“Whether it's Einstein, Hawking, or Newton, gifted minds are here to better mankind. I won't allow them to fall into the hands of evil! I am Sailor Moon! And In the Name of the Moon, I'll punish you!”
— Usagi Tsukino
(DiC Episode: "Computer School Blues")
After Usagi returns home with more bad grades, a girl with a genius IQ named Ami Mizuno befriends her. Luna suspects she may be a demon, however, and orders Usagi to investigate her new friend and the conveniently new cram school she goes to.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Adaptational Dumbass: Luna is hit with this, and she admits it. In the manga, she sensed that Ami had a surge of power but was more concerned about her being brainwashed by the youma than thinking she was the enemy. Here, she suspects Ami just based on what her computer tells her, and tells Usagi to be wary. Luna apologizes to Ami at the end of the episode for misjudging her.
- Adaptational Jerkass: The DiC dub has Serena's friends gossiping about Amy apparently leaving some prestigious school called "Brighton Academy," and refer to her as "A brain farm reject."
- Adaptational Nice Guy: In the DiC dub, Melvin warns Amy about the way the others were badmouthing her.
- Bait-and-Switch: The computer tells Luna that Ami has an unusual surge of energy. It may indicate she's not human and is actually a youma. This ends up not being the case; the real youma is her cram school instructor.
- Big Damn Heroes: Before the crowd of brainwashed cram students can attack Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury releases her Shabon Spray which causes a fog that neutralizes the zombies. It also confuses Garoben, and she winds up getting her axe-arm stuck in a computer after Mercury's image appears on it.
- Blades Below The Shoulder: Garoben is capable of turning her arm into an axe, which she uses to attack.
- Body Horror: As just mentioned, Garoben's ability to turn the tissue of her arm into an axe.
- Bubble Gun: The first appearance of "Bubble Spray", Sailor Mercury's signature move. Which doesn't do any damage, but fogs and chills the opponent.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Usagi correctly pointed out that Luna was making assumptions about Ami, which get proven true when Garoben reveals her real form and they find out Ami's Sailor Mercury.
- Dub Name Change:
- Ami's name is basically unchanged with a slight change of spelling to "Amy", but her last name was changed from "Mizuno" to "Anderson".
- Sailor Mercury's attack "Shabon Spray" is "Mercury Bubbles Blast" in the DiC episode.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Discussed light-heartedly. Both Jadeite and Queen Beryl discuss how human parents go to the extremes to push their children to receive the best education. Beryl even comments that the parents are harder on their kids compared to how her own monsters normally act.
- Failed a Spot Check: Usagi and Luna discuss the Crystal Disk in front of the cram seminar building, not realizing that Mamoru was only a few feet away from them.
- Foregone Conclusion: Even though the episode's title questions if Ami is a youma in disguise, the opening narration shows clips of her alongside the Monster of the Week. It doesn’t, however, reveal that she’s Sailor Mercury, though this has already been shown in the opening sequence.
- Heroic Willpower: Despite being put in a painful hold and used as a Human Shield, Ami resists the youma's attempts to drain her energy, and it gets so frustrated that it tosses her to the ground and threatens to slice her in two.
- Human Shield: When Sailor Moon appears, the real youma grabs Ami, Hand Gagging her, and holds her in a tight grip. Sailor Moon goes Oh, Crap! because she realizes Ami was an innocent person, and she can't attack without hurting the other girl. The youma takes the opportunity to use other attacks on the Senshi before attempting to drain Ami of her energy in turn.
- Instant Expert: Despite having never played a video game before, Ami gains an impressive high score during her first playthrough of the Sailor V game.
- Lame Excuse: In the DiC dub, Serena gives a sob story about how comic books are a much needed escape she needs from the pressures of grading and difficult schoolwork, saying how much harder she has it compared to when Ikuko was a kid. Ikuko doesn't fall for it, claiming she also used that excuse on her own parents.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Ami is a dedicated genius and she can afford to go to an expensive cram school because her mother is a doctor. But before Usagi came into her life, she was a loner.
- Mission Control: Luna sneaks into Game Center Crown and uses one of the Sailor V consoles to talk with someone about her mission.
- Monster of the Week: Today's monster is Garoben, who disguises herself as the cram school instructor. She attacks with sharp paper and can turn her arm into an axe.
- New Transfer Student: The DiC dub made Amy a new student at Crossroads Junior High; originally Ami had already been attending Juuban Middle School but just wasn't in Usagi's class.
- Not So Above It All: This is one of the rare times where Luna proves she's just as capable of making mistakes as Usagi, after all her time worrying that Ami was part of the Dark Kingdom blinded them to the actual villain. The DiC dub even has Serena profess that Luna's being too paranoid.Serena (holding Amy's computer disk): Oh yeah, she's an international spy and here are all her secrets. Luna, I think you're going totally wacko on me.
- Paper Master: Garoben attacks Sailor Moon with razor-sharp test papers.
- Pragmatic Adaptation: The DiC dub cuts out Amy condemning the use of Garoben's disk for studying, replacing it with her telling the monster she won't submit to their brainwashing as Garoben holds her head against the computer screen.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: Ami condemns the usage of the disk for studying as she believes that it's cheating compared to the old fashioned methods. While she was right not to use the disk as it ended up being a Dark Kingdom plot, it does feel unfair to chastise accessible technology that can be used to help students with improving their education.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Garoben's fangs, dark hair, crimson skin, and black clothes is not exactly subtle. She isn't going to win many friends with that horrible axe-arm of hers either.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Luna learns from Mission Control that there is something special about Ami. Luna suspects Ami being an agent of the Dark Kingdom. While this turns out to not be true, Ami is very much special. She is Sailor Mercury. The Cram School Instructor, who is never once suspected, is the one revealed to be the Youma in disguise. Lampshaded in the DiC version:Sailor Moon: This means that Amy wasn't working for the Negaverse! So now what do I do, Felinestein?Luna: Wing it?
- Shout-Out: In the Viz Dub, Umino exclaims that Ami's IQ is estimated to be OVER 9000!!
- Take That!: The first scene involves the villains taking jabs at Education Parents who push their children to be the very best at their studies regardless of how hard they're being. And when Beryl asks what happens to the kids after graduating from the top-rated university, not even Jadeite knows if their efforts made a difference.
- Villain Opening Scene: The story starts with Jadeite conversing with Queen Beryl about human youth becoming miserable because of their studies.
- Villainous Valor: A tiny one; the Garoben asks Usagi about the principles of gravity. When Sailor Moon refuses to answer, Garoben sends paper to attack her. Luna answering the question correctly leads to the stopped attack. Averted in the DiC dub where she just stops the attack for no reason.
- Wham Shot: The youma holds Ami, and sees her forehead glowing with a symbol. Luna gets a "Eureka!" Moment that Ami is Sailor Mercury.
- Wheel o' Feet: Usagi summons this ability after Mamoru catches her talking to Luna.
- Where Did We Go Wrong?: Ikuko actually says it word for word in the DiC dub when she tells Serena that they're worried she might genuinely flunk out of school if her grades don't improve.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Usagi calls out Luna for making them both believe Ami was working for the Dark Kingdom when it turned out the instructor was the villain.
- Witch with a Capital "B": In the DiC dub, Amy called the youma a "slimy old witch."
Today on Sailor Moon, there's a new danger. Could the smartest girl in school actually be an alien of the Negaverse? Well, okay! This is not one of my golden moments! What's a girl to do when faced with a scythe-handed monster?! When Sailor Moon comes back, I'll show you!
