A hero is someone who has given their own life to something bigger than oneself.
“Hi! I'm Usagi Tsukino and I'm fourteen years old! Up until now, my life has been happy and pretty peaceful-Ahh! What is that?! A strange looking monster?! This has gotta be a dream. I mean a nightmare! What? Transform? Into what? Who, Sailor Moon? I don't get any of this! What in the world is going on here?!”
— Usagi Tsukino
(DiC Episode: "The Return Of Sailor Moon")
Two months since the demise of the Dark Kingdom, Usagi and her former friends have been enjoying their peaceful, ordinary lives. Then, everything changed when two visitors from outer space begin to attack random people for their energy. To stop this new threat, Luna has no choice but interfere with Usagi's wish and return her memories as the pretty soldier.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Accidental Pervert: Luna accuses Artemis of being a pervert when he suggests they settle down.
- And the Adventure Continues: To Usagi's lament, destiny once again calls her to be Sailor Moon in order to protect her friends from the forces of evil.
- Badass in Distress: Sailor Moon ends up having her energy drained by Vampir and would have been eaten by their Flower Mouth if Luna didn't show up.
- Bathos: After having her energy drained by Vampir who goes to hunt Artemis, Usagi calls them a "vampire dressed like a drag queen" in the Viz dub.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: The aliens are motivated to ensure the well being and health of their precious tree. Their methods of doing so, however, involve sending monsters to attack people and drain them of their energy.
- The Blue Beard: The aliens summon the Flower Cardian Vampir to hunt down romantic girls to steal their energy.
- Chick Magnet: Seijuro proves to be one of the most popular guys at Juuban Middle School.
- Coming in Hot: The Makaiju Aliens' landing ends up leaving a devastating hole that leaves the Juuban townsfolk confused over.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: Along with standing outside in the hall, Usagi also has to carry a bucket of water over her head. It's a case of Shown Their Work as some Japanese schools in the past did punish their students by making them perform such a feat.
- Crater Power: The aliens crash into an empty parking lot leaving a large hole behind.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Umino gets angry when Ail hits on Naru.
- Designated Victim: Naru is one of the first victims of Vampir. Luna even comments how "she always gets her energy drained".
- Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: In the DiC version when Usagi confronts the Monster of the Week, she says she will punish it, then wonders why what she said sounds so familiar to her.
Serena: Hey you, Ms. Flower Power! Keep your icky petals to yourself, because if you don't, I will punish you! [pauses] "Punish you"? Hey, why does that sound so familiar??
- Downer Ending: Along with the arrival of two aliens with the intentions of stealing energy from the inhabitants of Earth/Tokyo, Sailor Moon can only shed tears over having to give up her happy life to protect her world once again.
- Dramatic Irony: Umino points out that "Seijuro Ginga" sounds like a made up name only to be chastised by Usagi and Naru.
- Dub Name Change:
- The Cardian Vampir is named "Vampeal".
- The Maikaiju Tree is dubbed "The Doom Tree" or the "Tree of Life" in the DiC version.
- Ail and An are named "Alan" and "Anne" respectively.
- Exposition Beam: Luna transmits a light beam from her crescent moon to Usagi which unlocks her former memories.
- Fainting: Naru's mom does this when she finds out what the Vampir is doing.
- Fauxreigner: In the DIC dub, Alan and Anne claim to have transferred in from France.
- Flower Mouth: Vampir's flower arm can also expand into a monstrous mouth in order to eat Sailor Moon.
- Foreshadowing: Usagi's desire for a normal life will ultimately affect her powers.
- Foul Flower: Vampir has a flower theme and hunts down innocent girls to rob them of their energy.
- Gut Feeling: Luna claims to have a bad feeling just by looking at the crater.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: The aliens set up their base in an empty apartment suite called Juban Odysseia.
- Humanoid Aliens: The Makaiju aliens resemble humans only with colored hair and lime green skin.
- Hypocrite: An chastises Ail for trying to hit on one of the human girls (Usagi) only for her to end up falling in love with Mamoru.
- I Just Want to Be Normal: While getting her memories back, Usagi makes it clear she doesn't want to remember or go back to fighting monsters. The episode ends with Sailor Moon crying over losing her ordinary life.
- Innocently Insensitive: Usagi impulsively calls Makoto the "Hercules" girl who transferred to her school. Makoto is not amused with the moniker.
- It Has Only Just Begun: An taunts Sailor Moon by claiming that Vampir's attack was just a sneak peek for what's to come.
- Magical Flutist: Ail wields a magic flute that allows him to manipulate the Makaiju Tree and summon Cardians to serve him and An.
- New Transfer Student: The aliens pass themselves off as new transfer students.
- No-Sell: The cats can barely put a scratch on Vampir when they try to fight them.
- Noodle Incident: According to An, Ail has a habit of using his flute playing skills to swoon innocent maidens.
- Pilot: Despite being the first episode of the second season, DiC's dub of the episode also served as a "pilot" for their dub and premiered on Fox Kids as a "sneak peek" of the series almost two weeks before the series premiered in the US in syndication. It's notably the only episode of DiC's run to not include a "Sailor Says" segment.
- Regained Memories Sequence: Usagi gets this when her past memories of her final battle with the Dark Kingdom return to her.
- Related in the Adaptation: The DiC version writes the origin of the Doom Tree aliens as allies directed to Earth by the Negaverse, rather than its own unique threat.
- Sadistic Choice: Luna realizes that by allowing Usagi to live out her wish of being a normal girl, then more innocent people will fall prey to the mysterious monsters. It's because of this that she decides to return Usagi's memories as Sailor Moon.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Believing that she's in a dream, Usagi decides to roll with it by imagining herself as "the strongest girl" to save Naru from the monster.
- Tree Vessel: The Makaiju Tree is a sacred tree that Ail and An depend on to travel the galaxy and receive nutrition.
- Trying Not to Cry: Sailor Moon tries to hold back her tears as she's once again called to fight the new threats.
- Wicked Cultured: Along with playing the flute, Ail is familiar with Greek mythology.
- What Is This Feeling?: Usagi feels a sense of familiarity when she's standing by Ami and Makoto.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Usagi rightfully calls out Miss Haruna for hurting her self esteem by trying to keep Ami away from the likes of her.
"Goodbye my ordinary life. It was fun while it lasted..."
