Comparison 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 49: Food Fetish

The day has come when Japanese pupils offer lunch in form of a Bento-box to one person of the other sex as a traditional way of flirting with this person. However, this is not true with Bunny, who forgot her lunch at home and has to come through her school day hungrily. Meanwhile, Makoto wonders who the knight of the moonlight could be and Ami suspects Ail to be him because of the similar physiques. Thus, Makoto tries to hit on him with her Bento-box, which does not please Anne at all. Even though Makoto does not obtain information he begins to like Ail. In the meantime, Anne’s jealousy rises continually throughout the day until she attacks Makoto with her magic powers after school. As a Cardian gets involved, even Sailor Moon and Mercury are not really able to help troubled Jupiter. Not until the knight of the moonlight rescues Jupiter and Mars and Venus come to her aid do the tables turn and Ail and Anne have to withdraw.
Duration of the German episode: 19:00
Duration of the American episode: 17:50

That means the US-version lacks 1 minute and 10 seconds, deducting the scenes which are missing in the original version.
One thing beforehand: DiC literally chopped up this episode. The reason for this is obvious: the cultural meaning of the Bento-boxes was tried to be concealed, perhaps because they did not want to demand too much of the viewers. However, this is even more startling as the German version explains the topic very well and comprehensibly. The massive duration differences resulting from that have been disguised by lowering the frame rate.
[00:16]-[00:34]
Alteration + Cut
Here, the dialogue between Ami and Makoto was completely altered.

In the original version, Ami ponders about the knight of the moonlight being always there for helping them when they were in trouble and Makoto adores him for resembling her ex-boyfriend (a running-gag of the series). In the American version by contrast, Ami(!) complains about him being a superhero and therefore unreachable. Moreover, Makoto dreams about dating him, which Ami concludes with the words that this is never going to happen.
[00:31]-[00:34] [-3 Sec.]
Additionally, one part of the scene is missing. Ami reminds Makoto of the circumstance that her former boyfriend did probably not say “Adieu” as he left her. Makoto defends herself by arguing that the meaning was identical.

[00:35]-[00:51]
Alteration
Here the joke with the Bento-box Umino made for Naru has been destroyed.

In the German version Umino says he made a Bento for her. Naru asks if hopefully not scampi is in there again, whereat Umino denies by mentioning that it is green pepper Okura AND scampi because he wanted to add a little variation. Naru is appalled but is unable to bring herself to say something to Umino.

In the American version Umino offers her his lunch box and Naru asks whether it is Inchworms again. Umino denies and says that it is a super-deluxe dish for two persons in order to celebrate their anniversary. Whilst Naru states that there is no anniversary, Umino insists on the day being the anniversary of the day she called him “Dweebmaster”.

[00:52]-[01:07]
Alteration
Even more destruction of meaning within the dialogues (and the title of the episode was not even shown yet!).

In the original version Ami remarks that it seems as if a boy cooks for a girl nowadays. In respond to that, Makoto reminiscences that nobody has cooked for her in a long time, which depresses her slightly. However, in the American version Ami says that Makoto might be able to hook herself the knight of the moonlight with a Bento-box, which Makoto cannot wait to do.

[01:08]-[01:22]
[-14 Sec.]
Cut
After noticing that Makoto is not very happy, Ami hears the bell ringing and remarks that Bunny is going to be late again, though they still wanted to talk about the knight of the moonlight. Makoto stands up and says that betting on her being on time would be a bad thing to do, which Ami finds amusing.

The following is a monster-cut which I will divide into three cuts for a better overview.

[01:32]-[01:46]
[-14 Sec.]
Cut
Bunny is in panic and runs out of the house because she is of course late for school again. Luna runs after her, carrying her lunch bag and trying to draw her attention to it. As she stumbles, she is able to catch the bag again but is K.O. for the moment.

[01:47]-[02:19]
[-22 Sec.]
Cut
You can see pupils during a break, while Mrs. Haruna is giving Bunny a lecture for being late, not doing her homework and sleeping during class. Bunny apologizes and Mrs. Haruna puts mercy before justice and sends her to the others. As Bunny is wailing about the fact that she has not eaten breakfast this morning, she is depressed about not having anything to eat and jealously looks towards the other pupils. Mrs. Haruna watches the pupils flirting and envies the young girls of today.

[02:20]-[02:26]
[-6 Sec.]
Cut
Umino offers Naru his scampi while Bunny watches greedily.

[03:09]-[03:18]
Alteration
In the original version, Ami asks Makoto jokingly whether she also recognizes her ex-boyfriend in Ail, which Makoto denies. Instead she thinks that both share something else: their love for music. In the American version nothing of that is still there. Here Ami just tells Makoto to behave well if she wants to meet Ail and Makoto utters some general enthusiasm.

[04:25]-[04:36]
[-11 Sec.]
Cut
Makoto claps Ami friendly on her back which, because of Ami’s strength, smashes her to the ground. She leaves with the intention to investigate whether or not Ail was really the knight of the moonlight. While Ami is still shaking and has an imprint of a hand on her back, she watches Makoto leaving and wonders if she has gone entirely crazy now.

[06:56]-[08:47]
Alteration
The discussion between Ail and Makoto was totally dissembled.

As it would be a waste of time, I am not listing every detail here. The general trend is that in the American version Makoto is completely in love with Ail, while in the original version her feelings play a minor role and she merely tries to find out whether or not he is the knight of the moonlight.

[08:48]-[09:00]
Alteration
In the scene Mrs. Haruna gives Bunny a second lecture, the dialogue was totally altered.

By now, Mrs. Haruna sounds rather desperate. After she has recited Bunny’s weaknesses once more, she adds the complaint about Bunny sleeping in class after the break once again. She moans and says it is hopeless, while Bunny asks her forgiveness. Mrs. Haruna tells that it is okay and sends her home. In the American version, by contrast, Mrs. Haruna snarls at Bunny for her permanent stomach rumbling disturbed the class. She tells her to leave, warning her not to do that again.
[08:48]-[08:51] Additionally, at the beginning of the scene the sight of the school has been altered and replaced by the standard view, which causes a break in continuity because all other scenes show twilight already.

German Version	American Version

[11:25]-[11:45]
Alteration
Ail’s statement was completely reversed into its opposite. Whilst in the original version he says that love is something you have to steal, which Makoto denies, in the American version he states that love is something special and Makoto agrees with him.

This is particularly improper since the whole story about the aliens aims on the circumstance that they must learn what true love is.

[13:15]
Alteration
For reasons unknown, a crescent moon was laid over Makoto’s face here for a second.

German Version	American Version

[14:57]-[15:11]
Alteration
Just as in the first season, Makoto’s transformation into Sailor Jupiter has been censored here. The body lines were removed and Makoto’s bottom was censored.

German Version	American Version