Hello my moonie scouts, here we are again counting down to our most beloved of episodes of Sailor Moon! There are actually quite a lot of episodes, so there was definitely plenty to love, so please remember this is only pure opinion. We are going to be viewing the basic building blocks on what makes each adventure hit their spot on the count down from tragic love stories(which this whole story pretty much is with a mix of power rangers) to villains turning good and good characters turning evil. There is plenty of brainwashing and betrayal and don't forget the much-loved backstabbing. What made Sailor Moon ahead of its time, was the questionable sexual orientation of some characters and on some level, too much mature content when it comes to, relationship statues or even how a teenage girl would conduct herself. Like Sailor Mars not really being boy crazy and Sailor Venus dating an older guy. Stuck in a battle of push and pull the live-action, anime, and the manga are all similar, and sometimes hold some great
What can be dishearting when you watch pieces of the story, Sailor Moon Crystal was a reboot of the Sailor moon story only based on the manga design. There were probably more than a handful of episodes that were either changed or left out. some were subtle changes and others cut out whole seasons almost, who knows maybe they were trying the abridged version. In the long run, is it really the wrong version or not? Not at all, just more surprises later.
10) "The Rod of Love is born, Usagi's new transformation
If we have made it this far, then we know that Sailor Moon is a character we have seen grow from a very young age to saving the world and bringing about the 30th century. She did it with the power of love; when she thought she couldn't go on anymore, she did it. When she felt the world was ending and nothing would budge, she would listen to her family and stand up and never give up. That brings me to the Rod of love or the Sprial heart rod, which is literally the product of love like their love was an entity and made a rod to defeat evil. When Usagi thought she had lost her powers and all hope, witnessing a defensive person fight for their lives. She mustered up all she could with no magic and charged right into battle, jump-starting her magic, so to speak, which we know now is more of an upgrade from her Moon Cosmic Magic.
What Makes "The Rod of Love is Born, Usagi's New transformation" the best episode
It is about pure courage, every so often we get to witness Usagi show no fear without powers, even though we know she is one to run away at first.
I love the simple life feel of this episode, where it starts as Usagi turning into a cat lady to help people about a lesson of never giving up and showing on fear.
These are all gifts in the Manga.
9) "True Love Awakens: The Makaiju's Tree Secret"
Makai Tree arc of the 2nd season, roughly the final episodes depending on what you are reading or watching. In this episode, the pun Ail and An are out searching for the prevalent life energy. After coming in contact with the Sailor Senshi, they soon find out Sailor Moon's identity, but not before Ail fell for Usagi and An fell for Mamoru. While Sailor moon attempts to save Mamoru, Ail and An soon start to realize what they were doing is wrong, but it came at the price of An's life. The tree they tried so hard to save had taken An's life to show them it was never evil and only wanted love. After healing An, they all left Earth with new goals in mind for romance. The happenings almost embody "never judge a book by its cover" while also teaching us yet again the power of love is more potent and will always prevail. The name pun is cute and adds to the structure of the characters, even though they are short-lived characters, they have such a lasting impression, enough to base another alien from them.
What makes "True Love Awakens: The Makaiju's Tree Secret" the best episode?
The tree's name, when dubbed in English, became "Tree of Doom."
For whatever reason, the English dub had cut out that the tree had tried to talk to them initially and tried telling them that it was friendly from the beginning.
An is probably one of the few characters who was utterly revitalized. Most other characters were a Sailor Guardian in some way, were Ail and An were just Aliens from outer space.
8)" A Bright Shooting Star! Sailor Saturn and the Messiah" and Act 38
This is a pretty fantastic occasion because we finally get to introduce Sailor Saturn, even if everyone is a little freaked out by her. After Sailor moon plunges into Pharaoh 90 to try and destroy him from the inside, Sailor Saturn is awakened and ready to swing her Silence Glaive right before Sailor moon awakens inside of him turning into Super Sailor Moon and activating the Holy Grail. As Pharaoh 90 continues to grow weaker, Sailor Saturn orders Pluto to use her powers to close the time-space between both worlds and hurl Pharaoh 90 back home. Super Sailor Moon moon then heals the planet, an nd Sailor Saturn or Hotaru is reborn in the process. Besides all the emotional baggage these circumstances bring to the table, we get to meet new characters for only a brief moment and the tease that we will see them again. Againgain our favorite characters are aloof, taking baby Hotaru and leaving.
What makes "A Bright Shooting Star! Sailor Saturn and the Messiah" and Act 38 the best episode?
In the Manga, we get a glimpse of Pegasus during the New moon experience.
Sailor Moon Eternal(Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Cyrstal Season IV: Eternal the Movie) is basically the Dream arc of the Sailor Moon manga.
Even if we didn't get much time with our Sailor Saturn, it is nice to know that sometime in the future, we will see her again.
7) "Usagi's Panic: Rei's First date"
This "interlude" is charming, and honestly, I really wanted to add it because I really wanted to lighten up the list with some fun as well as shed some light on Rei's and Usagi's relationship. In this episode, Rei goes on a date with her college crush, Momaru, even though Usagi doesn't out-right tell Rei she is going to keep a close eye on the whole date. What sparked this was the girls walking by the park that was going to be demolition. The caretaker takes these actions especially hard and begins harboring evil intent that Nephrite uses for his own fair gain. With Sailor Mercury, Sailor Moon, Sailor Mars, Luna, and Mamoru are all congregated in the same park where saving the caretaker and the park becomes a priority.
What makes "Usagi's Panic: Rei's First date" the best episode?
None of these events happen in the Manga. I broke my streak to add this in because it added more humor and depth to the characters and those what-if questions. Who says you will always fall back in love with the same person many times over, right?
Rei really hates men and harbors some severe problems towards them because of her father, so she never had a boy crazy phase.
Rei is an earnest character in the Manga and seems very close to Sailor Moon-like, a significant sister figure.
Mamoru is confirmed in the Manga to be 16 when he first meets Usagi, while she is 14.
Even though these events are not true to the same timeline, I cannot help but think we get to see some outstanding action from Sailor Mercury, standing up for something she loves, and show she is not all weak like most say.
6) "The Final Battle Between Light and Dark: Pledge of Love for the Future"
This episode is pretty heartfelt and on the brink of tears as we witness Death Phantom prepared to shoot massive amounts of power through Black Lady. Mamoru takes the blast for Black Lady, but that doesn't stop her as she continues to go after the girls. Sailor Moon decides to use her Silver Moon crystal, which then awakens Neo Queen Serenity, aka Sailor Moon. Black lady has a rush of memories overwhelm her that starts to break the hold on Black Lady, Wiseman then corrupting the mind and sending her on her rampage again. Neo Queen Serenity fights with her memories, and in the end, Chibiusa turns back. All before it is too late. Before the new Queen Serenity can use her Silver Crystal, Chibiusa starts to feel the weight of her decisions, and cries her Silver Crystal; together they defeat Death Phantom. It is a great battle in both versions. I couldn't say which I like better, but because this is taking a little girl's feelings way out of hand well..they almost ended the world.
What makes "The Final Battle Between Light and Dark: Pledge of Love for the Future" the best episode?
Black Lady reverts back to Chibiusa after seeing the death of Sailor Pluto after the Sailor Garaudians stopped time.
In the Manga, this is more of a family matter where the result of this is the Cutie Moon Rod destroying Death Phantom.
We get to see Chibiusa return to the present day to train as a Sailor Guardian.
5) "Disappearing Stars! The End of Uranus and Neptune"
As we come to the end of the series, we start to lose a lot of characters in some form. What makes this so heartbreaking is in order for them to fulfill their duty, they have to die, again. In an attempt to overthrow Galaxia, Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus try to use their new powers against her in the last minutes. Sadly, she absorbs the attacks and sends them back. As they slowly start to fade away, they reach for the hands of each other, they tell the Sailor Starlights to protect the Princess and tell each other their last good-byes. This is such a crying moment after they were saying so many mean things to each other, their final moments were thick with such sadness. This was such a climaxing moment in the story, and we knew so very little about our main characters who died.
What makes "Disappearing Stars! The End of Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus" the best episode?
In the Manga, everyone except Sailor Moon was turned evil.
Eternal Sailor Moon defeats everyone by destroying the bracelets, leaving their Sailor Crystals intact.
Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus never plotted against Sailor Galaxia.
Sailor Chibi Moon and the Sailor Quartet were present.
4) "Naru's Tears: Nephrite Dies for Love"
Nephrite got too close to a subject named Naru, one of Usagi's friends. He poses as a teacher hoping to learn the identity of Sailor Moon, not realizing that the dark crystal he was using was reacting purely from Naru's love for him, not realizing exactly how close he really was too. All turns bad when he tries to explain to Naru he wants to become good, Zoisite not knowing the whole story and probably not caring is set to ambush him when Nephrite meets Naru, all so he can get his hands on the Black Crystal to find the Silver Crystal. After being ambushed and saving Naru's life, Nephrite begins to die and fade away; she holds him during this time, talking as if nothing had changed. For a moment you probably pull for him to pull through, the whole scene is just gut-wrenching that you forget this guy is like hundreds of years old, she is 14 and, she loves him, but knows nothing about him—such romance.
What makes "Naru's Tears: Nephrite Dies for Love" the best episode?
In the Manga, Nephrite meets his end at the newly awakened Sailor Jupiter, and Zoisite is greatly troubled about it.
The love affair between Naru and Nephrite does not exist in the Manga.
Even if it never actually happened, the love affair and backstabbing really added sweet fluff to the story but, I just don't understand why?
3)" Usagi's Awakening: A Message from the Distant Past"
Getting a chance to see the store unfold is one thing, but when we finally get to see the whole thing unfold and the action and understand, this right here is why characters keep getting reincarnated. What's more is that Queen Serenity, Sailor moon's moon mother, sent everyone to Earth, so if this story could go on, it most certainly could. Here all our questions are answered, we also get a little in-depth know that a mother had to send her daughter and everyone she has ever known away so they could hopefully live a better life, because of one women's jealousy. What is nice is that we keep seeing little holograms of the Quee, leaving messages for Usagi, so we know that the Queen only ever wanted her daughter to be, at whatever the cost.
What makes "Usagi's Awakening: A Message From the Distant Past" the best episode?
The English version made it just a little soft; Kunzite was killed by the Inner Sailor Guardians.
The Sailor Senshi actually went to the Moon Kingdom themselves without bread crumbs.
A gem was released from Kunzite's body when he died and returned to Queen Beryl.
2) "Act 12 Enemy- Queen Metalia"
This is a great moment in the Manga, in history, and it was taken entirely out! In the Manga, Queen Beryl explains that Tuxedo mask is no longer the man they knew, and was now an agent for the Dark Kingdom. Before things get underway, Mercury teleports the troupe to a more safe place to do battle, as it unfolds Beryl begins with trying to strangle Sailor Moon. Sailor Venus calls upon the Legendary Sword and allows Jupiter to use it first to free Sailor Moon. Sailor Venus then summons the power of the sword and impales Queen Beryl. After losing consciousness, Endymion drags Queen Beryl into a portal, which leads to the Dark Kingdom's base, D point in the North pole. Once they reach there, they realize they need the whole Silver Crystal to seal Metalia, which means Sailor Moon as to kill her prince. Seeing as this is too much for her to handle, the Silver Crystal reacts, slashing his chest open as she places a kiss on his lips and shortly after kills herself. Is that not some Romeo and Juliet at its finest. Not only does this experience reveal that Venus has some serious power in her, Usagi always wants to find a way around putting her friend's lives on the line, and we need to get Prince Endymion a foil hat. No, really, if this is not some serious girl power at its finest, I couldn't tell you what it would be.
What makes " Act 12 the Enemy: Queen Metalia" the best episode?
After many failed attempts of capturing energy, Queen Beryl gets her hands on Tuxedo Mask. Brainwashing him to work for her, after finding out he is the reincarnation of Prince Endymion; he is order not to be harmed, till Zoisite takes a shot at him and ends up dead.
After reaching the North pole and everyone dying except Sailor Moon to defeat the D girls, she uses the power of her Silver Crystal to defeat both women and make one final wish; to set every back to the way it was.
Her anime counterpart lacks the tragic love story to tie everything in from when she first killed them during the silver millennium.
Of Course, this made it higher on the list because this is a big difference between a small translation or two, they completely took Sailor Venus out of the hero spot. In some cases, people could go either way I am questionable, and not happy about it.
1) "Usagi's Love: The Moonlight Illuminates the Galaxy"
I know right, who puts the last episode as number one. We already know that she becomes a great queen because we just witnessed all the things she did to make that happen and then some. Usagi has come so far from the middle school tween we started to know and love. She may stutter sometimes when it comes to a fight, but she has learned never to stay down and, at times, to never run away. In the manga version, it is a little more cutthroat where Galaxia perishes not possessed by Chaos at the time, and Sailor Chibi Chibi was not Galaxia's seed star, the sword, or even dead. She was Sailor Cosmos, just another past version of Usagi. And in the end, Sailor Eternal Sailor Moon defeats Chaos(itself) herself using Silver Moon Crystal Eternal Power, then laying the path to the future. Wow, you go, girl.
What makes Usagi's Love: The Moonlight Illuminates The Galaxy
Chaos reveals her past enemies(Queen Metalia, Death Phantom, Pharaoh 90, and Nehellenia) were previous incarnations searching for the Silver Moon Crystal.
Officially gets married and becomes pregnant with Chibiusa.
Sailor Ceres, Juno, Vesta, and Sailor Pallas were present at the showdown with Chibi Moon, Future quartet of soldiers.
It is hinted that the Sailor Senshi would probably still come back if they were to die again.
Also be sure to read:
- [Top 10] Sailor Moon Best Episodes
- [Top 10] Sailor Moon Best Moments
- [Top 10] Sailor Moon Best Characters
- [Top 15] Sailor Moon Best Outfits
- [Top 15] Best Sailor Moon Art
[Top 10] Best Horror Anime with Female Leads
