"It's always fun rolling the dice and playing board games or card games with your friends, but things can get out of hand when winning becomes the only objective. And gambling with cheaters who are willing to do anything to win is going too far! I'm talking about you Daimon! How dare you endanger my friends! In the Name of the Moon, I'll punish you!”
— Usagi Tsukino
(CWi Episode: "It's In The Cards")
Thanks to Mimete overloading the Daimon Oven, the Tomoe mansion becomes flooded with an interdimensional maze that traps Chibi-usa and Hotaru. The Sailor Guardians venture inside to rescue the girls and to defeat the Daimon who's responsible for the distortions.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Absurdly High-Stakes Game: The Inner Guardians are forced to fight U-Ikasaman through any game of their choosing. Per Venus' insistence, they'll all be allowed to leave her dimensional maze if any one of them is to win. But if they all lose, then they'll be forced to stay and serve as the Daimon's gaming opponents for eternity.
- Art Shift: To sell the dramatic moment Hotaru picks the Ace of Hearts, U-Ikasaman's face shifts into a more realistic design similar to the other characters to highlight her shock.
- Ash Face: Mercury, Moon and Venus get these after their games blow up in front of their faces.
- Big Damn Heroes: Just before Hotaru and Chibi-usa can fall into a giant hole in the ground, Sailor Venus saves them using Venus Love Me Chain.
- Call-Back: Sailor Mercury's chooses chess as her game of choice while Moon and Venus choose arcade racing.
- Chekhov's Skill: The episode started with Chibi-usa and Hotaru playing Old Maid. They use that game to compete against the U-Ikasaman.
- Cutting the Knot: Sailor Moon's initial plan of going inside the mansion was to have Jupiter use Sparkling Wide Pressure to break through. If that didn't work, Plan B would be for Mars to use Burning Mandala.
- Dope Slap: Mars gives one to Moon after she instinctually says that she'll "punish" Professor Tomoe during her In the Name of the Moon speech.
- Dramatic Irony: Mars chastises Sailor Moon for wasting her intro speech on an ordinary man. Said ordinary man is the Big Bad the Sailors have been trying to stop all season.
- Fainting The thrill of winning for once while being praised by Chibi-usa becomes so much for Hotaru that she passes out on the table.
- Flashy Teleportation: The Inner Guardians use Sailor Teleport to get inside the mansion.
- Forgot About Her Powers: Sailor Jupiter, known for her Super-Strength and athletic ability, chooses roulette as her game of choice.
- Friendship Moment:
- The Inner Guardians assure Hotaru that they'd never consider leaving her behind as they consider her to be a valuable friend to them and Chibi-usa.
- During the speech, Sailor Jupiter takes a moment to speak highly of Mercury for her incredible intelligence.
- When it's Hotaru's turn to pick the winning card, the Guardians and Chibi-usa motivate her into choosing the card she wants to choose and have the upmost faith in her.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: Pink Sugar Heart Attack delays when it's summoned and acts out instantly. Thankfully, it manages to free Sailor Moon from her card prison so she can destroy the Daimon.
- Heroic Sacrifice: After hearing Mercury state that it's impossible to use Sailor Teleport with two extra people, Hotaru offers to be left behind if it'll guarantee her best friend's safety. Fortunately, none of the Inners consider leaving her.
- Hypocritical Humor: In the original version, Mars chastises Moon for not listening to Mercury's explanations. She says this while Mercury is continuing to explain why they need to be careful.Sailor Mars: The problem with you is that you don't bother to listen to people while they're talking!
- Irony: The Professor thinks how ironic it is that he has to rely on the Sailor Guardians to protect Hotaru.
- It Only Works Once: Enforced with Sailor Teleport. There's no limit on how many times the Guardians can use their teleportation trick. But the problem comes from how they can't do it again with extra, non-Guardians involved in the voyage.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Even though she was initially okay with the Inners being unsuccessful with saving Hotaru, the end reveals that Haruka had a lot of faith in Sailor Moon's ability to save her.
- Merged Reality: Inside the mansion, Chibi-usa and Hotaru find themselves navigating various locations found around the world. Such as a wide ocean to an African savannah.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Professor Tomoe is silently smug over the Guardians rescuing Hotaru who is a core component in bringing about the Silence.
- No Poker Face: Subverted with Chibi-usa. U-Ikasaman is easily deceived by her facial expressions that she's manipulated into choosing the card Chibi-usa wanted.
- Non-Action Big Bad: U-Ikasaman openly brings up how she isn't one for violence and prefers to settle disputes with good ol' fashioned gaming.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Upon seeing the Sailor Guardians on his front yard, Professor Tomoe briefly worries if they already discovered his true identity.
- Moon and Venus's shared reaction when their cars in God Driving go in reverse, before colliding into each other and the screens explode.U-Ikasaman: You really should've read the instructions instead of automatically assuming what directions your cars would go in.
- The Daimon gets this reaction after Hotaru chooses the winning card.
- Phlebotinum Overload: Mimete fills the Daimon Oven with extra toys and board games hoping to make a stronger Daimon. This proves too much for the oven which results in distorting the reality inside the Tomoe mansion.
- Queen of Games: U-Ikasaman prides herself in indulging in all types of games imaginable; she even resembles the Queen of Hearts from the card itself. Of course, she's only the best because she resorts to cheating.
- Race Against the Clock: Sailor Mercury warns Moon that they only have one hour to save the girls as the mansion will be pulled into a stronger dimensional rift that will destroy everything inside.
- Reality Warper: U-Ikasaman is revealed to be the one responsible for the reality distortion. She even threatens to send the girls back into the dimensional maze if they don't play by her rules.
- Rule of Symbolism: Each of the Inner Guardians becomes trapped in a playing card that correlates with their personality.
- Jupiter is trapped in the King of Diamonds which stands for someone who is successful, powerful and has great relationships with those around them.
- Mars's card is the Ace of Spades which can translate to bad luck, disaster and the End of the World. A reference to her ongoing visions about the Silence.
- Mercury gets the Queen of Hearts which describes a caring and compassionate woman who has a strong presence. Much like Sailor Mercury when the going gets tough.
- Venus is placed in the Jack of Clubs which represents one who is strong-willed, determined and impulsive.
- And Moon is stuck in the Ace of Hearts which refers to unconditional love, new beginnings and deep spiritual connections.
- Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: U-Ikasaman is absolutely shameless when it comes to cheating at each of her games in order to win. Even after Chibi-usa and Hotaru beat her at Old Maid, she decides to go back on her word.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: As soon as the Daimon Oven starts to overload because of the excessive material, Mimete flees like a chicken.
- Secret Identity: Chibi-usa turns into Chibi Moon only after Hotaru passes out. And afterwards, Moon reminds her to de-transform so Hotaru doesn't learn about her secret.
- Sore Loser: After losing to Hotaru, U-Ikasaman smugly lies about never making a promise about letting the heroes leave.
- Tempting Fate: Chibi-usa decides to ignore Hotaru's suggestion of staying in one place as she wants to be as active as possible. She says this just as the world changes again placing her over a giant crevice.
- Villains Out Shopping: Literally. Professor Tomoe leaves to buy snacks so he and Mimete can have their daily break.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: There's no word on what became of Mimete after she ran away from the laboratory. Kaori isn't even mentioned despite being the main caretake of the Tomoe mansion.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Michiru is appalled to hear that Haruka is okay with Hotaru being lost forever in the dimensional void as it would guarantee that she wouldn't evolve into a stronger threat.
