Sailor Moon Forum

Does it actually state anywhere why Sailor Moon's brooches inexplicably lose power at the beginning of the R and S seasons? Are we just ment to assume that Sailor Moon's power is drained from her battles against Queen Beryl and the Death Phantom?

Weren't her brooches, you know, broken by the enemies (Reci and Mikuji), causing her to lose her powers entirely? If you're referring to the fact that she wasn't able to defeat those monsters until she powered up, it just means that the new enemies were too strong for her old powers (or at least that's what the scriptwriters wanted us to think, apparently).

True, but in R her tiara stopped working before her brooch was broken. Any idea of the cause of that?

In the episode where she gets the Moon Crystal Power transformation, there's a bit of dialogue from Luna about that: as long as Usagi wants to stay a normal girl, she won't be able to transform or use her tiara. That's pretty much the only in-series explanation for why her tiara stopped working.

After all, she does use Moon Tiara Action a few times later, when she no longer regrets being a senshi - but by then it stops being her primary attack and she doesn't perform it as a killer move (suggesting that it is too weak for the new enemies anyway).

It is so weird when she uses it in the SuperS season again

^ And don't forget the pizza in Stars

I wish Sailor Moon got new powers at the END of each season.

I wish magic made sense in Sailor Moon.

As for the question...She 'has' to lose it in order to upgrade it afterwards. For me it doesn't make any sense. Especially from the S season it's like the Silver Crystal has lost its importance - the one supposed to be the source of Sailor Moon's powers. Anyway... I just cannot believe that Nehelenia is such a stronger enemy than the formers...

Admittedly, the anime version did have a serious upgrade timing problem.

In the manga, Usagi's first two brooches were destroyed during final battles with Metalia and Death Phantom, so we were never shown whether the new ones were stronger in comparison - she simply had to get some transformation device in order to be able to fight the new batch of enemies. The rest of the senshi also tend to get upgraded before the new battle even starts.

In the anime, the upgrades happen completely at random, as though the writers neglected them first and then hastily tried to stick them somewhere in order to catch up with the manga (and even then, some of the upgrades other than SM's were skipped completely). Naturally, they needed some excuse for those upgrades, which is why the characters usually suffer a mysterious power loss before they occur...

The in-universe reason was supposed to be stronger enemies, but the way they prove their strength (by stripping Usagi of her powers) isn't entirely convincing... I mean, midway through S, the Daimons were simply shown resisting SM's attacks until she went through her secondary transformation. Breaking the brooches felt more like cheating.

Honestly, R should've started with Luna and Artemis recovering the Silver Crystal from D-Point and when Ali and En made their first move, Luna could've created the new compact to hold the Crystal and have Usagi say "Moon Crystal Power" then and there.

Yeah, odd how despite being reborn again at the end of classic, Usagi still had her original brooch on her.

Why is it odd? She died, but her powers didn't. Simple as that.

Despite that she didn't even have powers on her own to begin with.

Actually, she did. They just weren't yet awakened.

Because the Silver Crystal was missing up until episode 51, where it was revealed that it was hidden away inside Usagi's heart. They probably assumed it was destroyed along with the moon stick at the end of the battle with Beryl before then.

They could've written something different.

Why? Luna had no access to D Point after the Dark Kingdom was obliterated.

Okay, then why does the Cosmic Compact and the Spiral Heart Moon Rod come in so abruptly? I wish the Anime explained things more like the Manga did.

I think Queen Serenity explained in R that the more Usagi cared about protecting those she loved, the stronger the Silver Crystal's power would be. So when Mamoru got hurt and she stood up to protect him, their love must have reenergised the crystal and caused it to evolve into a new form and summoned the Heart rod.

Thats my theory anyway.

How do you mean they came "abruptly"? Usagi didn't get them until the second episode of S, and even then not until the end of said episode. How did they come any quicker than, say, Usagi's first brooch?

I meant, the story of S episode 2 was mostly about cats and the caretaker who Kaorinite targeted then suddenly, out of Mamoru and Usagi's love, the Cosmic Compact and Spiral Heart Moon Rod appears with very little build-up and feasible explanation. Sorta like how an episode of Minako wanting a Pure Heart changed gears to Usagi, Haruka and Michiru unveiling their identities, leading to the next episode but abandoning the previous story of Minako's crisis to never be brought up again.

Read what SnowWolf said. Plus, the manga doesn't give any real explanation for the upgrades either. Neo Queen Serenity just goes and whips up a new Brooch and Wand out of nowhere.




Don't you remember her running around with it giggling when it came out? I'm pretty sure Minako's "crisis" about having a pure heart was resolved. Plus, more important things came up.

I had no issues with it, I may be the only one who liked that she lost her powers because the villains were stronger before she got her upgrade, than simply getting the powers. It was good for the show to show that the threats were getting stronger by the seasons, and well story-wise it was a shock, than Sailor moon simply always being able to defeat a monster of the week all the time.

It's just a bit meaning less though that after defeating a major villan in the previous arc (Queen Beryl, Death Phantom) that her brooch gets broken by a monster of the week.

It only got broken once. She didn't have one at first, then her first one was flat out destroyed, thus necessitating her getting a new one. He second was the one that broke. Her third one simply wasn't powerful enough (but wasn't broken) and thus was upgraded. Her fourth was also outclassed by the enemy (but still not broken) and so was upgraded to her fifth.

I can understand that it can be a little silly, but I didn't really mind either way. But maybe her brooch could of been broken towards the end of a season and then an upgrade. But didn't bother me either way, maybe I just liked the drama it created, with OMG her brooch broke wow.

In Sailor Moon R I always assumed her upgrade happened in episode 51 to coincide with Mitsuishi Kotono's return to the show. The power up seems to happen at a random time, but it makes sense to me that the producers would want to save at least one important episode (Kotono having missing the classic climax) for the return of the regular seiyuu.
Otherwise I'm pretty sure the upgrade would've happened in the first episode.

As far as I know its never been mentioned the brooch or holy silver crystal is indestructible. It doesn't even function around negative energy when was inside Prince Diamond's castle.

At the beginning of R she didn't have the Silver Crystal and also no Moon Stick anymore. She lost both at the north pole, when she fought Beryl. They also point out that her lack of power (the moon tiara didn't work anymore and once she got attacked by a monster she transformed back to normal right away) is a psychological thing, because she wanted to have a normal live without monsters that kill her friends and threaten the world. But when her friends got attacked while she couldn't transform anymore, her wish to save them was strong enough to call up Queen Serenity. She gave her the Silver Crystal and a new scepter.

In Sailor Moon S there is no good explanation. She gets attacked by a monster that cracks her compact and she transforms back to normal. So when another monster attacked she couldn't transform, but since Tuxedo Mask was in a pinch she had to fight anyway. Her love released a power that made her stronger and gave her the ability to transform again.

The manga had always some good explanations for these grade-ups. The anime just needed to make up a situation that would justify a new transformation sequence.