Comparson between 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 25: Too Many Girlfriends

Makoto falls in love with Motoki who works at the arcade - the problem is, that Bunny also has the hots for him. However, she's very disappointed when she finds out that he already has a girlfriend named Reika. However, then she finds out that Reika has to decide whether she wants to study in Africa for a while or if she wants to stay at home. Of course, Makoto uses this knowledge and tries to incluence Reika's decision. Later, Bunny and Makoto both try to impress Motoki by preparing a dinner for him. However, he leaves them because somebody calls him to tell him that Reika finally made her decision. The situation quickly escalates when they find out that Reika is going to be the next bearer of the crystal. Zosite steals the crystal and Reika transforms into Youma Techniklon. Tuxedo Mask appears and wants to steal the crystal but Zoisite is able to trick him; then she flees. Meanwhile, Techiklon turns out to be a great fighter, however, she can't defeat the whole group on her own - they're able to "recreate" Reika. A few days later, she bids goodbye to Motoki because she decided to go to Africa. Motoki now has to deal with Makoto and Bunny who both believe to have a chance now.

Runtime of the German episode: 18:25
Runtime of the American episode: 17:51

Minus the scenes that were not included in the original version, the US version overall misses out on 37 seconds.

Basic information about this episode:
Just as in the last episode, the editors did not at all bother to make the dialogues even get close to the original (actually, this time it's even worse). To put it mildly: the dialogues are horrible and except for the frame story the American version is completely different. Therefore, this report will only list the worst examples for distorted dialogues. Everything else would plain and simple break the mold.

[02:37]-[03:46]
Scene Alteration
While the dialogues (in comparison to the original) are generally different, the conversation between Motoki and Mamoru caps it all off.

In the German version Motoki tells Mamoru about his problem with Reika (who is thinking about stuying in Africa). Mamoru asks what this is going to mean for their relationship. Motoki doesn't really know but does not want to stand in his girlfiend's way. Mamoru only says that this state of mind is typical for him. Motoki then changes the topic and asks Mamoru if he wants to eat some gulasch (in the original version it's actually "rice with hashed beef") since Matoko wants to cook for him. Mamoru remembers that Makoto is one of Bunny's friends. And he also remembers that Bunny has the hots for him. Motoki says that he actually thinks that they both are cute. When Mamoru says that he would never say the same thing about Reika, Motoki replies that the two of them still go to school. Mamoru then thinks of Rei who is his self-proclaimed girlfriend. Motoki adds that he views Bunny and Makoto as younger sisters. In his mind, Makoto makes a sarcastic remark - he thinks that Motoki only says that because he knows that his girlfriend (Rei) still goes to school.

In the American version the plot is completely different. Motoki tells Mamoru that Reika wants to analyze bugs in Africa. Mamoru says that this inevitably leads to an end of their relationship. Motoki replies that they might just have a long-distance relationship - or he could just go with her. Mamoru thinks that this is a stupid idea, after all, Motoki hates bugs. Then, he rants at him, telling him that he wanted to become a doctor. Motoki replies that he would scrap this plan if it meant the end of his relationship to Reika. Then he asks Mamoru if he ever met someone and knew that she was the one. Mamoru shakes his head. Motoki reminds him of Rei and Mamoru replies that she just has a crush for him, that's all. Motoki remembers that Mamoru and Rei both train karate together and Mamoru then remembers her beating him three times during their karate lessons. Motoki goes on saying that the issue with the age difference might be true and that he rather views them as little sisters. Somberly, Mamoru thinks that Motoki will suffer a surprise concerning Bunny and Makoto.

I know that this was a little extensive but it shows the huge alterations. Thankfully enough, they didn't cut Mamoru's funny facial expressions out (see images below).

[04:32]-[04:37]
Scene Alteration
For no particular reason the American editors decided to put a colorful frame around the scene where Makoto cleans up Motoki's apartment.

German Version	American Version

[07:45]-[07:49]
Scene Alteration
Again, the Sailor-V Video game was changed. This time they thankfully confined themselves to change the color of the background (it's now red instead of blue), so they didn't use any CGI effects this time. It's not really clear to why they did this. Additionally, the result of this decision is an inconvenience of the game's design in the American version.

German Version	American Version

[08:01]-[08:06]
[-5 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Makoto chokes Mamoru longer in the German version.

[08:11]-[08:53]
Scene Alteration
The scene where Zoisite and Kunzite try to find the next bearer of the crystal was postponed. It now takes place before the scene with Motoki and Mamoru. Apart from that, the plot of this sequence remains unchanged (with the exception of the words Kunzite uses for his "sweet talk").

[10:04]-[10:34]
[-30 sec.]
Shortened Scene
When Bunny and Makoto arrive at Motoki's apartment, Bunny starts to gush about Motoki. She daydreams about Motoki complementing her immensely - he really views her as his dream girl. When she dreams about him kissing her, she closes her eyes. At this point, Makoto "wakes her up" because Bunny almost kissed Makoto. Bunny is appalled by the fact that she almost kissed a girl. Luna's glimpse (which is also included in the American version) refers to exactly this scene.

[11:10]-[10:23]
Scene Alteration
In the American version, the joke about carrots (a play on words with Bunny's name) was replaced by a joke about potatoes. This wouldn't be too interesting to mention if Makoto and Bunny didn't constantly hold up carrots during this scene (as you can see on the picture below).

[11:33]-[11:47]
Scene Alteration
The American editors completely changed the sense of the phone conversation between Reika and Motoki.

In the German version Reika tells him that she decided to go to Africa. However, due to a truck that passes her while she talks Motoki can't really understand her. She wants to see him and he agrees - even though he doesn't really understand what she's about to do.
In the American version she calls him to tell him that she's not feeling fine and that she can't come over for dinner. When Motoki asks her what her problem is she answers that it might be a result of a broken heart. He tells her that he's going to pick her up.

[12:30]-[12:32]
[-2 sec.]
Shortened Scene
A shot of Luna (who breaks out in tears because of Bunny's and Makoto's deceitful motivation) was shortened.

[13:58]
[+3 sec.]
Added Scene
When Reika transforms into Techniklon, the scene of the black crystal and Reika's eye is repeated.

[18:10]-[18:25]
Scene Alteration
The final joke was completely messed up. In the German version Makoto says that there might be a chance that Reika will get to know someone else in Africa. However, she says that she will always be his if he wanted her. Bunny is shocked because she wants him, too.
In the American version Makoto says that she's no longer interested in Motoki. She says that she should probably invite him to drink a milkshake with her. Motoki's facial expression no longer makes any sense (in the original version he's shocked about the fact that both Makoto and Bunny still have the hots for him).