Act 2 - Ami, Sailor Mercury (episode)


 * This page is for the second episode of the second anime series. For the second chapter of the manga, please see Act 2 - Ami, Sailor Mercury.

Act 2 - Ami, Sailor Mercury is the second episode of the Sailor Moon Crystal. It first aired in Japan on July 19, 2014.

Summary
Usagi meets a new student named Ami Mizuno, a genius girl who gets perfect grades and attends the Crystal Seminar. Later on, however, it is revealed that she is Sailor Mercury.

Plot
The new student, Ami Mizuno, is shown as an intelligent student, but socially awkward.

When school lets out, Usagi meets Ami walking home by herself, and Luna leaps from a tree onto Ami's head. Ami is initially taken aback by the cat, but begins to stroke her fur. Usagi approaches Ami, telling her that Luna is her cat, and Ami returns Luna to her. During the exchange, Ami comes into brief contact with Usagi's hand and is startled by a sudden vision she receives of the Moon Kingdom. Usagi doesn't notice her surprise and invites her to come to Game Center Crown with the hopes of befriending her so that she can learn to accomplish high grades in school. Arriving at the game center, Usagi unsuccessfully attempts to beat the Sailor V game while Ami observes from the side. Ami easily advances farther into the game and surpassing the previous high score. When Ami's session ends, a pen comes out from the game machine as her prize. Usagi, in want of a similar pen, begins shaking the machine and a pink pen falls out. Usagi expresses her desire to become friends with Ami. Ami shares a mutual feeling, but soon leaves the game center when she realizes how late it is, saying that she has to study at the Crystal Seminar.

Elsewhere, Jadeite is reporting to Queen Beryl on his progress in finding the Silver Crystal. Angry that Jadeite's previous efforts have failed, Queen Beryl reminds him of the importance of their mission and the necessity that they locate the crystal immediately. Jadeite leaves from Queen Beryl's presence and creates a new youma designed to pose as a teacher at the Crystal Seminar.

At the seminar, the disguised youma gives Ami a CD which contains coursework used for the school's curriculum. Ami, uses it for her studies, causing her to fall into into a stupor-like trance. The following day, Naru makes plans with Usagi and Yumiko to go out together after school for some ice cream. They invite Kuri to join them, but she disregards them and leaves the room, only mumbling an incoherent string of numbers under her breath, leaving the other girls confused. Usagi sees Ami nearby and asks if they want to join them for their ice cream outing. Recalling her lecturer's words, Ami refuses saying that she has to go to the seminar. Usagi tells Luna that Ami is acting strange. On her way home from school, she runs into Mamoru and he asks Usagi if he heard her cat talking, worriedly causing her to leave.

Upon returning home, Luna and Usagi examine the Crystal Disk for themselves on Usagi's laptop, sensing something awry. They soon discover there is a message beneath the program, to brainwash the students. Realizing that this is from the Dark Kingdom, Luna instructs Usagi to go to the Crystal Seminar to halt their ambitions and save the students who are in jeopardy.

Usagi and Luna go the seminar, but Usagi is worried that she won't be able to get in without being found out. Luna tells Usagi to use the pen she won from the game center. Usagi uses the pen to transform herself into a doctor and makes her way inside under the guise that someone called for medical attention. Meanwhile, Ami is still under the disk's influence and is attacked by the youma, when Usagi comes to her aid transforming into Sailor Moon and fights the youma. As Sailor Moon gets pinned to the wall by sheets of paper. Sailor Moon begins to cry, unleashing her sonic waves, but the youma is impervious to her attack. Ami frees herself from her brainwashing as she remembers her time with Usagi at the game center and screams in desperation for the youma to spare Sailor Moon, causing the symbol of Mercury to appear on her forehead. Luna tells her to use the pen to transform by saying, "Mercury Power, Make Up". Ami obeys and transforms into Sailor Mercury, and uses Mercury Aqua Mist to inhibit the youma's vision. However, Sailor Moon is still incapacitated, and just as the youma is about to strike, Tuxedo Mask comes to her aid, freeing her. Sailor Moon uses Moon Tiara Boomerang to destroy the youma.

The next day, Usagi and Ami are walking home from school together. Usagi wants to go straight home, but Ami wants to have a meeting at her house. Elsewhere, in an unspecified location, a dark-haired girl can be seen alone in a dim, candlelit room.

Changes From the Manga

 * Ami does not say the phrase "Mercury Power, Make Up " the first time she transforms.
 * Usagi does not have a laptop and she and Luna use the computers at Usagi's school to decipher the disk's contents.
 * Rei does not make a cameo.
 * Ami does not have a vision of the Moon Palace when she meets Usagi.
 * When Usagi returns home in the beginning of the chapter, Ikuko calls Luna "the cat with the crescent-bald spot" and Luna promptly scratches her for it.
 * Sailor Mercury's mist attack is not named in Act 2.
 * Usagi, Yumiko, and Naru are changing in the girls' locker room when they notice Kuri leave for the Crystal Seminar.
 * Luna does her research on potential allies in an unspecified location, rather than the secret base at the game center.
 * The youma does not pin Sailor Moon to a wall with papers.
 * Sailor Moon uses one of her feather hair pins during the fight.
 * When Tuxedo Mask saves Sailor Moon, he helps her to use Sailor Moon Kick on the youma.

Changes From the Original Anime

 * Queen Beryl first appeared in the premiere episode.
 * Sailor Mercury's introduction did not occur until episode 8 of the original anime.
 * Yumiko, Kuri, Tuxedo Mask and Rei did not appear in this episode.
 * The Mercury symbol on Ami's forehead has a circle whereas in the original anime, it had a heart shape.
 * Sailor Mercury's fuku has shoulder pads.
 * Sailor Mercury uses Sabão Spray against the youma.
 * The youma used a floppy disk to brainwash the students.
 * Other brainwashed students were present when Sailor Moon battled the youma, who had them attack her.
 * The youma running the Crystal Seminar had red skin, wild green hair, and could turn her arm into an axe. She could also launch paper attacks, but the papers could vanish when a question was answered correctly.
 * Ami and Usagi got their transformation pens from Luna.
 * The transformation pen was never used for writing.
 * Ami was the only student of the Crystal Seminar who was impervious to the Dark Kingdom's mind control.
 * Usagi and Luna used the computers at Usagi's school to decipher the floppy disk's contents.
 * Usagi and Luna did not realise that Ami was a Sailor Senshi until near the end of the episode, amidst the battle with the youma. In fact, they were initially suspicious of her and thought she might have been from the Dark Kingdom.

First Appearances

 * Sailor Mercury
 * Queen Beryl
 * Rei Hino (cameo)

Errors

 * There are several instances where Sailor Moon is missing her gloves.
 * When Usagi is talking to Ami in the school's computer lab, her pen is present but it disappears in one shot.

Trivia

 * This episode is notable for having many scenes where the animation was off model or, as described by some fans, "shoddy". Many of these scenes will be fixed in the released DVD "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon Crystal Volume 1". these was used for the Viz dub.