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(K	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 63: Gramps In A Pickle

Trouble's brewing at the Hikawa shrine. Rei's grandpa is in trouble because of his preference for young women. To Rei's displeasure, he founds a self-defense group only to watch more sweaty young women. Too bad that the Black Moon Clan has flagged the building he offers the self-defense courses as a place of origin which is why Kermesite has been sent to contaminate it. Rei falls out with her Grandpa Hino because of his course shenanigan and the bad treatment of Yuuichiro. Grandpa Hino's cockiness and stubbornness end up in a disaster. His assistent Dumble is one of Kermesite's droids and any participant becomes possessed. Hino is horrified and also surprised that Rei can take the beating that Dumble originally planed for him. That finally makes him realize how wrong he was. Meanwhile, Sailor Moon can destroy Dumble. Being so determined, Sailor Mars gains a new attack to get rid of Kermesite. At the end of the day, Grandpa Hino only offers a harmless Jazz course.

Length German TV Version: 19:00
Length US TV Version: 17:45

The US TV Version lacks 1 minute and 15 seconds of footage.

General Information

First of all, some basics about this episode.

In the last season, DiC made Rei's grandpa, who has a weakness for beautiful girls, a senile old man. This character alteration sees the light of day in this episode. Long story short, while Rei is ashamed of his grandpa's weakness for young girls in the German TV Version, she only worries about his health because of his age in the US TV Version.

[00:00]-[00:47]
Altered Scene
The entire opening scene is different.

In the original and the German Version, Grandpa Hino wonders about the lack of any young women visiting the shrine. Rei shows him one of her magazines and says that inside is a warning about a dity old man at Hikawa Shrine and that girls should stay away. Gandpa Hino reads the report in horror and then openly thinks about early retirement, much to Rei's and Yuuichiro's surprise, stating the job would be too hard without women around.

In the US Version he warns Yuuichiro to not tell Rei about the ad for a martial arts class. Rei demands answers, was this two-page ad is about. Grandpa Hino is horrified, since he only wanted a small ad and now things get mighty expensive. Rei wants to know what this is about and he says, Yuuichiro is the teacher and hopefully it get enough money for another employee, so that she stops complaining about the work.

Apart from the fact that everything got screwed up, you can still see the report about Grandpa Hino's habits in the magazine, as seen below. Strange enough, none of the Kana got removed.

[01:12]-[01:17]
[-5 sec]
Shortened Scene
Bunny is angry that Chibiusa tried to steal the Silver Crystal from her and starts to spank her as a punishment.

[01:24]-[01:28]
[-4 sec]
Shortened Scene
Visitors to the Hikawa Shrine are seen.

[01:29]-[01:31]
[-2 sec]
Shortened Scene
Someone buys a good luck charm.

[01:48]-[01:52]
Altered Scene
Ami's lines got twisted.

In the German Version she just says that she can hone her math skills with all these sales and that they're making lots of money. In the US Version, she claims honestly that their sales have covered all shrine expenses for a whole year.

[02:05]-[02:07]
[-2 sec]
Shortened Scene
Thanks to the digital scene transition, the original transition got lost. In it, Rei's face slowly faded away into the next scene.

[02:12]-[02:15]
[-3 sec]
Shortened Scene
The sign of the martial arts class is missing, most likely because of all the Katakana.

[02:32]-[02:35]
[-3 sec]
Shortened Scene
Bunny, Rei and Chibiusa are ebarrassed about ther test performance of Grandpa Hino and Yuuichiro they've watched. Bunny sarcastically asks, if that's supposed to be martial arts.

ab [02:46]
Altered Scene
There is a story-element that got removed from the US Version:

Rei ist jealous that many young women are surrounding Yuuichiro, something that Bunny will poke at several times. The removal of this element, as Rei there feels nothin for him, removes her motivation in this episode and make some of her actions senseless.

[03:50]-[04:00]
[-10 sec]
Shortened Scene
The whole second half of the scene with the Black Moon Clan is missing.

Kavalerite complains why she and the others were not told of the new plan. Petzite and Bertherite agree with that. Rubeus complains, that's again typically woman.

[04:25]-[04:42]
[-17 sec]
Shortened Scene
Grandpa Hino is not happy that Chibiusa is the only one willing to join, since he'd expected many young women. He thinks, better than nothing. Chibiusa asks, if that will make her strong, and Hino says yes. Chibiusa then imagines spanking Bunny.

[06:07]-[06:09]
[-2 sec]
Shortened Scene
Grandpa Hino and Yuuichiro get scared when Rei complains how useless men are.

[06:14]-[06:16]
[-2 sec]
Shortened Scene
The sign of the martial arts class has been cut AGAIN.

[06:52]-[06:55]
[-3 sec]
Shortened Scene
Grandpa Hino completely falls for kermesite's cheap trick.

[07:25]-[07:28]
[-3 sec]
Shortened Scene
Bunny and Rei are speechless when seeing Chibiusa in her training outfit.

[07:46]-[07:50]
[-4 sec]
Shortened Scene
One woman is beaten up by Dumble but gets up again. Probably cut because the camera is between her legs.

[07:52]-[07:53]
[-1 sec]
Shortened Scene
Dumble brutally kicks the woman into the stomach.

[09:16]-[09:18]
[-2 sec]
Shortened Scene
A view of the selling booth is missing, most likely because of the sign that reads in Kanji "on break".

This creates the question why DiC is this fanatically erasing Japanese Kana in this episode, while ignoring the magazine at the beginning and the obelisk at the entrance.

[09:37]-[09:39]
[-2 sec]
Shortened Scene
The others can't believe that Ami NOW of all time shows off her math homework.

[10:19]-[10:21]
[-2 sec]
Shortened Scene
Two short scenes where the women start to beat up each other under the influence of the dark power are missing.

[10:55]-[10:58]
[-3 sec]
Shortened Scene
The posessed women start the threaten Grandpa Hino.

[12:13]-[12:15]
[-2 sec]
Shortened Scene
Dumble brutally kicks Rei into the spine.

[16:05]-[16:21]
Altered Scene
Rei got a new transformation as well. Again, as in her first transformation, her body lines got removed. However, this time DiC obviously were too stingy to bother with altering the new transformation. Instead, they used part of her OLD transformation, where they'de already erased the body lines in the previous season. That's of course really cheap and used in all future transformations.

German TV Version	US TV Version

[18:14]-[18:17]
[-3 sec]
Shortened Scene
The last cut of the episode again concerns Japanese Kana, this time on the sign for the Jazz dance class.

Trivia

Since Mamoru again rejects Bunny in this episode, the "break up-plot" had to be talked about. This plot, where Mamoru breaks up with Bunny because horrible visions tell him that something horrible will happen to her otherwise, is an invention of the anime. This plot doesn't exist in the maga, where Usagi and Mamoru stay together.

There are two resaons for this plot:

1.) The creators tried to keep the relationship between Bunny and Mamoru fresh. However, they instead made Mamoru look far too mean.

2.) The executive producer of seasons 2, 3 and 4, Kunihiko Ikuhara, HATED Mamoru. He was a fanatical follower of lesbian hentai and would have loved to pair Bunny with Rei. His sheer hatred at Mamoru resulted in him never achiving the power and importance he has in the maga, reducing him to a supporting character.