Heartwarming / The Dark Lords of Nerima

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The Dark Lords of Nerima

• In her darkest moment, after she revealed to the Nerima Wrecking Crew the extent of her deception, Beneda runs away on the verge of absolute despair and shame. Hobbled by various injuries and intense pain due to the massive burns on his back, Ryouga proceeds to find her on his own to comfort her. Think about that for a moment.
  Ranma: "Well, lucky thing you came across the moron, anyway. You wouldn't believe how hard it usually is to find him."
  Beneda: (quietly) "It wasn't like that. He found me."
• On that note, Beneda carrying Ryouga back to Dr. Tofu's clinic, and the others being more concerned about the fact that she was back safe than they were about her earlier freakout.
• Beneda's nursing of Ryouga, especially where she is learning to put ointment on his burns.
• Kuno comforting Kodachi, after being traumatized by the Darkmistress impersonating their mother.
• While staying in character, Akane, Shampoo and Ukyo made sure to assure Sailor Moon that her friends were alive.

The Dark Lords Strike Back

• The ghost of the late Queen Serenity appears to Ranma late in the invasion, offering some comfort in the wake of everything that had gone down. After Sailor Moon defeats Metallia, Serenity even helps him pass through the still-expanding Moon Prism Power to reach her.
• Doubling as a Moment of Awesome, Ranma manages to keep Sailor Moon alive by feeding his ki into hers. His concern in doing so causes her to realize that she has to live herself if she wants to deny the forces of darkness any shred of victory. It's a very touching moment between two people who - in all honesty - have never truly met each other yet.
• Meihui reconciling with Cologne after the battle, due to the former realizing how much of a fool she'd been and how much time she'd wasted over her grudge.
• What’s the first thing the Wrecking Crew does once they’ve gotten their memories from before the Reset Button back? Track down Konatsu, beat up his abusive stepfamily, and bring him back to Nerima with them—a good bit earlier than they did the first time around.
  • Ranma’s initially surprised that Shampoo wants to come along, but she declares she’d never leave someone she fought alongside and who even saved the life of an Amazon elder with his awful stepmother and sisters.

The Dark Lords Ascendant

• Ranma surrenders to Neo-Queen Serenity after the duel in chapter 6 goes straight to hell. His only request? That no matter what is done to him, they let the rest of the Nerima crew go. Serenity's relief at his attitude is palpable and it looks like the two groups will finally patch things up... when Tanizaki makes his move at precisely the wrong moment.
• Those Senshi who gain Next Tier Powerups achieve that next level because of these:
  • When Mercury detects Urawa Ryo in danger, she becomes desperate and summons whatever power she can, repeatedly telling herself that she was not going to let him die right before slicing the building in half with a massive ice slash.
  • Mars finds a group of children in lackluster condition and discovers that Ekim freely engages in Human Sacrifice as part of his rituals. Her Berserk Button stays hammered down until she blasts him down an elevator shaft in a blazing fury.
  • Ryouga was forced to utilize the Tora no Seishin as part of a last-ditch effort to kill the Wyrmspawn. Though it succeeds, he's left rotting away as a result and apologizing to the pleading Sailor Saturn for breaking his promise not to use it. Though she was exhausted from battle, Saturn was having none of that and proceeded to fully restore him before collapsing herself, channeling her true self in doing so.
    Saturn: "No. I am Saturn. I am Ruin and Rebirth. And I say no."
  • In-between battles, Venus managed to befriend Jimenko, one of the lemures that Tanizaki had trapped in the Dark Kingdom. When Jimenko was in danger of being killed by one of the Nameless One's monsters, Venus snaps and annihilates the assailant and every other beast in the immediate vicinity with a single beam. Jimenko notes that in that moment, she was looking at Beauty given bodily incarnation.
    Venus: (to the Nameless One) "I won't let you hurt her. I won't let you hurt anyone else."
• When Professor Tomoe realizes that the remaining Daimon are dying because of their lack of connection to Pharaoh 90, aka the entity that possessed him once and a humongous Trauma Button for him, he decides that he will do everything in his power to save them. By the end of the story, with the help of Beneda and Dr. Tofu, he succeeds.
• A moment that crosses into Tear Jerker territory: Throughout the story, Genma was experiencing guilt in some form or another for all the running away he'd been doing, including—much as he didn't want to remember it—keeping himself and Soun from getting involved in the Dark Kingdom attack during the Interlude. During a critical moment while dealing with a massive energy cannon, he tries to decide whether to destroy it from afar and let all the hostages die in the explosion, or be more exacting about it and disable it up close—putting himself at risk. His train of thought was: "Who did he want to save? And who was he willing to sacrifice to do it?" In the end, he doesn't run away.
• During the final clash against the Nameless One and its army, Beneda gives an encouraging pep talk to the Dark Kingdom monsters, convincing them to keep fighting and protect the Sailor Senshi. It's clear that she has herself in mind when she gives it, as well, as she notes that sometimes something small can make all the difference.
• Helios making an appeal through the dreamscape to humanity to help give them the power to destroy the Nameless One. Then, his sister Melinoe, who brings nightmares, makes her own appeal, reaching people that Helios could not.
• Sailor Moon was dead-set on finding a way to save Unit Zero. In Chapter 18, she finally accomplishes it by splitting the Silver Crystal in half and giving one of the halves to her clone. The sheer joy Unit Zero feels from the gift she was given makes her start bawling, and shortly thereafter she is finally able to sleep peacefully after previously being too afraid to rest due to nightmares.
• Usagi giving Unit Zero the name "Megumi", meaning "blessing", and it's clear that the Tsukinos have adopted her as one of them.
• Most of the Seven Great Youma decide to stay in the Dark Kingdom or otherwise maintain ties with its inhabitants in the aftermath, while Crane Game Joe leaves entirely. When asked what he wanted to do, Bakene's only wish is to be returned to his housecat form. The last we see of him he is reunited with his ecstatic owner, happy to be home.
• As she's celebrating her birthday, Usagi thoroughly relishes the sight of martial artists, youma, senshi and mundane people mingling together and having fun, paving the way for a vibrant and colourful future in which it doesn't matter where you came from, you can be friends with whoever you want.
• Akane talks Shampoo out of her suicidal spiraling and into a One True Threesome with her and Ranma by simply stating that Shampoo is her friend, the first female friend she ever felt she could relate to or who took her seriously, and if sharing Ranma means they will spend the rest of their lives butting heads with each other, then she's happy to do that.
• Ranma's ultimate decision regarding what to do about being regarded as an actual Dark Lord is to think about Tanizaki's control freak tendencies in how he played politics and decide that his final victory over the madman will be to do the game of politics and leadership better than he ever managed by making the new Dark Kingdom into something truly great without all the underhanded dealings Tanizaki relied on. After the timeskip, it is shown that he is succeeding rather handily with increased immigration, good relations with the Senshi and the rest of the world in general, and the next generation is shaping up to be worthy successors to the legacy the Nerima crew and the Senshi have built.
• The fact that by the time of the epilogue, the Dark Kingdom monsters and humans—thanks to a deal with the Musk Dynasty that allows them to make use of the Pail of Preservation and Pot of Liberation—are able to have children together.
• Hotaru takes to her new role as "Dark Lady" after her marriage to Ryouga with gusto, with the resident monsters supporting her wholeheartedly.
• Despite getting himself lost again, Ryoga manages to find his way to the opening of Beneda's new clinic. The very last scene of the story is Beneda reassuring him, happy that her first true friend is there for the celebration.
  • The series started with her unable to return to the Dark Kingdom after her botched assassination attempt. With the opening of her clinic, Ascendant ends with her having well and truly come home.

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