- This page for the first chapter of the manga series. For the episode of the second anime series, please see Act 1 - Usagi, Sailor Moon (episode).
Template:InfoboxChapter Fourteen-year-old Usagi Tsukino meets a talking black cat named Luna who tells her that she is really Sailor Moon, a Sailor Soldier of Love and Justice; and that her life's mission is to find and recruit the other four Sailor Soldiers' in order to protect both the supremely powerful Silver Crystal and the long-lost Princess of the Moon from the Dark Kingdom.
Plot
A newspaper featuring Sailor V appears in the beginning, being read by Ikuko Tsukino. She calls to her daughter saying that it's past 8:00 in the morning. The girl wakes up and screams that she's going to be late for school.
The girl introduces herself as Usagi Tsukino, a 14-year-old, 2nd year middle-school student, who is, as she puts it, "just a little bit clumsy and a bit of a crybaby". On her way to school, she accidentally steps on a cat. She apologizes to the cat, but the cat scratches her face. Usagi realizes that the cat wanted her to take off the Band-Aids on its forehead, and removes them, to reveal a crescent moon on its forehead. Usagi stares at the cat for a few seconds and realizes that she is still going to be late for school and runs off after hearing the bell.
Usagi hurries to school, but is pulled out of class and is put out in the hall instead for being late. She cries for a bit and then pulls out her lunchbox and starts to eat, having missed breakfast. Haruna Sakurada, a.k.a. Haruda, Usagi's homeroom teacher, comes out into the hall and yells at Usagi for eating in the hall and about her bad test score, 30/100, in English. Usagi is greeted by her best friend, Naru, and Umino, a classmate whom Usagi finds creepy. Umino gloats about his test score of 95/100 (while thinking it's a game) while Naru teases Usagi for acting like a boy. Naru mentions that the only student she wanted to beat on the test was Umino, and Usagi notes that Naru is pretty, smart, and from a polite society and thinks that Naru's test score of 85/100 is very good.
Later that day, the students head out to eat lunch, and a classmate, Yumiko, remarks that there was another break-in at a jewelry store. Umino points out that the burglars were caught, thanks to Sailor V. Usagi asks who Sailor V is, and Umino explains that Sailor V is a famous champion of justice is a sailor suit, and is rumored to be a special detective from the police headquarters. Usagi's friends then say they understand why someone would want to steal jewels and Usagi says that she likes rubies and pearls. Naru mentions that her mother's jewelry store has been having a big discount sale and invites the girls to come with her after school. The girls excitedly agree.
After school, Usagi, Naru, Yumiko, and another classmate, Kuri, head over to Osa-P, where Naru's mother is enthusiastically promoting her store. Naru wonders why her mother is acting strange because her mother has never promoted a sale before. While Usagi's friends "ooh" and "aah" over the jewelry, Usagi is upset because she has no more allowance, and is unlikely to get any jewelry anyway, due to her bad grade on the English test. She leaves the store, crumples the test into a ball, and throws it over her shoulder where it lands on the head of a strange man in a tuxedo, who calls her a "dumpling-head"(bun-head in the Kodansha English version) and makes fun of her test score. The man throws the test back at Usagi, telling her to study harder, and Usagi yells at him to mind his own business. After Usagi leaves, the man smiles to himself and says that at this jewelry store, he might find the Silver Crystal.
Not wanting to go home, Usagi makes her way to the Game Center Crown, a local game arcade. Usagi spots a Sailor V Game poster, and wonder what it would be like to be Sailor V. Usagi enters the arcade and decided to play the Sailor V game, but cannot get pass enemies in the game. Usagi is greeted by Motoki Furuhata, who offers to help her with the game. Usagi hears a meow from behind her and turns to find the cat that she found that morning. Usagi wonders how the cat got inside the game center, and Motoki mentions that the cat has been wondering around the game center for a few days. Usagi laughs and points out that the cat has a crescent-shaped "bald-spot" on its forehead. The cat stares and growls at her. Usagi thinks it would be best if she went home.
Usagi returns home and says hello to her mother, who tells her that she is late and asks for her test. Usagi hands over the test to her mother, but Usagi's mother becomes furious due to her bad grade and tells her if she brings home bad grades, then she shouldn't even bother coming home. Usagi is kicked out of the house, where she runs into her brother, Shingo Tsukino, who is returning from school. He asks if she got kicked of the house again, kicks her, and calls her stupid. Usagi angrily kicks back, shouting "Sailor V Kick" but Shingo slams the door in her face and ends up kicking the door and hurting her foot. She cries loudly, and Shingo reminds his mother if she lets Usagi stay out there, she would start to bother the neighbors. Ikuko relents and opens the door to her daughter.
Elsewhere, girls and women who have bought jewelry from the Osa-P sale are lacking energy. Naru's mother feels the energy she has collected and muses that her energy-stealing jewels work well, but the real thing she is looking for is not in the jewelry store. Naru hears her mother talking to herself and enters the room calling, "Mama?" Naru's mother turns her head at Naru with a scary look on her face, which frightens Naru.
After being let into the house, Usagi returns to her room, saying that her mother doesn't have to be so mad about her test score, and complains that she doesn't want to do her home. After another moment of crying, Usagi decides to take a nap. She has a dream that she is Sailor V in the video game and takes down a monster, and saves Motoki and the "crescent-shaped bald spot cat," and begins to think about the cat. Usagi is scratched and is woken up, yelling in pain. She sees the bald-spot cat, and the cat says that it is rude that she called her crescent moon a "bald-spot." The cat then introduces itself as Luna, and claims that she has been searching for Usagi. Luna thanks Usagi for taking the bandages off her forehead, but Usagi thinks that it is a dream and decides to go to back to sleep. Luna wakes her up and gives Usagi a Transformation Brooch. Luna tells Usagi that she has been chosen to be a guardian. Usagi points out that the brooch is shining, and Luna tells Usagi to shout, "Moon Prism Power, Make Up," and Usagi transforms into Sailor Moon. After becoming Sailor Moon, Usagi hears Naru's screams through her odango covers. A scene shows up on her goggles, showing Naru being choked by her mother. Usagi and Luna rush off to save her.
Back at Osa-P, Naru is still being attacked by her mother. She asks her mother why she is trying to kill her, and Naru's mother explains that she is not her mother, and that her real mother is in the basement, dying from starvation (Naru's mother is actually still alive). Usagi opens the door and tells the Youma to get away from Naru. The youma asks who she is, and Usagi introduces herself as the Guardian of Love and Justice, Sailor Moon. The youma says she has never heard of her and awakens the people, whose energy has been drained from the fake jewels, commanding them to kill Sailor Moon. After dodging the drained customers, Usagi cuts her knee, exclaiming that it hurts. Luna tells Usagi to fight, but Usagi asks herself why bad things have to happen to her. She says she is going to go home and starts to cry, activating her odango covers and sending out a large vibration. The vibration breaks a window, and someone yells at Sailor Moon to stop crying. After Sailor Moon stops, Luna explains that it's now time for Sailor Moon to attack and Sailor Moon uses Moon Frisbee (Moon Tiara Boomerang in the reprints), destroying the youma. Usagi hears a voice saying that he didn't find the Silver Crystal, but found something most fascinating. Usagi turns to find a man leaving the store. He introduces himself as Tuxedo Mask, and says he will take note of her. Usagi gains hearts in her eyes and thinks that he is cute. Luna explains that her battle has just begun, but Sailor Moon is still thinking of Tuxedo Mask. Luna tells Sailor Moon it's time to go and drags her off, just in time before the customers, who were turned into brainwashed slaves, woke up.
A blonde man in a uniform (in an unidentified place) is watching everything that happened on a crystal ball, and says that Sailor Moon is "not bad," also adding that he must get his hands on the Silver Crystal.
The next day, Naru tells other girls in her class about how she was saved by a girl in a sailor outfit, where one girl remarks it was probably just a dream. A few feet away behind a building, Usagi (with Luna) grumbles and thinks to herself that it wasn't a dream at all.
Translation Info
Changes
Mixx Translation
Mixx's English translation of the chapter added in some pop culture references:
- When Melvin is talking about the rumors surronding Sailor V, he says "What will they come up with next? Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore."
- Also, he states that with all of the hideous and bizarre crimes that are happening, the news is getting "more action-packed than a Schwarzenegger movie."
- When Sailor Moon saw Tuxedo Mask in the original version, she thought that he was just like the theif Lupin III. The Mixx translation took out this reference and made Sailor Moon compare him to a count instead.
Errors
English Kodansha Manga
- Sailor Moon introduces herself incorrectly as the "Guardian of Beauty and Justice" in this chapter. Her actual title is the "Guardian of Love and Justice".
- "Brooch" is incorrectly spelled as "broach".
First Appearances