Episode 51
Sailor Moon R
Detention Doldrums
Jap.57 "Beware of After School! Usagi, the Target"
Once again Serena is late for school and arrives way past the first bell and unfortunately trips over during her classroom entrance and knocks over a closet on the other side of the room.
Miss Haruna doesn't seem bothered though and in fact tells Serena that she doesn't mind at all! Anne, on the other side of the room looks very tired and mumbles to herself about how she needs energy.
Suddenly Miss Haruna gets called to the staffroom for a phone call from her boyfriend Robert who cancels their date tonight. Miss Haruna then returns to the class in a fowl mood and yells at everyone to get their books out. When she finds Serena eating in class she gives her detention and when Anne sarcastically reads a poem allowed in her alien language she also gets detention.
Later that day Serena finds Anne on the roof with Alan and tells her that they're late for their detention and drags her downstairs to the classroom.
In the staffroom Miss Haruna has been called once more by Robert who tells her that their date is on. Miss Haruna runs into the classroom and happily tells the two girls that she'll leave them to finish their detention together.
After she leaves, Serena and Anne decide that whoever finishes their essay first gets to keep Darien.
Elsewhere Alan summons a new Cardian, Insectia to gather some more energy but the Cardian doesn't seem to listen to him and jumps on his head and then away from him. Eventually Insectia makes her way down town and blasts her way into the cram school where Amy is studying. Unfortunately she manages to drain the energy of several students before flying away.
Amy calls Mina, Lita and Raye who were watching a movie and tells them about the Cardian. The girls are resistant to leave (especially Mina) but Artemis and Luna get them moving.
When they track down the Cardian to a park they find it acting very strangely and even stealing energy from ducks! Alan assumes that the Sailor Scouts must have done something to it but in fact it's just a very strange Cardian.
Back at school Anne is feeling very week and decides to drain some of Serena's energy and gets up to drain some from her. Serena however notices her standing behind her and jumps to the conclusion that Anne is copying her essay. The two then somehow get into a conversation about relationships and Anne mentions that her and Alan are so close they can read each other's mind.
Serena asks Anne to try and read her mind and sits down and closes her eyes. Anne takes advantage of this and begins to drain Serena's energy. Suddenly the crazy Cardian blasts through the classroom and out onto the school ground. Serena runs over to look through the hole in the wall while Alan appears behind her and disappears with Anne, now in her alien form.
Outside Sailor Venus, Sailor Mars, Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter are losing their fight with Insectia causing Luna to tell them that she'll go and find Sailor Moon.
She finds Serena in the classroom who despite being weak transforms and eliminates the Cardian with the help of some motivational speech from the Moonlight Knight.
Alan and Anne look on and ponder that the only way to defeat the Sailor Scouts would be to get them on their own turf.
Later that night, Serena finishes her essay and invites Anne to come with her but Anne tells her that she's fine and that she has to study for the test the next day. After Serena leaves Anne thanks her for her energy while back in her apartment the Doom Tree begins to glow.
 Monster of the Day
Insectia was a very unusual Cardian who seemed to be crazy for no other reason than having a quirky personality. She did manage to steal quite a bit of energy though before being defeated by Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts.
Interesting Facts
 A rather obvious change from the Japanese version was the exclusion of the Tortoise and the Hare fable which the DiC writers probably thought to be too old fashioned and corny (with good reason!). Despite keeping the footage of the two animals running towards the tree Anne's narration simply talks about how every time she feels love she sees the Doom Tree growing bigger and stronger. Personally I like the change as while the moral of the Tortoise and the Hare is a good one, the fact that the two girls seemed to be on a 12 hour detention already gets that point across without being too preachy.
Shopping Info
English language version available on this DVD.
Buy from Amazon.com
Japanese language version available on this DVD.
Buy from YesAsia
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