Sailor Moon Episode 148

Episode title: Reflections of Reality

Original American Airdate: 11/02/2000

Original Canadian Airdate:

Serena was waiting, rather impatiently, as Rini sketched a portrait of her. Serena, who was supposed to stay motionless in her spot, walked behind Rini and peeked at the sketch. She was not too pleased with it. The two tugged on the picture, but Serena got it.

"So this is how you see me?" She said angrily. "This ugly drawing's supposed to be me?"

"Of course it's you, who else?" Rini replied. Luna thought that the picture was a good likeness of Serena. Serena was furious.

Many minutes later, Serena and Rini were walking through a park. They were fresh from the store, and carrying donuts. Serena was pestering Rini to fix the drawing.

"We agreed!" Rini said. "I draw you, and you get donuts, so just chill!"

Serena was about to noogie Rini, but the two looked down the way. There was a man sitting at an easel, and three girls stood in front of him. The two looked and saw that the man was painting the girl that was sitting down. The portrait looked exactly like the girl. When the man finished, he showed her the painting.

"What?!" The girl exclaimed. "That doesn't look like me at all!" She sat back vainly. "I think my eyes are bigger, and much prettier than that."

The other two girls chimed in, as if on cue. "She's right! Her eyes are nicer!"

The artist thought that the portrait was quite accurate. Serena came forward to defend the artist, and the girl told her to keep out of business that wasn't hers. Rini muttered the similarities between Serena and the girl - they both didn't think the painting looked like them, and dismissed them as bad. The artist finally told the girl that she didn't have to pay for the painting if she didn't like it, and she didn't. She walked off with her two pseudo-friends. The artist sighed, and the two girls hid behind a tree.

"Oh no! We hope we didn't wreck your business, did we?!" The two girls cried apologetically.

The artist smiled. He offered to paint them. The girls refused, but he wanted to do something to thank them.

Meanwhile, the Amazon Quartet had cornered Zircon.

"Your information's always bogus, Zircon!"

"Yeah, like, maybe you should try looking for a new job!"

"Hungry anyone? How does Zircon fried sound?"

"Sounds good to me!"

"You're the ones who aren't doing your jobs!" Zirconia said. When the girls turned to face him, Zircon used the moment to escape. "You lazy twits! Why don't you have the Golden Mirror? You're useless! Here's your next target!"

Zirconia gave the Quartet a picture. It was a picture of the artist. CeleCele instantly fell in love, and eagerly accepted the mission. When they retired to their regrouping place, which was like their spa, they all asked why CeleCele wanted the mission. She wanted it more for getting a portrait that would capture her beauty done than going after the Golden Dream Mirror.

Meanwhile, the artist was painting Serena. Much to Rini's disgust, Serena was eating a donut for her portrait. The donut looked good to the artist. Suddenly, all three heard a low growling sound. It was the artist's stomach, and he fell to the ground, famished. Rini told Serena to give him a donut, but they were all gone.

The two immediately brought the starving artist home, and tried to cook something. There was a huge pan fire in the kitchen, but luckily, it was contained. Finally, the girls brought out a plate.

"Here you are." Serena said. "Looks bad, tastes great!"

The artist, whose name was found to be Komoi, stared at the plate hesitantly, and finally just dug right in. When he finished, they asked why he hadn't eaten for the last three days.

"Because I don't have any money." He said. "I'm broke."

The girls looked at him, taken aback. He told them the meal was delicious.

"So, why can't an artist make any money, Komoi?" Rini asked.

"If the customer doesn't like the portrait, then they won't hang it up." Komoi replied. "And, I can't very well ask for money then, can I?"

"Why not fake and make them better so they'll like them?" Rini asked.

Komoi replied, "Well, that would be a better way to make money. But as an artist, I cannot work that way. You see, I like to paint the truth. And if I don't, I compromise my artistic integrity." Rini understood. "My dream is not fame and fortune. I just want to leave my works of truth behind when I'm gone." He said.

Serena admired his words. Rini had something to show him. She ran and got her pencil drawing of Serena. Though Serena still thought it trash, Rini showed Komoi, and he said he liked it. While it wasn't perfect, it showed, in its simpicity, how much the two really liked each other. That night, when all was said and done, Rini was in her room. She stared at herself long and hard in the mirror. Pegasus appeared, and asked if anything was wrong. Seeing that Rini was looking at herself in the mirror for some sort of answer, he asked if she'd found it.

"I just don't know." Rini said with a sigh.

"Don't know what?"

"I think there must be a lot of people who can't see their real selves like how others see them." She said.

"That's probably true, yes." Pegasus replied.

"I wonder if I might be one of those people." Rini said, laying her head down in her arms. "But how will I ever really know?"

"The mirror always reflects the truth." Pegasus said. "I think if you really know yourself, then you'll know the real you."

The next day, Serena took her portrait to Raye's temple, to show the girls. The girls thought it looked fantastic. Serena offered her own opinions.

"Can't you see how my eyes are a whole lot prettier than that?" She said.

The girls all wanted to get their portraits done. They immediately got excited about it.

"My nose should be a bit higher, too!" Serena said, lost in her own world. The girls all agreed to go for it. Serena was still off in her own world.

Meanwhile, Komoi was setting up paintings on the park bench next to him. A fancy town car pulled up, and a red carpet rolled out. CeleCele, decked out in a flourishing dress, stepped out of the car. In short, she offered him a job to paint her portrait. He politely refused her. CeleCele had to try a different approach.

"Please, listen!" She insincerely pleaded. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable, but you see, my father was a successful art dealer, and art was his life. He believed that through the power of artistic expression, the world would be a happier place. He helped me to appreciate art. He had a dream to help talented young artists, so that they too could spread more happiness, and now I want to carry on his dream!"

CeleCele cried, and turned around. When she was sure she had Komoi where she wanted him, she grinned to herself. Meanwhile, Serena and the girls were arriving where they saw Komoi the day before, but he wasn't there. The girls were about to go home, when Raye stepped forward. She wasn't about to give up. Besides, if Komoi painted someone like her, he'd never want to paint again, right? Right.

The girls went in search of Komoi. Serena and Rini didn't find anything. Rini suddenly saw something on the back of the painting, a message from Komoi. It was thanking them for the meal, and their kindness, and encouraged them to be cheerful, and to keep drawing. Serena wanted to thank him for the portrait. They were about to go searching again, when they saw Luna perched on a wall. They went up to talk to her.

"Oh, hi girls." Luna said.

"What are you doing up there, Luna?" Rini asked. Luna felt an evil presence in the nearby mansion.

Inside, Komoi was painting CeleCele's portrait. She was curious to see if he had captured her beauty. When he finished, he invited her to look.

"What? You've got to be joking." CeleCele said, approaching the picture. "It's not like me at all! No, my eyes are all wrong! They're much prettier than that! You can change them, can't you?"

"That won't be possible for me." Komoi said, putting down the painting.

"Why not?"

"I just won't distort the truth!" He said vehemently.

"I guess you don't understand, do you?" CeleCele said. "Here I am, giving you food and your own luxurious studio here in this house, and I buy you whatever tool you may need. You can have all this and more. And all I ask in return is one insignificant thing. So I'll ask you one more time. Do you think my eyes are prettier now?"

"I came here to paint only the truth!" Komoi replied. "Not anything else!"

"So, you'd rather go back to being a street urchin, is that it then?"

Komoi was glad to. But, CeleCele posed a question - would he be able to keep his dream, and keep his spirits up, starving day after day? The answer was no. Komoi was resigned to stay. Outside, Luna was leading Rini and Serena onto the premesis. The two girls were not pleased about having to break into a house on a hunch. Luna just told them that the two girls would be the only ones getting in trouble.

Inside, Komoi had finished a painting of lies. To CeleCele, it looked perfect. He was about to leave to go rest, but CeleCele had one more thing to ask of him. His dreams. The girls and Luna saw CeleCele reveal her true form, and get ready to shoot her billiard ball.

"Hold it!" A voice shouted. CeleCele looked and saw Sailor Moon and Sailor Mini Moon. "How dare you try to steal an artist's integrity, inner beauty and dreams! We won't tolerate evilness! We're the Sailor Scouts!"

"And we stand for Love and Justice!" Mini Moon said.

"I'm Sailor Moon!"

"And I'm Sailor Mini Moon!"

"And in the name of the Moon, we shall punish you!"

CeleCele called the girls ugly ducklings. Because of that, the two started arguing. CeleCele caught their attention, and shot her pool ball at them. It missed, but banked and hit Komoi right in the back. His Dream Mirror appeared, and he fell to the ground. The Dream Mirror was rather drab, and CeleCele noticed it.

In any event, CeleCele called her Remlis, which was of course, plant-like. CeleCele ordered it to dispose of the mirror, but the Remlis didn't even want to touch it. CeleCele grabbed the mirror, and tried to shove it into the Remlis. The Remlis fought with her, and the Sailor Scouts took advantage of the situation.

"Please, Pegasus! Protector of dreams!"

"CRYSTAL TWINKLE BELL!"

"MOON GORGEOUS MEDITATION!"

Before the blast could hit the Remlis, CeleCele jumped out of the way. The Remlis was destroyed, and Komoi's mirror was set free. When Komoi awoke, he saw the Sailors and thanked them for their help. His Dream Mirror looked bad because CeleCele had made him betray his dream. He was happy to start over, without all the money and the huge house. The two Sailors smiled at each other.

Raye was not too pleased with her portrait. She didn't think she looked so plain. While she and Serena argued, Rini said,

"They deserve each other if you ask me."

She showed Komoi her Serena portrait. The difference this time though, was that it was colored in. She wanted him to have it.

"Oh, no." He said. "It's too precious to you."

"It's okay, because you're the first person who praised it." She replied. "Here!"

Komoi took the drawing. "Thank you very much." He said gratefully. "This picture will remind me to stay true to myself."

Rini looked at him, confused. He dismissed it.

"By the way Rini, what's the title of this masterpiece?"

Rini blushed. "Promise not to tell anyone else, especially Serena." She said. "The title is 'The Person I Admire Most'."

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