“Sometimes girls just can't help falling in love. Even when their intuition tells them it's wrong. And they'll stand by their love, no matter how tough things get. When the girl is on the path of true love, I won't let anyone get in her way! I am Sailor Moon! And In the Name of the Moon, I'll punish you!”
— Usagi Tsukino
(DiC Episode: "A Friend In Wolf's Clothing")
The Guardians are unsure if Nephrite truly loves Naru or is just using her. They soon find their answer when Nephrite and Naru end up being targeted by youma sent by Zoisite who is after his Dark Crystal.
Tropes for this include:
- Actually Pretty Funny: Nephrite laughs when Naru asks if the Dark Kingdom gives its employees a few days off. She then joins in, admitting it sounds funny when you put it that way.
- Alien Blood: As a denizen of the Dark Kingdom, Nephrite's blood is colored green.
- And Then What?: When they have a moment to catch their breath, Nephrite ponders that he doesn't know what to do now that he's defected from the Dark Kingdom. Naru innocently suggests they can go out for parfaits since she always wanted to do that with a guy she liked.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Zoicite succeeds in assassinating Nephrite and taking the Dark Crystal.
- Big Damn Heroes: Tuxedo Mask comes to Sailor Moon's rescue when Nephrite curb-stomps her.
- Bittersweet Ending: Nephrite dies in Naru's arms, thanks to Zoisite sending three assassination youma. But he dies redeeming himself to Naru and the Senshi, proving he was capable of change and treats Sailor Moon as a Worthy Opponent. The Dark Kingdom also don't know Sailor Moon's secret identity.
- Blatant Lies: Nephrite's latest sob story involves wanting to defect from the Dark Kingdom with the intention of joining Sailor Moon and her comrades. Of course, this is just a ruse to trick Naru into contacting Sailor Moon to discover her identity.
- Bridal Carry: Naru is carried like this after Nephrite rescues her from Zoisite's minions.
- Burn Baby Burn: Nephrite unintentionally incinerates Zoisite's ransom letter.
- Death by Secret Identity: Nephrite finds out that Sailor Moon is Naru's friend Usagi and prepares to kill her. He's called away when learning Zoisite kidnapped Naru. At the end when he's dying, Nephrite promises her identity will remain a secret.
- Determinator: Naru is so driven to help Nephrite that she tries pulling out a bundle of thorns lodged into his chest. Even though she doesn't succeed, she gets points from making them budge.
- Doom Magnet: This episode confirms via Nephrite that it's Naru's friendship with Usagi that makes the latter a constant target for the Dark Kingdom.
- Downer Beginning: The first scene features Naru sulking over her doomed love situation as Usagi fails to change her mind.
- Everybody Cries: The Senshi and Naru are in tears as Nephrite dies in front of them, and fades from existence.
- Foreshadowing: Nephrite ponders to himself if the Silver Crystal could be hidden inside the body of a human.
- From Dress to Dressing: Naru tears a strip from her shirt as a makeshift bandage when Nephrite suffers a cut on his arm.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Nephrite lies to Naru claiming that he's fallen in love with her and wants to betray the Dark Kingdom by joining the Guardians. His story is overheard by Zoisite and his minions who decide to kill him because of his false defection.
- Hope Spot:
- Nephrite defeats Zoisite's youma and carries away Naru, with only a scratch on his arm. Just as they take a few moments to catch their breath, the youma track them down and ambush Nephrite.
- There's a moment where the youma tell Naru there's no way she can remove the barbs. Naru then starts dislodging one, to their shock. The youma go Combat Pragmatist and blast them again, leaving Naru too weak to try again.
- The Senshi arrive and defeat the youma in a matter of minutes. They then realize Nephrite is badly injured, and go to him.
- As Nephrite is dying, Molly in the DiC dub tells him to hang on, they just need to get a doctor. Even if him surviving that long is slim, Then he starts fading, with his body disappearing. Molly understandably sobs even louder.
- I Have Your Wife: Zoicite instructs his youma to kidnap Naru in order to force Nephrite to surrender.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: The youma impale Nephrite with a chest-full of barbed thorns. (This was not cut from the DiC dub.) Naru tries to dislodge them.
- In the Name of the Moon: Sailor Mercury and Mars unveil their personalized battle phrases to the youma trio.Sailor Mercury: In the Name of Mercury, douse yourself in water and repent!Sailor Mars: In the Name of Mars, I'll chastise you!
- It Has Been an Honor: Nephrite's last words are a thank you to Naru for being part of his life.
- Love Martyr: Even after admitting to have lied to her before and may continue to do so, Naru proclaims that she'll still love Nephrite.
- Mood Whiplash: The scene where Nephrite rescues Naru is sweet, as well as when they hide out in the park. All the good feelings go away when youma show up and impale Nephrite.
- Nothing Is the Same Anymore: Nephrite, The successor to his predecessor Jadeite, is killed off and two Generals are left. Zoisite takes over as the villain.
- Not So Stoic: Despite his professional appearance, Nephrite does a sweat drop gag after Sailor Moon pathetically begs him not to reveal her identity. Later throughout the episode, he'd express a variety of emotions as he tries to protect Naru.
- Plant Mooks: Zoisite's youma are modeled after plant-life.
- Roaring Rampage of Rescue: Nephrite ends up doing this when he learns about Naru's kidnapping.
- Say My Name: Naru cries out the name of the man she loved when he disappears into nothingness.
- That Man Is Dead: Nephrite confesses to Naru that Masato Sanjoin doesn't exist.
- This Cannot Be!: The youma freak out when Naru slowly budges the thorns right after they said there was no way a human would be strong enough to move them.
- Tonight, Someone Dies: Nephrite, the second of the Beryl's Generals, is dead.
- Tragic Keepsake: The makeshift wrapping on Nephrite's arm becomes this to Naru after his passing.
- What Is This Feeling?: Nephrite's first scene has him pondering the new emotions he's feeling and why they relate to Naru.
- Wrong Assumption: Usagi believes that a monster is behind the world shifting around her when in truth it was Nephrite who tricked her into transforming.
