“Unforgivable! How dare you corrupt an innocent young man's feelings! As long as the moon shines in the sky, no evil deed will go unnoticed. I am the Pretty Guardian who fights for love and for justice! Sailor Moon! And In the Name of the Moon, I'll punish you!”
— Usagi Tsukino
(DiC Episode: "Mercury's Mental Match")
Usagi learns that the new transfer student, Ryo Urawa, has a crush on Ami and sets out to help him express himself. But what she doesn't know is that Ryo can see into the future and is dreading an upcoming vision where he ends up killing the girl he loves.
Tropes in this episode include:
- Alliterative Title: "Mercury's Mental Match" for the DiC episode.
- Always Someone Better: Ryo Urawa ends up with the perfect score that bests the resident genius Ami.
- Birds of a Feather: Usagi and Makoto share a good chuckle over their bad test scores.
- But Now I Must Go: Ryo ends up leaving Juban Middle due to his dad getting transferred at work.
- Clothing Damage: Ryo's vision features Sailor Mercury being stripped naked as she's attacked by his monster form.
- Cyborg: Bunboo contains multiple cybernetic components.
- Dub Name Change: Ryo is named "Greg" in the DiC Episode.
- Evolving Credits: The new opening includes Makoto and Minako with the Sailor Guardians and features imagery for the Moon Kingdom.
- Graceful Loser: Ami isn't upset about being in second place for her test exam and just sees it as a sign to study harder.
- Heroic Willpower: Thanks to Mercury's message of how one can create their own future, Ryo gains control of his youma form and takes out Zoisite instead of the Guardian.
- Knew It All Along: Thanks to his future vision, Ryo already knew about Zoisite along with his true identity as a Great Youma.
- Lizard Folk: Ryo is transformed into the youma Bunboo, who resembles a lizard man with a cyborg aesthetic.
- Make My Monster Grow: Zoicite uses the Dark Crystal to amplify the negative energy in Bunboo to make him more obedient and to kill the Guardians.
- Mercy Kill: Ryo begs Sailor Mercury to kill him once he turns into a monster. Thankfully the Sailor Guardian has none of that nonsense.
- Near-Death Experience: Ami would have been squashed by a metal beam if Ryo didn't show up to stop her.
- New Powers as the Plot Demands: Moon Tiara Action can place itself on a youma's head to significantly lower their negative energy.
- New Transfer Student: Ryo recently transferred to Juban Middle School.
- Poor Communication Kills: Ryo warns Usagi about going anywhere that involves water. If he were a little more specific, he could have warned her about the faculty worker dumping a bucket of water on her by accident.
- Precious Photo: Ami gives Ryo a very cute photo of herself before he leaves, better than the hamburger photo Ryo got earlier.
- The Promise: Before leaving Juban, Ryo promises Ami that he'll continue to get smarter and prove himself worthy of Ami's attention.
- Screw Destiny: Sailor Mercury is strongly against Ryo's pessimistic attitude about the unavoidable future. She proclaims that they all have the willpower to make their path and create a better future without fear.
- Secret Secret-Keeper: Thanks to his future visions, Ryo knows that Ami is Sailor Mercury. But because she denies his claim, he decides to accept her refusal and becomes this.
- Seers: Ever since he was a toddler, Ryo was blessed with the power to see into the future.
- Swiss-Army Weapon: Bunboo's arms have swiss army knives that carry a variety of sharp tools.
- Unflattering ID Photo: While not an ID, Usagi gives Ryo a photo of Ami about to eat a hamburger as a memento.
- Villain Opening Scene: Queen Beryl starts the episode by yelling at Zoisite for letting Tuxedo Mask steal one of the Rainbow Crystals.
- Would Rather Suffer: Ryo openly declares that he'd rather be killed before turning into a monster who attacks others.
