Feeling like a boss, and staring at the stars, it doesn't matter the cost, 'cause everybody wants to be famous.
“You evil fiend! How dare you place fake glass slippers on the hearts of girls who dream of becoming Cinderella! I am Sailor Moon! And In the Name of the Moon, I'll punish you!”
— Usagi Tsukino
(DiC Episode: "So You Want To Be A Superstar")
Usagi and Naru get taken in when a local teen pop idol, Mikan, holds a talent show. They try to perform a routine, only for the girls to fall out when they trip on each other's feet. Unknown to either, a youma has encased the pop idol within a shower full of ice and impersonated her. Luna realizes that something is wrong as Usagi mopes about losing her chance to become a star.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Apathetic Citizens: Given that Mikan is living in an apartment, you would think her neighbors would be alarmed about hearing her screaming and calling for help. Yet no one comes.
- Bald of Evil: Derella has a clean chrome dome and is an energy hunting monster.
- Bavarian Fire Drill: Jadeite poses as the host for the idol contest, introducing Mikan. Her actual manager, when he tries to intervene, gets brainwashed by the waves that the youma and Jadeite shoot out via radar.
- Big Damn Heroes; Just as Derella has Sailor Moon encased in ice, Tuxedo Mask tosses two roses. One hits the youma in the face. The other hits Sailor Moon, freeing her.
- Blatant Lies: Naru convinces Umino to join her act by telling him that Usagi would like him even more if he practiced with her to improve his social skills.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The youma's soundwaves do this, turning everyone who hears it into a would-be performer. They then will perform until they literally drop from exhaustion. This even applies to the security guard and her manager when they try to intervene.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Because Sailor Moon was looking at the fourth wall as she ducked behind the seats, DiC had her ask the audience to tell Luna that she could use her help if they see her. This is the only time this occurs in the dub outside of episode previews, recaps, and the Sailor Says segments.
- Capture and Replicate: The youma does this to the real pop idol Mikan. She assaults the latter in the shower, coating her with ice and putting her in a deep freeze. Then the youma touches her limp hand and becomes a mirror copy of her.
- Cast as a Mask: In the DiC dub, Saffron is voiced by Stephanie Morgenstern, while the Youma that disguised as her is voiced by regular VA Maria Vacratsis. Averted with the other versions, which go for Significant Double Casting.
- Disguised in Drag: Naru dresses Umino as a woman to help her with her performance.
- Dreadful Musician: Usagi and Naru singing horribly gets Shingo irate.
- Dub Name Change: The pop idol Mikan is named "Saffron" in the DiC episode.
- Exorcist Head: When Usagi peaks to see Derella (disguised as Mikan) draining everyone's energy, she twists her head revealing her monster form while looking directly at her.Derella (original): Oh no. You found me.Derela: Hi. May I help you dear?Derella (Viz Dub): So you've seen the truth
- Fan Disservice: The scene of the youma assaulting and impersonating the real Mikan is this. While normally a shower scene would be enticing, it's not so enticing when a monster opens her curtain encases her in ice, and knocks her out.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: The window to Mikan's apartment is open, with the curtain fluttering. It shows the youma has broken in so as to carry out Jadeite's plan.
- Insert Song: The DiC dub adds "I Wanna Be A Star" to the beginning of the talent competition. The original version of the episode just used background music.
- Mythology Gag: In the Viz Dub, Umino takes on a New York accent while dressed as a woman. It's a reference to Molly's accent from the DiC Dub.
- Near-Villain Victory: The youma comes close to killing Sailor Moon by encasing her in ice. It's only because Tuxedo Mask's roses injure the youma and free Sailor Moon that the latter gets to counterattack.
- No Ontological Inertia: Mikan awakens in the shower a few days after she was knocked out, once Usagi destroys the youma. She's confused and wondering if she was dreaming.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Usagi agrees with Luna that the new star obsession must be youma business because the bookish and studious Umino is saying that no one needs to read their books, unphased when a decorating streamer hits him in the face. She ought to know, since Umino was brainwashed a few episodes ago.
- Shout-Out
- In the original version, the talent contest that Jadeite stages to drain energy from the "participants" is referenced after Cinderella. The Monster of the Week is even named Derella.
- However, in the German version, it was changed to the "Snow White Contest".
- Start My Own: Naru decides to do her own act for the show after being fed up with Usagi's clumsiness and lack of coordination.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Jadeite uses his youma, Derella, to impersonate pop idol Mikan, stage a music competition and hijack it. This leads to Mikan's manager coming to intervene since it wasn't on her schedule, as well as a security guard since she wasn't permitted. The youma has to brainwash them to get them off her case.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Despite making a crack at how Usagi is planning to perform a comedy act, Mamoru is actually quite polite to Usagi for once, even smiling for the first time upon meeting and seeing her off.
Being a big star like Saffron isn't always a bed of roses. Today on Sailor Moon, everyone's caught star fever and only Luna and I sense some big time evil behind this star quest competition. Will they wise up before its too late? Hang on! I'll show you!
