The first arc feels like the show testing whether you'll stick around after the reset, spinning its wheels with aliens nobody cares about while Mamoru stays broken and useless. The second arc arrives and immediately justifies everything: Chibi-Usa is an actual person with her own crisis, not a plot device, and suddenly Sailor Moon remembers what it's good at, making you care about people, not just monsters. By the time you understand why she matters, the show has already rebuilt itself into something bigger than the first season ever was.

Usagi's peaceful life ends when her memories as Sailor Moon return, and she and her friends take up their roles as Sailor Guardians again. Their new foes are Ail and Ann, two alien survivors who drain energy from unsuspecting people to restore the Makai Tree that sustains their kind. Mamoru has not yet regained his memories, and he appears as the Moonlight Knight rather than Tuxedo Kamen. Once that threat passes, a pink-haired girl resembling Usagi falls out of the sky. Chibi-Usa comes from the future, searching for the Silver Crystal to save her family. The Black Moon Clan, a family of time-traveling enemies, wants the same power so they can seize the future and bend it to their own ends. Sailor Moon and the Guardians must stop them to protect their destinies and the harmony of the universe.