EPISODE 031

Koisarete owarete! Luna no saiakuno hi

(Loved and Chased! Luna's Worst Day)

Original Air Date: 11-07-1992
Director: Kunihiko Ikuhara
Animation Director: Ikuko Ito
Writer: Katsuyuki Sumizawa

Screencaps
Did You Notice...?

What's In This Episode?
An Ohara, Bakene, Kurozuishou, Nijizuishou, Rhett Butler, Seven Great Youma, Zoisite

Luna is being chased through the streets by hundreds of angry cats. When they finally corner her, a large fish bone flies through the air, stopping the attack. It was an enormous blue cat who threw the fish bone, and when they see him, they immediately back off. Even a tiny kitten with razor sharp teeth who has been chewing on Luna's tail stops.

The fat cat jumps down from the roof of a building and begins licking Luna's sore tail. A young girl soon begins calling him, and quickly goes to her. The cat's name is Rhett Butler, though Luna comments that he "certainly doesn't look like a Rhett Butler."

In the Dark Kingdom's lair, Zoisite uses the Kurozuishou to find out who will be the next Nijizuishou carrier. The crystal shows a picture of Rhett Butler being held by the little girl, so Zoisite believes that the girl must have the seventh Nijizuishou.

Later on, Luna soaks her sore tail in a pond at the park and tells Ami what happened. Apparently, she had wandered into the wrong part of town, and got mixed up in a "turf war" among stray cats. Usagi and Makoto meet Ami and Luna, but Rei is not there... she had told Ami earlier that she wanted to go on a date because it was Sunday.

Rei calls Mamoru from a phone booth, but she gets his answering machine. She leaves a message on his machine that she found an "unusual cake" called tiramisu in a shop, and was wondering if he'd like to try it with her. Mamoru is actually at home, but he ignores the message. He is busy thinking about how determined he is to get the next Nijizuishou.

Meanwhile, Ami uses her computer to determine where they might find the seventh Nijizuishou. Usagi's Moon Stick hasn't responded at all, so the senshi hope that the computer will be able to narrow down the search, since they have more data now. Finally, the computer finishes and shows a likely location for the crystal.

The girls arrive at a house where they believe the crystal should be. When they get there, Luna sees the large blue cat who saved her earlier sitting in an upstairs window. The girls approach the house to try to find the crystal, but Luna says that she will wait outside instead. She does begin to wait, but suddenly, the hundreds of stray cats from earlier surround her.

The girls approach the house, and Ami rings the doorbell. The little girl answers the door holding the cat, and Ami asks if either of her parents are home. She says that they won't be home until evening. Usagi's Moon Stick immediately begins responding.

Suddenly, the cat wriggles free and runs outside. The little girl runs after him, even after he runs down a dark alley. Zoisite appears in the alley, and the senshi hear her screaming for help.

Meanwhile, Luna is still surrounded by the stray cats. The leader of the cats extends his claws and pounces on Luna, but Rhett Butler jumps in just in time to grab Luna and carry her to safety on top of a wall. Unfortunately, he then falls off the wall, bounces off a trash can below, and lands on his feet on top of a manhole cover. The two cats then accidentally fall through the manhole and into the sewer.

Back in the alley, the little girl has been knocked unconscious. Zoisite uses his Kurozuishou to extract the Nijizuishou from her, but nothing happens. It becomes clear that she is not the Nijizuishou carrier - the cat is! Soon, Sailor Moon, Sailor Jupiter, and Sailor Mercury arrive on the scene. They are uncomfortably crammed into the alley, so close together that they cannot attack. Zoisite simply laughs at them and disappears in a flurry of rose petals.

Zoisite reappears in the sewer beneath the city. It smells terrible, and he even accidentally steps in the sewage. Zoisite decides that this may be one of the toughest ordeals he has ever had to face!

[Commercial Break]

The senshi take An home and put her in her own bed. She is still unconscious after the attack by Zoisite. The girls stay to watch after her, but they find that Luna has gone and they don't know where she is. Usagi thinks that she is being undependable in a critical time, but Ami and Makoto think that something may have happened to her. Usagi begins playing a Sailor V video game that she found, and Makoto and Ami tell her that Zoisite could be back any minute to attack them. They still believe that An may be a Nijizuishou carrier.

In the sewer, the Kurozuishou begins to glow. Zoisite stops to examine it, and when he does, he places his hand against a wall. To his surprise, the wall is warm... and moving! It is actually covered with rats, which are all around him! Hundreds of rats begin chasing him through the sewer.

Rei wanders around Juuban, wondering where Mamoru could be. Yuuichirou appears and asks her if she'd be interested in going out for tea. She coyly says that she doesn't know, and he says, "Of course, a beautiful girl like you doesn't have much time on her hands." She is trying to play hard-to-get, but she is a little bit too hard to get. He leaves before she can accept his offer, and she says it's like "Gone With the Wind" (an ongoing theme in this episode).

Luna and Rhett Butler wander through the sewer, searching for a way out. She begins to tell Rhett Butler that it is all her fault that she's having a bad day, but she suddenly sees that he has hurt his leg. She realizes that he got hurt while trying to save her, and asks him if he has a crush on her. He blushes.

They hear rumbling and screeching, and suddenly see Zoisite rushing through the tunnel, being chased by the horde of angry rats. He gets excited when he sees them, and Luna realizes that Rhett Butler is the seventh Nijizuishou carrier. She tries to push him through a tiny vent, although he is almost too large to fit through. Luna pushes him until he squeezes in. He slowly walks through, while Zoisite dives into the vent and tries to chase them. Unfortunately for him, he is quickly overcome with rats, stopping him in his tracks... although the rats continue screeching through the tunnel.

Rei leans over a rail by a drainage area, thinking that she should have gone on a date with Yuuichirou. She sees Luna and Rhett Butler running, and thinks that Luna is with her boyfriend. Suddenly, she sees the rats come spilling out of the vent entrance.

Usagi is still at An Ohara's house playing the Sailor V game. Ami wonders why the Moon Stick still isn't responding, and Makoto figures out that the girl is not a Nijizuishou carrier. Wondering why it was responding it earlier, they quickly realize that the cat was actually the carrier of the crystal.

Back in the drainage area, the rats swarm past Luna and Rhett Butler and form a large column in front of them. Zoisite is inside the column! Suddenly, Sailor Mars attacks with Fire Soul, causing the rats to run back into the sewer, and leaving Zoisite standing n front of Rhett Butler. Zoisite throws the Kurozuishou into the air, which immediately glows and extracts the Nijizuishou from Rhett Butler.

The crystal flies into his hand, and Rhett Butler transforms into the youma Bakene. A rose flies through the air and knocks the crystal from Zoisite's hand, and Tuxedo Kamen swoops in to grab it. Zoisite chases him as he runs away with the last crystal.

Although Zoisite told Bakene to finish off Luna and Sailor Mars, he turns and heads towards town instead. Luna runs in front of him, asking him to stop and telling him that she will get him back to the way he was very soon. She slips down the incline, but Bakene suddenly catches her in his extremely large paw. She sees that he still has the wound on his leg from earlier, and promises that Usagi will help him revert back to being a cat.

Sailor Mercury soon appears and uses Sabão Spray to fill the area with bubbles. Sailor Mars is angry at her for "ruining the mood" between Bakene and Luna... she believes they are in love. Sailor Jupiter leaps through the air and grabs Luna from Bakene's arms.

Sailor Moon quickly uses Moon Healing Escalation to cause Bakene to transform back into Rhett Butler, who then falls over, unconscious.

Later, Rhett Butler and An Ohara are reunited. The girls visit An's house, and ask if Luna needs to say goodbye to her boyfriend. Luna tells them not be ridiculous. Although she denies having feelings for him, that evening, she daydreams about him.