It's the penultimate episode of Moon Makeup for the first season of Sailor Moon, as we get two steps closer to the final battle with the Dark Kingdom! First it's the last filler episode of the season, #43 Usagi Abandoned: The Falling-Out of the Sailor Guardians. Usagi comes up with a kind of nonesensical plan to try and sneak into the Dark Kingdom and we're just kind of dropped right into the middle of the plot and expected to figure things out on our own time, but the episode is so fast-paced it actually kinda works despite itself. Then it's the beginning of the end in #44, Usagi's Awakening: A Message from the Distant Past. An entrance to the Dark Kingdom is finally discovered as the girls rush off to confront Queen Beryl, but before they can get very far Kunzite tries to send them to another dimension (?) that's also the past (??) but gets foiled by the weirdly sentient moon stick (???) that sends them to the Moon Kingdom instead. Sure, whatever. In the SILVER MILLENIUM we get basically an extended flashback of past events that we already learned about ten episodes or so ago (when Usagi first found out she was the Moon Princess), but it's still kind of fun to see all those events animated. There's also one kind of massive plot hole, however; you'll have to listen to find out what. It's not all flashbacks though, as there's also the last battle with Kunzite! Once that's out of the way, it's time to head deeper into the Dark Kingdom, so we'll wrap up the first season next week with the last two episodes as well as our picks for favorite & least favorites of the season! See you then!

Timestamps

0:58-4:16: Introduction

4:52-22:42: Episode 43, "Usagi Abandoned: The Falling-Out of the Sailor Guardians"

23:18-45:38: Episode 44, "Usagi's Awakening: A Message from the Distant Past"