The Awakening of Saturn! The Ten Senshi Come Together

While Queen Nehellenia continues to exert her evil influence on the Earth, the rapidly aging Hotaru re-awakens as Sailor Saturn.

Summary

Episode Data

The Senshi combine their powers
Original Episode
Name (Kana):	サターンの目覚め!　S10戦士集結
Name (Romaji):	Sataan no Mezame! Seeraa 10 Senshi Shuuketsu
Name (Translated):	The Awakening of Saturn! The Ten Senshi Come Together
Name (Dub):	Saturn Awakens: The Ten Sailor Guardians Unite
Episode Number:	168
Director:	Harume Kosaka
Writer:	Genki Yoshimura
Animation Director:	Shigetaka Kiyoyama
Air Date:	March 23, 1996
Previous Episode:	A Nightmare Scatters the Flowers! Return of the Dark Queen
Next Episode:	Evil Mirror Under a Curse! Mamoru in a Nightmare Trap

Usagi and Mamoru sit together on a park bench on a sunny afternoon. Usagi is holding a silver balloon and talking enthusiastically about how spring is a season for couples. She suggests that now that she's in high school, they could develop their relationship a little more, but soon realizes that Mamoru isn't paying attention. She tries reciting tongue-twisters to prove it, then becomes annoyed and yells at him for not listening to her. As she does, her balloon catches the sunlight, and Mamoru suddenly has visions of Queen Nehellenia; he puts a hand to his eye as it glows yellow, apparently in pain. Usagi becomes concerned and leans in, but her balloon again catches the light, and Mamoru panics and slaps her hand away, forcing her to release the balloon. He quickly apologizes, and claims he hasn't been feeling well. He offers to get Usagi another balloon, but she tells him to go home and get some rest. As he walks away, she watches him, looking worried.

Later, Usagi and her friends have gathered at Fruits Parlor Crown, and the girls talk about how happy they are that it's been peaceful lately. They realize that Usagi seems a little upset, and Ami asks if she had a fight with Mamoru. She says she hasn't, but at her friends' encouragment, starts to explain the situation.

Haruka and Michiru arrive home from shopping, and are greeted by Hotaru, who happily tells them about what she was learning with "Setsuna-mama" before being distracted by a passing butterfly. The three of them watch her run off after it, and they observe that Hotaru has been growing both physically and mentally at an amazing speed since the encounter with the Mirror Paredri. Michiru is sad because she'd wanted Hotaru to have a normal childhood, but when she glances around realizes that Hotaru is nowhere in sight.

Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna search the house but see no sign of the girl. They finally go to check her bedroom, and there find her sitting in darkness, gazing intently upon a ball of light hovering above her outstretched hands. The ball suddenly grows brighter and expands, and Setsuna observes that she is simulating the Big Bang, re-creating the creation of the universe in an illusion. They are surprised that she has the power to do such a thing, but simply watch for the moment as the illusion takes shape, showing the Solar System; they see the moon and say that it shines with a warm light.

Haruka says that this reminds her of a science fiction story she read when she was younger, about how everyone's existence was within a momentary twinkling of space made by someone else. Hotaru suddenly collapses, and when they catch her, says that the white moon is being eclipsed by darkness, and the shining blonde hair attacked by an evil wish. In the illusory solar system, a cloud of darkness envelops the Earth's moon, and Hotaru stares at it in fear before she bursts into tears and clings to Haruka, saying that she is scared. Haruka reassures the weeping girl, but frowns worriedly.

Usagi's friends try to reassure Usagi, telling her that she's worrying too much. Minako points out that she's at least in a better situation: none of the rest of them have boyfriends. For a moment as they talk, however, an image of Queen Nehellenia appears in a shop window behind them, unseen by the girls.

Mamoru sits at his computer, growing frustrated as the program he is working on doesn't work. His eye glows gold again, and he throws the keyboard to one side in a fit of anger. After a second he returns to himself, and realizes that something is wrong. He remembers Usagi's words earlier, and says he needs to get some rest.

As Usagi sits by her bedroom window, worrying about Mamoru, an image of Queen Nehellenia appears briefly and says that she has taken him. Usagi looks startled, wondering if it was her imagination, but is only more worried about Mamoru nonetheless.

Michiru joins Haruka and Setsuna in their living room, saying that Hotaru is asleep now. Haruka looks worried and wonders aloud what is going to happen now.

That night, shadows of Queen Nehellenia begin to appear across town, in windows and other reflective surfaces. Hotaru suddenly awakens, asking who is there, and sees the shadow on her window. She tells it to go away, and the form of Sailor Saturn appears at the foot of her bed. Sailor Saturn tells Hotaru to awaken, and touches the girl's forehead with a glowing finger. Hotaru's memories of the past return, and tears begin to stream down her cheeks. She finally opens her eyes as the symbol of Saturn appears on her forehead.

As Haruka, Michiru, and Setsuna talk in the living room, the door opens and Hotaru, now at the age she had been before, enters and tells them that a crisis is approaching the princess and her guardians.

At Hikawa Shrine, Rei tells the gathered girls that the night before there had been strange activity around a mirror in the shrine. Minako says that she has seen a lot of people staring into mirrors lately, and Usagi tells them about the shadow she saw in her window the day before. As they talk, a number of Mirror Paredri appear and attack, and the girls transform into their Sailor Senshi forms. No matter how much they attack, however, the Mirror Paredri keep coming. Tuxedo Mask arrives, but in the middle of his speech suddenly puts a hand to his eye in pain, and as they're distracted by that, the Inner Senshi are overwhelmed by the enemies. The Outer Senshi arrive and scatter the enemies, and say that Sailor Saturn warned them about the crisis.

Sailor Saturn tells Sailor Moon that she needs to awaken to her true power, and orders everyone to combine their powers. Each of the Sailor Senshi begin to glow, and their power transfers to the Crisis Moon Compact, transforming it into the Eternal Moon Article. Sailor Moon uses the new brooch to transform into Eternal Sailor Moon; the Moon Kaleidoscope turns into the Eternal Tiare, and she uses a new power to destroy all of the Mirror Paredri. As soon as she is finished, however, she collapses to her knees and reverts to her Super Sailor Moon form. Sailor Saturn says that is Sailor Moon's true power, and she was reborn in order to tell her about it.

Usagi walks Mamoru back to his apartment, and asks if he will really be okay. He insists that he will and closes the door. As he stares at his reflection in the bathroom mirror, however, he thinks that earlier it felt as though his body was not his own. Queen Nehellenia appears in the mirror and puts her arms around him, agreeding that he is now hers, and that she will take all that the princess of the White Moon loves.

Episode trivia

• This episode was the first time all ten Solar System Senshi fought together in the television series.

• This episode featured the first appearance of Sailor Saturn's "super" form.

• This was the first time Usagi Tsukino transformed into Eternal Sailor Moon (though not the first appearance of this form, as Eternal Sailor Moon was seen in Hotaru's vision in the previous episode), and the last appearance of the Moon Crisis, Make Up transformation sequence. It was also the last time Mamoru appeared as Tuxedo Mask.

• Eternal Sailor Moon used Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss for the first time in this episode, although the attack was not named until episode 173.

• When Sailor Saturn revived Hotaru's memory, one of the scenes showed her on a picnic with Usagi, Chibiusa, and the Inner Senshi. When the picnic occurred in episode 116, however, she was with Usagi, Mamoru, and Chibiusa only.

• When Mamoru was working on his computer, his monitor showed that he was working on a drawing in the BASIC programming language.

• When Hotaru was telling Haruka and Michiru about her studies, she recited "Oku no Hosomichi" by Matsuo Bashou. In the Viz dub, she recited the first two lines of "Sonnet 18" by William Shakespeare.

Cast

• Usagi Tsukino/Sailor Moon - Kotono Mitsuishi
• Ami Mizuno/Sailor Mercury - Aya Hisakawa
• Rei Hino/Sailor Mars - Michie Tomizawa
• Makoto Kino/Sailor Jupiter - Emi Shinohara
• Minako Aino/Sailor Venus - Rica Fukami
• Chibiusa/Sailor Chibi Moon - Kae Araki
• Haruka Tenou/Sailor Uranus - Megumi Ogata
• Michiru Kaiou/Sailor Neptune - Masako Katsuki
• Setsuna Meiou/Sailor Pluto - Chiyoko Kawashima
• Hotaru Tomoe/Sailor Saturn - Yuko Minaguchi
• Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask - Tohru Furuya
• Queen Nehellenia - Yoshiko Sakakibara
• Mirror Paredri - Emi Uwagawa, Mikiko Enomoto

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