Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episode 171

Episode Title
Ai Yueni! Hateshinaki Makai no Tatakai
Air Date
1996.04.27
  • Summary by Ross TenEyck
  • Additions and editing by Hitoshi Doi, 1996.07.13
Recap of the end of last episode -- Sailor Mars and Sailor Neptune are running through a dark forest. Suddenly, Neptune stops, and throws out an arm to stop Mars. A flock of birds flies up into the sky, and Neherenia appears from behind a tree. Suddenly, a ring of fire surrounds the Sailor Senshi...

[TITLE SCREEN]

The fire burns higher and comes closer to the Senshi; the bottom of Sailor Mars' skirt begins to catch on fire. As she tries to put it out, Neptune throws a Deep Submerge, and the ring of fire vanishes. Neptune says, "That kind of illusion isn't going to trick us." Mars was thinking that she wasn't up to the level of Neptune.

Suddenly, a web shoots out from behind Neherenia, expands... and they are floating in emptiness. Neherenia laughs and vanishes; but as the Senshi are looking around, tendrils of hair crawl up behind Sailor Neptune and grab her ankles. She cries out and falls as the hair pulls her back towards Neherenia. Mars begins a Flame Sniper, but Neherenia pulls Neptune up and uses her as a shield. Mars pauses, holding the Flame Sniper attack and Neherenia hurls her dark lightning. Mars dodges the first one, but is knocked off her feet by the second; and the Flame Sniper arrow vanishes.

Neptune yells at her; "Fire! Have you forgotten our duty? We promised to protect the Princess." Mars has a vision of Usagi walking in the blizzard. As Mars hesitates, Neherenia's hair begins to strangle Neptune. Mars is torn, seeing Usagi wandering in the blizzard, and Neptune being strangled in front of her; finally, she climbs to her feet, and begins a Flame Sniper. Neherenia taunts her, but Mars throws the attack anyway. Neptune jerks herself out of the way, and the Sniper hits Neherenia, who shatters, being only a mirror paredory after all.

The forest reappears around them. Neptune staggers towards Mars, before collapsing into the puddle left from her Deep Submerge. Mars goes to help her, but also collapses. As they lie face-down in the water, mirrors appears, and they are drawn within.

The real Neherenia is watching in a mirror from her throne room; the view in the mirror changes, to show Usagi staggering through the snow. She trips and falls face first into the snow; then climbs slowly to her feet, with a determined, "Mamo-chan..."

In Neherenia's throne room, Mamoru is leaning against her throne, completely mindless. Neherenia says, "Your princess is coming.." His eye shines with a golden light.

Usagi struggles on, then looks down at her feet aghast; a path of flowers has appeared on the ground. As she gazes in disbelief, the snow vanishes, and she is in a sunny field, surrounded by flowers.

In a place full of ruins, Sailor Venus and Sailor Pluto are running from a pack of mirror paredory. Suddenly, they see another group in front of them, and skid to a stop; Venus' feet fly out from under her, and she lands on her butt. As she climbs to her feet, a rope-and-plank bridge appears behind them, crossing a deep chasm.

The mirror paredory draw closer, and Pluto yells at Venus. "I'll hold them off. You go. When you get to the other side, cut the bridge. You're the only one who can become the leader. If we both die, who's going to save the princess. Hurry up!"

The mirror paredory attack, and Pluto fights back, smashing several of them with her staff. Venus begins to cross the bridge carefully, while it creaks and groans under her feet.

In the field, Usagi hears a voice; she looks around, and finally looks down; a dandelion is speaking to her. "Are you looking for someone?" She talks to it, and several other flowers join in the conversation. At the mention of "Neherenia's curse" the flowers shiver and appear frightened. Usagi stands up, and then suddenly appears confused; there are several shots with really peculiar camera angles here. The flowers begin to giggle in a rather familiar way, and Usagi's eyes gradually become vacant and pupilless.

The flowers say, "Who? Where are you going? You can stay here. Just forget everything bad."

[CM Break]

Sailor Venus is slowly crossing the bridge; a plank breaks under her feet, and she almost falls through. As she climbs back onto the bridge, Pluto hurls a Dead Scream at the mirror paredory; they shatter, but regenerate instantly. The mirror paredory attack Sailor Pluto, hitting her several times; Venus sees this, and charges headlong back across the bridge. She launches her Love and Beauty Shock at the mirror paredory, which shatter. Before they can reform, she grabs Pluto and they start running across the bridge, pursued by the pack of mirror paredory.

Half-way across, the bridge breaks. The mirror paredory fall into the chasm; as the Senshi fall, Venus throws her Love-Me Chain up to the top of the chasm. It catches, and she grabs Pluto's hand; the two of them dangle over the bottomless depths.

"Why did you do that?"
"How can I leave my teammate? As a leader, I order you to fight with me to protect the princess."

Their conversation is interrupted by the voice of Neherenia; they look up in horror to see Neherenia standing at the lip of the chasm, holding the end of the chain. She lets it go, and Venus and Pluto fall; as they do, mirrors appear around them. Neherenia laughs, and turns back into a mirror paredory.

The real Neherenia is in the field of flowers, gloating over the mindless Usagi. She pulls back her hand, about to strike Usagi; but suddenly, she is stopped by Sailor Jupiter. Jupiter throws Neherenia into the air, but since Neherenia can levitate, she isn't hurt. Jupiter tries to snap Usagi out of her trance, but Neherenia taunts her.

Neherenia says, "Have you ever seen a nightmare? If it's a dream that one wants to wake up from, one will. But she's chosen to stay in her dream. She won't come out of it."
Jupiter says, "That's a lie. You're trapping Usagi in a nightmare."

Jupiter charges headlong at Neherenia, misses, and falls [there's a nice up-the-skirt shot here, for the Mako-chan fans]. Jupiter gets up and throws an Oak Evolution, but the leaves fade and turn autumn colors before they hit Neherenia. Neherenia laughs evilly, and we briefly see the mirrors that have trapped the other Senshi.

Neherenia attacks with her dark lightning, knocking Jupiter down and driving a furrow in the ground. Jupiter ends up almost in Usagi's lap; Usagi is still oblivious. Neherenia attacks Usagi with her lightning, but Jupiter leaps up and takes the attack again. They yell at each other.

Jupiter says, "She's the kind of person who will sacrifice herself for others. We all love Usagi. Did you have any friends like that?"
Neherenia says, "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
Neherenia continued, "A friend? Don't make me laugh. I don't need one of those. I'll trap you like the others."

Neherenia screams and attacks furiously, blasting Jupiter again and again as Jupiter shields Usagi. Finally, Jupiter collapses; as she does, one of her rose earrings falls off and rolls in front of Usagi. A mirror appears around Jupiter, and she is trapped.

Usagi stares mesmerized at the rose earring; she remembers roses, roses being thrown, and a mysterious stranger in a black cloak... her pupils reappear, and she stands up, saying, "Mamo-chan!" The field of flowers disappears; Usagi is standing on a cliff, at the foot of a long, long, flight of stairs leading to Neherenia's palace in the background. Usagi starts for the stairs, but as she does so, thorn bushes appear, until the entire stairway is covered. Usagi begins to force her way through the thorns, telling Mamoru to wait for her ("Matte, Mamo-chan...").

In her throne room, Neherenia is watching this in her mirror when she hears voices behind her. She turns around in shock to see Sailor Chibi- Moon and Sailor Saturn. Sailor Saturn whirls her glaive, and then holds the point a mere inch from Neherenia's throat.


[Sailor Moon TV episode guide]
[Moon] [R] [S] [Supers] [Stars]

similar web pages

[Sailor_Moon]
> Sailor Moon
>> Episode Lists
>> Moon (1-46)
>> R (47-89)
>> S (90-127)
>> SuperS (128-166)
>> Stars (167-200)
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(c) Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, Toei Douga