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 51: Detention Doldrums

Ail's and Anne's permanent Kardian attacks begin and cost much of the Sailor Warriors' time. It ends up in Bunny, Ami and Makoto being late for school. But Bunny is lucky as hell because Mrs. Haruna is in a pretty good mood. This changes when her boyfriend cancels the date. Just then, Bunny and Anne make her angry which brings them detention. It turns out Mrs. Haruna's boyfriend can make it to the date after all but she leaves them for detention anyway. Meanwhile Ali summons a new Kardian. Unfortunately the new one is an insane nut job who totally snaps so that Ail loses control. The other warriors are trying to hunt him down while Bunny and Anne are talking about Mamoru. Finally the big showdown at school. Sailor Moon arrives and she can pulverize the Kardian without much effort. Considering the fact that she lost control, Ail asks herself whether the tree of the dark forces was dying.

Running time German episode: 19:00
Running time US episode: 17:44

That means: minus the non-existent scenes in the Original Version, the US Version lacks 1 minute and 16 seconds.

A lof ot dialogs got modified, one could also say "mutilated".

[00:00]-[01:00]
[-60 sec]
Shortened scene
The entire opening scene is missing, which is pretty impressive in a negative way because it's one minute long.

The Sailor warriors are fighting another Kardian and Sailor Moon pulverizes the monster with a special attack. Ail and Anne are complaing that their plan failed again, they swear to take revenge. Then they vanish. Shot of the entire city at dawn. The battle lasted the whole night.

[01:01]-[01:09]
Modified scene
When Bunny, Ami and Makoto are on their way to school, the entire dialog has been modified.

In the Original and German Version, Ami is pretty bugged because she arrives late because it's never happened before. Makoto sarcastically mentions she wondered about the consequences.
In the US Version, Ami complains she was never going to Rei's temple before school again and Makoto adds Rei's request to the holy fire lasted ages.

The reason for the modification is quite obvious: the opening scene has been cut out (the reason why they're late) so that another explanation for being late needed to be made up.

[02:39]
Modified scene
For some reason, DiC thought adding some brightly clolored CG crescent moons would be necessary.

German Version	US Version

ab [02:40]
Modified scene
This goof goes through the entire episode.

In the Original Version, it's been mentioned several times that Mars. Haruna is an English teacher. The subject she teaches has been changed to philosophy or sth. in the US Version. This fact has been reduced to absurdity in this current episode because Bunny obviously opened an English book, which is being confirmed by the title on the back. This modification is apparently a result of the attempt to relocate the plot to the US but it seems pretty made up and not very convincing.

Two further problems result of that issue:

[03:10]-[03:14] In the Original Version, Mrs. Haruna wants Anne to translate sth. from the English book. In the US Version, she's supposed to come up with a poem.

starting [05:15] The test Mrs. Haruna gave to Bunny and Anne in detention is just a regular test in the Original Version but it has become an essay in the US Version. This modification is unsustainable because the viewer can see the test in detail.

[04:36]-[04:38]
[-2 sec]
Shortened scene
Due to a CG transition, the original one gets lost.

[04:39]-[05:12]
Modified + shortened scene
When Makoto, Rei and Minako meet, the dialog has been heavily modified.

In the Original Version, it's Minako who tells the others Bunny was stuck at detention. Rei says she got what she deserved because she's lazy. Makoto feels sorry for her and so does Luna. Artemis adds that, because Ami wasn't there either, they had to cancel their meeting. Minako suggests to go to the movies, the others like the idea. Luna and Artemis protest but they don't succeed.

In the US Version, Minako wants to know where Bunny is. Rei says she was stuck at detention. Makoto suggests to go the movies immediately but Artemis doesn't like the movie she proposes. Minako wants to watch a romance and Rei and Makoto agree. Luna doesn't want to watch a tear jerker but she's being made shut up when Minako threatens they're wasn't going to be any tuna for her.

[05:06]-[05:09] [-2 sec] Moreover the shot of Minako locking Luna and Artemis in her bag to cut off any further protest is missing.

[06:10]-[06:56]
Modified + shortened scene
And another modification that results in an entirely different meaning of the scene.

In the Original Version, Bunny intends to slip away to head Mamoru off. Anne can't believe that Bunny is still after Mamoru. Bunny spits Mamoru and her were very close and Anne doesn't like it at all. So she says that the person, who finished the exercises first, should have him. Bunny agrees.

In the US Version, Bunny intends to do the exercise at home. When Anne mentions she was well aware that Mamoru was on his way at that time, she accuses Buny of spying on her. Anne spits back she was watching Bunny spying on Mamoru. Anne faces the challenge.

[06:22]-[06:30] [-8 sec] Furthermore the shot of Bunny explaining to Anne that Mamoru and her were connected by the red string of fate that couldn't ne cut by anyone, even though Anne wishes she could.

There are two reasons for the cut. Reason I is the fact that the string of fate is an Asian thing, reason II is Bunny's gesture. It symbolizes the string around her finger but it might look like she shows her pinkie finger to Anne.

[08:56]-[09:00]
Modified scene
The front of the crammer school Ami goes to has been replaced by a generic shot of the town. The reason are the Japanese ideographs. A transition got lost in process of modification as well.

German Version	US Version

[11:17]-[11:26]
Modified scene
A gag got screwed up when Mrs. Haruna is on her date.

In the Original Version, Mrs. Haruna knows she'd forgotten sth. (Bunny and Anne) but she doesn't know what, so she stops thinking about it because it couldn't have been important.
In the US Version instead, she simply hopes it wasn't going to rain while she's on her date.

[13:08]-[13:16]
Modified scene
ANOTHER modified dialog!

In the Original Version, Anne thinks about the fairy tale "The Hare and the Hedgehog" (which is a reference to Bunny's name) and how to act like the hedgehog to outsmart the hare.
In the US Version, she thinks about the tree of the dark force gaining power if Bunny was nice to her (for whatever reason).

This modification is escpecially pointless because the audience can still see the image of the hare and hedgehog.

[16:14]-[16:16]
[-2 sec]
Shortened scene
Sailor Moon takes a leap out of the window to help her friends.

[16:24]-[16:26]
[-2 sec]
Shortened scene
The Kardian tries to strangle Sailor Moon.

[18:50]-[19:00]
Modified scene
For some reason, the shot of the tree of the dark force at the end of the episode has been surrounded by an pretty ugly CG frame.

German Version	US Version