And that's not even counting the shocked looks on the Sailor Guardians' faces afterwards.
Sailor Moon
Moral Event Horizon in this series.The '90s Sailor Moon has a few of them:
- Season One
- Queen Beryl has many acts that could easily qualify for this trope. She caused the War that ended with many ruined lives and Endymion and Serenity's death and rebirth and years afterwards she brings Metalia into power in order to cause an Apocalypse. The way to do it is by collecting the life essence of various unfortunate civilians. She also kills Jaedite and later Zoicite, showing absolutely no remorse nor shred of willingness to relent despite Kunzite's attempt to take the blame for Zoicite's loose-cannon attempt on Tuxedo Kamen's life.
- Before you feel bad about Jaedite, though, he crossed it earlier in the same season with his attempt on Tuxedo Kamen's life in his own last episode. Just as bad as Zoicite's aforementioned attempt, but what makes this one stand out is that he proceeds to taunt the Sailor Senshi about it. Lampshaded as instead of doing as he had predicted, the Sailor Senshi promptly make their disgust known, both verbally and physically. The Shitenou may not qualify however having been brainwashed by the Queen and not in real control over their actions.
- As for Zoicite, he gets his chance by stabbing Tuxedo Kamen in the back lethally, purely For the Evulz, before they start their honor duel. Even worse, it's revealed he was aiming for Sailor Moon, after Zoicite had promised to leave her out of the fight, against Sailor Moon's protests because she says they have to work together to defeat him.
- The DD Girls cross it by using dirty tricks to outright murder the Senshi. They're the only youma with a kill count, because they use illusions. Then when Usagi begs for them to spare Minako, the survivors gleefully say they're killing all the girls. It's quite satisfying when we see Mars roast two at once with her dying breath.
- Season Two
- Rubeus crossed it via his extremely cruel and abusive treatment of Koan, the member from the Quirky Miniboss Squad who loves him, in which he first mocks her over losing to the Sailor Senshi, then gives her an explosive MacGuffin and orders her to practically kill herself for him. The poor girl goes into a full-blown Villainous Breakdown at that, and only Rei's compassion and efforts keep her from commiting suicide. And for worse, after Koan and Bertier have their Heel Face Turns, he goes even further than that by getting their eldest sister Petz Brainwashed and Crazy with another MacGuffin, and then leaving her and the remaining sister Calaveras to die when the MacGuffin overloads.
- Esmeraude leaves Rubeus to die on his exploding ship in Episode 74. Leaving Rubeus to die when he actually seemed to trust her would be despicable... if Rubeus hadn't done the exact same thing to the Four Sisters, making him an Asshole Victim.
- Dimande crossed this not by kidnapping Sailor Moon and depowering her — that was actually pretty practical— but by dressing her in a facsimile of Neo-Queen Serenity's gown and using magic to immobilize her when she slaps him away. Neo-Queen Serenity was a thousand years old, give or take; Usagi is still fourteen and in a committed relationship.
- Wiseman crosses this when he corrupts the well-meaning yet extreme goals of the Black Moon people and their leader Dimande. Unlike Rubeus, Saphir eventually got wise to Wiseman's act, but Wiseman kills him just as he's about to show Dimande the light as well. Dimande is not amused, and it only hastens the inevitable. And then it's clinched when he kidnaps Chibi-Usa when in a particularly low point, then giving her Fake Memories and forcibly infusing her with black energy, which turns her into Black Lady.
- Season Three
- Generally, the Witches 5 cross this with their quest to strip innocent people of their pure hearts. Tomoe has the excuse that a daimon is possessing him; everyone else doesn't. At first, it's to find the talismans that will bring forth the Holy Grail. After the Holy Grail is found, however, the Outer Senshi question why they're still removing pure Hearts. Pluto notices with horror that it must mean they're using the hearts to fuel the Witches 5 for the Silence.
- Mimete crosses it by sabotaging Eudial's brakes so she'll drive off a cliff, all to take her job. And this was after Eudial had successfully found the talismans and summoned the Grail.
- Tellu crosses it with how she deals with Mimete (providing this page's image). To put it in perspective, Sailor Moon herself is horrified to see one of her nemeses being dealt with in such a callous fashion. Damn... when a hero is mortified by the death of a villain (who could've killed the good guys, including him/her, with a single blow, mind you) at the hands of another villain, you know the killer in question has crossed a line.
- Mistress 9 crossed this when she swallows Chibi-Usa's pure heart, thus condemning her host's best friend to death. What's worse is that Hotaru is fighting back the whole time, knowing what's going to happen, and she eventually succumbs when Chibi-Usa is captured and strapped to an altar. As soon as Hotaru frees herself, her first action is to return the pure heart.
- Pharaoh 90 crossed this when bargaining with Professor Tomoe to save his daughter's life, having a daimon possess his body in exchange but planning to kill Hotaru anyway so her body can allow for Mistress 9 to emerge as the Messiah of Silence.
- Movies
- In the R movie, the Kisenian Flower corrupts a young Fiore, implied to be one of the Doom Tree's children, and makes him obsessed with returning to Mamoru to sheer Yandere levels. Any time Mamoru or the Senshi try to talk reason into Fiore by pointing out his actions would be destroying the planet and hurting innocent people, the Kisenian Flower brainwashes him into denying their reality. It wants him to destroy the planet with its flowers, whispering that Sailor Moon deceives everyone into loving her. No one can get a clear shot on the Kisenian Flower without hurting Fiore, who only gets worse as the film progresses; in the end, Fiore helps destroy the Kisenian Flower through a Heel Realization and sheer Heroic Willpower.
- In Crystal, Metalia manages to get an extra one hammering in villainy when the Sailor Senshi free the Shitennou from her mind control, she kills them saying that if they reject the darkness, they're useless.
- The manga version of Nehellenia crossed this when she forcibly awakened the Sailor Quartet. And unlike her anime counterpart she was not redeemed and is evil incarnate (literally).
- The manga counterparts of the Sailor Animamates - who lack the redeeming qualities of their anime counterparts - crossed this a long ago when they murdered the Guardians of their home planets.
- In Sailor Moon: Another Story, Apsu crosses it by brainwashing the Spectre Sisters (previously affiliated with Rubeus before his cruelty convinced them to betray the Black Moon Clan) so hard it actually forces the Sailor Senshi to put them down. As soon as the player finds out that killing them is the only way to free them, it becomes clear (if it hadn't already) that Apsu is past the point of no return.
