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:	US 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 14: Shutter Bugged

The young langscape photographer Kijin Shibakawa is getting some publicity, which gets Bunny's attention, but as always she mostly embarasses herself. Nephrite has also discovered the photograph and curses his camera because Shibakawa is going to reach his energy maximum soon. The photographer then gets mad and wants to take pictures of masses of models. Bunny applies as well and even gets accepted. However, in the hotel in which the shooting is taking place, Luna and Bunny get to know the truth: the camera dissolves the girls it took pictures of and store their energy. Bunny is too late and the Youma Cameran appears when the energy reaches its maximum. The Youma is very mighty and can defeat Mars and Mercury without effort, while Bunny gets trapped. Eventually she has an idea and can use the Youma's weapon against himself, destroying Cameran. All the victims then return and Nephrite gets taunted by General Zoisite. Most of all, Bunny has learnt her lesson and is not interested in modeling anymore.

Running time of the German episode: 18:24
Running rime of the US episode: 17:48

Disregarding newly added scenes, 57 seconds are missing.

[00:00]-[00:20]
[-20 sec.]
Cut
Bunny is at lunch in her school when she notices her friends looking at a magazine and reading a report about the young photographer Shibakawa. Naru reads something out to the other girls when Bunny joins them.

[00:25]-[00:27]
Alteration
Bad editing. In the US Version, Bunny says that Shibakawa would go to Rei's school, which is impossible because it is a girl school. In the German Version she is merely surprised that he was still going to school (which is NEXT TO Rei's school, as we learn later).

[00:24]-[00:28]
[-4 sec.]
Cut
Ami is doing some homework at lunch.

[00:28]-[00:57]
Alteration+Cut
The scene in which Bunny tells Ami about Shibakawa was quite mutilated.

In the German Version, Bunny talks about Shibakawa and that his school was nearby, but Ami already knows about him. Bunny says they should go get an autograph after school, but Ami does not have time because she needs to go to her crammer school. Bunny wonders whether Ami does not notice that she missed all the good things in life due to her constant studying. Ami uses this opportunity to talk about the good sides of studying, not to much effect, of course.

In the US Version, Bunny says to Ami that they should get his autograph as they all had a crush on him. Ami says no because he has to study. Bunny says that this was not necessary because the test was the next day. Ami answer that she wanted to get the perfect score and Bunny can just complain about Ami being an overachiever.

With these alterations, Ami is being displayed more as a conceited overachiever whereas Bunny seems more stupid and mean.

The scene was also cut at some points:
[00:35]-[00:37] [-2 sec.] Bunny talks to Ami longer.

[00:44]-[00:54] [-10 sec.] Bunny is not really happy with Ami's answer. She asks her whether she did not notice life passing by while she si studying. Ami stays cool and answers that one could make the best out of her life if one always studied.

[04:25]-[04:27]
Alteration
The footage was changed. The picture looks a bit different (Bunny's face was altered) and the red stamp meaning as much as “bonkers” was replaced with a prohibitory sign.

German Version	US Version

[04:48]-[06:07]
Alteration
The content of the talk between Bunny, Mamoru and Motoki was changed significantly.

In the German Version, Motoki says to Bunny that she should try the model competition. Mamoru affirms that and says that participating was the most important part. Mamoru then starts to philosophy about true beauty coming from the inside and a good heart being the most important thing, but Bunny does not really seem to get it. Mamoru says that character was also important and that Shibakawa could not be a very good photographer if he did a mass shooting like this. Bunny misinterprets this and leaves. Motoki says he should not treat her like a child. Mamoru knows this but somehow feels that they are somehow incompatible.

The US Version looks totally different. Motoki says she should try to become a model while Mamoru says it was hard work and starts naming all the difficulties. When Bunny asks him where he knows all that from, he says that he had been a model in High School. Mamoru says that she was not able to be a model and Bunny gets offend and leaves. Motoki says that Mamoru was very mean to Bunny and he answers that it somehow came over him every time they met.

[10:38]-[11:00]
[+13 sec.]
Slowing Down
For some reason, the whole scene of the possessed Shibakawa dissolving women with his camera and Bunny's reaction were played back slower than the original. The new audio track is of course in normal speed but longer.

[11:03]-[11:20]
[+8 sec.]
Slowing Down
The same applies to the scene in which Bunny talks to Shibakawa.

[11:21]-[11:41]
[-20 sec.]
Cut
Luna sees Bunny trying to talk Shibakawa out of his madness. However, he does not listen to her and pushes her away. She bangs the back of her head again a boat. Luna says that this had not worked and Bunny decides to go the hard way.

[14:28]-[14:29]
[-1 sec.]
Cut
A short part of the scene in which Mercury and Mars storm through the door is missing.

[17:28]-[18:08]
Alteration
In the German Version, Shibakawa says in the interview that he wanted to take a break in order to get back to his work's character and that one girl convinced him that this was necessary.
In the US Version, however, he says that a moon princess had given him new inspiration, twisting the meaning of the scene completely. The reactions of the Tsukinos are differently as well. In the German Version they hope that Bunny will become a nice girls, whereas they think Shibakawa was crazyy in the US Version.