This episode was based on Act 4 of the manga. Episode 22 of the anime was also based quite closely on this manga chapter. Naturally, the anime had tons of filler episodes beforehand, although some of this was the beginnings of the Naru/Nephrite storyline (one of the best anime subplots that had no basis in the manga).

To be honest, the big similarity between this episode of PGSM and the original manga chapter is actually a big difference - the traditional Masquerade Ball from the manga, held in honour of Princess D (who Luna thinks could be the Princess they are looking for), has become a Halloween party held in honour of a rich girl's birthday. This allows for the "disguise" element of the original plot to be kept. They even found a rather contrived reason for everyone to think the Silver Crystal could be at the party (although I'm not quite sure why any of the guests would be interested in some big jewel that this girl owns).

Most of this episode, including ALL of the stuff about the girls' friendships and teamwork, was new to PGSM. Naturally the manga had no karaoke singing of any kind, and the battle in PGSM (complete with Power Rangers-style monster) was totally different to in the manga. In the manga, Sailor Moon defeated the monster by using Moon Twilight Flash for the first time. The scene where Usagi met Tuxedo Mask while wearing the bear costume was obviously new: Originally Usagi disguised herself as a princess and she and Tuxedo Mask danced. The scene where Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask fall off the building came from the manga, although originally the transformation pen turned into a parasol that they used to float down (here the Moonlight Stick turned into a ball of light that surrounded them).

In both the manga and the anime, the most important scene of this episode was Usagi and Tuxedo Mask's first kiss. As well as being very romantic, this was the scene where Usagi first began to be aware of the past she can't remember yet. However, in PGSM it really doesn't seem like the characters have got to that point yet, so I don't blame them for leaving out the kiss. I'm guessing (and hoping) we'll get a kiss scene sometime over the next few weeks.

Nephrite's hair is nowhere near that bizarre in the manga and anime, although on the plus side it doesn't look as silly as Jadeite's. Incidentally, Jadeite was dead by this point in both the manga and the anime, but in PGSM he's still alive, which makes me wonder if they're planning to do something useful with him.

In some ways I enjoyed this episode more than the manga and anime versions. For starters, it had me in stitches all the way through, from Usagi in her bear costume keeping hold of Tuxedo Mask, to the hilarious karaoke battle scene with split-screen attacks. I'm also really enjoying the fact that the girls aren't the best of friends straight away - it seems much more realistic, and interesting, for there to be some conflict involved. However, you just can't beat the hopeless romanticism of the manga and anime. The Masquerade Ball setting was perfect, the kiss was perfect... It's a shame they made so many changes, even if the end result was hugely entertaining.