After-School Trouble: Usagi is a Target

Usagi arrives late yet again, but Ms. Haruna is too giddy over a date to care, until a cancellation call sours her mood and earns Usagi detention for snacking in class. Natsumi lands the same punishment after answering a translation in her native alien tongue, and the two are set to grinding through English exercises. Once Haruna learns the date is back on and leaves, the rivals decide that whoever finishes first has a claim on Mamoru.

Meanwhile Ail summons the Cardian Amanju and, spotting Mamoru on the street, orders it to drain him so no one competes for An's heart. The monster ignores the command and leaps away without touching Mamoru, leaving the plan in ruins.

Growing faint from lack of energy, Natsumi drains Usagi to sustain herself. Luna warns Usagi of the danger, and she becomes Sailor Moon to face Amanju, though at first she is too depleted to fight back. Encouraged by the Moonlight Knight to trust that the strength is still within her, she rallies and destroys the Cardian with Moon Princess Halation.

Back in detention and restored to their ordinary selves, Usagi and Natsumi complete their assignment at the exact same instant. The two settle their contest by agreeing that the choice between them rightly belongs to Mamoru. Far off inside the Makaiju's dimension, the tree's light flickers with worrying instability.

The eleventh episode of the second season aired in Japan on June 5, 1993, and reached North America as "Detention Doldrums" on December 6, 1995, written by Katsuyuki Sumizawa and directed by Yuji Endo. It stands as the only episode to feature two Cardians, since an unnamed one is destroyed almost immediately at the opening.

Several dub alterations changed the detention assignment and renamed Haruna's boyfriend, while the early scene with the mysterious Cardian was dropped from the DiC, French, and Hungarian versions. The episode also offers the first look at Sailor Guardians other than Minako running late to school, and notes that Ami claims a spotless punctuality record up to this point.