“You're kidding! A seminar on how to become a princess? It sounds like it was made for me! They teach you about fine conversations, and dignified manners, and in the end, there's even a grand ball! But wouldn't you know it? There's evil lurking in the pretty flower garden! In the Name of all the elegant young ladies, I shall punish you!”
— Usagi Tsukino
(DiC Episode: "Little Miss Manners")
Inspired by a new program that teaches young girls to become proper princesses, Usagi signs herself up to better train herself in becoming a true Moon Princess. Little does she know that it's another plot by Kunzite to discover her secret identity.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Actually a Good Idea: Minako and Rei admit that Shakoukai's plan of identifying Sailor Moon by seeing which girl spectacularly failed the Princess Seminar is an impressive plan.
- Badass in Distress: Both Makoto and Ami are turned to wax by Shakoukai before they can transform.
- Be Yourself: Minako openly questions why Usagi needs to change herself just to be a better princess when she's fine the way she is.
- Book Ends: The episode starts and ends with Usagi running late to school while munching on a piece of toast.
- Both Sides Have a Point: Kunzite and Endymion's conflicting orders boil down to two separate but equally important goals of the Dark Kingdom: kill the leader of the opposition and claim the Silver Crystal. Luckily for said leader, neither side is willing to budge and get too caught up in arguing, which gives her an opening to purify the confused Shakoukai.
- Dub Name Change: The DIC dub rechristens Rose’s transformed state “Polite Society”.
- Failure Montage: Usagi fails the courses of the Princess Seminar which include fine dining, holding proper conversations and performing the dance of aristocracy, the dance of royalty
. - Five-Second Foreshadowing: Makoto and Ami notice that the graduation room is filled with wax dolls of terrified girls. Countess Rose appears to tell them that this is what she intends to do to them.
- Genre Savvy: Kunzite devised his Princess Seminar scheme by taking into account Sailor Moon's one strength (her being good at frisbee tossing) and her many weaknesses (being clumsy, uncouth and incompetent). He even claims that she would fall for this trap despite her experience.
- Get Out!: Miss Haruna orders Usagi to leave her class for the crimes of sleeping in class and not doing her homework again.
- Hidden Depths: Ami and Makoto prove surprisingly adept at formal dancing.
- I Work Alone: Endymion initially refuses to work with Kunzite claiming that he works better alone. The same applies for Kunzite.
- I'm Standing Right Here: Usagi is actually standing in-between Rei and Minako when they admit this plot was Actually a Good Idea, and she is livid to hear it.
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Thanks to Kunzite and Endymion fighting over what Shakoukai should do to Sailor Moon, the youma is confused and frustrated over whose orders she should follow. During her confusion, Sailor Moon takes the opportunity to purify her.
- Princesses Prefer Pink: The princesses attending the seminar wear pink dresses as their uniforms.
- Proper Lady: The Princess Seminar is a training program that teaches teenage girls how to behave like proper princesses. Countess Rose, the head of the program, is a proper lady herself.
- Properly Paranoid: Countess Rose has the girls who are supposedly graduating go into an adjoining room full of supposed statues. Ami and Makoto find this all very unsettling right before Countess Rose reveals these statues are transformed women.
- The Reveal: Artemis is revealed to have been Mission Control all along.
- Sadistic Choice: Endymion promises to spare Sailor Moon's life if she surrenders the Silver Crystal.
- Secret Test of Character: Countess Rose allows Usagi to attend her program on the condition that she succeed at the frisbee toss. Succeeding at the toss would identify her as Sailor Moon because it correlates with Moon Tiara Action. That and by sucking at all the other courses would determine her true identity as the Pretty Guardian.
- Skewed Priorities: Motivated by her daydream, Usagi hopes to be a true princess so she can dance with Tuxedo Mask.
- Spanner in the Works: The girls decide to join Usagi as she's attending the Princess Seminar. While two of them end up incapacitated by the youma's wax, Minako and Rei manage to escape such a cursed fate and provide backup for Sailor Moon. The two's presence and flunking out also provides unintended confusion for the villains, as (rather than finally narrowing down Sailor Moon's civilian identity to one person) there are still others around muddying the waters.
- Sucks at Dancing: It was expected that Usagi would fail at formal dancing, but Rei is too forceful with her partner, while Minako has no sense of rhythm. Also, all three end up stomping on their partners' feet.
- Villainous Rescue: Endymion ends up doing this by ordering Sailor Moon to give up the crystal if she wants to live. This goes against Kunzite's desire to outright kill the girl which leads to the two men bickering among each other while giving Moon the chance to destroy the Shakoukai.
- Wax Museum Morgue: Shakoukai's attack allows her to douse people with a liquid that entraps them in wax. She's done this to the countless girls who attended her seminar and placed them all in an empty room of the manor.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Luna is not amused to learn that Artemis was the one behind the arcade game and ordered her around for 36 episodes.
- Would Hurt a Child: Queen Beryl orders her minions to bring her Sailor Moon's corpse by any means necessary.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Usagi succeeds in making it to school on time. But then Naru rains on her parade by reminding her of all the homework assignments she didn't finish.
- You Never Asked: Luna never knew that Artemis was Mission Control because she never asked him directly.
