Episode 7
Act 7:
Mamoru Chiba
Tuxedo Mask
Airdate: October 04, 2014

Zoicite Zoicite uses a brainwashing DVD rented to people in a CD Jewel case (for real?) to posses the town and make everyone his slaves. He then sends everyone out to find and kidnap Sailor Moon, but ends up doing the dirty work himself. Today he uses strong energy attacks against everyone, a few wrestling moves and OH YEAH also comes at Sailor Moon with a giant death rock of ice.

Usagi Tsukino Although a ton of people get possessed today, none of them suffer any damage as a result. So the main victim of the day is actually Usagi. The entire city of Juban tries to kidnap her, and then twice in the same episode, Zoicite tries to kill her!

First time Tuxedo Mask has two back to back episodes named for him. First time Mamoru and Usagi use Mamo-chan and Usa-ko. First apperance of Sailor Venus. First time Tuxedo Mask punches a villain. First time Artemis attacks. First time Minako appears as both V and Venus. First time a romantic relationship is established for Mamoru and Usagi. Act 7 Guardians that appear but do not help in battle: Total Guardians: Final Blow from: Although no villain dies in this episode, Artemis is the last one to deliver a deciding blow.

Well this is a first, without this being a two-parter, we just had TWO back to back episodes named for Mamoru.

So the episode opens with Usagi waking up in Mamoru's bed and with his pocket watch by her crotch. Hey, that rhymes.

It's at this point I realize that Usagi took that whole "Fighting evil by moonlight, winning love by daylight" lyric from DiC to heart, as it is hours past curfew and she is in the bed of a guy she's been crushing on. And no, he doesn't have a guest room, we will learn that in season three. This is quite literally HIS bedroom.

She remembers still being Sailor Moon the night before and passing out in her Sailor Moon costume, and then WHERE ARE USAGI'S HANDS?? Well as she plays a little pocket pool, she gazes at the very lazily left out in the open for God and the Dark Kingdom to see through that GIANT ASSED picture window Tuxedo Mask costume, and she very slowly starts putting two and two together.

Um… WOW Mamo-chan. You even went so far as to take off her shoes and socks. UM… I get the shoes but you took off her socks too?

Well, that's one way to say he has blue eyes.

Usagi exclaims that she can't believe she didn't figure this out sooner, that Mamoru is Tuxedo Mask. I have to say, I am so loving this. The last series it took half a season AND he had to get stabbed before she got it, so YAY Usagi for being smarter this time!!

Usagi asks Mamoru why he became Tuxedo Mask. Not "Why am I in your bedroom" or "where are my panties" or "what time is it my mom is going to kill me" but "hey, you has Tuxedo powers, like WTF man" and he walks to the window, stating that he needs to find the Legendary Silver Crystal to regain his memories.

I'm so glad the bottom of his hair is short. This could have been a mullet.


D'awwwwww you can see where Chibiusa and Kousagi take after him.


We see a pastel memory of six year old Mamoru dragging his parents through the woods to go for a drive. DAMN Mamoru looks like his parents. Like seriously, most of the Sailor Guardians look NOTHING like their moms and dads, but Mamoru actually looks like he belonged to these people.

I feel like the lil' bastard is plotting something.


We see a car crash with Mamoru's father driving the family off of a cliff.

Yes, that's the same doctor Mamoru had in the manga and in the Sailor Moon R movie.

After the crash, Mamoru woke up to no family, no memories, and a pretty deep voice for a six year old. You know, I've joked for years about how in the case of eight year old Kousagi that it seemed like characters hit puberty EARLY in this series, but I didn't think it would hit the boys too. Kinda creepy.

Usagi sprouts her season three eyes early at hearing the sad story.

He then tells Usagi about this dream he has of a blonde haired, blue eyed MOON PRINCESS with Odango and pigtails, telling him about the Legendary Silver Crystal. A couple of notes. One, it's inside of Usagi. So for the princess to tell him to go find the crystal, he has to…….. well this explains Usagi waking up re-dressed in his bed, now doesn't it? Two? Are you kidding me? IT'S USAGI YOU DOLT!! The princess is USAGI!! How many blonde, Odango sprouting teenagers do you see in Japan outside of the Harajuku district??

Oh shit, he's a drifter. Usagi, grab your things and run, RUN!!

He asks Usagi why she's after the crystal, and she tells him honestly that her cat told her to find it. Literally. So we have a drifting midnight prowler and a girl who talks to cats. And you wonder why Chibiusa is so screwed up?

Mamoru asks her to keep this all a secret. I'm looking in the background for the candy he usually offers girls this age for the same.

Now here is an interesting segment. Usagi can hear Luna trying to cock block her. In the Crystal anime, she doesn't address it. But in the manga, she acknowledges this as Luna trying to get inside her head to talk to her. Either way, why couldn't Luna have tried this like I dunno HOURS SOONER?? Like BEFORE Usagi woke up in a strange man's bed?

I think he heard you.


They stare at each other for a good while as the music softens.

She tries to leave and the music stops, just as Mamoru grabs her. UM!!

He whispers "Usa-Ko" right between her (hair) buns and Usagi has a SCHWIIIING moment.

Real quick, Mamoru dislodges.

And bonks her on the head with her briefcase. Dude has some serious issues.

HOLY SHIT it's actually night time when she leaves his apartment. She was gone all day, where the hell are her parents??

So judging by the lighting, it's been a full 24 hours since this kid has seen home. Nobody is looking for her?? NOBODY?? Her friends? Mom? Dad? Luna? SERIOUSLY??? And judging by the outfit, she missed a whole day of school. Isn't Ms. Haruna just a wee bit curious, or did she already write off Usagi because of her grades? 14 year old little girl out in the middle of the night and ain't NOBODY concerned at all. Usagi, you need to MOVE. Well now that she knows his secret identity, Mamoru is no longer a jerk in her eyes and she decides his nickname will be Mamo-chan.

Oh speak of the devil. So a completely NOT CONCERNED Luna is bitching about Usagi not being fully awakened yet to a quite obvious Codename Sailor V.

Codename Sailor V warns Luna that the enemy is already he-Minako-chan? We know that. This is episode seven of a streak of Usagi getting into fights with the Dark Kingdom. We fucking get it. How about you and Artemis behind you come out from the shadows and HELP THEM. And Luna, you can fucking see this is Codename Sailor V. Wanna quit telling Usagi she could be the enemy?

Meanwhile, Queen Beryl has saved a smooch of the energy from last episode, and feeds it to Queen Metallia.

Oh and side note, Metalia and Metallia are both correct, they're used in both anime series and in both translations of the manga off and on.

We get a little back story on Beryl. So a while back, she randomly discovered D Point at the North Pole. How the hell she got up there as an underdressed human I don't know, but something led her to this castle inside of a cave and she unwittingly released Metalia from her sleep. But now she plans to screw Metalia and keep the Silver Crystal for herself. Right, that's totally gonna work. She sends Zoicite back to Juban to find Sailor Moon.

This poster gets blurred out on the DVD. I think those are real people.

Everything here gets blurred out on the DVD. I think there was a legal issue here.

So anyway, Naru, Yumiko and Kuri are looking to rent CD's and DVD's, because screw iPod and those easy to cart MP3's and forget about streaming, physical is where it's at!

Outside, a strange man bumps into Rei while chanting that he has to watch this thing he just got.

She overhears people plotting to kidnap Sailor Moon, then looks at the rental store marked DARK and has a bad feeling. Ya think?

The next day, Makoto and Usagi have lunch with Ami while Ami is Googling Codename Sailor V.

The school must have some great Wi-Fi.

OH MY GOD THANK YOU FOR BEING SMART!! Usagi figures out that the crescent moon on Codename Sailor V must hold a direct link to the Moon Kingdom, or at least tie in with Luna. SOMEBODY GETS IT!!

Suddenly Umino pops up to be extra special creepy. Can we fix this for the Blu-Ray?

NOPE!! Made it worse. Change him back!!!

Even Luna was creeped out. LUNA!

So Luna tries to hide knowing anything about Sailor V, but Usagi… has never been taught table manners. She's like four away from legal voting age. Anyway, Usagi insists V is linked with the Moon Kingdom somehow, and Ami agrees with her, pointing out that Usagi probably has a sixth sense about these things.

Makoto's mirror has a familiar looking pattern, don't you think so?

She tries to find her handkerchief to wipe her face with (or you could wash) but instead finds Mamoru's watch.

Usagi tries to hide the watch from everyone and lies about finding her handkerchief.

She wipes the ketchup off her face with the side of her hand, totally erasing it from screen and not smearing it anywhere. Realistic.

Thinking about how much she's starting to feel for him, she kisses the watch.

Across town, we see Mamoru has her handkerchief.

Oh my…

Back from commercial break, Usagi asks Naru if she'd like to walk home with her, but Naru blows her off, saying she has to look for Sailor Moon.

Totally not noticing the class full of obviously possessed 8^th graders, Usagi bumps into a desk.

Luna appears and GOOD LUCK SLEEPING TONIGHT points out that the kids are all acting weird.

Luna thinks it's this DVD… inside of a CD case. Wow, Dark Kingdom is on a budget these days.

Luna has Usagi shove the DVD into one of the Sailor V games, and it shorts everything out.

As Usagi starts hitting the machine, Chibi Codename Sailor V calls her ass out.

Aaaaaaaand Ami and Luna totally ignore the fact that a video game character is calling out to Usagi.

Dat booty though.

Mamoru notices that everyone on the bus ride home is talking about kidnapping Sailor Moon.

Across town, Usagi is walking home alone as people start chanting about finding her.

Ami had taken the disc SHE WAS TOLD WAS A BRAINWASHING DISC to the command center to figure out what it is (Hint: It's a brainwashing disc) and succumbs to Zoicite's video collection of Sailor Moon attacking… because there's like cameras all over Juban I guess.

Makoto is noticing that these people are starting to commit crimes looking for Usagi.

Luna contacts each of the other girls as she JUST NOW figures out that maybe, just maybe, letting the world's #1 target out home by herself might be a bad idea. I am utterly amazed by this. Just how many times is Usagi going to be attacked or kidnapped before we understand that this kid needs to be chaperoned??

Deciding to skip both underwear and the usual transformations, Sailor Mercury, Mars and Jupiter head through the streets to find Usagi… and like nobody thinks to contact her on her communicator. Like at all. Just saying.

Well after hunting around in the dark for a few hours, Usagi is still by herself. So she has herself a big glass of FUCKIT, transforms into Sailor Moon and confronts these crazy bastards.

They try to grab her, which just results in Sailor Moon flashing her "Try it BITCH" face and whipping out the Moon Stick.

She heals everyone in a snap. But if you catch the Blu-Ray…

You'll find she healed them so well, they changed colors.

And then Zoicite dropkicks her across the park.

This is such a badass scene. Why change it?

Oh. Because Blu-Ray.

Zoicite chokes her mid-introduction. Damn.

Mercury creates a fog with her attack.

Mars sends a fireball at Zoicite.

Jupiter sends electricity and HEY if you guys hit him, won't Sailor Moon get hit too?

He bounces the attacks back as Sailor Moon begins to pass out. But just then, Tuxedo Mask becomes fucking USEFUL for a change, punching Zoicite!! YAY MAMO-CHAN!! You're finally helpful!!

And this line is for the perverts. You're welcome.

After making sure she's alright, Tuxedo Mask goes to hit Zoicite again, but Zoicite brings up a shield.

Aaaaaaand then he gets shot. Like holy shit, after all these years, Toei STILL has a thing for shooting him.

And Zoicite captures Sailor Moon AGAIN?? Zoicite asks if he's been searching for the crystal with the Sailor Guardians, but Sailor Moon blurts out that he's been on his own.

Tuxedo Mask states that now he only wants Sailor Moon, and not in the kidnappy kind of way.

After professing their love, Zoicite gets bored and decides to stab Tuxedo Mask (AGAIN??) with a giant rock of ice. Sailor Moon hugs him to try and stop him… because that will totally block his arms from moving.

He pushes her aside, then decides to kill her instead.

But suddenly a crescent beam destroys the death rock.

And Artemis kicks Zoicite's ass…. Dude… you just got owned by a house cat.

Sailor Moon looks up to find Codename Sailor V.

Or… Sailor Venus if you have the Blu-Ray.

Hair in face, no underwear. Just the way a superhero debuts.

BONUS!!

Toei really wanted to screw with us today. Take a look at how many scenes were changed between the episode preview and the actual episode:

It's like I'm not even looking at the same show, WTF Toei?? Like I can't even say they copy and pasted the cels over different backgrounds, oh no. LOOK at this, each cel is painted totally differently to match the previous background. Was this done to trick the censors? I know the BPO lost their shit over PriPara not too long after this aired, was this their way of covering up the fact that the episode opens with a 14 year old little girl inside the bedroom of a college student? Each one of these cels COST Toei some cool cash to create. Was this a peek at a dropped episode concept? We know Naoko Takeuchi had them go back and fix a few things before Act 1 ever aired, was this a remnant of that? I think we have a new Moon Mystery to solve.

Speaking of mysteries, while I don't usually bring up the Blu-Ray changes, this one caught my eye:

Mamoru actually gets taller on the Blu-Ray.

Here's another change:

So Usagi, Luna and Ami are at the arcade. Notice the giant blue box of death behind Usagi's head? I wonder what that's hiding?

Oh, nothing. Just a roulette wheel. Because you know. Gambling is what all the cool kids do at this family arcade.

More fun, look at Usagi's reflection in the watch:

The reflection has flatter Odango, just like the preliminary sketches Naoko Takeuchi drew. What a neat nod! And speaking of the manga, let's address a few MAJOR changes to today's episode.

(Credit to Miss Dream for the scans.)

Yeah, in the manga, Sailor Venus slices Zoicite to ribbons alive. He dies in a heap of body parts and then partially melts.

Also, he was supposed to stab her in the head with a rock from inside his hand, but Artemis snapped it. Another change? Tuxedo Mask is useful in today's episode while in the manga, he was stuck in a force field. Other changes include the removal of a scene with Kunzite and Zoicite talking, replacing VHS tapes with DVDs and Umino taking Ami's laptop.

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