Episode 45
Sailor Moon R
Cherry Blossom Time
Jap.51 "Renewed Transformation! Usagi's Power Up"
Anne and Alan are discussing the flowering cherry blossoms in Tokyo and how every year, hundreds of people gather to watch them. They then begin to remember how the Doom Tree used to blossom in a similar way when it was healthy but now it is almost completely barren.
 Later that day, Miss Haruna has taken her class as well as Lita, Mina and Raye to a park to watch the Cherry Blossoms as a kind of school escursion. They find Melvin who had camped out overnight to save them all a spot and tells them that he did it all for Molly.
Lita and Mina then notice Alan who is watching Serena from afar and comment on how hot he is. Serena tells them that he's seen him following her everywhere and is beginning to think that he's stalking her.
 Alan tells himself how beautiful Serena is. Anne who had just appeared next to him and heard what he said demands to know what he means by that. Alan covers by saying he was talking about the cherry blossoms. They then both decide to start gathering energy and Anne selects a new, cherry blossom themed Cardian.
Elsewhere in the park, Melvin tells Molly that he thinks she's the most beautiful girl in the whole school. She rejects him at first but then begins to blush and tells him that it's okay as long as he doesn't tell anyone else. Suddenly the Cardian appears and drains both of their energy and a super powerful energy field.
 Unfortunately, Miss Haruna comes looking for them is in turn attacked by the Cardian.
Later on, Serena, Luna and Artemis find Miss Haruna, Molly and Melvin in the park office being looked after by a doctor. Luna and Artemis tell Serena that the Negaverse is behind it.
Raye, Amy, Lita and Mina meanwhile have already decided to start looking for the Cardian and unfortunately find it! It attacks them all and manages to capture all four in it's cherry blossom energy fields!
 Serena arrives and transforms into Sailor Moon and attacks the Cardian with her Moon Tiara Magic attack but just like last time the tiara fails in mid-air and falls to the ground!
The Cardian then flies at Sailor Moon and grabs her. She then begins to open a portal beneath her feet and suck Sailor Moon into it! Luna runs up to her and tries to pull her out but they both get sucked into it.
As Serena and Luna float through space, Luna tells Serena that her powers haven't been working because she hasn't really been wanting to be a Sailor Scout. Serena admits to wanting to be a real girl again and the looks down at Luna who has now passed out. She thanks Luna for always being with her.
 Suddenly the scenery changes and Queen Serenity appears! She tells Serena how proud she is and show her the Imperium Silver Crystal which has been re-energised due to her wish to save her friends. The crystal floats into her Moon Compact which transforms into a new powered up one.
Queen Serenity tells Serena to yell out "Moon Crystal Power" to transform. Serena thanks her and yells out her new transformation phrase which triggers a brand new transformation!
Back in the park, the vortex reopens and Sailor Moon and Luna both emerge out of it. Artemis is glad to see them both and Luna jokes that he never believes in them. The Cardian attacks them once more but they're saved by the Moonlight Knight who tells them about how cherry blossoms are a delicate beauty in the moonlight but that beauty camouflages a powerful strength.
 Queen Serenity then appears in front of the Moon and sends Sailor Moon the Moon Sceptre to help her in her quest. Sailor Moon thanks her then performs the new powerful Moon Sceptre Elimination which destroys the Cardian.
All the girls run up to her and thank her though Raye makes a comment about her taking a long enough time to do it. Serena and Raye then have a short fight but Serena stops, looks up at the Moon and thanks Queen Serenity for helping her save her friends.
 Monster of the Day
The powerful cherry blossom Cardian, Racy featured numerous abilities in this episode such as the ability to disguise itself as a cherry blossom tree, transforms it's arms into cherry blossom branches, capture people in energy fields as well as create a vortex to another dimension.
It was the first Cardian to be defeated by Sailor Moon's Moon Sceptre Elimination.
Interesting Facts
 Sailor Moon got her new Moon Sceptre Elimination in this episode.
 Melvin camping out overnight to get a prime position for cherry blossom viewing (also called "Hanami" in Japanese) is actually very common in Japan. Sometimes friends do it for other friends. Something managers will actually tell employees to do so for their company's picnic the next day. Using a blue plastic sheet as seen in this episode is also very common as most parks in Japan don't have grass to sit on and have compact dirt or pavement instead.
Cherry blossom trees (called "sakura" in Japanese) don't actually grow cherries but are named so because of the blossoms' resemblance to cherries which grow on stems and normally in groups of two or three.
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