Usagi's a Model: The Flash of the Monster Camera

Template:Episode Anime
**“Usagi’s a Model: The Flash of the Monster Camera”** is the 17th episode of the 1st season of Sailor Moon anime and the 17th episode overall. It aired in Japan on July 4, 1992. The DiC English dub title for this episode is **"Shutter Bugged"** and it aired in North America on September 28, 1995.

## Summary

Nephrite targets Kijin Shinokawa, a gifted young photographer, while Usagi tries to achieve her dream of becoming a model.

## Plot

Usagi eats lunch when she overhears Naru and her friends talking about Japan’s Photo Contest winner; Kijin Shinokawa. She brags to Ami about how he goes to school close to them, and they could get his autograph. Ami declines as she needs to study. After school, Usagi and Naru chase after Kijin when Rei stops them. She expresses the fact she knows they don’t care about his art, and they’re leeching off his fame.

Kijin sits at the edge of a cliff, taking pictures of the sea. He falls when Nephrite grabs his arm, catching him and helping him steady himself. He then places his crest on the camera, sealing a Youma inside. Later he consults the stars which point to the new target, happening to be Kijin.

Usagi reads an advertisement requesting models for Kijin to photograph. Luna tells Usagi the new Communicators are ready for them to use on missions, though she doesn’t care and misuses it to tell Ami about her modelling goal. Shingo makes fun of Usagi about her hopes of becoming a model as they require brains too, causing her to cry.

At Game Center Crown, Motoki encourages her to embrace the challenge and try her hardest. Mamoru replies she won’t even make the auditions, and Kijin takes anybody he can get, not recognising talent at all. An upset Usagi storms out, and Motoki asks Mamoru to treat her better.

The next day after school, Usagi waits by the mail for an acceptance letter. Shingo says she’ll be disqualified as soon as they see her picture. As he speaks, she receives the acceptance letter from the postman. Finding her only swimsuit, it appears the material’s been eaten by moths. She uses bows to cover them in hopes it's acceptable.

At the New Japan Hotel, Usagi arrives and Kijin instructs everyone to be at their assigned dressing rooms. Luna tells Usagi she has a bad feeling as Kijin’s whole demeanour has changed. She then runs into Naru and Haruna who happen to be there too. As they all get changed, Luna investigates and sees Kijin photograph a group of girls, who disappear once the shot‘s taken.

Luna rushes to the rooms, telling Usagi about what she saw and asks her to contact Ami and Rei immediately. She contacts Ami, but only cares about her coming to see her photo shoot. Luna takes over to tell her to bring Rei as there’s been an incident. Luna steals one of Usagi’s bows from her swimsuit and runs off, causing her to give chase.

She sees Naru and Haruna vanish during their picture and approaches Kijin, telling him what he’s doing is wrong. Luna tells her to transform into Sailor Moon, but just then Kijin starts to shoot beams at her from the camera. She kicks the camera away into the pool and holds an unconscious Kijin, when the Youma Kyameran manifests.

She uses Shutter Click against Kijin and Luna, who leaps in front of Usagi to save her from being sealed inside a photograph forever. Sailor Moon starts crying, asking why this is happening when [[Ami Mizuno / Sailor Mercury (anime)|Sailor Mercury and Sailor Mars appear. Sailor Mercury uses Bubble Spray to fill the surroundings, and Sailor Mars uses Akuryo Taisan, though all her ofuda are shot back at her. They both disappear as Kyameran counters all of the attacks, backing Sailor Moon against a wall. As Kyameran goes to shoot a beam at Sailor Moon, she dodges, causing it to bounce off the wall into Kyameran. She then uses Moon Tiara Action, which destroys her and sets every trapped soul free.

Nephrite realises the Demon Star has vanished, when he hears Zoisite laughing at his failures. Nephrite asks him if he’s even close to finding the Silver Crystal yet, irritating Zoisite in return.

Usagi’s family watch the television and see Kijin speak about how he’s taking a break from photography, and he was taught an important lesson by a young lady. Ikuko hopes Usagi could become someone who could be spoken about like that.

## International Dub Titles

* Brazilian Portuguese: Serena Modelo? As Malignas Tornam-se Fotógrafas ("Serena Model? The Malignants Become Photographers")
* European Portuguese: A Bunny Será um Modelo? ("Will Bunny Be a Model?")
* French
	+ TV: Le mur d’images ("The Video Images")
	+ DVD: Usagi modèle ? Les photos choc de l’appareil démon. ("Usagi Model? The Shock Photos of the Demon Device.")
* German :Das Fotomodell ("The Photo Model")

* Italian: Tutti in posa ("All Posing")

## Changes

### Dub Changes

* In the Thai dub, the scenes where the girls were in their swimsuits were heavily censored and the swimsuits were blurred with mosaic. This has happened in other Thai dubs of anime, such as in the Thai dub of Dragon Ball Z, where male torsos were often blurred.
* The tongue twister that Usagi recites when she is balancing books on her head is "namamugi namagome namatamago" which means "raw wheat, raw rice, raw eggs." The Viz dub changed this to "She sells sea shells by the seashore."

## Gallery

Censored Usagi in her swimsuit.jpgOne of the scenes from the Thai dub of the episode. Notice that Usagi's swimsuit is blurred and censored.
## Trivia

* The expression used by Kijin Shinokawa when possessed by Nephlite is "Geijutsu wa bakudan da" or "Art is a bomb"; this is a variation on the catchphrase "Geijutsu wa bakuhatsu da!" (Art is an Explosion!), made famous by Japanese artist Taro Okamoto.

## References

1. ↑ An article about the censorship of torsos in the Thai dubs of anime.