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.

Episode 21: Jupiter Comes Thundering In

Queen Beryl manages to awake her lord, queen Metallia, via stolen power of Nephrite. She orders Beryl to find the silver crystal because she is to weak and that the way to the crystal goes over the seven Youma and the rainbow crystals. Beryl instructs Zoiste that the rainbow crystals are shards of the silver crystal and in each of them lays the strongest Youma which were born as humans. With the stolen crystal by Nephrite she has to find them and collect the crystals. In the meantime Bunny finds a new fried, Makoto Kino, who suffers to be bigger and stronger than the other girls. Luna can feel something inside her. However, when Bunny and Makoto meet the gryphon king Joe the situation gets dangerous because Zoiste identified him as the carrier of the crystal. She steals the first crystal and Joe transforms into a devil’s robot who swipes the ground with Sailor Moon. Meanwhile Luna recognised that Makoto is a Sailor warrior as well, precisely Sailor Jupiter, and together they can repress the robot just bevor Sailor Moon re-transforms him with the moon sceptre. Zoisite actually won this round but now there are four Sailor warriors.

Duration of the German episode: 18:25
Duration of the American episode: 17:54

All in all, deducting the scenes which are not existing in the original version, the US version lacks31 Seconds.

[00:41]-[00:44]
[-3 Sec.]
Cutscenes
The first scene in which Metallia can be seen is cut.

[00:45]-[01:25]
Change of scenes
During the conversation between queen Beryl and Metallia the contant has been changed.

In the original and German version Metallia does not speak that much. She only adds that she has not awakened completely and needs the silver crystal. When Beryl reports she was unable to find it Metallia explains that the seven devils are the key to the crystal. The American version shows Metallia (here called Negaforce) as a more talkative who is also not Beryl’s chief. They are talking a lot about mighty weapons and destruction before Negaforce orders Beryl to find the crystal via the seven devils.

[02:21]-[02:23]
[-2 Sec.]
Cutscenes
A part of the scene in which Makoto leaves and Luna comes close to Bunny has been cut.

[04:08]-[04:12]
Change of scenes
Unnecessary change: The original and the German version show Bunny singing (Japanese: a song about her hunger, German: „My bunny is over the ocean“). The American version shows her nagging about her mashed food and that she has to be in detention. This change makes Bunny look more like a crybaby.

at [04:14]
Change of scenes
This change starts here and goes through the whole episode. The German version shows Makoto’s strenght as only one property but not her main skill. In the American version this characteristical device is made as a main skill which can be seen in the following scene with Bunny und Umino where Bunny calls Makoto a ‘Crazy Maniac’ and Umino wants to warn her because of Makoto. Makoto’s character appears flattened.

[04:45]-[04:55]
[-10 Sec.]
Cutscenes
Bunny takes a look above Makoto’s shoulder and is excited about her nice meal and the nice bag. She admires the fruits.

[04:56]-[05:45]
Change of scenes
The conversation between Bunny and Makoto has been completely changed.

The German version shows both introducing each other and Makoto offers some food to Bunny. Makoto wonders why the pupils are avoiding her while Bunny admires her meal. Makoto blushes when she explains she made it herself. Bunny now wants to know if she can teach it to her. Umiono, oberserving the situation, tells Bunny that she manages to befriend the most unlikely people.

In the American version the meal is only a sideplot. Here Bunny and Makoto are mostly talking about Makoto’s bad reputation because of her strength. Umino says that Bunny could befriend a mad martial artist. This change makes Makoto look like a bully and Umino says bad things about Bunny which harms both characters.

[06:16]-[06:21]
Change of scenes
Again a proof of how this episode suffers because of bad dialogues. In the German version Ami tells Bunny that Luna wants to talk to Bunny to discuss that something is wrong with Makoto. In the American version Ami insults Bunny to have crashed her meeting.

[07:02]-[07:04]
[-2 Sec.]
Cutscenes
Bunny and Rei show their tongues.

[07:52]-[07:55]
[-3 Sec.]
Cutscenes
When the camera moves upwards Joe the American version lacks the first seconds. The original shows this scene from below.

[09:15]-[09:19]
[-4 Sec.]
Cutscenes
The view on Joe when Zoisite steals the rainbow crystal is longer in the original version.

[09:50]-[09:52]
[-2 Sec.]
Cutscenes
Makoto jumps in the air to hit Zoisite.

[10:09]-[10:12]
[-3 Sec.]
Cutscenes
Makoto again looks for Zoisite but can not find her. Afterwards she runs towards Bunny and Joe who is laying on the ground.

[14:49]
[-1 Sec.]
Cutscenes
Fast cut. It is missing how the image of Sailor Moon scrolls to Joe.

[15:59]-[16:08]
Change of scenes
Sailor Jupiter’s transformation has been censored. At first there is the common line censorship. But this sequence offers another censorship. At the end of the transformation one can have a short glimpse of her bottom. This has been retouched.

This concerns all future transformations and is not taken into consideration in the upcomming episodes.

German version	American version

[17:49]-[17:59]
Change of scenes
The Sailor V videogame was edited. New feature is the red background in the following scene (no clue why).

German version	American version