(CWi Episode: "The Sweetest Dream")
The Dead Moon is defeated and the ruins of its kingdom fly up to be sealed away by the New Moon. But Sailor Moon finds that Nehelenia is still active and has kidnapped Chibi Moon for one last spiteful act. So the Pretty Guardian Hero chases after them and learns of the Shadow Queen's original dream that became everyone else's nightmare.
Tropes in this episode include:
- All for Nothing: Nehelenia's (presumed) Start of Darkness began because she saw a vision of herself as a withered, old and lonely woman. And that vision comes to fruition after her defeat by the Sailor Guardians.
- Ambiguous Situation:
- The exact details for Nehelenia's backstory and how she became corrupted by her Magic Mirror. Was she really an innocent young woman who was corrupted by the dark forces in the mirror? Or did the mirror show her true colors and expanded on them? That's not even getting into how Zirconia fits in.
- There's also the matter of who sealed away Nehelenia. Was it Queen Serenity like she told Chibi Moon or was it her daughter, Princess Serenity, as she appeared briefly in her explaination?
- Beauty to Beast: Being exposed to the full power of Earth's dreamers results in Nehelenia becoming an old, purple skinned hag with snow white hair.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Nehelenia demands silence after Sailor Moon pities her.
- Break the Haughty: In the past, the naïve and rather vain Queen Nehelenia wanted to believe her beauty would last forever. Her mirror showed her otherwise, and she did not take it well.
- But Now I Must Go: Now that the Dead Moon Circus have been defeated, Helios plans to return to his sanctuary to protect the Golden Crystal.
- The Cameo: Pero Pero, the Bunny Girl Lemure, appears as a member of Nehelenia's transformed Lemures court.
- The Determinator: Even after seeing Chibi Moon fall from the ruins and with a high chance of death, Sailor Moon stands tall and prepares to rescue her. She also has some parting words for Nehelenia.Sailor Moon (original): You're not going to beat me!Sailor Moon (Viz Dub): I won't give up. I'm not like you.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Nehelenia pathetically begs Moon not to pity her or look at her with sad eyes.Queen Nehelenia (Cloverway Dub): Oh you and your ridiculous sad eyes. I don't want your sympathy you goody two-shoes wretch! SAVE IT FOR YOURSELF!
- Dream Stealer: Queen Nehelenia learned that by consuming the Dream Mirrors of others, she could maintain her youth and beauty.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Nehelenia literally cannot understand why Sailor Moon would jump after Sailor Chibi Moon as she plummets to the ground.Queen Nehelenia (Cloverway Dub): Little fool. You throw away your hopes and dreams and for what? All for a wee little girl?
- Eye Colour Change: In the past, Nehelenia's eyes were solid blue. But after becoming corrupted by her Magic Mirror, they changed into pale blue with golden slits in the middle.
- Face Framed in Shadow: Sailor Moon wakes up to see Nehelenia whose face is covered in shadows while holding her daughter.
- Fairy Tale Motifs: The Shadow Queen's backstory takes elements from Snow White. Such as a Magic Mirror being the source behind a queen's desperate need to maintain her youth and beauty. She also appears in an old hag form in spite of her efforts to stay beautiful, just like how the Evil Queen caught the ugly herself.
- Happy Flashback: Nehelenia recounts to Sailor Moon about her past as a young queen who led a happy life with a court that catered to her beck and call.
- The Heartless: After losing their Dream Mirrors to their malevolent queen, the royal court members would transform into the wackadoodle Lemures who appeared throughout the season.
- Instant Costume Change: Sailor Moon transforms into Princess Serenity when she tries to reach her daughter in mid-air. Chibi-usa also transforms into Small Lady after being saved by Pegasus.
- Look Behind You: From a distance, VesVes cries out "A UFO!" to encourage Usagi and the others to give Chibi-usa and Helios some privacy.
- Madness Mantra: The infamous "Always remember, not to forget" mantra of the Dead Moon came from Nehelenia's mirror, who happens to have the voice of Zirconia. Nehelenia would recite this as to learn the power of stealing people's dreams to preserve her beauty.
- Noodle Incident: Nehelenia cowers at the sight of Sailor Moon looking at her with sympathetic eyes, saying she looked at her like that "before." We're then treated to a brief shot of a winged Princess Serenity wielding the Golden Crystal, but Sailor Moon has no idea what she's talking about.Nehelenia (Cloverway dub): Don't give me that stupid look you pathetic little moon urchin! That's the same look you gave me the last time!Sailor Moon: What do you mean?
- Old Maid: The Inner girls are crushed to see that Chibi-Usa found herself a boyfriend before either of them.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: As a penance to Sailor Moon for stealing her dream of eternal beauty and universal domination, Nehelenia tosses Chibi Moon from her floating platform so she can fall to her death.Nehelenia (Cloverway dub): YOU DEPRIVED ME OF MY MOST PRECIOUS DREAM! Therefore, I will take great pleasure in destroying your most important treasure in all your world!
- Please Kill Me if It Satisfies You: The Cloverway dub rewrote the massacre of Nehelenia's kingdom so her subjects allowed their beautiful queen to steal their dreams, effectively killing them all and turning them into "living, loyal ghosts."
- Power Gives You Wings: Pegasus blasts himself into a falling Usagi and Chibi-Usa which grants them a pair of angel wings to save them from falling to their deaths.
- Previously on…: The first scene shows Chibi Moon rallying everyone on Earth/Tokyo to use their beautiful dreams to power the Golden Crystal and destroy Nehelenia.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: A now corrupted Nehelenia is shown with bright red eyes as she's ready to steal her subject's dreams.
- The Reveal: The Lemures who appeared in the Dead Moon court were originally Nehelenia's court before she became a supervillain.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Now that the Dead Moon Circus has been defeated by the beautiful dreams of Earth, the seal from the New Moon has been activated which will seal them once again. And that includes Nehelenia herself.
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Nehelenia's mirror showed her a future where she was a withered old crone living in a kingdom of dust and cobwebs. And everything Nehelenia did afterwards to prevent that made sure that's exactly how she ended up.
- Series Finale: For the original DiC/Cloverway English dub. The following season wouldn't be dubbed until Viz Media's dub years later.
- Sympathy for the Devil: Sailor Moon feels genuine sorrow for the queen for her willingness to live alone if it meant getting to keep her beauty. And in Cloverway, we get this marvelous gem just before her leap of faith.Sailor Moon: I still pity you.
- Undying Loyalty: In the Cloverway dub, the context of Nehellenia's genocide of her people is rewritten so that they all gleefully allowed her to steal their dreams to preserve her beauty, turning it from a mass slaughter to a mass suicide.Retainer: As you wish, my beautiful Queen Nehelenia!Retainer: Of course, your wish is my command my beautiful queen!
- Walking the Earth: The Amazoness Quartet quietly make their leave so they can travel the world on their own.
- We Will Meet Again:
- After PallaPalla openly asks if they're not going to say goodbye to the Sailor Team, VesVes assures her that there's a high chance they'll reunite in the future.
- Chibi-usa is upset that she missed out on her chance to tell Pegasus what her dreams are. But Usagi comforts her saying that they'll meet each other again.
- Would Rather Suffer: Queen Nehelenia explains that soon she will be trapped in the mirror and endure endless solitude once again. But as long as she'll be young and beautiful, she can endure the loneliness.
