A New Transformation: Usagi's Power-Up

"A New Transformation: Usagi's Power-Up" is the 5th episode of the 2nd season of the Sailor Moon anime and the 51st episode overall. It aired in Japan on April 17, 1993. The DiC English dub title for this episode is "Cherry Blossom Time" and it aired in North America on November 28, 1995.

Summary[]

A Cardian attack during a cherry blossom viewing renders Usagi powerless and the Sailor Guardians helpless until Queen Serenity fuses the Silver Crystal with Usagi's locket, giving her a new transformation brooch and a new wand.

Plot[]

Ail and An are talking about the flowering cherry blossoms in Tokyo and about how many people gather to watch them each year. Ail then mentions how during its prime the Makai Tree used to blossom similarly, but now it is completely barren.

Later in the day, Ms. Sakurada takes her class to the park to watch the cherry blossoms, tagging along are Makoto, Rei, Minako, An, and of course Luna and Artemis. Upon their arrival, they see Umino has found them a spot for lunch. When asked how he managed to get such a good spot he tells them he slept there overnight, all for Naru.

During their lunch, Usagi samples a little bit of all of her friends' foods and gets into an argument with Rei and puts a hot condiment on a sandwich for her, causing her to spew fire. Ail is the unseen watching Usagi from a distance and comments on her beauty to which An asks what he means by it. Ail attempts to reassure her he was speaking of the cherry blossoms, An then changes from her human identity followed by Ail and they pick their next Cardian to gather energy.

In another area of the park, Umino confesses his admiration to Naru and she asks if he gets embarrassed saying such things, to which he replies no because he doesn't say anything untrue. This causes Naru to blush and they soon notice a strange tree and are soon trapped in a glowing circle on the ground that quickly saps their energy. Ms. Sakurada then finds them and a woman appears whom she asks for help, but her energy is then drained as well.

Later, Usagi is in the park office where Naru, Umino, and Ms. Sakurada are all resting and the doctor mentions this is the tenth time it's happened and that he can't explain why. Usagi hears Luna's take on it and is convinced it has something to do with their new enemies and the girls begin a search of the park. Rei, Ami, Makoto, and Minako, unfortunately, come across the same tree Naru and Umino found and find themselves being similarly drained for their energy. Usagi arrives and transforms into Sailor Moon and attacks the Cardian, Leshy, with Moon Tiara Action only for it fail again. Leshy then attacks her and pins her to the ground and breaks her brooch before opening a portal in the ground. After transforming back into Usagi she struggles to free herself from the hole, determined to save her friends but is unable to fight it. Luna rushes to help her but is sucked in as well.

As Usagi and Luna float through an empty space, Luna explains the reason why her powers have been malfunctioning lately: because she isn't committed to being a Sailor Guardian anymore and Usagi agrees. The two suddenly appear in a magenta themed area, and Queen Serenity appears. She thanks Usagi for needing her help and after teleporting to a new scene like the Moon Kingdom the Queen reveals the Silver Crystal which she places into her broken brooch. Queen Serenity tells Usagi her new transformation command, "Moon Crystal Power, Make Up." Usagi thanks her. Then she shouts out the new phrase and transforms into Sailor Moon.

Back in the park, Artemis has been trying to hold his own against Leshy and then Sailor Moon and Luna arrive. Leshy attacks them but is stopped by the Moonlight Knight. Queen Serenity appears flying through the sky and drops a new item down for Sailor Moon, the Cutie Moon Rod. Sailor Moon thanks her again and uses her new wand to produce a new attack, Moon Princess Halation, to cleanse the Cardian and save her friends. Unfortunately, there was much energy gathered for the Makai Tree.

International Dub Titles[]

Brazilian Portuguese: A Transformação de Serena ("Serena's Transformation")
European Portuguese: A Transformação da Bunny ("Bunny's Transformation")
French: Des pouvoirs en panne ("Broken Powers")
German: Frühlingsfest ("Spring Festival")
Korean: 새로운 변신! 세라의 파워 업

Changes[]

Changes from the Manga[]

The Cutie Moon Rod is created by the love between Usagi and Mamoru. It also occurs during the fight with Koan.
Sailor Moon's brooch breaks in immediately after defeating Queen Metalia.

Dub Changes[]

The scene where Naru zips Umino up in his sleeping bag was cut from the DiC English dub.
The scene where Usagi gives Rei a very spicy sandwich, along with Rei's reaction, Usagi making fun of her and the fight that ensued due to all this was cut from the DiC English dub.
When Usagi transformed before her upgrade, the episode cut to a bumper signaling the start of a commercial break without displaying the full sequence. In the first English Dub, the commercial break was placed before Serena transformed, which enabled DiC to use the full transformation sequence.
The scene with Queen Serenity was altered to remove showing Usagi's breast and buttocks in the DiC English dub.

First Appearances[]

Items[]

Phrases[]

Moon Crystal Power, Make Up

Attacks[]

Moon Princess Halation

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

Kotono Mitsuishi returns as the voice of Usagi.
This episode featured the last use of Moon Prism Power, Make Up by Usagi, and the first use of Moon Crystal Power, Make Up and Moon Princess Halation.
The Sailor Says segment of this episode included footage from episode 42, even though that episode was excluded from the first English dub.
This episode featured the last of three appearances by Queen Serenity; the others were in episode 35 and episode 44.
This episode included the first time Usagi's brooch was broken by a monster-of-the-day, preventing her from transforming. The second time was in episode 90.
All shots of Usagi nude were cut out of the Korean dub, while the Hebrew dub edited them to cover her body.
This is the first time Naru, Umino, and Haruna have been seen with the Sailor Senshi.