20 Most CENSORED Sailor Moon Moments
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VOICE OVER: Ashley Bowman
WRITTEN BY: Whitney Wilson
Moon Prism CENSORSHIP! Join Ashley as we look over the times where scenes and plot points across the Sailor Moon franchise were altered, including the likes of the "Negaverse", "Guns", "Sailor Venus & Sailor Uranus' Romance", and more!
Script written by Whitney Wilson
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 Most Censored “Sailor Moon” Moments.
For this list, we’ll be looking at the most changed, covered up and altered aspects of the classic 90s anime series. We will be discussing important plot points of the show, so please consider this your spoiler warning.
What do you think is the strangest thing that was changed in “Sailor Moon?” Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.
“Sailor Moon” is about a group of teenage superheroines, so of course the show has some teenager-type humor in its writing. In the original anime, Makoto Kino AKA Sailor Jupiter and the other girls argue over who should play Snow White in a play. Makoto says that her large chest makes her the perfect pick for the princess role. In the North American English dub, this is changed to Makoto arguing that she has the most talent, not the biggest body parts. This change was definitely part of the localization team’s attempts to make the show more appropriate for American children and their parents.
In the original manga and anime, the main protagonists are called senshi, which translates to "combatant," "soldier" or "warrior." Considering the incredible battles the main characters go through, it’s no wonder that they are referred to as soldiers. After all, they fight the ultimate forces of darkness in every episode. During the translation process, the North American team elected to change senshi to scout. This was likely done because the direct translation of soldier or warrior seems a bit more mature while scout is more child-friendly, like Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts. We don’t remember any badges for defeating the Dark Kingdom, though.
While most of the censorship of the show is a bit silly, we actually support this decision. References to weight and body image come up throughout the series, but the most controversial example is from the anime’s first season. In an episode bizarrely titled “Learn How to Be Skinny from Usagi,” the show’s heroine has a meltdown after gaining half a pound. Luna mocks Usagi with a crude drawing. Usagi starves herself for a day and ends up fainting. While these particular plot points remain the same in the North American English dub, the episode alters some scenes. Additionally, the Sailor Moon Says segment at the end of the episode drives home the point that crash dieting is dangerous.
Given Japan’s strict gun laws in comparison to the laws in the United States, this particular change comes as a bit of a surprise. Chibiusa is a divisive character for fans of Sailor Moon, so it makes sense that her introduction is controversial. In the span of about a minute, Chibiusa falls from the sky, interrupts Usagi and Mamoru’s kiss and threatens Usagi’s life with a gun to the face at point-blank range. Although it’s quickly shown to just be a toy, the sequence is still tense enough to cause Usagi to pass out. In the initial North American English dub, the gun is completely cut out, and the scene is reworked to fit the rest of the episode.
When two of your main characters are cats, it’s natural that those cats might fight sometimes, even if they are wise and magical. After the Sailor Guardians temporarily lose their memories, Artemis contemplates their situation and flirts with Luna, suggesting that they should settle down. Of course, Luna is shocked and responds by scratching and yelling at him. This scene was removed from the original North American English dub, perhaps for being too gory or maybe because Luna calls Artemis a pervert. We would argue that anyone who has multiple cats in their house has seen fights like this, though. Additionally, this scene is hilarious in retrospect because Luna and Artemis do, in fact, end up together and even have a kitten appropriately named Diana.
Although Luna called Artemis a pervert in the last censored moment, the white cat has nothing on some of the other characters in “Sailor Moon.” Despite the fact that the main characters are between 13 and 16 years old throughout the series, they encounter an absurd amount of perverted men. The most disgusting example is Rei’s grandfather. Despite being a Shinto priest, he frequently makes advances on young women who visit the shrine where he and Rei live and work. One of Rei’s first lines in the series even points out that her grandfather has a bad reputation around the community. The original North American English dub downplays his behavior and makes him just seem overly friendly and silly instead.
Of course, the anime was written in and is based in Japan, so it makes sense that all the writing that appears is in Japanese. However, when the series was translated for international audiences, the localization teams sometimes removed or altered Japanese text that appears throughout the show. While changing some aspects, such as the text in the opening title sequence makes sense, the localization teams in some countries took it a step further. The most notable example of this is in the original South Korean version, where the text was completely removed due to a ban on broadcasting representations of Japanese culture at the time.
Considering some of the things the girls go through in the series, it’s surprising that something as relatively tame as spanking wound up on the cutting room floor. When Chibiusa first appears in the series, she is insistent on finding the Silver Crystal. As we mentioned earlier, she pulls a gun on Usagi, but she also tears apart Usagi’s room, invades her bath and even drugs Rei, Ami, Makoto and Minako. When Usagi has enough, she spanks Chibiusa. While it is indeed violent, taking into account Usagi’s incredible powers, it’s definitely not the worst thing she could do. Regardless, the scene was cut from the North American English version.
The third season of the anime gets downright Arthurian, featuring a quest for the Holy Grail and everything. The villains attempt to bring together the three Pure Heart Crystals to summon the Holy Grail and the evil Pharaoh 90. To broaden the symbolism of the Holy Grail, the North American English dub team changed the relic’s name to Purity Chalice. This was likely done to remove religious references in the anime and avoid angering certain American groups. Despite the name change, the Purity Chalice remains one of the most powerful items in the Sailor Moon universe.
In the original version of the anime, the collective of dark forces that serve as the main antagonists in the story’s first arc is called Dāku Kingudamu or the Dark Kingdom. The Dark Kingdom is, of course, ruled over by the stylish yet wicked Queen Beryl. However, when the show was originally adapted for North American audiences, the adaptation team changed the villains to be called The Negaverse instead. Additionally, the Negaverse served as a way to side-step the subject of death. In the original dub, fallen characters were banished to the Negaverse and held as prisoners instead of killed off. We will revisit the most notable example of this particular change later on in the video.
As an action-packed series starring a team of magical soldiers, “Sailor Moon” has its fair share of violent confrontations. In the original Japanese run, the animation team did not shy away from showing bits of blood when it was appropriate. However, when the show was picked up for distribution outside of Japan, localization efforts largely removed scenes that were considered too violent. While a good chunk was surprisingly kept in, even the most tamest things like small cuts would hit the chopping block.
Poor Usagi keeps going to parties where they only serve alcoholic punch. The first time the heroine accidentally drinks too much punch happens near the end of the episode, and the short scene’s dialogue isn’t changed too much. And we get that it’s supposed to be a romantic moment, but Mamoru kissing her when she’s drunk is still pretty creepy. The second time Usagi drinks too much, the moment is changed to make it seem like she’s simply sick from too much sugar in the punch. Whether it’s from granulated or distilled sugar, at least Mamoru doesn’t kiss her when she’s under the influence this time.
While nothing super explicit was really visible in the original version, apparently the mere suggestion of nudity was too much for some parts of the world. During transformation sequences, for example, body lines have been removed so only the girls’ silhouettes appear as they power up. When characters take baths, the water is raised to hide cleavage, made more opaque to hide body lines or both. Some individual shots are even completely removed if they can be done so without majorly impacting the story. While some of these edits work okay in the context of the story, others are just clunky.
Part of what makes “Sailor Moon'' so beloved is that it has a fair amount of LGBTQ+ representation. Unfortunately, when the anime was distributed outside of Japan, some localization removed this aspect completely. Fish Eye is a member of the Amazon Trio, and in the original version of the anime, the character presents as an androgynous man who is attracted to men. Outside of Japan, however, several dubs made the choice to change Fish Eye to a straight woman. Some countries even decided to totally cut out the Amazon Trio, including Fish Eye, from their releases of the anime, which is too bad considering they’re a good group of characters.
When “Sailor Moon” was first released in English in North America, it was distributed for children. In order to make the anime more accessible to young audiences, localization changed several character names and references. For example Michiru is changed to Michelle and Usagi becomes Serena. Additionally, food references have been altered, including Mamoru’s nickname for Usagi being changed from “Dumpling Head” to “Meatball Head.” There are also subtle changes to the animation itself, such as cars being driven on the opposite side of the road. While these changes did make the series a little easier for young audiences to understand, they made some aspects of the show confusing.
When “Sailor Moon” was originally picked up for English distribution in North America, the company that released it chose to not air several episodes. While some of the episodes contain raunchy moments, such as Usagi’s classmate flipping up their teacher’s skirt and making her cry, others were cut for unknown reasons. Perhaps the strangest omission is the episode that is focused on Sailor Venus’ origin. Before she teams up with the rest of the main characters, Sailor Venus lives in England. There, she takes up the moniker Sailor V and fights evil. She is caught in an explosion, and in the aftermath, realizes her love interest and her friend are in love with each other. Naturally, she lets them believe she did not survive the explosion and moves to Japan. No wonder her powers are associated with love.
Similarly to the aforementioned Fish Eye, Zoisite was a victim of LGBTQ+ erasure in several dubs. In the original version of the show, Zoisite is in a same-sex relationship with fellow Shitennou Kunzite. However, outside of Japan, several localization efforts changed Zoisite from a man to a woman, making the character’s relationship with Kunzite heterosexual instead. Interestingly enough, Kunzite’s name was also changed to Malachite in the first North American English dub, and Zoisite’s name was spelled differently, although the reasons behind these changes are less clear. While this was the first LGBTQ+ relationship to be changed due to censorship, it would not be the last, as we will explore later on.
So many things were eliminated that the finale was literally cut in half. When the conclusion of the first season originally aired, it was a two-part episode. However, when it was aired in other markets, many scenes deemed too disturbing for young viewers were either altered or completely removed. In the original version, all of the Sailor Guardians sacrifice themselves during the battle. In the original North American English dub, the villains say that the Sailor Guardians have been captured and are being held as prisoners. Additionally, particularly violent parts of the battle are cut, such as shots from the fight between Usagi and Mamoru. The end of the finale remains the same, but it doesn’t have quite the same impact.
When “Sailor Moon” was originally distributed in English in North America, it ended with the fourth season, which meant audiences did not even get to see the true end of the series. The fifth season of the anime features the Sailor Starlights, three characters who present as men in their civilian forms and transform into women in their Sailor Guardian forms. Additionally, one of the Starlights, Seiya, dates Usagi. While some markets decided to simply not release the season at all, other markets came up with creative ways to cover up the gender-non-conforming characters. For example, one dub changed the three Starlights to three sets of twins who switched out during transformation sequences. It was definitely a choice.
As we’ve discussed, several international versions of “Sailor Moon'' censored LGBTQ+ characters in various ways, but this one definitely takes the cake. In the original version of the anime, Haruka and Michiru are two women in a romantic relationship with each other. Several markets censored and altered their relationship in different ways. Some countries changed Haruka to a man when in civilian form. Perhaps most infamously, however, the original North American English dub changed the two characters from girlfriends to cousins. Maybe the localization team had a Karen Smith view on family structures or something. At the end of the day, Michiru and Haruka are still the ultimate power couple, no matter how hard people try to cover up their love.
Top 20 Most Censored Sailor Moon Moments
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 20 Most Censored “Sailor Moon” Moments.
For this list, we’ll be looking at the most changed, covered up and altered aspects of the classic 90s anime series. We will be discussing important plot points of the show, so please consider this your spoiler warning.
What do you think is the strangest thing that was changed in “Sailor Moon?” Be sure to share your thoughts in the comments below.
#20: Makoto's "Big Talents"
“Sailor Moon” is about a group of teenage superheroines, so of course the show has some teenager-type humor in its writing. In the original anime, Makoto Kino AKA Sailor Jupiter and the other girls argue over who should play Snow White in a play. Makoto says that her large chest makes her the perfect pick for the princess role. In the North American English dub, this is changed to Makoto arguing that she has the most talent, not the biggest body parts. This change was definitely part of the localization team’s attempts to make the show more appropriate for American children and their parents.
#19: Changing Sailor Senshi to Sailor Scout
In the original manga and anime, the main protagonists are called senshi, which translates to "combatant," "soldier" or "warrior." Considering the incredible battles the main characters go through, it’s no wonder that they are referred to as soldiers. After all, they fight the ultimate forces of darkness in every episode. During the translation process, the North American team elected to change senshi to scout. This was likely done because the direct translation of soldier or warrior seems a bit more mature while scout is more child-friendly, like Cub Scouts or Girl Scouts. We don’t remember any badges for defeating the Dark Kingdom, though.
#18: Body Shaming
While most of the censorship of the show is a bit silly, we actually support this decision. References to weight and body image come up throughout the series, but the most controversial example is from the anime’s first season. In an episode bizarrely titled “Learn How to Be Skinny from Usagi,” the show’s heroine has a meltdown after gaining half a pound. Luna mocks Usagi with a crude drawing. Usagi starves herself for a day and ends up fainting. While these particular plot points remain the same in the North American English dub, the episode alters some scenes. Additionally, the Sailor Moon Says segment at the end of the episode drives home the point that crash dieting is dangerous.
#17: Chibiusa's Gun
Given Japan’s strict gun laws in comparison to the laws in the United States, this particular change comes as a bit of a surprise. Chibiusa is a divisive character for fans of Sailor Moon, so it makes sense that her introduction is controversial. In the span of about a minute, Chibiusa falls from the sky, interrupts Usagi and Mamoru’s kiss and threatens Usagi’s life with a gun to the face at point-blank range. Although it’s quickly shown to just be a toy, the sequence is still tense enough to cause Usagi to pass out. In the initial North American English dub, the gun is completely cut out, and the scene is reworked to fit the rest of the episode.
#16: Cat Fight
When two of your main characters are cats, it’s natural that those cats might fight sometimes, even if they are wise and magical. After the Sailor Guardians temporarily lose their memories, Artemis contemplates their situation and flirts with Luna, suggesting that they should settle down. Of course, Luna is shocked and responds by scratching and yelling at him. This scene was removed from the original North American English dub, perhaps for being too gory or maybe because Luna calls Artemis a pervert. We would argue that anyone who has multiple cats in their house has seen fights like this, though. Additionally, this scene is hilarious in retrospect because Luna and Artemis do, in fact, end up together and even have a kitten appropriately named Diana.
#15: Perverted Characters
Although Luna called Artemis a pervert in the last censored moment, the white cat has nothing on some of the other characters in “Sailor Moon.” Despite the fact that the main characters are between 13 and 16 years old throughout the series, they encounter an absurd amount of perverted men. The most disgusting example is Rei’s grandfather. Despite being a Shinto priest, he frequently makes advances on young women who visit the shrine where he and Rei live and work. One of Rei’s first lines in the series even points out that her grandfather has a bad reputation around the community. The original North American English dub downplays his behavior and makes him just seem overly friendly and silly instead.
#14: Removing Text
Of course, the anime was written in and is based in Japan, so it makes sense that all the writing that appears is in Japanese. However, when the series was translated for international audiences, the localization teams sometimes removed or altered Japanese text that appears throughout the show. While changing some aspects, such as the text in the opening title sequence makes sense, the localization teams in some countries took it a step further. The most notable example of this is in the original South Korean version, where the text was completely removed due to a ban on broadcasting representations of Japanese culture at the time.
#13: Spanking
Considering some of the things the girls go through in the series, it’s surprising that something as relatively tame as spanking wound up on the cutting room floor. When Chibiusa first appears in the series, she is insistent on finding the Silver Crystal. As we mentioned earlier, she pulls a gun on Usagi, but she also tears apart Usagi’s room, invades her bath and even drugs Rei, Ami, Makoto and Minako. When Usagi has enough, she spanks Chibiusa. While it is indeed violent, taking into account Usagi’s incredible powers, it’s definitely not the worst thing she could do. Regardless, the scene was cut from the North American English version.
#12: Purity Chalice
The third season of the anime gets downright Arthurian, featuring a quest for the Holy Grail and everything. The villains attempt to bring together the three Pure Heart Crystals to summon the Holy Grail and the evil Pharaoh 90. To broaden the symbolism of the Holy Grail, the North American English dub team changed the relic’s name to Purity Chalice. This was likely done to remove religious references in the anime and avoid angering certain American groups. Despite the name change, the Purity Chalice remains one of the most powerful items in the Sailor Moon universe.
#11: The Negaverse
In the original version of the anime, the collective of dark forces that serve as the main antagonists in the story’s first arc is called Dāku Kingudamu or the Dark Kingdom. The Dark Kingdom is, of course, ruled over by the stylish yet wicked Queen Beryl. However, when the show was originally adapted for North American audiences, the adaptation team changed the villains to be called The Negaverse instead. Additionally, the Negaverse served as a way to side-step the subject of death. In the original dub, fallen characters were banished to the Negaverse and held as prisoners instead of killed off. We will revisit the most notable example of this particular change later on in the video.
#10: Altering Blood
As an action-packed series starring a team of magical soldiers, “Sailor Moon” has its fair share of violent confrontations. In the original Japanese run, the animation team did not shy away from showing bits of blood when it was appropriate. However, when the show was picked up for distribution outside of Japan, localization efforts largely removed scenes that were considered too violent. While a good chunk was surprisingly kept in, even the most tamest things like small cuts would hit the chopping block.
#9: Usagi Drinking Too Much
Poor Usagi keeps going to parties where they only serve alcoholic punch. The first time the heroine accidentally drinks too much punch happens near the end of the episode, and the short scene’s dialogue isn’t changed too much. And we get that it’s supposed to be a romantic moment, but Mamoru kissing her when she’s drunk is still pretty creepy. The second time Usagi drinks too much, the moment is changed to make it seem like she’s simply sick from too much sugar in the punch. Whether it’s from granulated or distilled sugar, at least Mamoru doesn’t kiss her when she’s under the influence this time.
#8: Implied Nudity
While nothing super explicit was really visible in the original version, apparently the mere suggestion of nudity was too much for some parts of the world. During transformation sequences, for example, body lines have been removed so only the girls’ silhouettes appear as they power up. When characters take baths, the water is raised to hide cleavage, made more opaque to hide body lines or both. Some individual shots are even completely removed if they can be done so without majorly impacting the story. While some of these edits work okay in the context of the story, others are just clunky.
#7: Fish Eye
Part of what makes “Sailor Moon'' so beloved is that it has a fair amount of LGBTQ+ representation. Unfortunately, when the anime was distributed outside of Japan, some localization removed this aspect completely. Fish Eye is a member of the Amazon Trio, and in the original version of the anime, the character presents as an androgynous man who is attracted to men. Outside of Japan, however, several dubs made the choice to change Fish Eye to a straight woman. Some countries even decided to totally cut out the Amazon Trio, including Fish Eye, from their releases of the anime, which is too bad considering they’re a good group of characters.
#6: Americanization
When “Sailor Moon” was first released in English in North America, it was distributed for children. In order to make the anime more accessible to young audiences, localization changed several character names and references. For example Michiru is changed to Michelle and Usagi becomes Serena. Additionally, food references have been altered, including Mamoru’s nickname for Usagi being changed from “Dumpling Head” to “Meatball Head.” There are also subtle changes to the animation itself, such as cars being driven on the opposite side of the road. While these changes did make the series a little easier for young audiences to understand, they made some aspects of the show confusing.
#5: Cut Episodes, Including Sailor Venus' Origin
When “Sailor Moon” was originally picked up for English distribution in North America, the company that released it chose to not air several episodes. While some of the episodes contain raunchy moments, such as Usagi’s classmate flipping up their teacher’s skirt and making her cry, others were cut for unknown reasons. Perhaps the strangest omission is the episode that is focused on Sailor Venus’ origin. Before she teams up with the rest of the main characters, Sailor Venus lives in England. There, she takes up the moniker Sailor V and fights evil. She is caught in an explosion, and in the aftermath, realizes her love interest and her friend are in love with each other. Naturally, she lets them believe she did not survive the explosion and moves to Japan. No wonder her powers are associated with love.
#4: Zoisite & Kunzite
Similarly to the aforementioned Fish Eye, Zoisite was a victim of LGBTQ+ erasure in several dubs. In the original version of the show, Zoisite is in a same-sex relationship with fellow Shitennou Kunzite. However, outside of Japan, several localization efforts changed Zoisite from a man to a woman, making the character’s relationship with Kunzite heterosexual instead. Interestingly enough, Kunzite’s name was also changed to Malachite in the first North American English dub, and Zoisite’s name was spelled differently, although the reasons behind these changes are less clear. While this was the first LGBTQ+ relationship to be changed due to censorship, it would not be the last, as we will explore later on.
#3: The First Season Finale
So many things were eliminated that the finale was literally cut in half. When the conclusion of the first season originally aired, it was a two-part episode. However, when it was aired in other markets, many scenes deemed too disturbing for young viewers were either altered or completely removed. In the original version, all of the Sailor Guardians sacrifice themselves during the battle. In the original North American English dub, the villains say that the Sailor Guardians have been captured and are being held as prisoners. Additionally, particularly violent parts of the battle are cut, such as shots from the fight between Usagi and Mamoru. The end of the finale remains the same, but it doesn’t have quite the same impact.
#2: The Entire Last Season
When “Sailor Moon” was originally distributed in English in North America, it ended with the fourth season, which meant audiences did not even get to see the true end of the series. The fifth season of the anime features the Sailor Starlights, three characters who present as men in their civilian forms and transform into women in their Sailor Guardian forms. Additionally, one of the Starlights, Seiya, dates Usagi. While some markets decided to simply not release the season at all, other markets came up with creative ways to cover up the gender-non-conforming characters. For example, one dub changed the three Starlights to three sets of twins who switched out during transformation sequences. It was definitely a choice.
#1: Sailor Neptune & Sailor Uranus
As we’ve discussed, several international versions of “Sailor Moon'' censored LGBTQ+ characters in various ways, but this one definitely takes the cake. In the original version of the anime, Haruka and Michiru are two women in a romantic relationship with each other. Several markets censored and altered their relationship in different ways. Some countries changed Haruka to a man when in civilian form. Perhaps most infamously, however, the original North American English dub changed the two characters from girlfriends to cousins. Maybe the localization team had a Karen Smith view on family structures or something. At the end of the day, Michiru and Haruka are still the ultimate power couple, no matter how hard people try to cover up their love.
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