Wish Upon a Star: Naru's First Love

Naru has grown smitten with Masato Sanjouin, the human alias worn by the Dark Kingdom general Nephrite, and Usagi can only look on as the increasingly desperate villain turns her friend's feelings into a weapon against her.

Hunted by Queen Beryl for his repeated failures, Nephrite sacrifices his Celestial Globe to forge the Black Crystal and pinpoint the Silver Crystal, and a vision of Naru rises within the stone. Smelling opportunity, Zoisite consults Kunzite and sends a Youma to trail and kill his rival. Usagi, pushed by Ami and Rei to expose Sanjouin, loses her nerve and turns to Motoki and Mamoru, and Mamoru insists that a true friend owes Naru the painful truth.

Usagi's clumsy warning only drives Naru to a late-night meeting, where Nephrite claims he must flee dangerous pursuers and coaxes the girl into fetching the silver-colored gem her mother keeps in the shop safe. When the stolen stone proves ordinary, the Black Crystal instead reacts to Naru herself. Sailor Moon arrives to unmask the general, yet Naru refuses to believe it and even throws herself in front of a Moon Tiara Action to shield him. Her readiness to die for love makes Nephrite grasp that the Black Crystal answers to a caring heart. When Zoisite's Youma attacks, he blasts it away to protect Naru, Sailor Moon destroys the creature, and he leaves after handing back the useless crystal.

This twenty-third episode of the debut season aired in Japan on August 22, 1992, written by Shigeru Yanagawa and directed by Harume Kosaka. The DiC dub ran it as Molly's Folly on October 5, 1995. The installment marks the first appearance of the Black Crystal and features the monster Yasha.

The story delivers a pair of firsts for the series: a Moon Tiara Action stopped in mid-flight, and a human physically guarding an enemy from a Guardian's attack. Nephrite is also unusual in using a named technique, the Starlight Attack, a distinction normally reserved for the Guardians and the monsters of the day.