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 episode series about a group of girls, who can perform magic and fight 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 quite a surprise. In comparison to Saber Rider for instance, the German Version is 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 modifications (please see below), the German Version is equal to the uncensored original Japanese Version.

The US North American Version however is a different matter.

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 - "Sailor Stars" - 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 legendary, but for all thw wrong reasons. It's a perfect example for heavy censorship in animes these days. After the horrors of the first season, everyone expected the worst... and it happened. DiC also created an absurd broadcast schedule. They first released 2/3 of the season (with the first 13 episodes for some reason put at the end of the broadcast) and then waited for almost three years before they bothered to do the remaining episodes (that's because they'd had the insane idea to just do 65 episodes for sydication, regardless if the story is done or not).

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 erased as well. Further differences are renamed food (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 too revealing. This also and particularly concerns the transformations (except Sailor Moon's) where body lines 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. In the second season, episode 67 was being removed. (Note: The German Version 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", 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 Princess Halation	Moon Sceptre Elimination	Macht des Mondes, verwandle ihn/sie zurück
Shine Aqua Illusion	Mercury Ice Storm Splash	Wasserstrahl, flieg
Burning Mandala	Mars Celestial Fire Surround	Feuerringe, fliegt
Sparkling Wide Pressure	Jupiter Thundercrash Zap	Donnerschlag, flieg
Venus Love Me Chain	Venus Love Chain Encircle	Feuerhertzenkette, flieg

• Change of names affects all characters. Here's a list of characters with more than one appearance in season 2. 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
Chibiusa	Rini
Der Erleuchtete	Wiseman
Prinz Diamond(Demand)	Prince Diamond
Saphir	Sapphire
Esmeraude	Emerald
Rubeus	Rubeus
Kermesite(Kōan)	Catzi
Bertherite(Berthier)	Bertie
Kavalerite(Calaveras)	Avery
Petzite(Petz)	Prizma
Ail(Eiru)	Ali
Anne(An)	En
Naru Osaka	Molly Baker
Motoki Furuhata	Andrew
Umino Gurio	Melvin
Shingo Tsukino	Sammy Tsukino
Ikuko Tsukino	Mom
Kenji Tsukino	Dad
Haruna Sakurada	Patricia Haruna
Yuuichirou Kumada	Chad
Königin Serenity	Queen Serena
König Endymion	King of Earth

It's also worth being mentioned that the German Version 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 dialog with subtitled Japanese episodes prove how close to the Original the German dialog is.

Only the comparison of the first episode of the second season (episode 47) 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 one of them, sometimes both at the same time. The time index is based on the German Version.

Episode 66: A Curried Favor

Chibiusa really wants to have a curry-party, but Bunny's family for one reason or another doesn't have the time for it, so that the tasks falls to a rather reluctant Bunny. She even manages to get Mamoru to help her, after some efford. Meanwhile, the Balck Moon Clan has found a new point of origin of Crystal Tokyo in a supermarket. Kavalerite and Petzite together are sent to contaminate it. Bunny meanwhile got a crush-course in cooking curry from Makoto and then goes shopping with Mamoru and Chibiusa. However, After Mamoru and Chibiusa leave Bunny temporarily after an argument, Bunny is trapped, since this was the supermarket the sisters have contaminated, turning all customers into zombies. Sailor Moon alone can't do much, only after reinforcements arrive, can she defeat the droid, reapir the damage and chase away the sisters. Afterwards, Bunny cooks curry, and to Mamoru's and Chibiusa's surprise, it actually tastes good.

Length German TV Version: 19:00
Length US TV Version: 17:48

The US TV Version lacks 1 Minute und 26 Seconds of footage.

[04:32]-[05:40]
Altered Scene
Quite a number of things were canged. This scene originally was placed after Bunny's visit at Mamoru's, but re-located to just after Chibiusa on the balcony.

What Kavalerite and Petzite say, was altered as well.

In the German Version, Petzite eats pie and asks Kavalerite what's this with the lemon slices on her face. Kavalerite says, it keeps the skin young, which men find attractive. Petzite states she hates such shallow men. Kavalerite implies she just says that, because she's ugly and therefore has little luck with men. Petzite is angry but right then, Rubeus arrives.

In the US Version, Kavalerite has no idea if the lemons work, but she'll do everything, as long as men come to her. Petzite states, she can't use that kind of men. Kavalerite says, if some women don't want to care for their looks, fine, then they shouldn't wonder about men avoiding them. Right then, Rubeus arrives.

[05:41]-[07:05]
[-1 min 24 sec]
Shortened Scene
A huge monster-cut plows straight through the episode. Speculations about the reasons after this entry.

The girls have gathered in Ami's apartment to practice cooking curry. Ami lists the ngredients from a book, which irritates Bunny. Rei suggests instant-curry out of the box, which irritates the others, since Bunny has to coook it herself.

Makoto demonstrates how to cut the carrots. Ethusiastically, Minako wants to try next. During her wild hacking, Makoto warns she's going to injure herself. Suddenly it seems that Minako has cut off a finger! Everyone goes into panic mode until they realize, it just was a piece of carrot.

Now Bunny tries her luck. However, her posing hides that she's just cutting thin air. Makoto voices doubt in Bunny's cooking skill and asks, if she really meant it serious.

At the end, a scene transition is missing as well.

Of course, that raises the question, WHY this was done. It can be speculated that the scene was cut because of the supposedly cut-off finger, but nothing is sure. DiC's reasons remain unknown. To crown it, much of the scene appears in "Sailor Says" for the episode, ironically with the topic of household accidents.

Here the wisdom of the day that was given:

"We all need to know what to do when there’s an emergency. First of all, don’t panic, your injured friend is counting on you. Quickly alert an adult to get help. If you’re all alone and someone’s in bad trouble, call 911 and let them decide what to do. And for less serious injuries, everyone should have a first aid kit at your home and your doctor’s number by the phone. Talk to your parents or school nurse about your own first aid kit. It’s not a toy, but if you learn how to use it everyone will feel safer. Sailor Moon says!"

[08:30]-[08:32]
Altered Scene
The front of the un-contaminated supermarket was replaced with the one of the contaminated one, most likely bcause of the Kana. Useless, since you still clearly see them.

Deutsche Fassung	Amerikanische Fassung

[08:38]
[+14 sec]
Added Scene
Petzite and Kavalerita extesively explain their plan in the US Version and then again a view of the contaminated supermarket is seen (with all Kana intact), which is from later in the episode (this happens just before the US commercials).

It was probably added to fill up the time after the hefty cut and wasn't in the original episode.

[10:02]-[10:04]
[-2 sec]
Shortened Scene
Strangely, the now fitting view of the contaminated supermarket is cut.

[18:55]-[19:00]
Altered Scene
The episode fade-out was replaced by DiC with the generic CGI one. A bad decision since the original fade-out used a heart to show that Bunny is happy that Mamoru is pleased with her effords.

Deutsche Fassung	Amerikanische Fassung

Trivia

This episode shows Bunny's second attempt at cooking Curry. While the first attempt in Episde 45 (cut by DiC) ended with Bunny burning her tongue at the far too hot curry, this second attempt is, despite its looks, very edible.

Why curry of all things? Well, it's an inside joke in the anime industry, where curry is practically the first thing that charactes with little cooking ability (mostly girls) manage to do right (meaning a beginner's meal).

Another well-known curry cook is Akane Tendo in Ranma 1/2, who otherwise is a disaster in the kitchen. A subersion is Misato Katsuragi in Neon Geneses Evangelion, who can even ruin instant curry and has learned nothing even after years.