Moon Returns: The Mysterious Aliens Appear

Two months after the Dark Kingdom fell, Usagi and her friends carry on as everyday teenagers, their days as guardians wiped from memory. That peace ends when a fresh menace arrives in the shape of the alien pair Ail and An. To meet the danger, Luna gives Usagi back both her recollections and her power to become Sailor Moon. The dub retitled the episode The Return of Sailor Moon.

A meteor streaks down one night and drifts off toward a mansion, carrying Ail and An, who insist they care only for each other. The two enroll at Usagi's school disguised as the transfer siblings Seijuro and Natsumi Ginga, and An grows fixated on Mamoru before weakness overtakes her and she demands energy. Retreating to a dimension dominated by a great tree, the Makai Tree, the aliens revive her but realize they must feed the withering plant with human life force.

An draws a card that Ail's flute turns into a Cardian, which prowls the city stealing energy from girls and eventually corners Naru. Luna and Artemis prove too weak to stop it, so when Usagi arrives, Luna restores her memories of the fight against Beryl and the other senshi. Overwhelmed but resolute, Usagi transforms and finishes the Cardian with Moon Tiara Action as the aliens vow to return, leaving her to tearfully say goodbye to her normal life.

Ail, An, the Makai Tree, and the Cardian all debut here, and the Makai Tree storyline is an anime-only arc absent from the manga, where Usagi never lost her memory. This is the last time Moon Tiara Action serves as a finishing move, and Maiden's Policy begins its run as the ending theme. The DiC dub reframed the aliens as agents of the Negaforce sent by Queen Beryl.