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.

Just as in the first season, the second season also offers a different opening, different credits, different episode titles, as well as the "Sailor Says". These things will only be mentioned in the report of the first episode of the second season. Any of these differences will be ignored for the overall difference in time for each episode, which means that only the "real" content of the episode matters for these statistics. Therefore, the reports will basically concentrate on cuts as well as alterations (some of the scenes actually offer both things at the same time). The time designations always refer to the German version.

Episode 43: A Knight To Remember

One night Makoto and Bunny are begging Amy for help when a Kardian starts attacking people near them. Makoto is attacked as well but her friend Shinozaki pushes her away to prevent her from being hurt. Instead he is harmed. Makoto spends blood for him while she tells how they became friends. The next day Bunny starts another hopeless try to bring back memories to Mamoru while Anne still seems to be an opponent. Ail casts an eye on Bunny. Finally the warriors manage to catch the Kardian but it has easy play because of weakened Jupiter until a mysterious stranger, the knight of the moonlight, appears and turns the fight into a victory. Makoto found her satisfaction of having destroyed Kardian and that Shinozaki is getting well and Bunny asks herself who this knight could be. He reminds her on Mamoru.

Duration of the German episode: 19:00
Duration of the American episode: 17:44

Deducting the missing scenes from the original version the US version lacks1 minute and 18 seconds.

[00:00]-[00:03]
[-3 Sec.]
Cutscenes
At the beginning a take of Tokia at night was cut.

[00:16]-[00:18]
[-2 Sec.]
Cutscenes
When Ami promises Bunny to help her in school it is missing how Makoto opens her schedule.

[00:25]-[00:35]
[-10 Sec.]
Cutscenes
Another cut in the conversation.

Bunny begs Ami to help her with the exam and compares herself with a drowning person. Ami thinks it would not help her in the end.

[00:42]-[00:47]
[-5 Sec.]
Cutscenes
After Bunny asked makoto why she will not help her, she has to admit to ask Ami for help as well. Ami does not respond that well on this issue.

[01:47]
[+2 Sec.]
Added scene
A short take of Makoto is repeated.

[01:47]-[01:55]
[-8 Sec.]
Cutscenes
Bunny and Ami are running towards the stairs with astonished faces. Below they can see Makoto and Shinozaki who is blooding.

[02:00]-[02:17]
[-17 Sec.]
Cutscenes
The medic notices that Shinozaki need bloodtype 0 of which she does not have enough. Makoto shares the same bloodtype and says she will give her blood. Afterwards the scene changes and one can see the entrance of Ali’s and Anne’s house.

[03:12]-[03:17]
[-5 Sec.]
Cutscenes
Ail is thinking longer about the Kardian’s nature.

[03:40]-[03:53]
Change of scenes + Cutscenes
The context of Ail and Anne’s conversation was changed in some parts.

The original version and the German version shows them ensuring how they trust and love each other. The American version shows them how they figure out how to react in school and that they want to act like brother and sister. This is an addition of DiC which does not appear in the original version.

[03:45]-[03:53] [-8 Sec.]
Additionally the end of the scene has been cut. Ail and Anne are kissing each other (in the context of the new scene this would be strange).

[06:49]-[06:51]
[-2 Sec.]
Cutscenes
A take of Tokio’s night sky is missing.

[06:55]-[07:00]
[-5 Sec.]
Cutscenes
Bunny is drawing something and pledges that Mamoru will remember before Luna interrupts her.

[10:58]-[11:08]
[-10 Sec.]
Cutscenes
Bunny is nagging around why nobody tells her what is going on. Sailor Mars snarls at her to hurry up. Bunny lifts her Hand for transformation.

[17:25]-[17:28]
[-3 Sec.]
Cutscenes
The camera panning goes over the hospital’s wall and has been shortened in the beginning because of Kanji. This cut seems to be fairly senseless because the Kanji can be seen above the entrance and they were not edited.