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.

Fun fact

It might seem pretty odd for us but changing the class room while the students stay in one class room all the time is common for the teachers in Japan. This explains why the scene with Haruna's empty desk is so interesting because the teacher usually arrives before the class starts.

For some reason, DiC decided to leave the episodes 5 and 6 (original Japanese order) out. That's why we continue with episode 4 (which is 7 in Japan).

Episode 4: So You Want to Be a Superstar

In Bunny's class, it gets around that Mikan, a former student, has been discovered by a talent scout and that she's rich and famous now. The others are just blown away by such a success. Unfortunataly, Jadeite finds out as well and wants to take advantage of that to get new energy. Later, Bunny and Naru try to make up a musical number for the talent scout but they start fighting and become rivals. In the evening, a Youma attacks Mikan in her appartment and takes her shape... The next day, it seems as if Mikan is looking for new talents and anyone in school auditions - like they were possessed or sth. Anyone except Bunny. She finds out the students have been manipulated and the plan is to suck out their entire energy during the audition (which is a hoax btw). Sailor Moon can destroy the Youma with the help of Tuxedo Mask, who saved her from getting herself killed. So she finally made sure Jadeites plan didn't work out. After all that Bunny has no more intention to become a superstar at all.

Running time German episode: 18:20
Running time US episode: 17:19

That means: minus the non-existent scenes in the Original Version, the US Version lacks 1 minute 15 seconds.

[00:05]-[00:15]
Modified scene
The hiragana ideographs on Mikan's ad have been removed in both shots the close-up and the distance shot. But the editors failed because they're still there on the right side of the bottom.

German Version	US Version

[00:16]-[00:22]
[-6 sec]
Shortened scene
Extended shot of Bunny reading the ad. Here Mikan is being mentioned for the very first time. Looks like the scene has been removed because it contains animated hiragana that can't be spotted out.

[00:46]-[00:49]
Modified scene
The ad has been replaced by the censored one from the previous shot when Umino makes the upload.

German Version	US Version

[00:50]-[00:54]
[-6 sec]
Shortened scene
Bunny aslo asks Umino whether or not the ad's been stolen.

[01:09]-[01:15]
[-6 sec]
Shortened scene
Missing shot of Umino's laptop screen, probably due to the Japanese ideographs. Umino explains Mikan had 8 ad presences so far, makes 200 bucks per hour and is only 17 years old.

[01:21]-[01:34]
Modified scene
The meaning of the conversation among the female students has been entirely changed.

In the German Version, the conversation starts with Mikan being discovered by a talent scout. The subject of the conversation is being discovered by a talent scout in general and why no one discovered them. By talking about the talent scout, the main subject of the episode has been mentioned.
In the US Version instead, the girls are discussing what they'd do with 5 mill bucks. The talent scout isn't being mentioned a single time.

[01:56]-[01:59]
[-3 sec]
Shortened scene
Shot of the TVA building where Mikan is holding a signing session.

[02:09]-[02:12]
[-3 sec]
Shortened scene
Dressed up Jadeite also turns around and leaves.

[02:13]
[+14 sec]
Added scene
The following scene doesn't exist in the Original Version and has been made up by the Americans. Queen Beryl comments Jadeite's plan and shows off with the power of the Negaforce again.

[02:48]-[02:52]
Modified scene
I usually don't make the effort to talk about added CG but I make an exception here because because it's too pushy to not mention it.
When Naru turns the radio on, colorful animated notes are flying out of the radio.

German Version	US Version

[04:26]-[04:29]
Modified scene
The sign at Bunny's door, which means as much as "Don't you dare come in", has been replaced by a shot of the radio. This modification has been made several times in this episode to make the Japanese ideographs disappear.

German Version	US Version

[05:39]-[05:49]
[-10 sec]
Shortened scene
Close-up of a bouquet that Mikan got from her fans. A suspicious shadow sneaks past. Then a shot of her silhouette in the shower (the curtain doesn't reveal any details).

[06:10]-[06:13]
[-1 sec]
Shortened scene
Removed close-up of Jadeite's hand with a part of the tent in the background.

[09:39]-[09:46]
[-7 sec]
Shortened scene
The gag of the two girls on stage continues and finally one of them holds up a slip with strawberries printed on it.
BTW The German Version contains another gag than the US Version.

[10:39]-[10:41]
[-2 sec]
Shortened scene
Missing shot of Naru's autograph.

[11:02]-[11:14]
[-16 sec]
Shortened scene
Bunny accidentally hits Umino right in the face and then complains that this is inappropiate behavior when it comes to the star of the future. Bunny wonders what was going on. Change of scenary. Shot of Naru and Umino practicing their musical number on a podium on the playground in front of the other students.

[11:15]-[11:52]
Modified scene
The conversation between Luna and Bunny plus Umino's and Naru's announcement are entirely different.

In the German Version, Bunny and Luna start to believe sth. was wrong and Bunny wonders if "the evil" was behind it. Luna refers to the competition and Bunny says she'd be there if Bunny hadn't stopped her. Bunny wonders if she'd have become a star if she'd taken part in it. Luna answers Bunny was never going to learn it. At the same time, Umino and Naru announce that they're going to perform at the Chan-Chan on sunday. But so are the others. That's how the beef about who might perform when starts.

In the US Version, Luna asks Bunny if she was angry about sabotaging her participation because it looked like her friends were having lots of fun. Bunny simply replies it had to be too much work for her and she wonders if her friends were still going to talk to her when they're rich and famous. Luna says they'd still talk to her if they were real friends. Naru and Umino brusque the others by saying they were going to win anyway and that's how the trouble starts.

[12:05]-[12:08]
[-3 sec]
Shortended scene
Missing shot of the entrance of Chan-Chan.

[12:42]-[12:46]
[-4 sec]
Shortended scene
"Faggy Umino" replies to Naru's excitement that he was excited as well. While saying that, the mark on her hands lightens up.

[12:50]-[12:52]
[-2 sec]
Shortended scene
Removed close-up of the luminous mark on the acrobat's hand.

[12:58]-[13:01]
[-3 sec]
Shortended scene
Youma takes his ease because she starts to suck out the other participants's energy.

[13:07]-[13:11]
[-4 sec]
Shortended scene
Missing shot of Jadeite collecting the stolen energy. To be more specific, it's a shot of his hand and eyes.

[16:05]-[16:10]
Modified scene
Rough modification.

In the German Version, Bunny complains via monolog that Luna was never there when she needed her. In the US Version, she breaks through the fourth wall and asks the audience (!) to let Luna know she was being needed when they saw her.

[18:07]-[18:20]
Modified scene
The final gag ist totally ruined.

In the Original Version, Luna fools with Bunny by claiming Tuxedo Mask was at the door. Bunny runs to the window until she realizes Luna was just screwing with her. In the US Version, Luna only tells her to do her homework. Bunny jumps up (there's no explanation why she's on her way to the window).