Episode 31
Sailor Moon
A Reluctant Princess
Jap.35 "Returning Memories! Usagi and Mamoru's Past."
The Moon Princess has been revealed! It's been Sailor Moon all along!
Sailor Mars, Mercury, Venus and Jupiter all stand in awe as Sailor Moon transforms into her Moon Princess form and nurses the fallen Tuxedo Mask. Luna walks up to them as her crescent moon symbol begins to glow causing her and Sailor Moon to remember a part of their past.
Suddenly, Zoicite attacks them all but the Moon Princess simply holds aloft her Moon Wand and summons a powerful energy blast with the words, Cosmic Moon Power which hits Zoicite and blasts her off her feet.
The Moon Princess doesn't seem to give this a second thought and continues to remember her time on the Moon in her past life where she was called Princess Serena and Darien was the prince of the Earth. They all lived in happiness until Queen Beryl attacked and they were killed in their attack on the Moon.
As the memory finishes, the Moon Princess transforms back into Sailor Moon and passes out. The Inner Scouts run up to her in a panic but are relieved to see that she has only fainted.
Before they can do anything else, Malakite appears and helps support the hurt Zoicite. He fires a blast of energy at the group which distracts them long enough to teleport Tuxedo Mask and themselves away. Sailor Mars looks worried and wonders where they've taken him.
In Queen Beryl's thrown room, Beryl confronts Zoicite who had obviously gone against her orders not to harm Tuxedo Mask. Zoicite tries to defend herself and explains that him being hurt was an accident but Beryl doesn't buy it and blasts her with a powerful bolt of pink energy.
Beryl then leaves to be with Tuxedo Mask and ask the powerful Negaforce to brainwash Tuxedo Mask into being on their side.
Elsewhere, Malakite holds a dying Zoicite in his arms. Zoicite asks Malakite not to forget her and disappears into a cloud of Sakura petals. Malakite stands up, ready for revenge.
Back in the Starlight Tower, the Scouts, Luna and Artemis are trying to find their way out. Jupiter is carrying the still unconscious Sailor Moon on her back and Sailor Mercury is using her computer to calculate how to exit the warped space they seem to be in.
Jupiter tells Mercury that she better find a way out soon because Serena "may be a princess but she isn't light!". Sailor Moon who had just started to wake up tells Jupiter that she heard what she said as all the Scouts gather around her.
Luna and Artemis tell them all that before they go any further they should know about their past which Luna and Artemis are just beginning to remember at this very moment. They explain how Serena was the Princess of the Moon and Darien the Prince of the Earth but also that the other Scouts were princesses of their own respective planets.
Sailor Moon gets frustrated and tells them that she doesn't want any of this. She doesn't want to be Sailor Moon or the Moon Princess. She just wants to be Serena! The all try to comfort her and tell her that when this is all over they'll all go get some ice cream or something.
All of a sudden, Malakite appears and demands that they hand over the Silver Crystal. Everyone, of course refuses and Sailor Venus and Jupiter step forward to defend their newly discovered princess and crystal.
Sailor Jupiter fires a blast of Jupiter Thunder Crash which seems to have no effect at all. Sailor Venus follows up with a powerful Venus Crescent Beam Smash attack but Malakite absorbs this one too and fires both of the attacks back at Venus and Jupiter, shocking them and knocking them out.
Sailor Mars then steps forward and attacks Malakite with a Mars Fire Ignite. Malakite simply laughs at her attempt to defeat him and fires her attack back at her, knocking her out as well.
Malakite tells Sailor Mercury to step aside but she refuses and is blasted against Sailor Moon while trying to protect her. Sailor Moon panics but hears all of her friend's voices cheering her on and even senses Tuxedo Mask asking her to set him free again.
Sailor Moon stands up, raises the Moon Wand and with all her might and for the sake of her entire universe she summons the power of Cosmic Moon Power and defeats Malakite (though not destroying him) and completely disrupts the negaenergy surrounding the Starlight Tower, freeing them all.
Later, as the Sailor Scouts look at the rising sun, Sailor Moon tells them that she will free Tuxedo Mask. No matter what.
Interesting Facts
 First time (and second time) use of the powerful Cosmic Moon Power attack which doesn't have an animated sequence making it one of the few attacks in the anime series that is done in real time.
 This episode was the first appearance of Queen Serenity in the original Japanese version of the show, but due to episode one in the English dub featuring clips from a later flashback featuring the Queen, this episode is the second appearance of the character.
 In the original Japanese anime, Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's past live personas were Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion (after the Greek legends). These were changed in the first two seasons of the English dub to Princess Serena and Prince Darien probably to make it less confusing to new viewers. When the Sailor Moon R movie was made though, they reverted back to the Japanese titles of Serenity and Endymion as did the other two movies and the following third and fourth seasons, Sailor Moon S and SuperS.
If you're after a canon explanation, one could assume that Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask's memories of their past lives in the first two seasons weren't complete and by the time the R movie and S season happened they had remembered everything, including their real past life names.
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