"Saturn Awakens: The Ten Sailor Guardians Unite" is the 2nd episode of the 5th season of the Sailor Moon anime and the 168th overall. It aired in Japan on March 23, 1996.
Summary
The spirit of Sailor Saturn herself appears before her reincarnation and host, five-year-old Hotaru, who is given full access to the memories of her life before she was reborn as an infant and foresees an evil presence threatening Super Sailor Moon and the rest of the Super Sailor Guardians, In the meantime, Queen Nehelenia's unknown control over Mamoru keeps getting stronger.
Plot
Mamoru and Usagi are sitting on a bench in the park, talking about themselves. She is holding a balloon, which appears to be of metallic silver color and asks Mamoru romantic stuff about their relationship. He answers every one of them with a simple "Yes". When Usagi realizes this, she starts asking silly questions but Mamoru's answers don't change. Having enough of his behavior, she stands up with the intention to leave, completely mad and reproaches him that "this is our first date in a long time", so, he should take it more seriously. As he listens to all of this, sunlight is reflected by the balloon's surface and hurts Mamoru's right eye (the one which has the shard inside it), causing to appear a vision of Queen Nehelenia. He can't resist the pain and falls down to the floor. Usagi tries to help him, but because she is still holding the balloon, it keeps on reflecting sunlight, hurting Mamoru. He knocks it away, hitting Usagi's hand, and apologizes, saying that he hasn't been feeling well lately, so he decides to go home and rest more, leaving his girlfriend very confused and worried.
Later, in the cafe, the girls are reunited having a conversation about their dreams. Ami, Rei, and Makoto have been watching a TV show to learn English (although the latter two seems a bit more interested in the show's main host) and Minako has been taking dance and voice lessons because she wants to be a famous performer. The girls note that Usagi is quiet, sad-looking and tries to encourage her to tell them what is wrong, saying that she can trust them; which manages to make her reveal her problems.
Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, and Hotaru (whose physical self is a five-year-old toddler) are living in a big house (the location is unknown), surrounded by trees and a huge front garden. The first two arrive in a car and are received by Hotaru, who calls them "Mom Michiru" and "Dad Haruka" respectively. She tells them that she's been studied with her "Mom Setsuna" an ancient legend of the Moon and a few poems. Then she sees a butterfly, which distracts her from the conversation, and starts chasing it. Setsuna approaches them, saying that Hotaru hasn't just grown physically, but also intellectually: She is now able to understand complex poetry and complete theories. After this, the three girls realize that Hotaru's gone and starts looking for her around the house. They search in every house's room only to find nothing of the little girl. After every room has been checked, they decide to take a look at the last one: Hotaru's bedroom. To their relief, she is there, but what they see, concerned them. Hotaru is knelt, absorbed making a hologram-like image. Setsuna says that she is recreating the creation of the Universe itself and all life at an impressive speed. Soon, the hologram changes from a few stars to the whole Solar System, to finally focus on the Moon. Its light makes Haruka recall Usagi's and a few details of her childhood. Suddenly, Hotaru faints, but Haruka manages to grab her before she hits the floor. In a sort of trance state, she says that the Moon is in danger of being consumed by darkness and the girl with dazzling blonde hair will fall in evil hands. After this, she comes to, completely terrified and crying, as the vision, she made a moment ago shows the Moon being slowly engulfed by a dark cloud.
At night, Mamoru is trying to finish some work on his computer. His eye ache has been getting more and more painful, emitting a gold-colored light more frequently, which leads him to stop working. He starts walking around the apartment, grabbing his head to ease the hurt. Quick illusions of Nehellenia show up. As he was desperate, he snatches the keyboard, tossing it to the floor. Suddenly, the anguish ceases. Mamoru then takes Usagi's advice and goes to sleep. She, on the other hand, is sitting in her bedroom, worrying about her boyfriend. As she sees through the window Nehelenia's voice is heard by Usagi, saying that she will come after her. A crow flies in front of her window and Usagi, even more, worried about her current situation, remains sitting, repeating Mamoru's name.
Across the whole city, in every reflecting surface (windows, water, glass, etc) shadows reminiscent of Nehellenia's body, become visible. One of them slowly rises from Hotaru's window, waking her up. She is scared of it, but at that moment Sailor Saturn reveals herself before her look-alike reincarnation and vessel. She is glowing and this glow vanishes the evil presence. When Hotaru can finally see who it is, Sailor Saturn's insubstantial form is surrounded by a pale purple aura. Her other self tells her that the time for them to awaken has finally come and touches the little girl's forehead with her index finger, giving back to Hotaru all her past memories. These contain the first time she met Chibiusa (when the latter was chasing her hat) and a picnic with Usagi, Makoto and the rest of the girls, raising a smile on her. Then she remembers Sailor Moon protecting her from Uranus and Neptune's attacks; Mistress 9 taking control of her body, and she with his dad, in the lab's explosion that almost cost their lives. Hotaru is now about crying, and the last memory of Professor Tomoe fading in front of her makes Saturn's symbol appear on her forehead, concluding the awakening as host of the Sailor Guardian of Silence. Her Outer partners were in the living room and get very surprised as they see a ten-year-old Hotaru entering the room and telling them that the Princess and the Inner Sailor Guardians are in danger. Haruka asks if she means Usagi. She nods, adding that darkness is coming.
In the Hikawa Shrine, Rei has something to tell her friends: midnight before, the shrine's sacred mirror was being possessed by an unknown presence, but she drove it away using her purification abilities. Minako points out that she has seen people staring at their own mirrors as if they were hypnotized. The others comment on similar experiences and Makoto wonders if those strange events are related to a new enemy. At that moment, a lot of Mirror Paredri starts growing from mirror shards on the floor and quickly attempt to damage the girls with their sharp claws. Minako gives the order to transform themselves and counter the enemy's attacks, but soon realize that with every successful hit, new ones grow from the fallen's remains, so the Sailor Guardians desist their advance, giving Nehellenia's minions the opportunity to block them off. As usual, Tuxedo Mask appears out of nowhere and with a rose manages to knock out one Mirror Paredri, releasing the Sailor Guardians, and then his eye begins hurting him again. The Sailor Guardians, distracted by Tuxedo fainting, are surprised by the paredris, who immobilizes them, leaving the group defenseless.
Super Sailor Uranus' voice is heard and the Outer Super Sailor Guardians take place in the battle. To everyone's surprise, Super Sailor Saturn is with them as well. To not lose much time, Uranus uses a much stronger World Shaking, which easily disintegrates the opponents, and Saturn reveals to Super Sailor Moon that her true form shall arise. In order to achieve this, the 9 Sailor Senshi must concentrate their special powers into Super Sailor Moon. Each Super Sailor Guardians is soon surrounded with an aura of her signature color (Jupiter, dark green; Mercury, blue; etc) which evolves Sailor Moon. As she feels her friend's energy running through her body, the Crisis Moon Compact begins its evolution into the Eternal Moon Article. The Moon Kaleido Scope is upgraded as well to Eternal Tiare, allowing her to transform into her evolved Eternal Sailor form and to perform Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss. The attack's power is great enough to definitely destroy the Mirror Paredri, but when she ends performing it, both her Eternal form and her items revert back to their original state, leaving Sailor Moon very weak. Saturn claims that the main reason for her awakening is to grant the Princess her authentic form and powers, which astonish Usagi and the rest (Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto included).
At the end of the day, Usagi goes with Mamoru to his apartment and suggests that he sleep. He says goodbye and heads to the bathroom, wondering what is wrong with him, as he sees his own reflection in the bathroom' mirror. He keeps looking at it, when Nehelenia shows up, with her arms around Mamoru's reflection, and proceeds to reveal her plan: Take away from Usagi everyone who she loves. Unfortunately, he can't react to her words: the Queen has now, complete control over him, and all he can do is look at the mirror, completely absorbed by its image.
International Dub Titles
- Brazilian Portuguese: As dez Sailors se reúnem ("The Ten Sailors Unite")
- European Portuguese: Uma nova crise ("A New Crisis")
- European Spanish: ¡El Despertar de Saturno! Las 10 Guerreros al Completo ("The Awakening of Saturn! All the Ten Guardians")
- German: Neue Kraft für Sailormoon ("New Power for Sailor Moon")
- Latin Spanish: Las Diez Sailor Scouts se Reúnen ("The Ten Sailor Scouts Unite")
- Polish: Nowe zagrożenie ("A New Threat")
Changes
Changes from the Manga
Half of this episode is based on Act 44 of the manga:
- Hotaru is the first one who has her magical abilities as a Sailor Guardian fully reawakened.
- Hotaru can play the violin and when she does it, a vision of Pegasus and Chibiusa appears, but this change was necessary because these scenes, in the manga, take place in the middle of the fourth arc.
- Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna carry engagement rings to show their commitment to raise Hotaru.
First Appearances
Characters
- Super form of Sailor Saturn.
- Eternal Sailor Moon. (*)
Items
Phrases
Attacks
(*) These two had already appeared in the previous episode, are revealed to Hotaru in one of her visions. This episode, however, features them for real for the first time.
(**) This attack debuted in this episode too, but while Sailor Moon is executing the attack, she isn’t saying anything.
Gallery
_(March_23,_1996).png "Moon Crisis (Episode 168 - The Awakening of Saturn! The Ten Sailor Soldiers Unite) (March 23, 1996).png (1.02 MB)")
_(March_23,_1996).png "Moon Eternal (Episode 168 - The Awakening of Saturn! The Ten Sailor Soldiers Unite) (March 23, 1996).png (1.24 MB)")
Trivia
- The consciousness of Sailor Saturn herself reappears after her long absence in SuperS. She aids her reincarnation, Hotaru, in regaining her past memories and full strength as a Sailor Guardian.
- This was the last live appearance of Tuxedo Mask.
- The Inner Sailor Guardians transform into Super Sailor Guardians for the first time in the fifth season.
- When the Inner Sailor Guardians gather power to Super Sailor Moon, their planetary symbols appear over their tiaras and not over their foreheads. The Outer Sailor Guardians' symbols, however, are correctly placed.
- Haruka's 2nd car is shown in this episode: A blue Ferrari 512. Past episodes show a yellow cabriolet of an unnamed brand (Possibly a Toyota 2000GT, judging by its appearance).
- Super Sailor Saturn's appearance in this episode after recovering Hotaru's past memories her age became 9-10.
- Much like in the 3rd season when Sailor Moon zaps her strength after transforming into Super Sailor Moon using the Holy Grail, Super Sailor Moon zaps her strength after temporarily transformed into Eternal Sailor Moon and the execution of her Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss within her Moon Kaleido Scope which is temporarily transformed into her Eternal Tiare.
- In the Viz Media English dub, both Hotaru speaks in a higher pitch when she was a child until she regrows into a pre-teen. When Sailor Saturn recovers her past memories, she speaks in her normal voice. Both were played by her current voice actress Christine Marie Cabanos. Also, when Eternal Sailor Moon executes her Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss to defeat a multiple of Mirror Paredri, she never spoke this move until Episode 173 when she directly transforms into this form to say this phrase.