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 3: Slim City

Bunny is shocked when she notices that she has gained weight. However, going on a diet is hard than she thought, which her friends can only confirm. When they see that Ms. Haruna got a lot slimmer, Umino tells them that she is visiting a new fitness club. The girls instantly sign in and start training there. What they do not know is that Jedite has taken over the fitness club and installed machines that steal life energy from those who use them. Bunny is initially frustrated and stops working out, but when she sees that she gained weight again she gets back to her training. It is just because Luna discovers Jedite's plan that they stop their fitness frenzy. Sailor Moon eventually manages to destroy the machines and liberate the trainers from Jedite's mind control. However, Jedite can escape with a large amount of energy. Queen Beryl is very amused about this success and Jedite swears to get Sailor Moon eventually.

Running time of the German episode: 18:20
Running time of the US episode: 17:33

This means that – disregarding the newly added scenes - 57 seconds are missing.

[00:59]-[01:04]
[-5 sec.]
Cut
Bunny is very angry about Luna's drawing of a fat Sailor Moon. An exterior view can be seen and we only hear Bunny attacking Luna.

[01:05]-[01:08]
Alteration
The shot of the school was changed. The Kanji relief above the entrance was replaced by a “Crossroads Junior High School” sign. This is going to happen in several more episodes but will not be mentioned anymore. (However, the change has not been applied very consistently.)

German Version	US Version

[01:09]-[01:29]
[-20 sec.]
Cut
Bunny has not brought any lunch in order to lose weight, but she suffers quietly while watching Naru eating some ice cream. When Naru asks her about it, suddenly Umino appears and offers Bunny his tray with a full meal on it. Bunny thinks that obviously there was some kind of conspiracy against her.

[01:30]-[02:15]
Alteration
The meaning of the scene in which Bunny talks to her friends was totally changed.

In the German version, they say that they also had tried many diets but that none of them really worked. Two nameless friends get into an argument and tell each other they were not pretty after someone mentioned that being unhappily in love helps.

In the US Version, however, the others – except the fat friend, who says it was no use – instantly want to follow Bunny's example and lose weight. When the fat friend says that they had to renounce a lot of things, they lose a lot of their enthusiasm again. The other friend then mentions her new boyfriend and an argument starts when the fat girl says negative things about him.

[02:55]-[03:00]
[-5 sec.]
Cut
Umino does not want to say where he got the pictures, causing Naru to get angry.

[03:03]-[03:06]
[-3 sec.]
Cut
Umino starts sweating because of the questioning by Naru and Bunny, then he flees.

[03:29]-[03:38]
[-9 sec.]
Cut
A long shot of the fitness club was removed, probably due to the Katanaka letters in fron of it.

[03:42]-[03:46]
[-4 sec.]
Cut
The ad, which can be seen on the video screen in front of the club, was shortened.

[05:30]
[+3 sec.]
Added Scene
After Jedite has encouraged Naru, something new was inserted. The shot of Naru on the spinner was extremely sped up in an infinite loop in order to suggest a lot of work.

[05:44]-[05:49]
[-5 sec.]
Cut
The girls' reaction to Jedite's announcement of the special massage bath is missing as well as the shot of the door containting some Katanaka.

[05:50]-[06:02]
Alteration
Bunny's partially visible breasts were probably too sexy for the US TV, the water level was raised in order to cover them up.

German Version	US Version

[06:43]
[+5 sec.]
Added Scene
This shot was made from stock footage for the US Version. Queen Beryl watches the energy harvest through her crystal ball.

[06:44]-[07:30]
Alteration
This scene was firstly moved before the first cut to the school, which then made it necessary to change the meaning of the dialog in it

In the original, Queen Beryl asks Jedite about the progress of the operation. Jedite says it was going well, Beryl is content with his work. Sarcastically, Jedite adds that this was a VERY effective way of losing weight. In the US Version, however, Jedite says that Beryl's plan was brilliant and says that all this fitness stuff (which he deems rather strange) was going to be a good energy source. Beryl and Jedite make fun of the humans and that they were very conceited.

[07:57]-[08:03]
[-6 sec.]
Cut
A shot of Jedite collecting stolen energy, in which only his eyes and hand are visible, was removed.

[08:58]-[09:04]
Alteration
In the German Version, the view tracks over the whole Sailor V poster, in the US Version we only see the upper half so the Kanjis and Katanakas at the bottom cannot be seen.

German Version	US Version

[10:52]
[+2 sec.]
Added Scene
Some laughter by Motoki was added.

[11:36]-[12:32]
Alteration
The whole chat between Luna and Bunny was totally changed.

In the German Version, Luna corrects Bunny regarding Motoki's statement regarding girls' weight, causing Bunny instantly visualizing the catastrophic scenario of getting fat. Luna wants to tell Bunny that something is not right with the fitness club and the people who exercise there, but Bunny gets lost in her panic and then runs away to return to the fitness club.

In the US Version, the whole chat is about Bunny'S eating habits and Luna wants to tell Bunny that she exaggerated, was not fat and should turn to more important things. However, Bunny does not want to listen and runs back to the fitness club.

[17:11]-[17:35]
Alteration
The scene in which Jedite returns to the Dark Kingdom was totally changed in terms of its meaning.

In the German Version, Queen Beryl praises Jedite for the stolen energy and his success. Jedite thanks her.

In the US Version, she is angry because he failed and Jedite asks for forgiveness. (This alteration is rather absurd as we see afterwards how Jedite moves the energy to Beryl's crystal ball.)

[17:36]-[18:20]
Alteration
The ending joke was removed.

In the original, Bunny is complaining that she again gained some weight despite all the activity, meaning that Luna was right about her eating habits. In the US Version, this was replaced by a simple joke suggesting that Shingo had manipulated the scale.