Comparson 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 42: So You Want to Be in Pictures

Bunny is Sailor Moon again, but she does not want to give the others back their memory in order not to take their normal lifes from them. Additionally, Mamoru, whom she wants to remember, cannot do this, causing her to be depressed. When she notices that Anne has a crush on Mamorua, too, she gets jealous as well. However, things catch up with her when Ail and Anne send the next kardian to a casting show, in which Ami, Makoto, Rei Minako and Naru are participating. Sailor Moon alone is not strong enough and Luna has no choice but to give the others their memories back. The Sailor Warriors are now united again and ready to face their new enemies.

Running time of the German episode: 19:00
Running time of the US episode: 18:10

Disregarding newly added scenes, 50 seconds are missing.

[00:00]-[00:03]
Alteration
At the beginning, a shot of the skyscraper in the Juuban shopping district was replaced by a shot of the Tokyo Tower, as always because of the Kanjis on the facade. By the way, the US footage has some kind of yellow hue.

German Version	US Version

[01:04]-[01:12]
[-8 sec.]
Cut
Bunny calls back behind Mamoru that she would like to get his address. He is so intimidated by her direct approach that he does not give her anything. Bunny just cannot believe it.

[02:06]-[02:13]
[-7 sec.]
Cut
Luna adds that she can understand Artemis's point of view but she doubts that Bunny can do the work all on her own.

[02:21]-[02:36]
[-15 sec.]
Cut
A longer plot scene is missing.

Luna and Artemis tell Bunny that this was not the right time to cry, of course she continues anyway. Luna asks whether they maybe should get the other back and Bunny asks whether they could give Mamoru his memories back, too.

[02:36]-[03:17]
Alteration
A scene was changed, making Bunny look worse.

In the German Version, Luna says that she wants to reactivate the other warriors, but Bunny says she could handle the situation on her own. Artemis says that Bunny has proven her ability to fight and asks whether she was sure about it. Bunny is very self-confident and throws a volleyball away, which bounces and hits her in the face. Luna has her doubts.

In the US Version, Bunny asks Luna whether she does not trust her. She catches the volley ball, compares it to the earth and says this would prove her abilities. Artemis adds that Bunny "whipped Queen Beryl into shape" and believes in her. Then Bunny shows off some more before she throws the volley ball.

The content is still the same, but both Artemis and Bunny seem to be more stupid than in the original.

[03:17]-[03:20]
[-3 sec.]
Cut
The shot of the house in which Ail and Anne live was shortened, probably due to the Kanji over the entrance.

[04:30]-[04:33]
Alteration
The facade of the TV station was replaced by a shot of the Tokyo Tower, of course the Japanese letters were the reason again.

German Version	US Version

[04:34]-[04:37]
[-3 sec.]
Cut
Because of this, the transition to the next scene is lost as well.

[06:29]-[06:31]
[-2 sec.]
Cut
When Bunny is devilishly thinking about her plan, some letters appear over her face, meaning as much as “passed”.

[06:32]-[06:40]
Alteration
When Bunny dreams of herself being a movie star, an ugly CGI border was used as an overlay. In the following scene, the facade of the studio was replaced with a shot of the Tokyo Tower in the evening, resulting in a continnuity goof as the next scenes take place in broad daylight.

German Version	US Version

[07:45]-[07:49]
[-4 sec.]
Cut
The beginning of the scene in which Bunny is sneaking through the studio was removed. This has probably been done because of the door, which features many Japanese letters. The cut is a bit weird though as the same door can be seen later.

[10:07]-[10:15]
[-8 sec.]
Cut
Ail sadistically says that girls' screams are a nice melody while he watches the group fleeing the kardian.

[11:52]-[11:56]
Alteration
When Rei calls out for her spiritual powers, the picture of a man standing in the fire was replaced by a pure wall of fire. This is going to happen everytime from now on and will not be mentioned again.

German Version	US Version

[12:30]-[12:32]
Alteration
The zoom on Mikan's wardrobe door was replaced by a shot of Luna, although the door could be seen very long before that.

German Version	US Version