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.

Folge 40: Day of Destiny (Part 1)

Queen Metallia's sway grows quickly which results in natural disasters on earth. Also, a black power seems to cover up the sun. The Sailor Soldiers know that they don't have any choice but to defeat the Dark Kingdom - otherwise, the dark army will conquer the world. However, Queen Beryl - despite the loss of all her generals - already knew that this attack would happen. Therefore, she sics her DD-Girls (a Youma-hit squad) on them. During the grueling battle in the ice deserts of the North Pole Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, and Mars die. They sacrifice themselves in order to be able to destroy all the (seemingly surperior) DD-Girls. All alone and completely devastated because of her deceased friends Sailor Moon can't go on anymore. Suddenly, the ghosts of her deceased friends appear and try to cheer her up - they tell her that she's able to save the world. Encouraged by these words, Sailor Moon walks through the ice desert and reaches the entrance to the Dark Kingdom. She's about to face Queen Beryl....

To be continued...

Runtime of the German episode: 19:00
Runtime of the American episode: 09:03 (For the US-version, the 2 episodes were piled together)

Minus the scenes that were not included in the original version, the US version overall misses out on 10 minutes and 8 seconds.



Introduction

This is the finale of the first season of Sailor Moon which marks the deciding battle between good and evil. Apparently, DiC was shocked because of all the violence in the last 2 episodes. Unfortunately, they decided to cut the episodes togehter, resulting in an unbelievable loss of footage; the result is the episode "Day of Destiny". As if this wasn't enough, they also completely altered the plot. The story which in the original version is exciting and at the same time tragic was completely ruined - by today's standards, this is one of the prime examples of the horrid censorship in the Anime-genre.

Note:

All the dialogues have been altered, therefore the reports will be narrowed down to only listing cuts, additions and image alterations. Everything else would be a Sisyphean task and completely break the reports' mold.

Alterations of the order of the scenes were ignored as well.

The story of the American version was altered as follows: The Sailor Soldiers don't die. Instead, the American editors tried to make it look like they were trapped somewhere. All the tragic of the original version is gone.

[00:06]-[00:18]
[-12 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Luna and Artemis watch the news a little longer - they talk about the natural desasters on earth. The scene cuts from the TV screen to Luna and Artemis several times.

[00:20]-[01:10]
[-50 sec.]
Shortened Scene
At this point there's a shortened humorous scene which originally was probably added in order to relax the mood of the episode.

Bunny wants to prepare a meal for her family. Instead she ends up messing the whole kitchen up. In the end we find out that the food tastes awful. At first the family doesn't want to say anything in order not to hurt Bunny's feelings. However, she finds that out by herself when she tries some of the food.

Subsequently there's a missing shot of the obelisk of teh Hikawa-temple which was probably cut out because of the carved Kanji (DiC generally seems to dislike Japanese graphic characters).

[01:23]-[02:00]
[-37 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Bunny asks Rei if she kissed Yuuichirou because it is highly possible that she will never ever get the chance to do that again - something might happen to her. Rei shouts at her - she thinks that this is none of her buisness. Bunny falls flat on her butt and cries a little. Makoto says that they'll probably be fine - she will bother with boys later. Ami says that she should also throw herself at boys later; the others look at her with an irritated glimpse and she blushes.

[02:03]-[02:05]
[-2 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Artemis' and Luna's instruction that the girls should transform now is shown from another angle.

[03:13]-[03:28]
[-15 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Several shots of the sky and the Soldiers getting ready for the teleportation.

[03:41]-[03:53]
[-12 sec.]
Shortened Scene
After the succesful teleportation the the remains fall back to the ground. Luna and Artemis hope that their fosterligns will come back in one piece.

[04:00]-[04:05]
[-5 sec.]
Shortened Scene
After Sailor Moon complained about the cold weather Mars snarls at her, saying that she shouldn't cry. Of course, Moon now cries a little more.

[04:13]-[04:15]
[-2 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Sailor Moon's second sneezer was cut out.

[04:51]-[04:59]
[-8 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Suddenly, illusionary fog appears. The Soldiers immediately form a defensive posture.

[06:00]-[06:10]
[-10 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Sailor Moon shouts at the Youma, saying that the Tuxedo Mask-illusion was a shoddy trick. She really obsesses over her rant until Mars tells her to get to the point.

[06:25]-[06:53]
[-28 sec.]
Shortened Scene
The DD-Girls try to trick the girls by again using the Tuxedo Mask illusion; Sailor Moon is stupid enough to fall for it again. After the girls held Sailor Moon back, Jupiter wants to fire a lightning bold at the Youma; however, the illosion changes (this can be seen in the American version, too).

[07:03]-[07:06]
[-3 sec.]
Shortened Scene
The DD-Girls break through the floor.

[07:17]-[07:20]
[-3 sec.]
Shortened Scene
When Mars casts a fireball, parts of this sequence were cut out. Same goes for teh beginning of the following scene (this was probably done because you can see one of the DD-Girls' butt - she only wears a thong).

[07:27]-[07:29]
[-2 sec.]
Shortened Scene
The DD-Girls start to torture Jupiter with electroshocks.

[07:31]-[07:40]
[-9 sec.]
Shortened Scene
The electroshocks grow stronger and stronger. Even though she's in heavy pain, Jupiter tries her best to look unimpressed - this of course makes the DD-Girls more angry.

[07:50]-[08:00]
[-10 sec.]
Shortened Scene
The DD-Girls are startled when they realize that Jupiter overloads their electric circuit. They tell her that she will suffer for this. Angrily they turn the machine all the way up. Jupiter screams in pain. However, this attack only increases the overload and in the end everything explodes.

[08:02]-[08:04]
[-2 sec.]
Shortened Scene
2 of the DD-Girls are ripped apart by the explosion.

[08:21]-[08:24]
Shortened Scene
When Sailor Moon looks at the explision in horror, the original version included a completely black background. In the American version they (for whatever reason) included a completely different background.

German Version	American Version

[08:24]
[+4 sec.]
Added Scene
At this point the American version shows a short shot of the leader from a later point of the episode (after she defeated mars). They re-dubbed this sequence: she now says that she interned Jupiter.

[08:24]-[09:16]
[-52 sec.]
Shortened Scene
To the dismay of the Soldiers, Jupiter is trapped inside a bizarre shape of ice. You can see that she's dying. Sailor Moon tries to help her but Jupiter tells her that she should rather take care of Beryl. Moon refuses to believe this and begs her not to leave her alone. Jupiter says that there's no time. She bids Moon farewell. Then she dies and the others are completely shocked.

[09:19]-[09:46]
[-27 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Another shot of Sailor Jupiter's icy grave. Then the camera cuts to Moon who is mourning. Venus tries to tell her that they have to go on but Moon refuses to do so. She's completely distraught and simply wants to hand the crystal over to Beryl because she doesn't want anyone else to get killed. The others can't believe it but Moon is serious.

[09:53]-[10:06]
[-13 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Merkur slaps Sailor Moon in the face, hoping to bring her to her senses. She appologizes for it and says that if they do hand the crstal over, Makoto's death would have been completely senseless.

[10:29]-[10:48]
[-19 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Sailor Mercury promises not to die (even though she doesn't know if she's able to keep this promise). Mars and Venus get Moon to go on with them and mercury falls behind, calmly waiting for her enemies.

[11:27]-[11:50]
[-23 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Mercury is able to dodge the first attack, however, she already sees the next fireball coming. Desperately she realizes that the illusion can actually harm her. However, she also spots the origin of the illusion (the gemstone on the DD-Girls' leader's head). She quickly uses her water spell on herself in order to be protected from the fire.

[12:05]-[12:16]
[-11 sec.]
Shortened Scene
The DD-Girls' leader jibes at Sailor Mercury. Then she uses electric shocks to kill Mercury. The DD-Girls laugh about her pain.

[12:20]-[12:29]
[-9 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Mercury thinks that she's probably using the Mercury-computer for the last time. She uses it to break the gemstone and therefore stops all illusions. Then she suffers the immense pain of the torture - Mercury dies.

[12:31]-[12:46]
[-15 sec.]
Shortened Scene
You see Mercury in her icy grave.

[12:48]
[+3 sec.]
Added Scene
At this point there's a repetition of a short shot of the leader (which originally took place towards the beginning of Mercury's torture). Again, they use the dubbing to tell the audience, that a Sailor Soldier was taken prisoner.

[13:30]-[13:49]
[-19 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Moon and Mars are standing above the crater which just moments ago sucked Venus in. The DD-Girls sneer at them and swear that they will kill them all. Suddenly, fire bursts out of the crater. You see the DD-Girls literally roasting Venus to death. With the last of her strenght Venus is able to counter-attack.

[13:57]-[14:00]
[-3 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Sailor Venus shoots a "half moon beam" directly in the head of one of the DD-Girls. The Youma explodes - blood splashes.

[12:48]
[+4 sec.]
Added Scene
The US version uses the scene of the leader above Mars' icy grave again to tell the audience that Venus was taken prisoner.

[14:04]-[14:16]
[-12 sec.]
Shortened Scene
You see another grave - inside of it you can see Sailor Venus' corpse.

[15:34]-[16:04]
[-30 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Sailor Moon looks at the iceberg which contains Mars - she doesn't seem to believe her eyes. Suddenly one of the DD-Girls appears behind her and wants to drill through her body with her arms. Fortunately she fails - Mars shoots a fireball through the ice which completely cremates the DD-Girl. Moon is astonished. Suddenly she hears the last DD-Girl (the leader) inside the iceberg. The leader predicts Mars' death and bolts shoot through the opening.

[16:11]-[17:09]
[-58 sec.]
Shortened Scene
The leader comes out of the blown up iceberg and sneers at Sailor Moon. She shows her Rei who seems to be dead. Then she hovers upwards to attack Sailor Moon. To her surprize Mars is still alive and fires a fire-beam at her from close range. The Youma is cremated, followed by an explosion. Inside her icy grave Mars seems to regret to have reasoned with Sailor Moon at the temple. Then she dies.

[17:13]-[19:00]
[-1 minute 47 sec.]
Shortened Scene
Sailor Moon mourns her dead friends and can't believe that something this terrible happened. She's in danger of sinking into depression when she suddenly notices someone. You see the ghosts of her dead freinds who try to cheer her up. They tell her that even though they died they will always be with her. Then they ask her to face the evil Queen and now that she knows that she isn't alone Sailor Moon does so.

However, in the Dark Kingdom the brainwash-machine just finished its job. Emdymion gets out and his glimpse is pure evil. He starts laughing...

TO BE CONTINUED...