colder streak. In the original Japanese telling she is genuinely cruel and spiteful, and Berthier menaces her, threatening to kill her if she fails to clear away the people she has already frozen. The DiC English dub reworked the dynamic, recasting Berthier as oddly warm toward her and blunting the vindictive edge the character was written with.

Taking human shape, Nipas installed herself as the owner of Bob-Floy, an ice cream parlor perched atop a Crystal Point. Her frozen desserts carried a curse: whoever tasted one fell under her control, after which she encased them in ice. Artemis stumbled onto the scheme and was frozen for it, as was Luna when she and Sailor Venus tried to step in. Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, and Sailor Jupiter joined the fray and came within moments of the same fate. Their rescue arrived with Sailor Mercury, who had nearly left for medical training in Germany before turning back at the last second; she struck the Droid with her newly gained Shine Aqua Illusion, and Sailor Moon then finished Nipas off with her scepter, thawing the captives she had trapped.