Tuxedo Mask - Reception and Influence

Reception and Influence

The official Sailor Moon-character popularity-polls listed Mamoru Chiba, Tuxedo Mask, and Endymion as separate entities. In 1992, readers ranked Tuxedo Mask as the twelfth most popular character, Prince Endymion as the fifteenth most popular character, and Mamoru Chiba as the sixteenth most popular character out of thirty eight choices. One year later, now with fifty choices, King Endymion became the eighteenth most popular character, while Tuxedo Mask and Mamoru came in at twentieth and twenty-first respectively. Moonlight Knight, being an anime only form, was never included in the manga popularity polls. Tuxedo Mask was the fourth favorite male character in a May 1993 Animage poll, and Mamoru was seventh the following year.

Although Takeuchi herself had a soft spot for Mamoru, she has said that friends complained to her about Usagi being in love with "such a useless guy". He has been described as being both a "dashing hero" and a "boy-damsel in distress" by Jonathan Clements and Helen McCarthy. He has even been called a "liability" and a "burden," his relationship with Usagi being described as a child-mother relationship rather than that of a prince and princess. Usagi is said to show him amae, or "indulgent love". When compared to male leads of male-targeted series, Mamoru, although unafraid of girls, seems uncomfortable with them. He also gives the impression of a "character who never laughs or has fun": "noble, passive and effectively totally ineffectual".

The image of the top hat and cape also influenced the early making of Tuxedo Umino Kamen (Tuxedo Umino Mask) in the anime. The dub referred to this character as Tuxedo Melvin. In this particular episode Umino tries to impress Naru by dressing up like Tuxedo Mask. This image was also used later in the manga for Tubby Mask for the Chibiusa Picture Diary, Story of the Hammer Price Shrine. This character was based on Makoto Hanmatsuura who bid two million yen in a charity auction for the Kobe Earthquake Disaster to be put in the Sailor Moon manga.

In Pokémon Season 7 Episode 21 ("Disaster In Disguise") when Team Rocket introduce themselves they dressed up like Tuxedo Mask while effectively running around using Rosalia's petal attacks to reference Tuxedo Mask's use of roses. The Disgaea anime has the recurring character "Mid-Boss" copy Mamoru's rose throw, down to the music cues.

In recent times, member of popular web groups RoosterTeeth and Achievement Hunter Ray Narvaez Jr. has referenced Tuxedo Mask multiple times, during videos and posts on the RoosterTeeth Website. During their successful 'Let's Play Minecraft' series, Narvaez always dons a Tuxedo skin and has named him Tuxedo Mask.