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:	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.

DiC didn't think a release of episode 42 was necessary. Unfortunately that's the episode with Sailor Venus' background story. That's why we continue with episode 43.

Episode 38: Fractious Friends

It seems like Sailor Moon is having a dispute with the others. At least that's the impression Queen Beryl and Kunzite have, which is why Kunzite sends the Youma Bandana to check that out. And in fact, they're fighting all the time when they catch him robbing the jewelry store of Naru's family. Bandana, who took possession of the reporter Asahina,is not going to let it go. She doesn't have the slightest clue that all that is just an act so that the warriors can enter the kingdom of the darkside, even though there is some tension between them during the act of deception. After all Moon shows up to meet Kunzite to determine the "change of sides". But Kunzite is distrustful and orders Bandana to strangle Moon. At first Mars tries to hold the others back. To avoid blowing it, she even explains Bunny entrusted her with the moon scepter (which means their relationship can't be that bad). But in the end, they can't stand it any more and interfere. But Kunzite has already expected that and vanishes into thin air while Bandana is getting destroyed to free Asahina. And this is it, they didn't come any further with their plan.

Running time German episode: 19:00
Running time US episode: 17:51

That means: minus the non-existent scenes in the Original Version, the US Version lacks 1 minute and 11 seconds.

[00:00]-[00:56]
Modified + shortened scene
The entire opening scene is screwed up due to a modified dubbing.

The German Version contains lots of shots without any dialog. And if there are dialogs, it's always Sailor Moon being adviced to give up because anything is over anyway. It's all pretty vague.
The US Version on the other hand contains nonstop insults, as much as possible. Suddenly the others try to force Sailor Moon to hand over the moon scepter (which has NEVER been an issue in the Original Version).
Apart from that, two parts of the scene are missing:
[00:07]-[00:09] [-2 sec]
Missing shot of the moon covered by clouds.

[00:16]-[00:20] [-4 sec]
Sailor Moon gets surrounded during the training / diversion.

[00:58]-[00:59]
[-1 sec]
Shortened scene
The shot of Queen Beryl's crystal ball is slightly shorter.

[01:12]-[02:19]
Modified scene
The conversation between Beryl, Kunzite and Bandana is quite different.

In the German Version, Beryl wonders about the odd energy emission and Kunzite says sth. was wrong with the silver crystal because it had already happened several times. He calls Bandana over and asks her if she'd found sth. She gives the photos of the warriors attacking Sailor Moon to Beryl and Kunzite. Bandana reports the impression that Sailor Moon had been the reason was right. Sailor Moon is at war with the others. Beryl thinks that was the reason why they were going to split up soon. But Kunzite is sceptical and sends Bandana to continue investigating.

In the US Version, Beryl wonders about the energy and Kunzite imediately says there was trouble with Moon and the others and that the silver crystal was going to react on that. He adds he'd been told by his source and calls Bandana for a further report. Beryl is sceptical about Bandana but Kunite denfends her by mentioning she was the best and she was tailing warriors for him. Bandana passes the photos and says the other intended to get rid of Sailor Moon to grab the silver crystal for themselves. Beryl is sceptical and demands an investigation. Kunzite defends Bandana again and Beryl doubts his loyalty. Kunzite sends Bandana to investigate.

A lot of problems:

The biggest problem is that everything is being presented as if the other warriors were just keen on getting the silver crystal. That has never been an issue in the Original Version.

Kunzite's absolutely exaggerated attempts to defend Bandana look very made up or at least very far fetched as well (she's just another subordinate for him in the Original Version).

A non-exist fight between Kunzite and Beryl has been made up. Furthermore their character behaviors have been changed. While Beryl's the one who's sceptical in the US Version, it's Kunzite in the Original Version.

[02:23]-[02:26]
Modified scene
In the US Version, Bandana says the jewels looked amazing with her black dress while she doesn't say a thing in the Original Version. A redundant and dubious addition. One can say in general that there are a lot of those comments added to the actual silent Bandana character. Since her mouth is never visible (she's wearing a veil or sth.), it's very inconspicuous.

[02:35]-[02:37]
[-2 sec]
Shortened scene
The beginning of Bandana nailing Naru to the wall with her knives is missing.

[02:38]-[02:45]
[-7 sec]
Shortened scene
A knife hits the wall, next to the head of Naru's mother. That's too much for her and she faints. Bandana threatens to keep throwing knives which makes Naru panic.

[02:54]-[03:01]
[-7 sec]
Shortened scene
Sailor Moon keeps posing but before she can end her usual words, Sailor Mars kicks her ass big time (Panty-Shot). Moon hits the ground with her face ahead. Bandana ans Naru watch that action with astonishment while Moon picks herself together and asks angrily who the hell that was.

[03:24]-[03:29]
[-5 sec]
Shortened scene
The fight keeps going, so the scenary changes to Bandana and Naru. Naru wonders what they were fighting about and thinks it was pointless.

[04:33]-[04:42]
[-9 sec]
Shortened scene
When Naru reminds Sailor Moon of the Youma, she tries to keep face by pretending she was looking for him. But Naru says the Youma had left during a fight of the group, which depresses Sailor Moon.

[05:22]-[05:32]
[-10 sec]
Shortened scene
After Asahina "faced" Bunny, she gives her card to her. Then a close-up of the card before Asahina introduces. The cut causes an continuity problem because Naru suddenly holds a card in her hand of which seems to be coming out of nowhere.

[06:31]-[06:33]
[-2 sec]
Shortened scene
Sailor Mars kicks Sailor Moon's ass again and her pantiea are visible one more time.

[06:36]-[06:42]
[-6 sec]
Shortened scene
Sailor Moon complains she got her ass kicked by Sailor Mars. Consequently Mars reprimands her that training always was a test for a case of emergency and she shouldn't complain.

[09:06]-[09:09]
[-3 sec]
Shortened scene
Another missing shot of the card, apparently because of the Kanji and Katakana (The guys from DiC don't like Japanese ideographs in generel).

[14:21]-[14:23]
Modified scene
The shot of Sailor Moon getting strangled has been removed here and added to an earlier scene [13:41]. Why this alteration has been made is a complete mystery to me. And it's getting more mysterious:
[14:36]-[14:38] [-2 sec]
The exact same scene, which has been combined with another one, is missing here.

[14:50]-[14:54]
Modified scene
A scene has been replaced here.

In the German Version, Jupiter is upset that Mars wants to stop her from interfering (she has her reasons) and pushes her harshly against a tree.
The US Version contains a shot of Kunzite, Bandana and Sailor Moon again. Kunzite says he was losing his patience.

German Version	US Version

[14:58]-[15:10]
Modified scene
Now the worst modification of the entire episode:

In the German Version, Mars makes it pretty clear that she doesn't hate Sailor Moon and explains she wouldn't keep the scepter available for her if she did. She presents the scepter. The others realize Mars and Moon made an agreement and they apologize for their accusations.
In the US Version, she only has the scepter because Bunny forgot it in her room (!) and the others say stealing it wasn't right.

Due to this modification, the fact that Moon and Mars do not hate each other is being reversed. Real hatred is alleged to Mars and Moon looks like a total douche.

[15:11]
[+2 sec]
Added scene
Added shot of Kunzite and Bandana.

[16:49]-[16:54]
[-5 sec]
Shortened scene
Bandana attacks Sailor Moon with the sword. After all those strangulations, this cut seems to be pretty mysterious but it's possible that the scene has been removed because of Bandana's butt and string in a couple of scenes.

[16:56]-[17:02]
[-6 sec]
Shortened scene
Sailor Moon can block Bandana's sword attack with the moon scepter in the very last second.

[18:17]-[19:00]
Modified + shortened scene
The plot of the final gag got twisted.

In the German Version, Sailor Moon tries to be a he-man (or in that particular case: a "she-woman") and claims she would have made it without any help, too. Mars sarcasticly replies she couldn't have stood seeing her crying any longer and adds the precise time. Moon considers that an insult and they stick out their tongues to each other. The others resignedly explain it could take hours. Suddenly Asahina appears and wants to hear details about the rumours of breaking up. Mars and Moon deny anything because they intend to stay friends despite everything.

The US Version is completely different. Sailor Moon snaps at Mars what she doing with HER moon scepter. Mars replies Moon, as sutpid as she was, had forgotten it under her bed. Moon spits at Mars why saving her had taken so long and Mars responds pointy-headed they were waiting for the right moment. They stick out their tongues again while they keep insulting each other. The others say they ought to get some ice cream but without the two of them. And when Asahina interrupts them, they just don't give a damn and don't respond to that.

One can guess pretty easily what went wrong in the US Version. Moreover the last shot has been removed:
[18:57]-[19:00] [-3 sec]
Shot of grinning Mars and Moon denying the rumour of their seperation. The US Version ends earlier so that this part of the scene is missing.