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 28: Tuxedo Melvin

Luna tells the Sailor Warriors more about her background and the Moon Princess, so they can prepare better for the task of protecting her. Meanwhile, Umino is in a crisis, because he thinks Naru doesn't want to be more than just friends. But he's too scrupulous about Bunny's advice, which was to impose Naru, and dresses up as Tuxedo Umino. But he just makes a fool out of himself. In the meantime, Zoisite has changed the Black Crystal. She wants to transform Naru into a monster, in consequence blackmailing Sailor Moon to hand over her splinter of the Crystal. The following day, she attacks in an amusement park, but she casts the spell on an actor of the Redman Show accidently. Umino's pathetic helping attempts fail and Sailor Moon is forced to hand off the splinter. Although Tuxedo Mask tries to steal the splinter, Zoisite gets it finally. In the end, Naru is impressed by Umino and Bunny wonders, why Tuxedo Mask is so tight-lipped towards her. The Dark Kingdom now owns 5 of 7 splinters of the Crystal.

Running Time of the German episode: 18:28
Running Time of the American episode: 17:45

Missing in the American version: 43 seconds(Minus the scenes which are not included in the original)

[00:12]-[01:00]
Alteration
There are unnecessary alterations regarding Luna's computer verification. In the German version, she uses the usual password, like in the original. In the American version, she says "The meatball headed scout will always play when the cat is away." and gives a paw print.

Moreover, the meaning was completely changed. In the German version, Luna is informed that the enemies set up, after she reported on the Warriors. She is told to expose more information. Luna is kind of uncertain, but wants to follow the instructions. In the American version, the conversation's main topic is the upcoming appearance of Sailor Venus. Then, they goof off Bunny because they have doubts that she can get all Rainbow Crystals.

[01:11]-[01:25]
[-14 sec.]
Cut
After Luna jumped off the roof of the temple, there's missing how she walks to the girls who notice her and states that they all are together now. Bunny asks if the enemy has shown up again, Luna glances at Rei before she turns to Bunny to answer her.

[01:31]-[01:38]
[-7 sec.]
Cut
Luna complains that the girls wouldn't listen, if she hadn't called them together at so late an hour. The girls have to admit that silently.

[01:39]-[02:31]
Alteration + Cut
Significant changes

In the original and in the German version, Luna tells the girls that she comes from the moon. Then she talks about the Moon Kingdom and the Moon Princess, which they still have to find. In the American version, nearly the whole conversation is about Sailor Venus and the Rainbow Crystals, once again casting a shadow on Rei.

[02:19]-[02:31] [-12 Sek.]Additionally, the scene is cut at the end. Luna adds that they should already be able to protect the Moon Princess. After that, Bunny asks, if rice cookies exist on the moon, at which the others just shake their heads and Luna dismisses this as rubbish.

[02:37]-[02:39]
[-2 sec.]
Cut
The view on the four Rainbow Crystals, which are in the possession of the Dark Kingdom, was shortened.

[03:23]-[04:06]
Alteration
In this scene, nearly everything was falsified.

In the German version, Naru and Umino are talking and exchanging their lunch. At that moment, Bunny appears and asks outright if they are in relationship with each other. Naru denies that, stating that Umino was nice but not her type, which depresses him. In the American version, Naru reminds Bunny of her math test. Umino starts to cry immediately because he forgot to learn and then he leaves.

Apart from a complete changing of sense, Umino is described as a total striver. Naru seems to be much more unfriendly.

But it becomes even worse.

In the German version, Bunny asks Naru if she really meant what she said about being good friends. Naru states that Umino is quite correct, but she can't think of going out with him. In the American version, Naru wants to go out with him, but she's afraid of asking him out and also fears that Umino just wants friendship. That's the complete opposite of the original!

[05:22]-[05:24]
[-2 sec.]
Cut
Umino is still threatening with his hammer, which is wrenched from him by the dog owner. (Bad editing, the woman suddenly holds the hammer in her hands)

[05:26]-[05:28]
[-2 sec.]
Cut
The dog owner dollies on his head.

[06:28]-[07:15]
Alteration
Another unnecessary change of content.

In the German version, Motoki offers Bunny two tickets for the Redman Show. Developed from a series for children, like Power Rangers, he thinks he wouldn't like it, because he's too old for that (one can understand Bunny's and Naru's hesitation). In the American version it was changed to wacky wrestling and Motoki can't make it because of a phone call of his girlfriend. Moreover, Bunny's and Naru's reaction were just halfheartedly altered and don't make sense anymore in this context.

[07:39]-[07:53]
Alteration
A very important scene was changed here. Zoisite says in the original, that the Black Crystal was altered in a way, that humans can be transformed into Youma now. This isn't mentioned in the American version, Zoisite only talks about the Rainbow Crystal and Naru. This tears a hole in the storyline, because now you don't know why the Crystal can bewitch people.

[10:13]-[10:15] and [17:25]-[17:27]
[-4 sec.]
Cut
One take was deleted at the beginning of the Redman Show and in the later repetition.