Death of the Sailor Guardians: The Tragic Final Battle

"Death of the Sailor Guardians: The Tragic Final Battle" is the 45th episode of the 1st season of the Sailor Moon anime and the 45th episode overall. It aired in Japan  on February 20, 1993. In the DiC English dub, this episode, as well as the next, were heavily edited and combined into one episode title "Day of Destiny" and it aired in North America on November 3, 1995.
==Summary==
With Queen Metalia's revival now imminent, the Sailor Guardians teleport to D Point, facing certain death.
==Plot==
As Artemis and Luna watch TV reports in a store window, we see many reports about natural disasters. Artemis somberly comments that they will need to act quickly.
Usagi is cooking dinner, making a special curry for her family. Dubiously, they watch as she tastes her handiwork and starts crying. Concerned, her mother asks what's wrong, only for Usagi to explain it's too spicy.
That night, the five girls gather at Rei’s shrine. As the girls prepare, Usagi asks if Rei gave Yuuichiro a goodbye kiss, and she chastises Usagi for making a fatalistic comment. As the girls talk about their plans for when they return, Makoto mentions hoping to experience new love. Ami offhandedly mentioning "Me, too" provokes everyone’s attention, embarrassing her. Artemis breaks it up and tells them that it's time to transform.
The full moon comes out. The Sailor Guardians hold hands in a circle and concentrate, invoking strong energy from around them. As Artemis calls out "Sailor...Teleport!", the girls disappear, uprooting sections of pavement. As Artemis wishes them good luck, Luna quietly prays that the girls will be safe.
The entrance to the Dark Kingdom is at the D Point in the Arctic Circle. As Sailor Moon complains that she's cold, Sailor Mars snaps a reply, and Sailor Mercury locates the entrance, which the Sailor Guardians begin moving toward.
Queen Beryl, not allowing Metalia's revival to be disturbed, allows any Youma willing to fight to volunteer to kill the Sailor Senshi. Her most powerful Youma, the DD Girls, volunteer. Their task is to stop the Sailor Guardians before they can reach the Dark Kingdom.
Suddenly, the wind stops and the ground is shrouded in a purple hazy fog. Though the Sailor Senshi are put on alert, Sailor Moon lowers her guard when she sees an illusion of Tuxedo Mask calling for help and rushes forward. The other Sailor Guardians pile on top of her to stop her in case it's a trap, as Mercury analyzes the situation. Eventually, Sailor Mercury determines that this is really a Youma, which attacks the five. All five DD Girls introduce themselves and repeat the same tactic, with Usagi falling for it and getting the Sailor Senshi into danger a second time.
Sailor Jupiter decides to destroy it, but they change the illusion to Motoki, causing her to hesitate. Four tentacles grab her and suspend her 100 feet in the air. The Youma close in on her, preventing the other Sailor Senshi from cutting her free. They electrocute Jupiter with jolts of electricity, though she tells the girls to hurry to stop Queen Beryl as she cries in pain. Jupiter invokes her "Supreme Thunder" and attacks with her own electricity, using all of her power to retaliate. The attack is powered by such intense energy that it creates an explosion of electricity which freezes the surrounding environment into a bed of icy spikes, as well as blasting the remaining Youma away and the Sailor Senshi with snow. Two of the Youma are killed outright by the backlash.
Jupiter's body is left mangled in an intricate ice tree. Sailor Moon tries to get to her, but Jupiter simply whispers some words of encouragement and dies. Sailor Moon screams and begs Makoto not to die.
Sailor Jupiter has been killed, and Sailor Moon's resolve has been crushed with the former's death, despite her friends encouraging her they must continue. Usagi hysterically yells to the Dark Kingdom that she will give up the Silver Crystal to save Makoto. Mars and Venus grab Sailor Moon, but when she doesn't stop struggling, Sailor Mercury slaps the hysterical Sailor Moon (and is as shocked by her action as Sailor Moon is). She apologizes but implores Sailor Moon not to let Makoto's death be in vain.
Mercury's computer tells her that the other three Youma have regrouped and are heading their way. Despite Venus and Mars offering to deal with them, Ami plans to hold the Youma off and allow them to continue. Sailor Moon is worried, but Mercury convinces her that since she (Mercury) has less offensive abilities, Usagi will need Venus' and Mars' stronger firepower. Gently promising not to die, Mars and Venus lead Sailor Moon away, with Sailor Moon looking back at Mercury until she can no longer see her.
Beeps announce the arrival of the Youma and Mercury looks up to see an image of Ryo Urawa. She smiles at the prospect of having a relationship valuable enough that the Youma would consider exploiting it, and scans the illusion. The Youma, realizing this is not working, cause the ground to erupt in a lava flow in front of her, and Mercury used her "Shabon Spray" to cool and solidify it.
The Youma form a huge lava boulder overhead and proceed to attempt to crush Mercury with it. Using her computer, Mercury finds the source of the illusion power: a jewel on the leader's forehead. She uses her Shabon Spray to cool herself off enough to enter the magma boulder, though two of the Youma grab her immediately and fry her with electricity, causing Mercury to collapse. As the three Youma electrocute her, Mercury sadly remarks that it's the last time she'll be using her supercomputer, before using it to break the jewel on the leader Youma's forehead; this ceases her illusion-generating abilities, with the boulder disappearing and the DD Girls fleeing; the only thing left on the ice mound is the body of Sailor Mercury, which collapses.
Sailor Moon senses Mercury's death and breaks apart, though Mars tells her not to cry every time someone dies. She tells Usagi the enemies will keep attacking and that they can't let their friend's sacrifices be in vain. As Usagi collapses on the ice in anguish, Venus notices that the ice below her is glowing, and pushes Sailor Moon out of the way only to be caught in a trap. Sailor Moon screams for them to stop in exchange for the Silver Crystal, but her cries go unheeded. The Youma take Sailor Venus underground where she is tortured.
Underground, Venus struggles and opens her eyes to see a Youma in front of her. With the last of her strength, she forms "Crescent Beam" and fires at point-blank range directly onto one of the DD Girl's foreheads.. The blast causes an explosion, killing both of them and above, the ground explodes into an ice mound Sailor Venus' body rests inside, wrapped in vines.
Sailor Moon calls out Minako's name as Sailor Mars drags her away. Sailor Mars, in an almost tranquil trance-like voice, comments to Usagi that "We always fought, but it was fun," severely worrying Usagi. As the two remaining Youma appear before them, Sailor Moon begs Mars not to fight them and to go home, but Mars tells her she needs to save her strength for the final battle. She then cheerfully says that she's not going to die because she's the most powerful of them all, with Usagi watching worriedly. Mars prepares to attack, but the Youma dive underground before she can. The Youma emerge from the ground at startling speed and encase Mars in an ice mountain.
Sailor Moon, believing Mars to be dead, simply stares at the ground in pure shock. One of the Youma emerges seconds after she steps forward and dives to attack Sailor Moon. The shell-shocked Sailor Moon only stares blankly at the approaching Youma, completely unresponsive. A fireball bursts out of the side of the ice mountain and destroys the attacking Youma; the last Youma then attacks Mars within the ice mountain.
Finally, the ice mountain explodes and the Youma holds Mars' body. Putting Mars down, it prepares to finish Sailor Moon, but Sailor Mars grabs one of the Youma's tentacles, not quite dead, and uses Fire Soul, incinerating the final Youma alive. However, this was too much for her body, as it causes an explosion, leaving Mars dead. In her dying breath, she comments that Usagi was right, and she wistfully comments that she should have kissed Yuuichiro before she left, and that it's too late now.
With all of her friends gone, Sailor Moon sits on a snow bluff in shock, completely numb and hoping she's dreaming, and that she'll wake up the next day with everyone fine. The spirits of the Sailor Guardians appear to comfort her, placing ethereal hands on her shoulder and tell her not to give up. Sailor Mars' spirit encourages Usagi to get up, and when she turns to see her after doing so, the stern expression on the face of Mars' spirit softens, and she tells Usagi that they'll always be together. Their spirits tell Usagi to go, and she runs towards the Dark Kingdom, remembering that she's never alone. 
Meanwhile, Endymion's brainwashing has completed, and he wakes up with a look of malice in his eyes...
== International Dub Titles ==
* Brazilian Portuguese: As Guerreiras Morrem: O Trágico Combate Final ("The Warriors Die: The Tragic Final Battle")
* European Portuguese: As Navegantes Morrem na Batalha ("The Sailors Die in Battle")
* French
** TV: La dernière Bataille des guerrières ("The Last Warriors' Battle")
** DVD: La mort des Guerrières ! Un Ultime combat héroïque ("The Death of the Warriors! A Final Heroic Battle")
* German: Der Letzte Kampf ("The Last Fight")
* Sweden: Sailor Moon och Döden (Sailor Moon and Death)
==Changes==
===Changes from the Manga===
*The Sailor Guardians died when they decided to sacrifice their transformations pens (equivalent to sacrificing their own lives) to execute a powerful attack that awoken Sailor Moon within Metalia.
*Queen Beryl died before the Sailor Guardians.
*Endymion kidnapped Sailor Venus and took her to the D-Point and Sailor Moon followed him there.
*Only Sailor Mars, Mercury, and Jupiter used the Sailor Teleport to reach D-Point.
===Dub Changes===
*In the DiC dub, this episode was combined with the succeeding episode
**The episode was edited with dialogue used to make it appear that the Sailor Guardians were only captured rather than killed and editing out shots of the guardians dead.
**In the DiC dub, they removed Sailor Mercury creating a water shield around herself and entering the inferno.
***The scene was cut short, where Sailor Mercury used her computer to smash one of the DD Girls' gem, thus preventing them from using their illusions. Instead, it was replaced with appearing that the DD Girls are taking the computer to locate the other Sailor Guardians
**The deaths of the remaining two DD Girls' deaths were cut. Instead of Sailor Mars blasting one DD Girl from the ice prison and emulating herself with the final DD Girl, Sailor Mars gets trapped in the ice prison, and it explodes.
**The scene where Usagi made dinner for her family (but the dinner came out with terrible results) was cut out of the DiC dub.
**The scene where the spirits of the Sailor Guardians spoke to Sailor Moon was removed from the DiC dub. However, it reappeared in the "Sailor Says" segment.
==First Appearances==
*Sailor Teleport
== Gallery ==
Venusdeathep45.jpg
Caps Soldier Sailor Jupiter 22.jpg
Caps Soldier Sailor Jupiter 42.jpg
Tumblr lnrodvH7hw1qickddo1 500.png
Mercury break.png|Mercury breaks the DD Girls' illusion gem
Mercury dies.png|Mercury dies.
==Trivia==
*This is the last episode of the 1st season to feature Youma, although they were not monsters-of-the-day. The last episode they were monsters-of-the-day was in Usagi Abandoned: The Falling-Out of the Sailor Guardians.
*This episode was the first time that Usagi made curry, she would make it again with Chibiusa and Mamoru later in the second season.
de:Folge 45 - Der letzte Kampf
es:EP045
pl:Ostatnie starcie
de:Der letzte Kampf
pl:Ostatnie starcie
Category:Anime episodes
Category:Sailor Moon episodes