SPOILERS
Finally! God, these two week waits are brutal. Masquerade is a volume of the manga that was translated into the anime. It's the same premise, but things have been changed, not only from the 90's anime, but from the manga issue as well. Let's get started!
Usagi is of course sleeping in (I can relate, girl), but she makes it to school on time. We wind up getting tiny recaps about Usagi, Ami, and Rei from Luna. I guess she wants to remind us who they are since it's been so long since the last episode....
All the talk at school when Usagi arrives is about D Land (I almost want to keep saying D-Bag Land. I don't know why they couldn't have just called it Diamond Land. There's no such country, so it's not like it would be stepping on anyone's toes). The princess has arrived with her secret treasure, and of course the Senshi, Tuxedo Mask, and the Dark Kingdom all thing that this could be the Legendary Silver Crystal. If you've never seen ANYTHING about Sailor Moon before, you could also believe this could be true.
Rei and Ami are waiting at the arcade because Usagi got detention for sleeping in class (....), and they decide to play the Sailor V training seminar/video game. Rei catches on quickly, and she's really happy and high-fives Ami when she does well, and gets kind of embarrassed about it. She's not used to having friends. Usagi finally shows up, and while Rei and Ami are asking pertinent questions about their mission to find the Princess, and who exactly the great Evil is, Usagi wanders off to play video games. I can also relate, but if the conversation were that important, I think I'd pay attention.
Umino and Motoki are also talking about the D Land princess when they come in the arcade, and Umino has a picture of her. She's got the same googly glasses that he has, and he calls hers a 'noble face'. Usagi just looks grossed out. When she gets home, she sees her dad all dressed up to go to the party, just like in the manga and anime. Her dad is actually pretty good looking. She uses the pen and transforms into a princess, and is wearing the EXACT same dress from a manga and anime that are over 20 years old. I mean, I know it's nostalgia and all, but sheeshhhhhh, Usagi would end up winning a prize for the most dated dress of all the guests.
Rei and Ami also go to the ball with her, dressed up very nice with tiaras. They get stopped at the gate, but it's because Luna can't go in with them. She's freaking out like my black cat when I try to pick her up when she wants to be doing something else. Rei and Ami go to do some detective work (Ami's dress is a little short for a ball...), while Usagi totally gets distracted by the ball. She's like a goldfish.
Tuxedo Mask asks her to dance, just like in the old anime and the manga. He kinda goes a little crazy in spinning and dipping her without her knowing what the hell is going on, but she feels very warm and happy. Before that, she dropped her handkerchief when some bitch slopped champagne all over her and didn't even apologize! (how un-Japanese of you). Tuxedo Mask picked it up, and the embroidery reads 'Tsukino Usagi', so the jig is kind of up.
omg, Jadeite didn't die! This is different than even the manga! It's REALLY cool to see all 4 Generals interacting with each other like this. We also get our first look at Kunzite, and he looks as bishie as ever. Nephrite's the one who's going to spearhead this plot to get the treasure from the princess. He uses his evil shadow to create a woman assistant for the princess. Naru is nowhere in sight, since that was never part of the manga. The Naru and Nephrite relationship was purely an anime storyline. Nephrite's shadow comes out of the woman and possesses Princess D. Ami and Rei try to stop him, but the Princess jumps away before they can do anything. They transform, and Rei's transformation is still so fucking awesome. Ami's is so pretty, too. Hulu is airing the old anime with two episodes each Monday, and Ami really did kind of look like an old woman sometimes in the anime. Now she's super cute, and youthful with her shaggier short hair.
Usagi's precious night dancing with Tuxedo Mask is cut short when he senses something and just ditches her on the dance floor. How romantic. He gets WAY more romantic later on in the ep. /MAJOREYEROLLSARCASM. Luna gatecrashes the ball and Princess D runs through the ballroom like a maniac. Usagi tries to stop her, but she's chucked off the edge of the balcony, like in the previous source material. She transforms her pen into an umbrella and she and Tuxedo Mask glide down to the ground safely. I don't think that would work in real life...
Rei tries to attack the ghost, but it does for shit. Usagi begins to transform, but then is like "oh shit, my tiara's gone" like in the manga. She gets a new tiara that can reflect moonlight, and Nephrite's ghost is banished, but not before all four of them appear before the Senshi and announce themselves like bad guys usually do. Tuxedo Mask is listening in the shadows as a little hint of foreshadowing.
As the Senshi are about to leave, they see that Princess D is quite pretty under her glasses, and Ami wonders if Umino is as cute under his glasses. Rei doubts it. Usagi is falling asleep on the job.
This is where things deviate from the manga and anime a little. In the manga (and 90's anime), Usagi is still in her princess get-up, and gets drunk and passes out on a bench in the balcony. This time, she's fallen asleep on the bench while still dressed as Sailor Moon. But, Tuxedo Mask does find her, and makes out with her when she's passed out. You're such a date rapist, Mamoru. I don't care how much your past is bringing up all your feelings of love. Yer gross, Tux.
Luna agrees, and cockblocks the whole mess. She asks if he's their enemy, and he says that he might be since they're searching for the same thing. He's also cockblocked by the impending storm that's shown elsewhere in the city. We see Makoto looking up, and she says that a storm is imminent. Wheeee, Mako-Chan.
Hulu is also starting to show the previews for next week. We see bits of the whole 'ghost bride' story, and some of Makoto's transformation, but not as much as was teased when we saw the preview for Rei's episode. We also see a bit of Jupiter using her manga power 'Flower Hurricane', which wasn't in the 90's anime.
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