KunZoi

KunZoi is the slash ship between Kunzite and Zoisite from the Sailor Moon fandom.

Canon
Kunzite and Zoisite are portrayed as lovers in the 1992 Sailor Moon anime. Their very first scene together establishes this, with an upset Zoisite crying on Kunzite's lap as Kunzite reassures him. The two are also seen holding hands and sitting very close to one another on several occasions. When Zoisite becomes the lead Shitennou, Kunzite supports him from the background. In one scene, he gives Zoisite a rose to reassure him when Zoisite becomes jealous over Kunzite calling their female target "lovely". (The Viz dub has him say that he was kidding.)

Zoisite tells Queen Beryl of his plan to lure out Tuxedo Mask to take back the Rainbow Crystals he stole. Kunzite appears, delighting Zoisite. Kunzite offers to aid in part of the plan, where he immobilizes the Sailor Senshi. Zoisite thinks to himself that for Kunzite's sake, he will succeed, even at the cost of his own life. Zoisite dresses as Sailor Moon, and Kunzite ties him hanging from the end of a crane. This makes the Senshi come out to try and save him, but Kunzite traps them in a dark sphere. Sailor Venus arrives though, and uses her Crescent Beam against Kunzite's hands, causing them to bleed and eradicating the dark shield. Zoisite gets angry and puts his hands in front of Kunzite, protecting him. He tells him to escape, as he will handle the Senshi. Queen Beryl interjects and calls the two back.

After intending to kill Mamoru Chiba instead of capturing him alive, Zoisite is reprimanded by Queen Beryl. Kunzite tries to take the blame, but Zoisite is attacked by a large blast of energy, and becomes gravely injured. Queen Beryl tells Kunzite to "dispose of that garbage". Kunzite does not say anything back to her, but he is visibly upset by Zoisite's mistreatment. Kunzite later talks to Zoisite. He apologises that he could not succeed in protecting him from Beryl's wrath. Kunzite props Zoisite up, who says that he is happy he will die with Kunzite next to him. Zoisite tells Kunzite that he wants to die beautifully, so Kunzite flaps his cape and a bed of flowers and blowing petals appear. The two hug, and Zoisite tells Kunzite he loved him.

Sometime later, Kunzite attacks the Sailor Senshi inside the passageway to the Dark Kingdom. Sailor Moon is able to reflect his attack back at him, stabbing him. As he dies, he asks Zoisite to guide him to the world where his spirit is currently wandering.

Fanon
The ship gained a lot of following in part to the anime, where it was officially made canon. In the manga, there were some details to Kunzite and Zoisite's interactions that lead some to believe as evidence of a romantic relationship. Nothing has ever been confirmed for the manga, though.

Like with HaruMichi, Kunzite and Zoisite's relationship openly portrayed positive gay representation, something that hadn't really been done before at the time. Unfortunately, in the DiC dub, Zoisite was made female so that their relationship wouldn't raise any controversy in the west, instead being seen as heterosexual.

Thanks to its canon status, it is within the top 10 ships of Sailor Moon on AO3. It is the most popular slash ship in the fandom, however slash ships aren't as common as there aren't as many male characters, nor as many interactions between males compared to other kinds of pairings. The ship experienced a huge resurgence in fandom representation in 2014 due to Viz's uncut and accurate redub of the series, which portrayed the pair as same-sex lovers once more.

Its major rivals are the Sen/Shi pairings of MinaKunzite and AmiZoisite. Many KunZoi fans were angered at Sailor Moon Crystal confirming them as past romances, causing Sen/Shi shippers to fight back by declaring KunZoi "not a real couple" due to them only being together in the first anime.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

FAN ART

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