"Learn How to Be Skinny from Usagi" is the 4th episode of the 1st season of the Sailor Moon anime and the 4th episode overall. It aired in Japan on March 28, 1992. The DiC English dub title for this episode is "Slim City" and it aired in Canada on August 30, 1995, and then in North America on September 13, 1995.
Summary[]
Usagi is shocked to find out that she's gained weight from too much eating. Determined to get back into shape and fast, she and her friends join a gym that advertises instant results for its members.
Plot[]
Usagi weighs herself after a bath, and discovers that she has gained half a pound, screaming in despair. Her family consoles her at the table, offering words of comfort and conclude she eats more than she exercises. Luna draws a picture of a fat Sailor Moon, causing Usagi to chase her.
At school, Usagi glances over at Naru’s lunch, jealous of what she’s eating as she hasn’t packed a meal for herself. Umino sees the hungry Usagi and offers her sloppy leftovers from his lunchbox.
During break Usagi, Naru and two other friends discuss dieting, mentioning how Ms. Haruna looks way thinner lately. She walks past, greeting them as Usagi admires her beauty. Umino pops out of nowhere and shows them photos he’s taken of Haruna working out with his camera in secret. Usagi asks the name of the fitness program she’s attending.
The girls gather outside of Shapelin, a new gym that is offering an enticing free trial to new members. Jadeite spies on them through a window, laughing at how naïve they are for believing in such a deal. As the girls get ready to exercise, Jadeite has taken over the fitness program, disguised as a man named Jed. He introduces himself as an instructor, and shows them the equipment. As the girls work out, they wonder where Usagi went, when Jed offers them to step inside the "Shape-Ray".
Jadeite takes them down to the basement, where there are four capsules waiting. He tells them that it takes less than 5 minutes for a difference to show. They all enter, as the pods drain their energy for Queen Beryl. who summons him for a report on his mission. The girls finish up in the pods, looking anaemic as Jadeite urges them to make a return.
Usagi walks out of the Gym, commenting about the way her friends disappeared on her. She makes her way to the Game Centre, and faints in Motoki's arms as her diet’s weakened her, leading to a fantasy sequence where she dances with him. After she wakes up, Motoki takes care of her before saying he prefers girls that aren’t overly skinny. Usagi is comforted by this, as she walks and eats a bag pork buns, she runs into Mamoru who makes fun of the fact she's eating like a pig. She throws one at him, and he catches it and begins eating while walking off.
Luna tells Usagi she’s going too far, as she's taken what Motoki told her the wrong way. But never mind that as Ms. Haruna has been wasting away to nothing along with other customers of Shapelin. Determined they should check it out, Luna goes back to Shapelin with Usagi, who couldn't care less about their mission.
Luna witnesses Jadeite putting Ms. Haruna in a relaxation pod, and realises the Dark Kingdom is behind this. Luna leads Usagi down to the basement, threatening to scratch her across the face if she refuses to be responsible. Usagi then transforms into Sailor Moon to stop Jadeite, but he sends three bodybuilders after her. Sailor Moon destroys the rings on their heads, which are controlling them with Moon Tiara Action, releasing them from Jadeite's control.
Later, Usagi weighs herself, only to find out that she has still gained weight.
International Dub Titles[]
- Brazilian Portuguese: Quer Ficar Magra? ("Want to Stay Thin?")
- Latin America Spanish: ¿Quieres estar delgada? ("Do you want to be thin?)
- European Portuguese: Gostavas de Ser Magra? ("Would You Like to Be Thin?")
- European Spanish: ¿Queréis adelgazar? ("Do you wanna be slim?")
- French:
- TV: Vive le régime ("Long Live the Diet")
- DVD: Usagi vous donne le secret de la minceur ! ("Usagi Gives You the Secret of Thinness!")
- German: Die Abmagerungskur ("The Slimming Regimen")
Changes[]
Changes from the Manga[]
- This episode was a filler. No scenes were adapted from the manga into this episode.
Dub Changes[]
- Many changes were made in the English DiC dub.[1]
- The cold opening segment was cut (30 seconds cut)
- A scene where Usagi eyes Naru's lunch, then Umino offers Usagi what's left of his lunch, leaving Usagi speechless, was cut out (20 seconds cut).
- Shots of the fitness club from afar were cut for time (9 seconds cut)
- Shots of Jadeite gathering energy were cut out (6 seconds cut).
- Several other small cuts were made. In all, 1 minute and 33 seconds were cut out.
- A scene was added of Naru pedaling the exercise bike was added, used from one of the older scenes sped up.
- A scene was added where we see Queen Beryl looking into her crystal ball, watching Naru and Usagi's two friends get energy drained.
- The scene with Usagi and Motoki in the nurse room was extended, Usagi jumps up and down more and Motoki laughs at the end.
- The scene where we see Haruna in a pod was slowed down.
- A part where we see the Sailor V poster was edited so the bottom of the poster is not shown, possibly due to the bad guys with guns.
- Motoki is renamed Andrew in this and future appearances.
- Juban Middle School is renamed Crossroads Junior High in this and future appearances.
- Mamoru is renamed Darien in this and future appearances.
- In the English dub, Shingo makes his first appearance in this episode. His first appearance would have been in episode 1 if the scene where Usagi mimicking Sailor V Kick to harm Shingo wasn't cut.
- In the Japanese version, even after all the exercising, Usagi weighed herself and was shocked to see that she had still gained weight. The North American dub changed it to Shingo having tampered with the scale as a prank.
- In the Japanese version, Queen Beryl praises Jadeite for all the energy he had collected for her. In the English version, Queen Beryl yells at him for doing a bad job.
- In the Japanese version, Usagi was eating a bag of dumplings. The bag of dumplings was changed to doughnuts in the English dub. The German dub changed it to a bag of hamburgers.
- In the English dub, during the scene where Serena was taking a bath, the water was darkened to make her chest area less visible to the viewer.
- In the Sailor Moon Says for this episode, the DiC dub inserted a lesson cautioning against Serena's actions in the episode due to concerns over body image issues and girls getting eating disorders from obsessive dieting, which is considered more of a problem in the U.S. and Canada than it is in Japan.
- In the Japanese version, Usagi was eating a bag of dumplings. The German dub changed it to a bag of hamburgers.
- In the Catalan dub, this episode was skipped.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The DiC title of this episode is a parody of Las Vegas, Nevada's popular nickname "Sin City".
- This episode did not feature a Youma. Instead, Jadeite was running the gym with the help of three fitness instructors he was controlling with rings on their heads.
- This was the first time Usagi fell for an enemy plan; however, the first time she had her energy drained was the previous episode.
- While this episode was dubbed and aired in Sweden, parental complaints led to the episode being pulled from reruns.
- Devices similar to the Shape Ray in this episode also appeared in chapter 9 of Codename: Sailor V, "Sailor V vs deVleene!."
- Sailor Moon's odango covers were not present during the scene where she was fighting the bodybuilders.
- Right before the fitness instructor's dumbbell shatters the Shape Ray, a quick shot of Sailor Moon in the final part of her transformation can be seen (as she is posing).
- This was one of the few episodes where Jadeite's plan was accomplished without using a Youma. It was also the only time Jadeite was able to successfully drain energy. Coincidentally, Nephrite is the second case of this occurring.
- This episode marked one of the few times an enemy satisfied their superior by the end of an episode.
- This is the first episode that Tuxedo Mask doesn't help Sailor Moon.