Compared are the heavily censored US TV Version and the German TV Version.

German Version:	US Version:

The anime series Sailor Moon should ring a bell. The 200 episodes-series about a group of girls, who can perform magic tricks, fighting Evil is a classic which left a mark in the awareness of Japanese Productions (in both directions). No doubt about that. The series was a major success worldwide. But the German Version is quitr a surprise. In comparison to Saber Rider for instance, the German Version are based on the original Japanese master and the effort to keep it as close as possible to the Original was being made. Besides a few modification (please see below), the German Version is equal to the uncensored original Japanese Version.

Unlike the US North American Version.

The company DiC was calling the shots for the adaption of the first two seasons and Cloverway for the following two seasons. The final season 5 has never been released in the US, probably because of the controversial "Sailor Starlights", which also change the gender during their transformations. The realization is legen.... wait for it.... [sorry, wrong franchise -:)] The realization is legendary but it's also a perfect example for heavy censorship in animes these days. Especially season 1, produced by DiC, has a very dreadful rep and is the one with the most censorships being made. "Highlights" are the last two episodes of the first season. The remains of these episodes were put together to one single episode. Really preposterous.

The modifications / censorship

The

removal of scenes is the most common censorship. The length of the removed scenes is purely and simply impressive. Looks like the episodes were censored randomly. Besides the violence cuts, which could be expected, plot scenes, some gags and anything that could cause trouble with the FCC, was precautionally removed.

The meaning of scenes was changed very often, too. In most cases, the lines in the dub are softer but modifications of the footage were also being made. As a result of that, a scene might have an entirely different meaning than the exact same scene in the Original.

Americanization describes the pathetic attempt to make the series less Japanese. Not only the character names are different (please see below for details) but the Japanese ideographs (Kanji, Katakana, Hiragana) are wiped out as well. Further differences are renamed foot (but it still looks the same which is quite hilarious). But the best thing is: anything takes place in the US, Tokyo isn't being mentioned for once. These modifications aren't going to be mentioned anymore because it happens too often. Exeptions are extraordinary examples for that.
Examples:

German Version:	American Version:

Images were censored, especially when it became to revealing. This also and particularly concerns the transitions (except Sailor Moon's) where curves were removed like there were no tomorrow.
Examples:

German Version:	US Version:

CGI was added to a lot of scenes which doesn't contain any CGI in the Original Version. Listing all the CGI of any episode would break the mold but I can assure you: if there's a conspicuous CG shot, it wasn't in the Original Version.
Examples:

German Version:	US Version:

Transitions were added digitally as well. Recognizing them is a piece of cake because they're obviously a break of style and they're supposed to cover up the cuts. And here also counts: listing any transition would break the mold, so I'm not going to do that.
Examples:

Unfortunately there are some

removed episodes, too. From 46 Original episodes of season 1, only 40 were left over. The removed episodes Nr. 2, 5, 6, 20, 42 and the episodes 44 and 45 were so heavily cut that it was one single episode in the end.
In the second season, episode 67 was being removed. (Note: The German Vesion lacks episode 89 but it only consists of stock footage and is hated by the fanbase, so it's not a big loss at all.)

Gender change is a popular method to hide homosexuality. In this case, two characters are being affected: Zoicite (in Germany Zoisite) in season 1 is actually a man. But to avoid his homosexual relationship with Kunzite, he's a woman now. The second character is Fish Eye in season 4. Though he acts very feminine, he's actually a male (and he's also gay). A further victim of a gender change is Zirconia in season 4 for instance. And if such a censorship wasn't possible, the status of their relationship was being changed. The lovers Uranus and Neptun e.g. are cousins now.
The

modification of the audio track is no censorship in the proper sense but a lot of atmosphere gets lost. The reason for that is pretty simple: the US Version takes a pass on the original music and noises - a new audio track was being made. It works for the noises but it doesn't for the music. The original music is way better.

"Sailor Says" is a segment which exists exclusively in the US Version. If you know Filmation's "Masters Of The Universe" (good old times), the last scene should be look very familiar because it also with a scene where the kids were supposed to learn a lesson. This could be realized with stock footage.

Different names for the attacks and transformations were used, despite the fact that the names in the Original Version are English as well. But I must say that someof the German names were just made up, too. Here some examples of attacks, an entire list would be too long.

Original Version:	US Version:	German Version:
Moon Tiara Action	Moon Tiara Magic	Mondstein, flieg und sieg
Shabon Spray	Mercury Bubbles Blast	Seifenblasen, fliegt
Fire Soul	Mars Fire Ignite	Feuerball, flieg
Supreme Thunder	Supreme Thunder Crash	Donnerschlag, flieg
Cresent Beam	Venus Cresent Beam Smash	Halbmondstrahl, flieg

Change of names affects all characters. Here's a list of characters with more than one appearance in season 1. Find the original name in brackets if the German name is different.

German Version:	US Version:
Bunny(Usagi) Tsukino	Serena Tsukino
Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask	Darien Shields/Tuxedo Mask
Ami Mizuno	Amy Anderson
Rei Hino	Reye Hino
Makoto Kino	Lita Kino
Minako Aino	Mina Aino
Luna	Luna
Artemis	Artemis
Königin Perillia(Beryl)	Queen Beryl
Königin Metallia	Negaforce
Jedite (Jadeite)	Jadeite
Neflite(Nephrite)	Neflyte
Zoisite(Zoicite)	Zoycite
Kunzite	Malachite
Naru Osaka	Molly Baker
Motoki Furuhata	Andrew
Umino Gurio	Melvin
Shingo Tsukino	Sammy Tsukino
Ikkuko Tsukino	Mom
Kenji Tsukino	Dad
Mika Kayama	Mika Cassidy
Haruna Sakurada	Patricia Haruna
Reika	Rita
Yuuichirou Kumada	Chad

It's also worth being mentioned that the German was being modified here and there, too. Zoisite e.g. is a woman as well (I guess the channel changed that) and attempts to avoid words like "kill", "die" etc. were being made, which causes an odd result in some scenes. But still: these modifications are pretty harmless in comparison to the DiC Version. Comparisons of the dialogs with subtitled Japanese episodes proof how close to the Original the German dialogs are.

Only the comparison of the first episode mentions the differences of the opening and final credits, the title of the episodes, the preview of the next episode and the "Sailor Says". All these elements are being ignored in the calculation of the different lengths. Basically, cuts and modifications are the two issues that might have happened. Sometimes it's only of them, sometimes both at the same time. The time index is based on the German Version.

Episode 32: Bad Hair Day

Bunny is depressed because of the kidnapping of Mamoru and the others don't know how to cheer her up. So Minako comes up with the idea of inviting Bunny to the new hair salon where you get free haircuts on the first day. But in the Dark Kingdom it turns out that this is just what Kunzite planned, so he can expose Sailor Moon with a hair sample he owns and finally get the Silver Crystal. Meanwhile, there's a confusion in the hair salon, Minako has used Bunny's hair-brush and now the Youma thinks that Minako is Sailor Moon because of the hair rests from Bunny in her hair. When the real Sailor Moon turns up, the Youma attacks her and a suddenly appearing Tuxedo Mask commands the Youma to get the Silver Crystal. Minako calls for back-up and they defeat the Youma. Tuxedo Mask seems to be evil now and he disappears through a dark portal. In the Dark Kingdom Queen Beryl is satisfied, Mamoru is completely loyal now because of her brainwash. Bunny knows that something must have happened to Mamoru and she swears to save him.

Running Time of the German episode: 19:00
Running Time of the American episode: 18:03

Missing in the American version: 1 minute and 1 second(Minus the scenes which are not included in the original)

General annotations
The dialogues in this episode are nothing like the original dialogues and are written awfully bad, like in the last episode. Only the worst examples are listed here separately. From now on, there won't be an introduction and the episode title sequence is moved a little bit more into the actual episode.

[00:00]-[00:26]
[-26 sec.]
Cut
Bunny's dream is missing right at the beginning. She sees the Moon Kingdom going up in flames. She is running after Endymion as Princess Serenity, as he is dashing against the forces of evil. Finally, a wall of flames is blocking Serenity's way and she screams in tears Endymion's name one last time, before everything turns white.

[00:26]-[00:51]
[-25 sec.]
Cut
This huge cut leads over to another huge cut immediately!

Bunny lies sleeping in her bed and talks in the sleep. Luna wakes up and she listens to her. While she's sleeping, Bunny can't accept the necessity to fight. She just wants to be ordinary, not a Princess. Luna talks to her calmingly, so she doesn't get bothered by her bad dreams anymore.

[01:24]-[01:45]
Alteration
The dialogue of Naru and the other girls has been altered completely.

In the German version, they just tell Bunny that a famous hairdresser has opened a hair salon and how great it is that every girl gets a free hair cut. Naru offers Bunny to go there. In the American version, Bunny has to bear an insult from Naru about her hair and the other girls are raving of their new hair styles, while suddenly Naru gets angry and tells them she must babysit and has no time. Then there's a sudden turn again, Naru asks Bunny happily if she wants to join.

Apart from the fact that this doesn't make much sense: What problem did DIC have with Naru for letting her insult Bunny constantly?

[01:45]-[01:50]
[-5 sec.]
Cut
Bunny moans quietly in depression and all the girls (Naru included) generate a big drop of sweat (typical anime reaction to an unbelievable scenery).

[01:50]
[+4 sec.]
Addition
There's a close-up of Bunny in the American version, which is normally seen a little bit later. So this shot is showed twice.

[01:58]-[03:18]
Alteration
When Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako, Luna and Artemis meet at the Hikawa Shrine to discuss Bunny's situation, the conversation has been totally torn apart:

German version:
Luna tells them about Bunny's nightmare. Ami pities her. When Makoto asks for news about Mamoru, Luna answers that he's still lost. Luna says that Bunny's too concerned about him so she's absent-minded (some flashbacks here). Artemis thinks that this can cause some trouble if Bunny isn't aware of her role as Princess. Rei defends Bunny, because she understands her. Then Makoto asks since when she is coming to Bunny's defence and she remembers her cruel words towards Bunny (after the slap in the face), so she's ashamed of this. Thereupon, Makoto apologizes for her question. Artemis says that he understands Bunny's feelings but that she has to learn to be aware of reality. This would be the only way to use the Silver Crystal, adds Luna. Minako asks if they can help her but they have no idea and remain silent.

American version:

Luna explains that they all have to be more patient than usual with Bunny. Ami's pity sounds more like a minor mention and Mokoto asks if Bunny really has stopped eating. Luna remarks Bunny's absence of mind (some flashbacks here) and how she's calling for Mamoru in her sleep. Artemis talks about what kind of Princess it must take to let them down and he mentions that for him Bunny is a failure. Rei defends Bunny and when Mokoto asks since when she is doing that, the changed dialogue sequence from the last episode is integrated. Artemis keeps on carping at Luna and that she should bring Bunny to her senses again. Luna says that Bunny's no toaster which you can fix that easy and she asks for suggestions. Minako has an idea.

Conclusion: expansive, but also meaningful. Artemis is portrayed as a pretty unsympathetic person, Bunny is once more the glutton and Rei keeps being on the one hand nice and on the other hand insulting to Bunny.

[02:13]-[02:20]Alterations in dialogue and footage. When there are shown flashbacks of Bunny being absent-minded, there has been integrated a brightly colored and pretty ugly frame around the picture.

German version	American version

[03:18]-[03:21]
[-3 sec.]
Cut
The original scene transition got lost because of the digital scene transition of the American version. The face of Rei grows pale slowly and you can see the Tsukino House.

[11:10]-[11:18]
Alteration
In the German version, the Youma says that Sailor Moon will perish like a snail in the salt. In the American version the Youma says that it will snip her. This is a massive change, because now you see the horrified Sailor Moon with a snail in the background which is pretty senseless.

[13:25]-[13:27]
[-2 sec.]
Cut
There's missing a part of the scene when Sailor Moon is running away from the Youma, for you can see her underpants (2 images because of the rapid change of shots).

[13:52]-[14:12]
Alteration
The transformation of Minaku into Sailor Venus was censored by deleting the body shape, like it was done with all the other transformations. This is additionally awkward, because in some shots you can see her breasts sidewards and so she seems to have a hole in her torso.

German version	American version