"Usagi's Joy: A Love Letter from Tuxedo Mask" is the 19th episode of the 1st season of the Sailor Moon anime and the 19th episode overall. It aired in Japan on July 25, 1992. The DiC English dub title for this episode is "Who Is That Masked Man?" and it aired in North America on October 2, 1995.
Summary[]
Nephrite takes advantage of Sailor Moon's attraction to Tuxedo Mask by sending love letters to Usagi and her classmates. Naru falls in love with him in his civilian disguise, allowing him to drain a large amount of her energy.
Plot[]
Nephrite consults the stars about finding a weakness for the Sailor Guardians. He discovers Sailor Moon's weakness is Tuxedo Mask. Zoisite appears behind him, telling him Queen Beryl wishes to speak. She announces he will be put to eternal sleep if he fails to carry out her orders one last time.
Usagi comes back from school to see a letter from Tuxedo Mask in the mail. Itâs a declaration of love that tells her to meet at the MS Mall in Shinjuku tomorrow night. Luna wonders how Tuxedo Mask knew she was Sailor Moon, and warns her that she doesnât even know if heâs an ally or an enemy.
The next day at school, Usagi finds every girl received love letters from Tuxedo Mask, causing her great upset. Naru hopes the one who gave her the letter behind the name was Sanjouin. Haruna tells the students itâs probably a prank, and not to attend MS Mall alone. Luna tells Ami sheâs suspicious about the letters, to her agreement. They suggest going to discuss it with Rei.
Motoki and Mamoru are at Game Center Crown, hanging out. They talk about the letters, and Mamoru guesses it was just an advertisement stunt. Usagi walks in, and is teased about being sad, as she presumably didn't receive a letter. Usagi protests back that she did have one, and was only upset because sheâs not exclusive to Tuxedo Mask.
Ami and Luna go to Reiâs house, who's in bed with a cold. They tell her the situation with the love letters going around, and Rei expresses disappointment that she canât go see Tuxedo Mask herself.
Nephrite stalks the surroundings of MS Mall, anticipating for Sailor Moon to show up. Naru who's gone alone, eagerly runs up to him, asking if he remembers her. She takes a hopeful guess that he was the one who sent the letter. He wonders how Naru knew he had sent them, and suspects her to be Sailor Moon, promising to see her at night.
At home, Usagi wonders why Tuxedo Mask sent love letters to everybody and not her alone, and decides to ask him in person.
That night, Naru waits outside the now closed Mall when the door to the entrance suddenly slides open. She enters and calls out for Tuxedo Mask in the dark, when he replies from the top of the escalators. Naru recognises the voice, identifying him as Sanjouin. Nephriteâs surprised she knew his identity from just that, and accuses her of being Sailor Moon.
Usagi walks around Shinjuku trying to find the location, when she gets a call on her Communicator. Ami asks where she is, before Rei overhears and gets jealous she was planning to meet Tuxedo Mask all alone. Nephrite, set on the idea that Naru's a Sailor Guardian, demands her to transform, though sheâs clueless as to what heâs talking about. Getting impatient, he harvests Naru's enormous amount of energy, causing her to pass out. Usagi appears just in time to see what heâs doing to her, transforming into Sailor Moon.
Meanwhile, Mamoru gets a sudden pain which causes him to transform into Tuxedo Mask. Nephrite figures Naru wasnât Sailor Moon after all, when the real Sailor Moon witnesses the scene unfold and challenges him. Heâs shocked she knew he wasn't the real Tuxedo Mask straight away, introducing himself as Nephrite, one of the Dark Kingdom's Four Heavenly Kings.
Nephrite creates a lion with his powers, that attacks Sailor Moon, who tries to flee but falls on her face. A red rose intercepts the lionâs path, and the real Tuxedo Mask appears, telling her to escape. Nephrite sends the monster on a chase after the two, when Moon Tiara Action stops it momentarily. They both escape into an elevator, though it turns out to be a trap.
Tuxedo Mask opens the small door at the top of the elevator, and they climb out to safety. When the elevator reaches the top floor, they jump to catch a ledge. Sailor Moon starts to slip and Tuxedo Mask grabs her hand, as the elevator crashes to the bottom. She asks how he always knows to help her, and he admits a long time ago he feels he somehow knew her.
As they both start to fall, the elevator doors at the top open and Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars appear to catch them. They pull them up to safety, and Sailor Mercury scolds Sailor Moon for going on her own without telling them her location. Sailor Mercury carries Naru on her back, and wants to hurry to the hospital.
Afterwards, Zoisite comments that Nephrite failed to complete his mission, and should be punished by Queen Beryl. She says normally, she would punish him if not for the massive amount energy he collected from Naru. Nephrite thinks back on Naruâs love for his Masato Sanjouin persona, and calls her foolish.
International Dub Titles[]
- Brazilian Portuguese: Surpresa! Uma Carta de Tuxedo Mask Para Serena ("Surprise! A Letter from Tuxedo Mask to Serena")
- European Portuguese: A Bunny Recebe Uma Carta do Mascarado! ("Bunny Receives a Letter from the Masked Man!")
- European Spanish: Cartas de Amor del Señor del Antifaz ("Love Letters from Tuxedo Mask")
- French:
- TV: Jusquâau bout du rĂȘve ("Until the End of the Dream")
- DVD: Usagi ChamboulĂ©e ! La Lettre Dâamour de Tuxedo Mask. ("Usagi Turned Upside Down! Tuxedo Maskâs Love Letter.")
- German: Liebesbriefe ("Love Letters")
- Italian: Cara Sailor Moon... ("Dear Sailor Moon...")
Changes[]
Changes from the Manga[]
Dub Changes[]
- A cool shiny effect was added in. The last few seconds of the flashback scene do stay in the episode, but not the way it was originally presented. DiC had Neflyte looking at the stars shot with an oval in the center playing the tail end of that flashback.
- The Juuban Secondary School sign is replaced by the generic one. However, when the sign was shown in the original, the scene was shaking as Usagi was screaming in disbelief that all her classmates got letters. The dub had silence and no shaking during the sign shot.
- The fuzz effect is used on the communicators in this episode.
- After Mamoru transforms into Tuxedo Mask, the camera pans up Nephrite as he drains Naru of her energy. In this scene, instead of the red of the back of his cape, we see the background of the stars he always looks to which eventually fades into the normal cape color.
- Lightning bolts are added as Neflyte "splits" to call for Leo the lion.
- Just before the second North American commercial break, the scene of Tuxedo Mask struggling to hold on is lengthened by a couple seconds.
- As the final scene faded out, the dub fades in the shots of the stars before the crystal ball digital bump is used to fade the scene out.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- This is the first time Mamoru is seen transforming into Tuxedo Mask. However, he would not be consciously aware of his alternate identity until Restore Naru's Smile: Usagi's Friendship.
- This episode had gained a lot of attention from the media around March 2020, primarily for the scenes involving Sailor Mars wearing a medical mask in public. Her voice actress in the Viz Media dub, Cristina Valenzuela, would later use one frame from the episode for her profile picture on her Twitter.
- Possible error: Usagi and Mamoru are rescued from the elevator on the top floor, though Naru seemed to be on the ground floor when she fainted; however, she is there on the top floor with Rei and Ami. It is possible, however, that Rei and Ami carried her to the top floor for some reason.
- Depending on the extent of damage caused by Nephrite's trapped elevator, the entire building foundation may have become unstable, killing/injuring him as well, though he seems to be unaffected.
- Regulus is the first monster-of-the-day to be immune to Moon Tiara Action, and the second enemy overall to be immune; the first being Jadeite in episode 3.
- Queen Beryl references Jadeite's death, threatening to sentence Nephrite to Eternal Sleep should he fail.
- This is the first time Usagi and Mamoru run into danger inside an elevator; this would occur again later in the season.