"Hi! I'm Usagi Tsukino. I'm fourteen years old, and go to Juban Middle School. I'm a bit of a klutz, and sometimes get teased for being a little emotional."
— Usagi Tsukino
(DiC Episode: "A Moon Star Is Born")
After briefly encountering a cat named Luna, underachieving junior high student Usagi Tsukino discovers that she is actually Sailor Moon, a Pretty Guardian who fights for love and for justice. She uses her powers to try and rescue her friend Naru Osaka from a demon sent out by Jadeite.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Accent Adaptation: Naru (Molly) (in)famously speaks with a heavy Brooklyn accent in the DIC version.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Ikuko is written slightly differently in the DIC episode. She doesn't kick Usagi out of the house due to poor test scores, but rather sends her to the library to study.
- Bound and Gagged: In the Viz dub, Morga tells Naru that her mother is locked up in the basement. We only see this in the manga and in Sailor Moon Crystal.
- Combat Pragmatist: Morga sets an army of brainwashed people on Sailor Moon before planning to deliver the finishing blow.
- Disproportionate Retribution: As in the manga, a frustrated Ikuko temporarily forces Usagi to leave her house after learning of her poor test scores.
- Doppelgänger: Morga takes the form of Naru's mother, Mayumi. Downplayed, since she hadn't killed her, instead knocking her out and hiding her somewhere. Though she does tell Naru that she plans to kill them both after her job is done.
- Dub Name Change: Several ones in the DiC Version.
- The Dark Kingdom is "The Negaverse".
- Our heroine Usagi Tsukino is named "Serena Tsukino".
- Mamoru Chiba is named "Darien Shields".
- Naru Osaka is named "Molly Baker", and her mother was not named, but is given the name of "Susan Baker" in the DiC dub. She didn't receive her Japanese name "Mayumi" until the Live action adaptation.
- Umino is named "Melvin".
- Jadeite is "Jedite", with a similar but not identical pronunciation.
- "Bun Head" was originally localized as "Meatball Head" for Usagi's nickname.
- "Moon Tiara Action" is "Moon Tiara Magic".
- Early-Installment Weirdness: A few examples.
- Sailor Moon's red odango covers gave her the power to hear over long distances (which is how she finds out Naru is in trouble), which also happens in the corresponding manga chapter. This never appears again in any version of the franchise.
- The background for the Moon Tiara Action Stock Footage is green; beginning in the third episode it would be changed to blue.
- The DiC dub uses a different music cue for Serena's first transformation into Sailor Moon rather than the one they use for the rest of their run of episodes. It would later be re-used for Rini's transformation into Sailor Mini Moon in the Sailor Moon S movie.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Mamoru refers to Usagi as "bun head", much to her annoyance.
- Establishing Character Moment: Usagi has one where she gets up late for school, runs off in a rush, but stops to rescue a cat from being attacked by a group of young bullies. Her removing Luna's bandaid ends up cluing in the cat that Usagi is Sailor Moon due to her kind spirit.
- Everyone Has Standards: Usagi and Naru are both rather freaked out by the discounts Naru's mom is offering on such high value jewelry, and by how rabid the customers are acting.
- Extendable Arms: Morga has the ability to do this.
- Famed In-Story: Naru and Umino gossip with Usagi about an infamous vigilante in a pretty sailor uniform known as Sailor V.
- Franchise Codifier: Fittingly for the first episode, it would introduce firsts that would become iconic through the rest of the series.
- The Transformation Sequence and use of Stock Footage.
- Sailor Moon's In the Name of the Moon speech.
- A Monster of the Week whom Sailor Moon or any of her friends have to fight.
- Tuxedo Mask's appearances, where he tosses his trademark Rose and gives Sailor Moon a Rousing Speech.
- How Do I Shot Web?: After transforming for the first time, Usagi has no idea how to use her powers as Sailor Moon and needs help from Luna.
- In the Name of the Moon: Sailor Moon delivers her famous "In the name of the Moon!" speech for the very first time before fighting Morga.
- Love at First Sight: Usagi is head over heels when she meets Tuxedo Mask.
- Mass Hypnosis: Morga uses enchanted jewelry to control a crowd of women and sic them on Sailor Moon during the latter's first battle.
- Meaningful Name: Our heroine Usagi is named after the Moon Rabbit. The DiC Episode locallizes her name to "Serena", which comes from "Selene", the Greek Moon Goddess.
- Monster of the Week: Morga, the first youma and trendsetter for the series.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: Upon her first transformation, the cover of Sailor Moon's hair buns can light up and tune into people calling for help.
- Named by the Adaptation: Naru's mother was not named in the original version. The DiC dub gave her the name of "Susan".
- No More for Me: In the DiC version, when Serena spots Luna on her bed and talking to her, she assumes its a hallucination from too much studying.Serena: (gasps) A talking cat! Oh, man! I HAVE been studying too hard!
- Oh, Crap!: Usagi and Naru are both shocked when told just how cheap Naru's mother is selling her jewelry for.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It's acknowledged that Naru's mom is acting strangely due to how much she's pushing her jewelry at such low prices. The DiC adds a rather hilarious remark from Serena on this regard:Serena: What'd she put in her coffee this morning?
- Or Was It a Dream?: At the end of the first episode, Naru tells Usagi all about the "dream" she had about being saved from a monster by a beautiful warrior.
- Powers in the First Episode: As in the manga, Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon for the first time after learning of her powers.
- Rousing Speech: Tuxedo Mask's first (of what would be many) appearances and pep talks to inspire Sailor Moon to fight.
- Starter Villain: The debut of Jadeite, and the first youma in the entire series, Morga.
- Super-Scream: Distressed at being in mortal danger in her first battle, Sailor Moon starts to cry, causing the red covers over her hair buns to glow and turn her cries into supersonic waves.
- Too Good to Be True: This is mentioned by Naru in the first episode; her mother is oddly into selling the store's expensive jewelry at high discounts. Good for business but odd. It turns out that Morga replaced her mother and the real jewels with clever fakes that steal the customers' energy.
- We Will Meet Again: In the DiC dub, Morga screams "I shall return!" when she is vaporized by Sailor Moon's Moon Tiara Action. Probably a way of sneaking in Never Say "Die", but given the show's Monster of the Week approach and that she's visibly killed via disintegration, this never happens.
