"The Flower of Nightmares Scatters: The Queen of Darkness Returns" is the 1st episode of the 5th season of the Sailor Moon anime and the 167th episode overall. It aired in Japan on March 9, 1996.
Summary[]
Chibiusa and Diana are about to go back to the future in Crystal Tokyo. However, the evil Queen Nehelenia is suddenly released from her self-imprisonment in the mirror by the intervention of a mysterious voice and is ready to exact her icy venomous wrath on the Sailor Guardians of the White Moon once again.
Plot[]
An infant Hotaru and Professor Tomoe are resting under some sakura trees. As she sees their leaves falling, a vision appears to her. It shows Neo-Queen Serenity on top of a white pillar.
While the lovely Queen of Crystal Tokyo standing there, her outfit starts changing. First, a pair of angel wings grow on her back and then her entire dress is replaced with a miniskirt, a sailor outfit, long sleeves, and a new staff. When this vision ends, Setsuna shows up, announcing that she must take Hotaru with her.
In a different place, Usagi and her friends are about to start a new school period, but this one is special. She, Ami, Makoto, and Minako will finally transfer to the same high school so they are very excited about it. Rei still attends her prior one, but this doesn't bother her. Soon, Mamoru and Chibiusa join them with the news: Today, she and Diana will go back to the future, which leaves her friends a little sad.
Queen Nehelenia, who has been sealed inside her mirror, floats indefinitely, thankful that her beauty remains intact when a strange, feminine voice interrupts her rest, claiming that she can release her. Instantly, she breaks the mirror and, to the Queen's surprise, manages to liberate her, who appears levitating over Tokyo's sky. In the meantime, Chibiusa is saying her last farewell to the girls and opens the Space-Time Door. The energy beam released from this is seen by Nehelenia. Doubtful about where that comes from, she is told that in fact, Sailor Moon and her friends are alive. Visions of Usagi rescuing Sailor Chibi Moon are shown, leaving the Queen completely shocked and full of anger. The voice keeps on feeding her deep-seated hatred and venom, which becomes so strong that it leaves Nehelenia's body in the form of a black Dream Mirror.
She is told that if she breaks it, she will be able to take revenge on them. Persuaded of this outcome, Nehelenia shatters her mirror into one thousand fragments that fall all over Tokyo. On the surface, the girls see the shards, but they think it's a shower of shooting stars; although Rei senses something strange about it, and both Ami and Mamoru feel the meteor's amount quite odd. Suddenly, the time door closes, leaving Chibiusa unable to open it again. A little piece falls right on Mamoru's right eye and Usagi sees his eye glowing for a short time, but he claims to be feeling better, saying that it doesn't cause him to pain anymore. The group seems confused about all of this, so they put off the travel until the meteor shower stops.
Haruka and Michiru are also in the city, in an aquarium, but the girls don't know it. They talk about an evil presence that is disturbing the sea, a feeling that keeps them concerned. The Deep Aqua Mirror shows a vision of a dark planet, but it vanishes so quickly that neither Michiru nor Haruka can investigate it. Already out of the building, mysterious crystals start falling from the sky, hitting some passers-by and also impacting Haruka's hand. Her partner extracts the shard, which has just started shining, and Haruka throws it away. When it lands, a naked woman resembling Nehelenia grows of it, but with a body made of glass, which is followed by others, instantly trapping the two girls. The Queen tells them (speaking through her minions, who she calls Mirror Paredri) that because of their statuses as Sailor Guardians, she will destroy them. The glass women take the offensive, trying to damage both Haruka and Michiru, but they are stopped by Sailor Pluto 's Dead Scream whom they presumed dead.
She is holding baby Hotaru and says that the time for her powers of death and destruction is drawing near. Plute hides her between some bushes and Haruka and Michiru transformed into Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune. Now that the three are ready, the fight starts, but soon more troubles appear: Despite the Paredri's weak defenses, every time one of them is destroyed, new ones grow from the former's remains, which leads to the Sailor Guardians being outnumbered after every successful hit. Finally, Pluto gets immobilized by some Paredris and Uranus, who was being pushed off the roof, is hanging from Neptune's hand, leaving Hotaru defenseless. A Paredri finds her and, to Sailor Pluto's horror, prepares her claw to stab the baby. At that moment, the pale purple-colored symbol of Saturn appears on her forehead, creating a burst of pure white energy that easily disintegrates the enemy.
Now, Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune are floating in which seems another dimension, wrapped by ribbons of their signature color. A new and even greater power is flowing through them: The one gifted by Hotaru, and the symbols of each one of their planets appear on their foreheads, revealing their much more powerful evolved Super Sailor forms (slightly different from the prior one, with a larger bow on their lower backs). As they get upgraded, they use much stronger and more effective versions of World Shaking and Deep Submergeand Dead Scream to create a powerful blast able to finish off the Mirror Paredri in seconds.
Once the fight is over, Hotaru appears in front of them; no longer a baby but a five-year-old child. The original vision of Eternal Sailor Moon is shown, but this time it changes to one where she is tied with thorny branches, in front of a black moon, clearly suffering great pain. Hotaru tells them that the Princess is in danger, which leaves the Super Sailor Guardians very concerned and confused about this new enemy while the mysterious voice, who had witnessed the whole battle, concedes that all of her preparations have begun.
International Dub Titles[]
- Brazilian Portuguese: A Rainha das Trevas revive ("The Queen of Darkness Revives")
- European Portuguese: A NehelƩnia ergue-se de novo ("Nehellenia Rises Again")
- European Spanish: Ā”Guerreros Estelares! Cuando las pesadillas expanden las flores ("Stellar Guardians! When Nightmares Scatter the Flowers")
- German: Nehelenias Erwachen ("Nehellenia's Awakening")
- Latin Spanish: La reina de la oscuridad revive ("The Queen of Darkness Revives")
- Polish: Nehelenia raz jeszcze ("Nehellenia Once Again")
Changes[]
Changes from the Manga[]
This episode is based on part of Act 38 but with a few differences:
- Usagi, Ami, Rei, Makoto, and Minako reached high school at the beginning of the Dream arc, which SuperS is loosely based on.
- Setsuna never met Professor Tomoe to take baby Hotaru with her. She, Haruka and Michiru decided to take care of Hotaru and raise her as their adopted "daughter" at the end of the Infinity saga, as her father had tragically died.
- Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna were unable to transform into Super Sailor forms before Hotaru gave them their respective Sailor Crystals.
- Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna, and Hotaru were all seen transforming into Super Sailor Senshi with Crystal Power, Make Up.
- Hotaru already had the body and height of a nine-year-old girl when she gave the Outers their power-ups.
- Nehelenia and Sailor Galaxia never interacted; nor was Nehelenia ever released from her prison after she was sealed away a second time.
First Appearances[]
Characters[]
- Eternal Sailor Moon (Hotaru's vision).
- Sailor Galaxia (voice only)
- Mirror Paredri
- Super Sailor Uranus
- Super Sailor Neptune
- Super Sailor Pluto
Items[]
- Eternal Tiare (Held by Sailor Moon in Hotaru's vision)
Gallery[]
Development[]
Trivia[]
- This was the first episode that featured Sailor Star Song as the opening theme song, in replace of Moonlight Legend, which had been the main theme for the first four seasons. The ending theme was also new: The Wind, the Sky, Surely....
- This was the last time Uranus Planet Power, Make Up and Neptune Planet Power, Make Up was shown in the anime.
- Michiru's and Haruka's Lip Rods also never appear again in the series.
- Professor Tomoe makes his last appearance in this episode (although he can be seen in the next one, in one of Hotaru's recovered memories, he doesn't play any significant role). By coincidence, this is also his comeback to the series after Sailor Moon S.
- This was the last episode that featured Neo-Queen Serenity.
- In the Viz Media English dub, Haruka's current voice actress Erica Mendez imitates the vocal performance played by her original voice actress Sarah Lafleur in the Cloverway English Dub when she portrays Haruka and Sailor Uranus.
- Like in the previous seasons in Japanese, they now used the "Make-Up!" phrase within their transformations as a Sailor Senshi which both Haruka and Michiru transformed into their Sailor Senshi forms.