Sailor Moon Universe - Sailor Moon FAQ
Sailor Moon Universe
SAILOR MOON INFORMATION YOU SHOULD KNOW

The information you see now is from the Sailor Moon FAQ. The author of this FAQ is Ken Arromdee. Please forward all question to him.

Introduction

    Sailor Moon is a cartoon about teenage sailor-suited superheroines,
aimed at young girls, which began broadcast in North America on September 11,
1995 (August 28 on YTV in Canada).  In Japan it was produced by Bandai.  The
English language version was produced by DIC Entertainment and aired in syndi-
cation (not Fox, though one episode was shown on Fox as a special).  The
series is a dub of a Japanese cartoon (anime) whose name (Bishoujo Senshi
Sailor Moon) is usually translated as "Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon"; this
cartoon is based on a manga (Japanese comic book) created by Takeuchi Naoko.
(Note: All Japanese names in this FAQ are listed Japanese style, with family
name first.)
    The last TV episode aired in Japan on February 8, 1997; the last manga
was the February 1997 Nakayoshi.  The replacement for the TV series is a
shojo-style Cutey Honey remake worked on by many of the same people working on
the Sailor Moon series; what the manga will be replaced with is not known.
    In North America, DIC made 65 episodes available in 1995-1996.  There was
apparently a big falling-out between Bandai and DIC, and a lot of rumors
abound.  The series was shown in Canada in 1996-1997, and it is now syndicated
through Program Exchange, appearing on USA Network (cable) in the US and on
some TV stations.  USA is cutting the Sailor Says and the previews to make room
for more commercials.
    It is not a Fox show, although Fox did show the first Alan/Ann story as a
    special.
    DIC has announced 17 new episodes.  There are no current plans to show
these in the US, though they should appear in Canada.  Many of the original
voice actors have left or been fired.  (Known ones are those for Melvin,
Darien, and Sailor Mars.)
    The 65th North American episode corresponds to Japanese episode 72, which
is a minor breaking point (defeat of the four Black Moon sisters) but doesn't
finish the story.  The first time around, the episodes were shown out of order
(the Alan/Anne story was supposed to go _between_ the Beryl and the Black Moon
story), but the reruns mostly show them in the proper order.  The addition of
17 new episodes would take the series up to Japanese episode 88 (which is the
real end of the R story), plus one extra episode, which may be either 89 (a
clips episode), or 67 (which was skipped but could be reinserted).

    Distributors and toy producers are as follows:
Country     Distributor                 Toys
USA         Program Exchange (was       Bandai USA
            Seagull Entertainment)
Canada      Kaleidoscope Entertainment  Irwin Toys
Australia   ?                           Croner-Tyco
New Zealand ?                           ?

    Note: There are lots of spoilers here.  Read at your own risk.  I've tried
to rot13 spoilers for episodes that did not appear in America, but I can't
rot13 everything.
    (rot13 is done by moving each letter 13 places in the alphabet, so that
applying it twice returns the sentence to normal.  It is normally translated
by machine, and many newsreaders have commands to do it automatically.
Translating it by hand is pointless.  In rn, the X command rot-13s the current
page, and the ctrl-X command starts the article from the beginning in rot13.
In tin, use the d command.)
    Thanks to everyone on the Internet (far too many names to list, even if
I had kept the list) for helping me produce this FAQ.

* Requests for un-rot13ed copies of this FAQ will be deleted with no reply.
I don't keep an un-rot13ed version and have no easy way to make one. *
* Requests that I send you a new version of this FAQ "when it comes out" will
be deleted with no reply. *
* Requests for the current version will be deleted with no reply.  Especially
"I missed part 2; please send me another".  This is recursive; messages that
say "I asked you for part 2 and didn't get a reply" won't get replies. *
* Requests for Sailor Moon files or merchandise will be deleted with no reply. *
* So will requests asking where to get any. *
* Requests to put up HTML versions of this FAQ will be deleted with no reply.
If you want to put one up, go ahead, but _please_ update it often.  I don't
like to see errors perpetuated forever.  (I'm also not a fan of rewriting
files in html and making them impossible to print out, repost, or otherwise
handle outside the Web.) *

There are millions of people on the net.  I can't respond to everyone's
requests, especially not to a request that takes just a minute or two--per
person.

* If you want to print the FAQ in your newsletter, go ahead, but please send me
a copy of your newsletter if you can.  My address is on my web page. *

2) Air Times/Channels/Versions.  (This is not as accurate as the rest of this
FAQ, because I've collected these from the net.)

Cantonese version:
Episodes released: Up to Sailor Moon S, plus the R movie.
Censorship:
  Violence: None.
  Lechery: There may have been a small cut in episode 2.
  Nudity: None.
  Homosexuality: None.
Cuts for time:
Music:
  First season: new opening and ending.
  R: Original opening and ending.
  S: First half, new opening and ending.  Second half, original opening and
ending with new music.
  Original music used during the show.  Most Japanese songs stay as the
originals too.
Names:
  The names are the original ones translated into Chinese.
Air times and channels:
  Hong Kong: TVB somewhere between 4 and 6 PM weekdays.

Cantonese version:
Episodes released: Up to Sailor Moon SS.  Most movies and specials not done.
Censorship:
  Violence: None.
  Lechery: None.
  Nudity: None.
  Homosexuality: None.
  In the Snow White episode, Mako-chan says "I am tall, big and elegant on
stage." instead of referring to her breast size.
Cuts for time:
Music:
  All the music is the original, including songs.  When characters sing, they
suddenly go to Japanese....
Names:
  The names are the original ones translated into Chinese.  Both Cantonese
versions use the same names except for the translation of "Michiru".
Air times and channels:
  This is a video release on LD (Japanese/Cantonese bilingual) by Aiko
Animation for Edko Video, not a broadcast version.  It is widely pirated.
  The SMS movie was done by Edko Video.

English version by DIC
Episodes released:
  65 (up to the middle of Sailor Moon R).  17 more to be released in Canada
only.
Censorship:
  Violence: characters are not even allowed to slap each other, and episodes
45-46 are combined into one episode where nobody dies.
  Lechery: Episode 2 does not appear at all.  References to Rei's grandfather
being a dirty old man are rewritten.
  Nudity: lines are covered up or removed, scenes sometimes changed.
  Homosexuality: Zoisite has been changed to a woman.  The show never reached
Haruka, Michiru, or Fish Eye.
Cuts for time:
  Often cut for time.  Further cut for time in Australia.  CGI scene
transitions are added.
Music:
  Does not use the original music for the most part.  The theme song uses new
words for a version of the Japanese theme song; the end theme just repeats
the start theme.  Episodes with songs usually use random songs (once Japanese,
usually not) with new words.
Names:
  Some names are similar to the original, some are not.
Air times and channels:
  Australia: airs on Seven Network on Agro's Cartoon Connection, 7am-8:30am.
Will be returning (presumably still with rerun episodes)
  Canada: (All times are Eastern.)
    YTV: 12 PM weekdays, 6 PM Tuesday, 3 PM Friday, 12 PM and 12:30 PM Saturday,
        Monday-Thursday, 4:30 PM
    Canwest Global: 7:30 AM Saturday
  New Zealand: airs on TVNZ (TV2) repeating

Filipino (Tagalog) version:
Episodes released:
  Continuing, probably doing the whole series.
Censorship:
  Violence: No censorship?
  Lechery: No censorship?
  Nudity: No censorship?
  Homosexuality: No censorship.
Cuts for time:
  A few.
Music:
  The opening theme song was kept in Japanese but in newer episodes is
translated; the ending is still in Japanese.
Names:
  Usagi is named Bunny.  Other names were kept.
Air times and channels:
  Philippines: ABC 5 (6 PM Saturday)

French version:
Episodes released:
  Up to the start of SuperS in France, 9 episodes in Canada.  Some episodes
have been completely removed (different ones than in English, so it still may
actually be worth it for Canadians to try to see the series).
Censorship:
  Violence: No or very little censorship.
  Lechery: Episode 2 has the scene with Umino looking up Ms. Haruna's skirt,
cut, but the episode itself was kept.
  Nudity: In episode 7, a scene with the monster attacking Mikan in the
shower was cut.
  Homosexuality: Zoisite and Kunzite are brothers.  Sailor Uranus started out
with a female voice actor, but got a male one for her civilian form after
a while.  It was explained that she was disguised as a man to protect her
identity and that Neptune was helping by pretending to be "his" girlfriend.
Cuts for time:
  Yes.  Also, some episodes have been completely removed (different ones than
in English)
Music:
  Attack and transformation use same music.  The theme song music and words
are both changed.  In episode 7, with a song, the Japanese music was used with
new words.
Names:
  Most names are different.  Usagi is named "Bunny".
Air times and channels:
  Quebec: Formerly on TVA, now cancelled.  They never showed past 9 episodes,
though this did include several episodes DIC skipped.
  France: The series airs as part of a children's program named Le Club
Dorothee, which airs Wednesdays 8:30-11 AM and also Monday and Tuesday during
holidays.  Possibly also on Tele Monte Carlo.
Special note:
  The French manga is _much_ better.

German version:
Episodes released:
  up to #46 (10/13/95-9/7/96) on ZDF.  RTL2 will show up to #89.
Censorship:
  Violence: Cuts were made in episodes 45-46.
  Lechery: No censorship.
  Nudity: No censorship.
  Homosexuality: Zoisite changed to a woman.  Show had not reached Haruka,
Michiru, or Fish Eye.
Cuts for time:
  None.
Music:
  Start and end themes and words not kept.  The original background music was
kept.  Songs were removed.
Names:
  Usagi named "Bunny Tsukino", most other names kept.
Air times and channels:
  Germany: RTL2 (starts in May/June 1997)?  Formerly shown (first 46 only) on
ZDF.

Greek version:
Episodes released: reached SMS as of 1996-1997, will do whole series.
Censorship:
  Violence: No censorship.
  Lechery: No censorship.
  Nudity: No censorship.
  Homosexuality: No censorship.
Cuts for time:
  None.
Music:
  There is a single start and end theme in Greek used for all the series.
Names:
  Usagi named "Bunny", most other names kept.
Air times and channels:
  Saturday and Sunday morning at 9:15 to 10:15.

Italian version:
Episodes released:
  The entire series.  The movies and specials were aired, though out of order.
Censorship:
  Violence: Some scenes with blood cut from Sailor Stars.
  Lechery: No censorship.
  Nudity: A few seconds were cut from episode 151.  (Ami nude.)  #200 was
heavily modified.
  Homosexuality: Zoisite and Fisheye were changed to women.  (Fish Eye's bare
chest scene was cut, of course.)  I have no idea about Haruka and Michiru.
The Starlights were explained by saying that they're replaced by their
identical twin sisters.
Cuts for time:
  The beginning of several episodes near the end of the first series, plus
the beginning of 56-57, had cuts.
Music:
  Background music is the same as Japanese; opening/closing songs and songs
within the series are changed to Italian ones.
Names:
  Most names are changed.  The four generals have different names, and Alan
  and Anne have different school names.  Cooan is "Kermesite" (!).  Usagi is
named Bunny, Ami is Amy, Rei is Rea, Makoto is Morea, Minako is Marta.
Air times and channels:
  Channel Rete4, Monday-Saturday, ~7:45 PM

Mandarin version:
Episodes released: ???
Censorship:
  Violence: No known cuts.
  Lechery: No known cuts.  Umino still stares up Haruna's skirt.
  Nudity: Transformation scenes have been cut.
  Homosexuality: Zoisite is still male.
Cuts for time:
Music:
  The song from episode 6 has been removed.
Names:
  Most but not all names are changed.  (I have no idea whether the original
names are just translated.)
Air times and channels:
  Singapore: Saturday 1 PM, channel 8 TCS
Note:
  I got this information from someone in Singapore.  I don't know if the cuts
were made in Taiwan or not.  (Probably.)

Portuguese version (Brazil):
Episodes released: First series (1-46)
Censorship:
  Violence: No censorship.
  Lechery: No censorship.
  Nudity: No censorship.
  Homosexuality: Zoisite is female.
Cuts for time:
Music:
  Theme song is in portuguese.  Other music/songs are original?
Names:
  Mostly DIC names are used.  Non-DIC names include Nicholas for Yuuichiro,
Lua for Luna, and Sanjouin Masato.
Air times and channels:
  Manchete, channel 9, 9:15 AM, 5:40 PM Monday-Friday.
  Last aired November 1996?
Note:
  The series uses Spanish episode titles and is probably a redub of the
Latin America Spanish version.

Portuguese version (Portugal):
Episodes released:
  Entire Sailor Moon and Sailor Moon R and S series.  Episode 89 was skipped.
Censorship:
  Violence: No censorship.
  Lechery: No censorship.
  Nudity: No censorship.
  Homosexuality: No censorship.
Cuts for time:
Music:
  Theme song and some other music is changed.
Names:
  A few names changed, Usagi is Bunny.
Air times and channels:
  SIC, 8:15 AM, Saturday and Sunday
Misc:
  They got the cats' sex wrong.

Russian version
Episodes released:  At least to Sailor Moon R.
Censorship:
  Violence: No censorship.
  Lechery: No censorship.
  Nudity: No censorship.
  Homosexuality: No censorship.
Cuts for time:
Music:
  Opening and closing uses original Japanese music, but no words.  Songs
during the shows are still in Japanese, though in one episode the song was
also explained in Russian.
  As of SMS the opening and closing are in original Japanese.
Names:
  Usagi is renamed Bunny, other names are unchanged.
Air times and channels:
  Moscow, 2X2, weekends 9:35 AM, 12:10 PM

Spanish version (Latin America):
Episodes released:
  Just started
Censorship:
  Violence: No censorship.
  Lechery: No censorship.
  Nudity: No censorship.
  Homosexuality: Zoisite is made a woman.  This was apparently because they
were working from the US version, not due to censorship per se, and Haruka
and Michiru are not changed.
Cuts for time:
  Each station receives the episodes uncut, but sometimes cuts them locally.
Music:
  Keeps the original music and the start and end themes use the original tunes
and are directly translated from the Japanese version.  Songs are not
translated and stay in Japanese.
Names:
  Mostly uses the same names as the DIC version, including Serena, Lita,
Malachite, and Negaverse.  "Metallia" is kept.  One episode goofed and used
the names "Bunny" and "Dark Kingdom".
Air times and channels:
  Argentina : ETC TV (?), Magic Kids (1:30 am, 8:30 am, 12:00 pm, 6:00 pm),
Cablin (1:00 am, 7:00 am, 1:00 pm, 7:00 pm), Big Channel (1:00 am, 7:00 am,
2:30 pm, 7:00 pm)
  Chile: Chilevision, Monday to Friday 4:30 PM.  ETC TV, Monday to Friday 8:45
AM, 1:30 PM, 7:30 PM (cable)
  Mexico: Television Azteca: Monday to Friday 3:30 PM, Saturday 9 AM
  Peru: ???
  Venezuela: Televen: Daily 4:30 PM.

Spanish version (Spain):
Episodes released:
  At least reached Sailor Moon S.
Censorship:
  Violence: ???
  Lechery: ???
  Nudity: ???
  Homosexuality: ???
Cuts for time:
  ???
Music:
Names:
Air times and channels:

Swedish version:
Episodes released:
  Two episodes were not shown; apparently, they were damaged.
Censorship:
  Violence: No censorship.
  Lechery: No censorship.  Rei's grandfather is still a dirty old man.
  Nudity: No censorship.
  Homosexuality: Zoisite changed to a woman.  Allegedly because the station
can't show gays who are evil, rather than because they can't show them at all.
(Wonder what they'll do with Haruka and Michiru then?)
Cuts for time:
  None.
Music:
  Original music kept.  Start and end tunes kept but lyrics not kept.  No info
about songs.
Names:
  Most, but not all, original names kept.  Beryl is renamed Morga, Usagi is
renamed Annie.
Air times and channels:
  Sweden: TV4, Sundays, 8:30 AM.  (Ended?)

3) Japanese television series
    Japan does not have television seasons like the US does.  However, Sailor
Moon has been divided into several different series, each aired weekly and
lasting a year:

    Sailor Moon: 3/7/92-2/27/93 (episodes 1-46): The appearance of the five
Sailor Scouts and their fight against the Dark Kingdom.
    Sailor Moon R: 3/6/93-3/5/94 (episodes 47-88): Episodes 47-59 have as
villains two space aliens Earl (Alan) and Ann.  60-88 are a fight against the
Black Moon family, also introducing Chibi-Usa (Rini), a young girl from the
future.  Sailor Pluto first appears (but only briefly) here.  Episode 89,
3/12/94, was a special (and a clips episode).
    For anyone who wonders, the R was supposed to stand for Romance.  Probably.
(I got a message saying that the notes in the manga said "Returns", but I
don't yet have a reference for it.)
    Sailor Moon Super: 3/19/94-2/25/95 (episodes 90-127): Villains are
Professor Tomoe and the Witches 5 (the Death Busters).  Chibi-Usa first be-
comes Sailor Chibi-Moon, and Sailors Uranus and Neptune first show up (and
later Saturn).
    Sailor Moon SuperS: 3/4/95-3/2/96 (episodes 128-166): Villains are the
Dead Moon Circus and Nephrenia.  Heavily based around Chibi-Usa.  The Outer
Senshi don't appear at all except in an (unnumbered) special.
    Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: 3/16/96-2/8/97 (episodes 167-200): The first 6
episodes (167-172) finish off Nephrenia and are often considered the real
ending of SuperS.  After that, a new storyline begins with the villain Galaxia
from Shadow Galactica, whose henchmen are Iron Mouse, Aluminum Siren, Lead
Crow, and Tin Nyanko (the Sailor Anima-mates).  Introduction of the Sailor
Stars, who are male in normal IDs and change to female as Sailor Senshi.
Chibi-Usa doesn't appear at all except for cameos, and Tuxedo Mask shows up in
173 leaving for Harvard, and then not until the end.  The Outer Senshi appear
sporadically.


4) Names: characters (original and dub), attacks and transformations

(I'm sorry.  I'm not going to put the Sailor Stars villains here just because
they have 'Sailor' in their name.)

Japanese Name    NA Name  Identity        Birthday      Planet    (J)    (NA)
-------------    -------  --------        --------      ------    ---    ---
Tsukino Usagi    Serena   Sailor Moon     June 30       Moon        1      1
Chiba Mamoru     Darian   Tuxedo Mask     August 3      Earth       1      1
Mizuno Ami       Amy**    Sailor Mercury  September 10  Mercury     8      5
Hino Rei         Raye***  Sailor Mars     April 17      Mars       10      7
Kino Makoto      Lita     Sailor Jupiter  December 5    Jupiter    25     21
Aino Minako      Mina     Sailor Venus    October 22    Venus      33     29
Chibi-Usa*       Rini     S. Chibi-Moon   June 30       Moon     60/103  54/--
Meiou Setsuna    --       Sailor Pluto    October 29    Pluto     64/75  58/--
Ten'ou Haruka    --       Sailor Uranus   January 27    Uranus    89/92   --
Kaiou Michiru    --       Sailor Neptune  March 6       Neptune   89/92   --
Tomoe Hotaru     --       Sailor Saturn   January 6     Saturn  110/125   --
[There are no US names for the last four, though there are rumors.  The current
fan favorite idea seems to be Alex for Haruka and Michelle for Michiru, with
Setsuna being Sharon or Susan.]

[Asteroid senshi are senshi only in the manga.]
Cerecere         N/A      Sailor Ceres    ?             Ceres     N/A    N/A
Pallapalla       N/A      Sailor Pallas   ?             Pallas    N/A    N/A
JunJun           N/A      Sailor Juno     ?             Juno      N/A    N/A
VesVes           N/A      Sailor Vesta    ?             Vesta     N/A    N/A

[The Sailor Stars are guys in civilian ID and change into girls as Senshi.
They've been shown topless, confirming this.]
Seiya Kou        N/A      S. Star Fighter July 30       N/A       173    N/A
Taiki Kou        N/A      S. Star Maker   May 30        N/A       173    N/A
Yaten Kou        N/A      S. Star Healer  February 8    N/A       173    N/A

N/A              N/A      S. Chibi-Chibi  ?             N/A    182/187   N/A

Princess Kakyuu  N/A      S. Kakyuu (meaning 'fireball')"Kinmoku"   *4

* This is a nickname; chibi is Japanese for "short".  Her real name is also
Usagi.  (According to the manga it's "Usagi Small-Lady Serenity".  Uh, right.
The video game calls her "Lady Serenity".)

Note: Please do not confuse "Chibi" and "Chiba".  I'm really tired of this.

** Last name "Anderson" used in episode 37.  Since she is in a house in that
episode but lives in an apartment, it might not really be her name.

*** The dub keeps "Hino".

*4 Princess Fireball becomes a Senshi only in the manga.  "Kinmokusei" is a
Japanese pun on the word for "sweet olive", which explains her scent.

The double entries are because Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune first appear sha-
dowed, and Chibi-Moon, Saturn, and Chibi-Chibi appear in their normal
identities first.

Note that the birthdays are appropriate, astrologically, for the planets.

    The Japanese language uses kanji (written characters derived from Chinese)
for the Japanese equivalent of root words.  The Japanese family names of the
Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask all contain the same kanji as the corresponding
planet (not necessarily pronounced the same).
    The kanji used in the Japanese names of the planets include the five
Asian elements (fire, water, wood, metal, earth).  The days of the week also
include the kanji for the elements, so the days of the week, the planets, and
the elements are all somewhat related.  (The day of week/planet relationship
is the same one that exists in the West.)  The Sailor Scouts thus could be
considered an elemental-based team if you want to count Tuxedo Mask as the
element earth (though Saturn's is usually used for the element).
    The Sailor Scouts' special attacks usually fit the kanji associated with
the planet.  (For instance, the name of the planet Mars uses the kanji for
"fire", and Sailor Mars has fire attacks.)  Sailor Venus is an exception; she
was named early before Takeuchi started the naming pattern.  The kanji in her
name means "love", associated with the goddess Venus; her later attacks, how-
ever, involve gold/metal and the Japanese name for Venus does use the kanji for
"gold" or "metal".  Sailor Jupiter's most recent attack (and several manga
attacks) are associated with wood, but her early anime attacks are associated
with the god Jupiter.

Planet, etc.      Day of Week    Kanji Used               Character
------------      -----------    ----------               ---------
Sun               Sunday         sun                      *
Moon              Monday         moon                     Sailor Moon
Mercury           Wednesday      water (element)          Sailor Mercury
Venus             Friday         gold (element)           Sailor Venus
Earth             --             earth (not the element)  Tuxedo Mask
Mars              Tuesday        fire (element)           Sailor Mars
Jupiter           Thursday       wood (element)           Sailor Jupiter
Saturn            Saturday       earth (element)          Sailor Saturn
Uranus            --             heaven king              Sailor Uranus
Neptune           --             sea king                 Sailor Neptune
Pluto             --             dark king                Sailor Pluto

* It has been suggested to me that Tuxedo Mask is partly associated with the
sun, which his birthdate supposedly fits with in astrology.  Also, Uryvbf (na
boivbhf fha-onfrq anzr) sebz Fnvybe Zbba FF vf uvf cebgrpgbe.
===Rot13 decoded===
Helios (an obvious sun-based name) from Sailor Moon SS is his protector.
===Rot13 decoded===

Ages and grades: Unfortunately, a bit complicated.

In Japan, junior high goes up to grade 9, and high school is 10-12.  In the US,
junior high goes to either 8 or 9, depending on the local school system.

In the Japanese version, the main five characters start at age 14, in second
year junior high (grade 8).  (Actually, since their birthdays are scattered
through the year, they would be 13-14 depending on exactly which Senshi and
which episode.)

The first two years in the manga only occur during one story year.  In the
anime, there are hints that they lose a year after the Dark Kingdom battle.
While Jupiter is in Serena's school even though she only transferred well past
the start of the year, and Molly still likes Melvin, on the other hand the
Japanese school year starts in April, and there is a cherry blossom episode,
original #51, US #45 which must happen in April (and originally aired in April).
This implies that they lost a year after the battle with the Dark Kingdom and
that the anime happens in real time up to the end of Sailor Moon S.  Sailor
Moon has her 15th birthday in Japanese episode 101 in Sailor Moon S, which was
aired near her birthday in real time, so as of Sailor Moon S, they are 14-15
and in grade 9.

In the next season (SuperS), they enter high school--in the manga only.  The
scene of them entering high school does not appear in the anime until the
start of Sailor Stars, but Naoko Takeuchi has stated (manga #12) that this
was an error, and they _are_ supposed to be in high school during SuperS.  This
makes them age 15-16 and grade 10 during SuperS.

Sailor Moon states she is 16 in the last episode.  This means that Sailor
Stars cannot possibly take place in real time, although they _might_ be in
grade 11 if only a few months of the school year have passed.

Sailor Uranus and Neptune were born in the same year as the main five, but
before April, when the school year starts.  So they're one school year ahead
of the others (15-16/grade 10 in Sailor Moon S, etc.)

If you believe the anime, Tuxedo Mask is in college, although this is a little
inconsistent since he's going to America for college in Sailor Stars.  In
manga #1, Luna guesses his age as 17 or 18.  Actually, he starts in second
year high school, where he would really be age 16-17, 3 years older than
Usagi.  (Alternatively, you can interpret "age 14" for everyone else as
meaning age 14-15, in which case Tuxedo Mask is age 17-18, but this
interpretation has three problems: first, it means college freshmen are 19-20;
second, if it applies to the anime, episodes 51-101 would have to happen in
under 3 months total; third, Usagi keeps saying she's 14 in the introduction
even in the episodes past episode 16, which was aired near her birthday.)

Sailor Pluto is in her first year in college in the manga corresponding to S.
In the anime, she has not been reincarnated and is thousands of years old.

Rini (Chibi-Usa) is 902 in the manga corresponding to the end of S.  The
"explanation" is that she is the first half-human, half-Silver-Millennium
person so there are a lot of unknowns.  (This implies that Usagi is not an
Earth human even after being reincarnated.  The closest the manga comes to
saying that she is one is when Queen Serenity calls her a normal girl.)  In
the anime, the Senshi are referred to as being Earth humans, and Rini's age is
not given, which means she's probably either really her apparent age, or her
apparent age not counting years spent in suspended animation.

Sailor Saturn goes to the same school as Uranus and Neptune, but this doesn't
mean she is as old as them, since sometimes schools combine many different
grades.  She is also supposed to be small and weak, which plays havoc with at-
tempts to guess her age from her appearance.  In the manga, she starts in 6th
grade, so would be 11-12 as of S.  (Note: she is deaged during SS.)

The Sailor Stars are stated to be age 16, and are in the same class with the
others.

To summarize: Under the assumption that the series ends at the end of 10th
grade for Usagi, everyone is the following ages:
Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter: 16
Tuxedo Mask: 19 (manga), 21+ (anime)
Sailor Uranus, Neptune: 17
Sailor Pluto: 20 (manga), ancient (anime)
Sailor Saturn: 13 (chronologically, ignoring deaging/reaging)
Sailor Starlights: 16
Sailor Chibi-Moon: 903 (manga), unknown but young (anime),
Sailor Chibi-Chibi: N/A

Usagi cannot say she is 16 in the last episode unless it takes place before
her 17th birthday.  This means that the latest the series can end is 11th
grade, June 29 (when Mars and Star Maker are a year older than above) and the
earliest is a little while after the start of 10th grade (when everyone is a
year younger than above).

If Usagi rounds birthdays up, then Sailor Stars is slower than realtime and
the last episode must take place before she is 16 1/2 (10th grade, end of
December).  Then the latest the series can end is 10th grade, end of December
(when Star Healer, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are a year younger than above),
and the earliest is still after the start of 10th grade (when everyone is a
year younger than above).  Note that if you believe the first episode is aired
in real time, Usagi must be rounding birthdays up.  Also, she says she'll write
one letter a day to Mamoru and writes her 30th letter in #182, which pretty
much shows the series is slower than realtime.

The dub contradicts itself in the first Alan/Ann episode.  That episode places
Alan (Earl) in grade 10 (instead of 9) and Ann and Serena in grade 9 (instead
of 8), and calls it high school (instead of junior high).  Fans have guessed
that this is a pilot episode, and I wouldn't take its statements too serious-
ly.  The error is repeated later at least once.

The dubbed episode 15 has a mistake which put Serena's brother in Crossroads
Junior High too, which is ridiculous.

Note: The main characters exist in the present because they are reincarnated
(a word which the dub refuses to use).  However, reincarnation is unrelated to
why they are still alive 1000 years in the future.  The anime explains (ep-
isode 83) that everyone on Earth fell into suspended animation because of some
catastrophe and Neo-Queen Serenity restored them in the future.  (It isn't
stated whether Usagi or Chibi-Usa were in suspended animation too.)  In the
manga, V5 says they lived 1000 years because of the Silver Crystal, which gave
"almost" everyone long life.  (Queen Beryl also says in V3 that she can get
immortality from the Silver Crystal.) Also, the Silver Millennium family's
lifespan is 1000 years (which doesn't quite fit).

Supporting characters:
    Luna: Sailor Moon's magical cat.  In the manga (only) comes from planet
Mau.
    Artemis: Sailor Venus's magical cat.  In the manga (only) comes from planet
Mau.
    Darian (Mamoru): Serena's boyfriend, and Tuxedo Mask.  I listed him above,
but must point out another DIC screwup.  His name as a prince is originally
Endymion; this is taken from mythology, where Selene loved Endymion.  It was
different from his regular name, Mamoru.  Changing both to Darian not only re-
moves the reference, but causes two problems: First, when he's under the con-
trol of the Negaverse, Serena asks him to remember the name Darian--but he's
calling himself Prince Darian at the time!  Second, Rini knows that her
parents are Serena and Darian and manages not to figure out that the Serena
and Darian of the 20th century are the same people (because the names weren't
_really_ the same in the original).
    Sam (Shingo): Serena's younger brother.
    Molly Baker (Osaka Naru): Serena's best friend.  She gets attacked by
monsters an awful lot. :-)
    Andrew (Furuhata Motoki): Darian's friend; runs the video arcade where
everyone hangs out.  Andrew's family owns the arcade (manga only).
    Lizzie (Furuhata Unazuki): Andrew's sister.
    Melvin (Umino Gurio): Classmate of Serena and Molly.
    Ms. Patricia Haruna (Sakurada Haruna): Serena's teacher.  (They kept the
last name but mispronounced it hideously.)
    Sailor Moon's parents (Ikuko and Kenji).
    Sailor Mars' grandfather.
    [Spoiler warning for SuperS]
    Qvnan: png jubfr cneragf ner Yhan naq Negrzvf.  Qbrfa'g fubj hc hagvy
Fnvybe Zbba FF.
===Rot13 decoded===
    Diana: cat whose parents are Luna and Artemis.  Doesn't show up until
Sailor Moon SS.
===Rot13 decoded===

    [Spoiler warning for Sailor Stars]
    Puvov-Puvov: tvey nccneragyl lbhatre guna Puvov-Hfn, jvgu haxabja
onpxtebhaq.
===Rot13 decoded===
Chibi-Chibi: girl apparently younger than Chibi-Usa, with unknown
background.
===Rot13 decoded===

Some of these supporting characters fade into the background after a while.

Villains: Many villains are named after various gems and minerals, a trend
continuing at least into the fourth year of the original episodes (Sailor
Moon SS).  The dub has an odd mixture of recognizing that they are mineral
names (renaming Kunzite to Malachite had to be done by someone who _knows_)
and total cluelessness as to the source of the names (Nephrite is called
"Neflyte" in the dub, for instance).

Here's as many names as I know.  The ones marked with * have exact spellings,
of the appropriate English mineral.  The ones marked with ** are not exact,
with the likely mineral in parentheses.  Others aren't minerals.  Spelling,
where there isn't an exact mineral name, is mostly just a guess (though NA
spelling is from the Cardzillion cards.)

    Sailor Moon: Queen Beryl*, Jadeite*, Nephrite*, Zoisite*, Kunzite*
(Malachite* in the dub), Queen Metallia (Negaforce in the dub).  Kunzite's
name was apparently changed for legal reasons (the mineral was named after a
person).  The other three generals, in the dub merchandise, are spelled
"Jedite", "Neflyte", and "Zoycite" (which makes no sense).
    Sailor Moon R, part 1: Earl (Alan in the dub) and Ann(e).  Their names
seem to be a pun on "alien" (Earl would be pronounced "ail" in Japanese).  In
the original, Earl and Ann use _different_ names (Ginga Seijuurou and Ginga
Natsumi; ginga means "galaxy" or "Milky Way" and was [mis]translated in the
dub as "Granger") in school, while keeping the names Earl and Ann as villains.
    Sailor Moon R, part 2: Cooan** (kermesite; the name of this mineral in
Japanese would be cooan) (Catzy in the dub), Beruche** (berthierite) (Bertie
in the dub, though it's obviously really meant as Birdy), Calaveras**
(calaverite) (Avery in the dub), Petz** (petzite) (Prizma in the dub) (these
four aren't guesses, but are from the Japanese merchandise.), Rubeus** (ruby?)
(Rubbeus in the dub), Esmeraude** (emerald?), Sapphir** (sapphire?) Demand**
(diamond?) (some of these apparently derived from non-English names for the
minerals), Black Lady, Wiseman.
    Sailor Moon S: Professor Tomoe, Kaolinite*, Eudial** (eudialyte), Mimete**
(mimetite), Tellu** (tellurite), Viluy** (villiaumite), Sapphirine* (or
cyprine?), Puchirol** (Puchirite?), Mistress 9, Pharoah 90.  Note: these
minerals are guesses.
    Sailor Moon SS: Zirconia*, Hawk's Eye** (Hawk Eye), Fish Eye*, Tiger's
Eye** (Tiger Eye), CereCere, PallaPalla, JunJun, VesVes (named after the first
four asteroids, Ceres, Pallas, Juno, and Vesta), Nephrenia** (apparently
nephrite again).
    Sailor Moon Sailor Stars: Galaxia, Iron Mouse, Aluminum Siren, Lead Crow,
Tin Nyanko.

The following lists some early, unused, Sailor Moon US names.  The first
version was announced soon after Sailor Moon's US release was announced.  The
second version appears on the English Kodansha WWW site (Kodansha published the
Japanese comic) and the third is the DIC dub version.

Identity        Japanese Name     First       Kodansha    DIC dub
--------        -------------     -----       --------    -------
Sailor Moon     Tsukino Usagi     Victoria    Celeste     Serena
Tuxedo Mask     Chiba Mamoru      ?           Mark        Darian
Sailor Mars     Hino Rei          Dana        Rae         Raye
Sailor Mercury  Mizuno Ami        Blue        Amy         Amy
Sailor Jupiter  Kino Makoto       Sara        Maggie      Lita
Sailor Venus    Aino Minako       Kari        Monica      Mina

Note
1. "Amy" and "Ami" are not pronounced the same.
2. The name "Serena" is obviously derived from Usagi's Japanese name as a
princess, which can be spelled "Selenity" or "Serenity".  In Japanese, there
is no distinction between the sounds "l" and "r", and the name has two ori-
gins.  The first is the reference to the Sea of Serenity on the moon, where
the moon palace was located (manga volume 3).  The second is to the moon
goddess Selene.  Japanese merchandise that uses Roman letters spells it with
an "r".
    In the original version, Usagi's regular name wasn't the same as her name
as a princess.  On the other hand, in it her mother on the moon was also named
Serenity, giving her mother and her the same name.  (So the original has Queen
Serenity and Usagi/Princess Serenity, while the dub has Queen Serenity and
Serena/Princess Serena).
3. Before even the first set of names was announced there was a rumor that
Usagi was going to be named Darrien.
4. "Minako" is a Japanese pun, sort of.  "Mi" and "ko" can also be pronounced
as "Bi" and "su", making it "Binasu", a Japanese pronunciation of "Venus".

Other original names and versions:
    Sailor Scouts: The Japanese term is Sailor Senshi (meaning Sailor Soldiers
or Fighters)
    Negaverse: originally "Dark Kingdom" (in English.)  The later villains were
not from there; tying them all together was a dub invention.
    "Meatball Head": originally "odango atama" (roughly "dumpling head", but
odango really don't exist in America).  For some inexplicable reason the
English manga translation in Mixx changed this.
    Sailor Mars' anti-spirit attack, when she chants and tosses a magic paper
(ofuda) is done with the words (in the original) "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai,
jin, retsu, sai, zen.  Akuryou taisan!".  The characters on the ofuda are also
"akuryou taisan"; they mean "evil spirit, begone".  She gets this "attack",
which shows up in other anime unrelated to Sailor Moon, from being a priestess,
not from being Sailor Mars, and she used it before becoming Sailor Mars and
when she had amnesia in episode 42.  The dub tries to explain it as "I call
upon the power of Mars fireballs charge", although not only does it have
nothing to do with being Sailor Mars, there are no fireballs in it!  The dub
attack has also been visually edited to remove a silhouette.  (It is
excruciatingly obvious that the dubbers were afraid Americans would see it as
Satan.) In episode 42 (where it obviously couldn't be changed to Mars
fireballs) the attack was dubbed differently ("I banish you monster, now!",
which could actually be a translation) and keeps the silhouette.
    Star Crystal: Originally the Black Crystal (kurozuishou).  The second one
that Zoisite has is called the Black Crystal in both the dub and the original.
    Silver Crystal: Called "maboroshi no ginzuishou" in the original (meaning
something like "illusion silver crystal").  The dub can't seem to decide what
to call it, so it becomes the Silver Empyrean Crystal one episode, the Silver
Moon Crystal another, and eventually the Empyrean Silver Moon Crystal.
    Doom Tree: originally the "Makaiju".  (Ma=evil/magic, kai=world/land,
ju=tree).
    Schools:
    Crossroads Junior High (Juuban in the original): Sailor Moon, Mercury, and
Jupiter go here.
    Brookdale Private School (T*A Private Girls' School): Sailor Mars goes
here.  It is a Catholic school; we see it in a later Sailor Stars episode.
Don't ask me why a Shinto shrine maiden goes to a Catholic school.
    Grass Valley Junior High (Shibakouen): Sailor Venus goes here.
    Mugen Gakuen: Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune go to school here up until the
end of S, where it's destroyed.
    Juuban High School: Everyone high school-aged except for Mars goes here
after the end of S.  (Having them enter high school at the start of Sailor
Stars was a mistake--they should be in high school during SS and were in the
manga.  The high school is only named in the manga.  Uranus and Neptune
also go here [shown only in the manga] because Mugen Gakuen was destroyed.)

Original and dub attack, etc. names: (most of these are in English; only
rarely does an attack include a Japanese word)
                                                                     ep.    ep.
Sailor       North American attack     Japanese attack               dub   Japan
------       ---------------------     ---------------               ---    ---
Moon         Moon Tiara Magic          Moon Tiara Action               1      1
             Moon Tiara Vaporize? (4)
             (not used--episode cut)   Moon Tiara Stardust            --      5
             Moon Healing Activation   Moon Healing Escalation*4      21     25
             Moon Crystal Healing Activation
             Moon Sceptre Elimination  Moon Princess Halation      45/54***  51
             --                        Moon Spiral Heart Attack       --     91
             --                        Rainbow Moon Heart Quake       --    112
             --                        Moon Gorgeous Meditation       --  128*6
             --                        Starlight Honeymoon Therapy Kiss-  168*7
             --                        Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss --    187
    [I am not making these up.]
Mercury      Mercury Bubble Blast      Shabon Spray*                   5      8
             Mercury Ice Bubbles FreezeShabon Spray Freezing*         47     53
             Mercury Ice Storm Splash  Shine Aqua Illusion            56     62
             --                        Double Shabon Spray Freezing*  --     80
             --                        Mercury Aqua Rhapsody          --    151
             --                        Mercury Aqua Mirage            -- Special
Mars         Mars Fire Ignite          Fire Soul                       7     10
             Mars Firestorm Flash (57)
             Mars Firebird Strike      Fire Soul Bird                 48     54
         Mars Celestial Fire Surround  Burning Mandala                57     63
             --                        Mars Flame Sniper              --    152
Jupiter      Supreme Thunder Crash (21)Supreme Thunder                21     25
             Jupiter Thunder Crash (22, 24+)
             Jupiter Thunderbolt Crash (23)
             Jupiter Thunder Dragon    Supreme Thunder Dragon         49     55
             Jupiter Thundercrash Zap  Sparkling Wide Pressure        59     65
             --                        Jupiter Oak Evolution          --    154
Venus        Venus Crescent Beam Smash Crescent Beam                  29     33
             Venus Venus Shower (46)(?)Crescent Beam Shower           46     52
             Venus Meteor Shower (47+)
             Venus Love Chain Encircle Venus Love Me Chain *9         59     65
             --                        Venus Love and Beauty Shock    --    154
Chibi-Moon   --                        Pink Sugar Heart Attack        --    103
             --                        Twinkle Yell                   --    131
Uranus       --                        World Shaking                  --     92
             --                        Space Sword Blaster *8         -- SS Mv.
Neptune      --                        Deep Submerge                  --     92
             --                        Submarine Reflection           -- SS Mv.
Pluto        --                        Dead Scream                    --    112
Saturn       --                        (not shown) *5                 --    125
             --                        Silence Glaive Surprise        --    172
             --                        Silence Wall                   --    172
S. Star Fighter                        Star Serious Laser             --    173
S. Star Maker                          Star Gentle Uterus             --    174
    [I am not making this up either.  No, it doesn't actually use a uterus.]
S. Star Healer                         Star Sensitive Inferno         --    175

Miscellaneous: Lead Crow got her powers by stealing the "Sailor Crystal" of
a Sailor Senshi named Sailor Coronis.  Note: In mythology, Coronis was
Artemis's brother's lover (Artemis's brother was Apollo), who Artemis killed
for infidelity.

Transformations:
(Note: dub episode 42 adds the word 'transform' to each one)
 
Moon         Moon Prism Power          Moon Prism Power, Make Up       1      1
             Moon Star Power (54-57)   Moon Crystal Power, Make Up 45/54***  51
             Moon Crystal Power (45-53,58+)
             --                        Moon Cosmic Power, Make Up     --     91
             --                        Crisis Make Up                 --    112
             --                        Moon Crisis Make Up (w/Chibi-M)--    131
             --                        Moon Eternal Make Up           --    168
Mercury      Mercury Power             Mercury Power, Make Up          5      8
             Mercury Star Power        Mercury Star Power, Make Up    56     62
             --                        Mercury Crystal Power, Make Up --    151
Mars         Mars Power                Mars Power, Make Up             7     10
             Mars Star Power           Mars Star Power, Make Up       57     63
             --                        Mars Crystal Power, Make Up    --    152
Jupiter      Jupiter Power             Jupiter Power, Make Up         21     25
             Jupiter Star Power        Jupiter Star Power, Make Up    59     65
             --                        Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up --    154
Venus        Venus Power               Venus Power, Make Up           32     36
             Venus Star Power          Venus Star Power, Make Up      59     65
             --                        Venus Crystal Power, Make Up   --    154
Chibi-Moon   --                        Moon Prism Power, Make Up      --    103
             --                        Moon Crisis Make Up (w/S.Moon) --    131
Uranus       --                        Uranus Planet Power, Make Up   --    109
Neptune      --                        Neptune Planet Power, Make Up  --    109
Pluto        --                        Pluto Planet Power, Make Up    --    111
Saturn [Saturn does not transform on camera, though there is a rumor that a
    Sega Saturn game gives her a transformation sequence.]
S. Star Fighter                        Fighter Star Power, Make Up    --    176
S. Star Healer                         Maker Star Power, Make Up      --    177
S. Star Maker                          Healer Star Power, Make Up     --    178
S. Chibi-Chibi                         --                             --    187

Miscellaneous:

Moon         Disguise Power            Moon Power                      2      3
Moon         (no words used)           Sailor Moon Kick               14     17
Moon         (no words used)           Sailor Body Attack             54     60
Chibi-Moon   Kitty Magic               Luna-P Henge**                 54     60
             Luna Ball Kitty Magic (55)
             Kitty Power (56)
Chibi-Moon   Kitty Power               Luna-P Magic                   56     62
Moon+Chibi-Moon  --                    Double Sailor Moon Kick        --    107
(combined)   Scout Power               Sailor Teleport                40     45
(combined)   Sailor Planet Power       Sailor Planet Power            65     72
(combined)   --                        Sailor Planet Attack           --     82
(combined)   --                        Silver Crystal Power           -- S Movie

* Shabon translates to "soap" or "soap bubbles".  The Japanese word apparently
comes from Portuguese.
** meaning "Luna-P, transform".
*** First episode chronologically, and first one aired, respectively (the
episodes were aired out of order).
*4 Also translated to "Cosmic Moon Power" in the dub when used as a powerful
attack in the last few episodes of the first series.
*5 Her manga attack is "Death Reborn Revolution".  It is possibly a pun on
"ribbon" (though contrary to earlier versions of this FAQ, the katakana for
"ribbon" and "reborn" are not the same).
*6 First used in #128 but named and fully shown in #130.
*7 First used in #168 but named and fully shown in #173.
*8 One fansub translates this as "Crystal Attack"  It's really badly pronounced
and sort of sounds like "Crystal Attack", but it's not.  The SuperS movie
memorial album even has it as "Space Sword Blaster" in English.
*9 Yes, it's "Love Me".  It's in English in the Sailor Moon SuperS movie
book, as well as being a manga attack with katakana that can be read as
"Love Me" but not as "Lovely".

    Serena's original speech was "For love and justice, I am the pretty
sailor-suited soldier Sailor Moon!  In the name of the moon, I will punish
you!"  It often follows a more episode-specific, speech, and is sometimes
parodied (for instance, the teaser for the episode with the priest had "in the
name of God, I will punish you!")
    The dub, obviously, can't use it all because "Pretty Soldier" isn't in the
English show name.  The dub speech started as "I am Sailor Moon, champion of
justice!  On behalf of the moon, I will right wrongs and triumph over evil,
and that means you!"  It later did use "In the name of the moon, I will punish
you!", usually (but not always) when there were few other changes to the
scripts.
    The dub sometimes rewrites the speech such that it looks like Serena is
introducing herself several times in a row.  If you were puzzled by this, well,
now you know who to blame.

5) Theme song

The North American version (from the CD lyrics):

        Fighting evil by moonlight
        Winning love by daylight
        Never running from a real fight
          [ed: did whoever wrote that line _watch_ the show?]
        She is the one named Sailor Moon!

        She will never turn her back on a friend,
        She is always there to defend,
        She is the one on whom we can depend,
        She is the one named Sailor...
 
        Sailor Venus!
        Sailor Mercury!
        Sailor Mars!
        Sailor Jupiter!
 
        With secret powers
        All so new to her
        She is the one named Sailor Moon!
 
        Fighting evil by moonlight,
        Winning love by daylight,
        With her Sailor Scouts to help fight
        She is the one named Sailor Moon!
        She is the one named Sailor Moon!
        She is the one ... Sailor Moon!
 
The original version (translated by Theresa Martin), "Moonlight Legend":
(Lyrics in parentheses aren't used in the opening, but are part of the song
and appear when it's on CDs and such):

        "I'm sorry, I'm not gentle.",
        I can say if it's in my dreams.
        My thoughts are about to short circuit.
        Right now, I want to meet!
        Making me want to cry, moonlight.
        I can't telephone either, midnight.
        Because of my naivete, what will i do?
        My heart is a kaleidoscope.

        Led by the moonlight,
        we meet by chance many times over.
        The number of twinklings of the constellations
        foretell love's whereabouts.
        Born on the same earth, a miracle romance.

        (Once more, a weekend with you.
        God, grant me a happy end.
        In the present, past, and future
        I'll be completely devoted to you.)

        (I won't forget your dear look when we met.
        Out of [tens of] millions of stars, I can find you.
        Changing even serendipity to opportunity,
        I love this way of life!)

        (A wondrous miracle growing close,
        we meet by chance many times over.
        The number of twinklings of the constellations
        foretell love's whereabouts.
        Born on the same earth, a miracle romance
        that I believe in, a miracle romance.)

"Moonlight Legend" (and the US song) are sung to a melody swiped from "Sayonara
at the End of the Dance", by Chieko Baishou, in the 1960's.

There is a new theme song for Sailor Stars, written by Takeuchi Naoko.

6) Japanese myths and cultural elements
    Sailor Moon's Japanese name (Tsukino Usagi) means "rabbit of the moon",
specifically referring to an Asian legend of a rabbit on the moon pounding the
mochi (a rice cake).  There are several jokes based on this name: she wears
and uses rabbit designs all the time; her hair visually suggests rabbit ears;
Luna's computer password is "the rabbit on the moon pounds the mochi"; Chibi-
Usa is referred to as "the rabbit" by villains (DIC even kept this a few
times); Usagi's _least_ favorite food is carrots, etc.  The jokes mostly go
over the head of audiences who don't know about the original, though the North
American version does claim (on the doll boxes) that her favorite animal is
the bunny rabbit.
    Some dubs in other languages translate her name to keep the jokes; for
instance, in the French, German, and Italian versions she's named "Bunny".
The Mixx comic book version also uses "Bunny".

    Japanese schools: The Japanese school system is uniformly 3 grades of mid-
dle school and 3 of high school, so Serena is in the equivalent of 8th grade
when in second year middle school.
    Uniforms are standard for Japanese public schools, including sailor suits
for girls in many places.  Both boys' and girls' uniforms were derived from
the uniforms worn by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Meiji era (1868-1912).
    There is a fierce high school and college entrance exam competition in
Japan, and what college you go to ultimately determines a great deal of your
standing in your whole life.  The exams are nothing like entrance exams in
America; they are long and involve a lot of regurgitation.  Many students go
to special cram schools (juku) for years solely to study for these exams; Amy
goes to one (explained as "computer class" in the dub).  School is very
difficult, and students get hours of homework a day (having much less time for
socializing than usually shown in Japanese animation), up to college; college
itself is often easier than in America.
    All Japanese students study English for years, but the English teaching
system is one of the worst foreign language teaching systems in the world, and
most Japanese can speak little English.

    Sword, mirror, and jewel (not in dub): These items are based on the
myth of the legendary three treasures which the sun goddess Amaterasu brought
to Japan.  They appear a lot in anime, showing up at least in Yuu Yuu Hakusho,
GS Mikami, and Samurai Troopers (Ronin Warriors).


7) Cuts, Censorship, and Changes

Transformations and attacks:
    The first few appearances of Sailor Mercury and Mars either cut some
of the transformation sequence or change it to remove the breast and body
lines.  Later episodes fairly consistently remove the lines for all four
Scouts (Serena's already doesn't have any lines, and isn't altered).
    Sailor Mars' attacks from above, which give brief panty shots, have been
cut, except in a flashback in "The Past Returns".

Miscellaneous:
    Zoisite and Kunzite (Malachite) in the original were male homosexuals.
The dub changes Zoisite to a woman.  (Awfully flat-chested woman.)  Yes, he
disguised himself as Sailor Moon.  (They were only gay in the anime, not the
manga.)
    There are cuts seemingly made for violence: Raye slapping Serena (twice),
Serena spanking Rini, Rini shooting Serena with a toy gun, and one episode
where a monster strangles Serena.
    Episodes 45-46.  These episodes end the first series. In them, all the
Sailor Scouts are killed (though they're revived in time for the next series).
Japanese TV stations were deluged with calls from angry parents when the ep-
isodes first came on.  (Though I am a little skeptical, since nobody has
reported calls from angry parents in other countries which kept the ending.)
The dub combines 45-46 into one standard length episode where nobody dies.
    By some fluke of probability, or perhaps by someone sneaking them through,
the Sailor Says segments use the cut scenes rather often.
    General Japanese culture and religion.  Many signs that used Japanese
writing have been cut (though most still aren't).  The school's sign has been
edited to read "Crossroads Junior High" in English.  (It's Juu-ban, or Number
10, in Japanese; the Japanese symbol for 10 sort of looks like a crossroads.)
    Various occurrences of staring up skirts, leering at women, etc.  Episode
2, where Melvin (Umino), under mental influence from a villain, stares up the
teacher's skirt, was deleted.  Raye's grandfather was a dirty old man.

Places possibly requiring future censorship:
    [Note: These are complete guesses.]
--- Gay characters.  In particular, Sailors Uranus and Neptune (female), and
Fish Eye (male) in Sailor Moon SS. In fact, Fish Eye looks almost exactly like
a woman, regularly disguises himself as one, and except for a brief scene
where he shows his chest to prove he's male, could easily be redubbed as
female with nobody knowing the difference.  This type of gay character is
common in anime and manga aimed at girls.
    Sailor Uranus dresses as a male (and is mistaken for one), and sometimes
flirts with other girls (including Usagi).  In the anime, Sailor Neptune
says she's not Sailor Uranus's girlfriend, though there's clearly romantic
tension between them.  They do not kiss in the anime.  (I have gotten
conflicting information on whether they kiss in the manga.  Haruka does kiss
_Usagi_ in the manga.)
    Uranus and Neptune are associated with homosexuality in some versions of
astrology, with Neptune specifically feminine and Uranus masculine.  Uranus
is considered an androgynous planet.  Neptune in mythology was the patron god
of homosexuals.
    * Unconfirmed rumors *
    Haruka is a hermaphrodite in the manga.  (While she is described as being
"both male and female", this could refer to her appearance or even to her
personality.)
    The Starlights are naturally female in the manga.
    * Bad rumors *
    The bands that Uranus and Neptune wear in the manga are not wedding bands,
though one character suspects they might be.  Pluto has one too, and they
symbolize n cebzvfr gb envfr Ubgneh nsgre fur orpbzrf n puvyq ng gur raq bs
gur FZF fgbel.
===Rot13 decoded===
a promise to raise Hotaru after she becomes a child at the end of the SMS 
story.
===Rot13 decoded===

    I have heard that in the manga, Uranus and Neptune sleep in the same bed,
but this seems to be contradicted by a scene at the end of #10 where the
Senshi go to visit them after the end of the story and try their rooms.  The
rooms are separate.
--- From Sailor Moon S: Fnvybe Zbba trgf gur ubyl tenvy, naq vf pnyyrq gur
Zrffvnu.  (Fnvybe Henahf svefg oryvrirf guvf, gura punatrf ure zvaq orpnhfr
Fnvybe Zbba pna bayl hfr gur cbjre oevrsyl, gura punatrf ure zvaq onpx ng gur
irel raq.) Gurer vf nyfb na rivy zrffvnu.  Vg frrzf gb or zber bs n zlgubybtv-
pny ersrerapr engure guna n eryvtvbhf bar, ohg V'yy or fhecevfrq vs gur qho
xrrcf vg.
===Rot13 decoded===
Sailor Moon gets the holy grail, and is called the Messiah.  (Sailor Uranus
first believes this, then changes her mind because Sailor Moon can only use
the power briefly, then changes her mind back at the very end.) There is
also an evil messiah.  It seems to be more of a mythological reference
rather than a religious one, but I'll be surprised if the dub keeps it.
===Rot13 decoded===

Other changes, not due to censorship per se:
    The North American version doesn't use the original Japanese opening or
ending credits.  It uses the original opening melody (though not the original
music) as both the opening and closing, with new words.  (see section 5)
    The computer graphics scene changes don't exist in the original.
    Essentially all music in the series has been removed, including the music
used when Tuxedo Mask appears, the music used for the transformation scenes,
and the flute used by Alan (Earl).  The flute is especially weird because the
replacement flute music is the same for about 8 notes, then suddenly mutates.
    All the dialogue has been completely rewritten, as if the person writing
it just had a 5 line synopsis and had to make everything up.  There doesn't
seem to be much of a pattern; it can change a serious scene to a joke or the
reverse.  Exception: episode 10-11, 15, 19, 20, 23, 32-35, 42-8, 55, 60, 64-5.
    The dub adds a moral at the end, titled "Sailor Says".  (Television sta-
tions in the US are required to have a certain percentage of kids' shows with
educational content.)
    Any scenes where Queen Beryl sees a scene in her crystal ball were dub
inventions (except episode 29).  Likewise, any scenes which are shown framed
did not have frames in the original.
    Episodes in the dub with songs in them _did_ have songs in the original.
The exception is dub episode 17, where the song was deleted.  The dub songs are
sometimes from the series, but not necessarily from the same episode.

Cuts/changes; Japanese episodes are in parentheses.  Full synopses for most
of the episodes can be found on Hitoshi Doi's WWW page.

Disclaimer: sometimes I miss episodes, and sometimes I get lazy here.  If you
want to add something I skipped, just send me email.  Also, this section
probably has the most mistakes of part of the FAQ.

    Episode 1: An announcer explaining things we're not supposed to learn for
dozens of episodes yet, has been added at the start.  Serena's waking-up scene
at the start was cut; also the scene with Serena standing in the hall after
she's late for school was cut; also the scene with her and her brother
outside, and her kicking "Sailor V Kick!" and hurting herself on the door.  In
the original, she says that Darian is weird, not that he's cute.
    Contrary to what you saw, this episode is the first time she has heard of
Sailor V.  Also, her mother sends her out of the house, but doesn't tell her
to go to the library.
    (Episode 2): Completely deleted.  The monster of this episode is a fortune
teller who tells Melvin (who wants to date Serena but is too shy to ask) and
his classmates "you are a servant to a great demon, you can do whatever you
want".  The Tarot card the fortune teller has depicts the Devil.  Melvin comes
to school in a suit and tie, and looks up the teacher's skirt, breaks a school
window, and bluntly asks to kiss Serena.  The reason why this was not shown is
probably obvious.
    The episode also features the first appearance of the Sailor V video game,
Serena tossing her shoe in the air instead of a coin and having it land on
Darian's head, and Serena forgetting her magic words.
    The episode was shown censored in France, and uncensored in Germany.
    Episode 2 (3): The scene where Serena's parents mention their wedding
anniversary originally had them talking about the sleeping sickness.  "The
Love Line" was originally named "Midnight Zero".  A scene with Haruna jumping
up and down when she heard her letter read was cut.  (Apparently only partly.)
In the original version, Jadeite uses the name "J. Daite" as the host of
Midnight Zero, and Serena learns his name.  When the teacher chases Serena and
Molly because she thinks Serena's love letter is homework, she originally knew
it was a love letter and wanted to read it.
    Episode 3 (4): The first scene with Jadeite and Queen Beryl was moved
(it was originally attached to the later scene).  The waterline in the tub was
moved up a few inches to avoid showing Serena's cleavage (?--someone told me it
was just recolored). Serena's dream scene didn't have Andrew offering her
food, but talking about the energy of love.  A joke with Luna telling Serena
to fight the bad guys because she might lose some weight doing it was changed
to reminding her about Haruna.  In the final scene, the bathroom scale wasn't
boobytrapped.
    The doughnuts were originally nikuman.
    (Episode 5): Completely deleted.  In this episode Serena's brother is
shown to dislike Luna.  We learn that he hates cats because he was bit on
the nose as a baby by a cat.  This leads into the monster of the episode's
control of a pet shop, releasing creatures called "Chanels", which hypnotize
their owners with their scent.  Sailor Moon defeats the enemy and things
return to normal.  Later, Serena's brother is feeding Luna breakfast.
    The episode also features a one-time-only technique (Moon Tiara Stardust),
an absence of Tuxedo Mask (Luna tells Sailor Moon not to depend on other peo-
ple), and Serena hiding from her brother to protect her identity (an idea that
seems to have been dropped in later episodes.)  In this episode, Serena gets
permission from her mother to keep Luna.
    (Episode 6): Completely deleted.  The subplot this episode involves a
music writer/player named Amade Yuusuke who writes one of his professional
songs for his girlfriend Akiko; Jadeite's monster tries to replace the tape

with one containing subliminal music.  The scene that likely got it deleted
was one where Serena changes into an adult and follows Yuusuke.  She tries to
order cream soda at a bar.  Also, it would be difficult to change the Japanese
names in this one because they're written down.
    Episode 4 (7): The star's name was originally Mikan.  Melvin was not
talking about the Internet.  The scene with Serena and Molly trying to sing
the opening song from the show did use the opening song in the original.
Serena did not say she wasn't scared immediately before running away, and
although she did shout for Luna, she didn't address the question to the
nonexistent audience.  The knock-knock joke comment wasn't there.
    A part with Serena entering a men's restroom was cut.
    In this case, the scene with Queen Beryl seeing scenes in her crystal ball
didn't even _appear_ in the original, scenes or no scenes.
    The contest was called "Cinderella Caravan".
    Episode 5 (8): The subplot about thinking Amy was working for the
"Negaverse" did exist in the original.
    The gossip over Amy's introduction had no reference to being rejected from
"Brainiac Academy".  The scene of the Sailor V video game was edited.  The
screen was originally blue, not pink, and showed "GAME OVER" in a different
font, on a slightly different background.  (It was still in English; I don't
know why they changed it.)  When Amy left, it wasn't game over; her game was
still going on.  Luna's password was "the rabbit in the moon pounds the mo-
chi".  A clip of Serena imagining her mother angry at her was removed.  A
scene edited to remove Japanese writing caused the loss of a joke where Darian
asked if Serena was talking to her cat, to which she replies that that's silly
because cats can't talk.  The original "computer course" was juku (cram
school) and was _not_ only twice a week, but every day.  (Someone managed to
sneak in a reference to "cram school" anyway.)  Darian did not say Serena is a
strange girl.  The monster did not leave Amy in charge, and its speech was in-
stead the monster introducing itself.
    The monster did ask questions, but it asked why Newton's apple fell, not a
math problem, and its first attack disappeared when Luna answered the question
(no explanation is given in the dub for why the first attack disappeared).
The second question was to explain gravity in 50 words or less, not "you have
2 choices".
    Luna said nothing in the final scene.
    Episode 6 (9): The watches with the price tag of 4000 were 4000 yen, and
were "inexpensive" and not "expensive" in the original.  The bill with the 10
on it was really a 1000 yen bill.
    The scenes on the bus with the bus driver were reversed, to put him on the
opposite side of the bus.
    A scene was partly cut where a passenger tries to strangle the bus driver.
    The Robocop joke in Sailor Mercury's computer was kept, but the original
said "Suspect: Mash" (not J. Smith) and had "innocent" misspelled.  (You can
still see a few frames with the misspelling.)
    They cut the scene where the enemy hits Sailor Moon with her spear and
draws a bit of blood, as well as where Sailor Moon is trying to dodge the spear.
    Episode 7 (10): Lots of stuff.  In the original, Serena wonders if Raye is
the princess.  The scenes of the bus are partly reversed so the driver is on
the left side like in America, but this isn't done consistently.  The scene
where Raye consults the flame has been partly cut.
    Episode 8 (11): A shot of the shrine gates and pillar with the name written
in Japanese was replaced.
    A bit of the scene after Tuxedo Mask appears was cut.
    The scene where Mars puts the paper on the enemy was cut to remove a panty
shot.
    Episode 9 (12): A brief cut of the ship at the start.
    The flyer advertising the cruise was cut, probably for Japanese content.
    Serena got tissues, not soap, when she was trying to win the tickets.
    The dialogue when Raye and Amy were talking was changed.  In the original,
Raye said that there are bound to be couples that get into fights and they can
steal their guys.  In this version, Raye wanted her pictures taken with the
crew.
    Amy said they couldn't transform when surrounded by monsters because it
would reveal their identity.  It was changed to sticking together so they have
more of a chance.
    Sailor Moon says, after she transforms, that it's wrong for the monsters to
go after two pitiful girls without boyfriends (which is why Rei is grimacing).
    Episode 10 (13): Surprisingly, not a whole lot--the first really
accurate one.  The script was reasonably (for a dub) close to the original,
right down to the paying for the damaged airplanes joke, the men made of mud
scene (which was _not_ a Gatchaman-style rewriting of the original), and the
use of "in the name of the moon, I will punish you".  One exception is that
dialogue about not being able to fool girls, which was once reported in US
media as meaning the Sailors are fighting sexism, was removed.  Two constella-
tions were cut in the first scene, probably for time.  When Serena imagines
Andrew as Tuxedo Mask, DIC cut the "I love you!"
    Episode 11 (14): Mostly unchanged.  Nephrite was not "president of his own
company".  They cut a scene where the first boy hit by the tennis ball
introduces himself (bowing Japanese style).  Luna's password was still the
same as before (not new).  When Amy said she couldn't play tennis because
they have to make plans to fight the Negaverse, she really said she had to go
to cram school.
    The speech included "punish you" but timed a little oddly in the dub (in
the original, it ends with that, not has it in the middle).
    Molly calling the tennis player her sister was in the original, but it's
the translation of a cultural nuance that doesn't work well in English, using
the title "big brother/sister" for an unrelated older person looked up to as a
child.
    Episode 12 (15): [changes thanks to Mr. K] There was no reference to a
karate class.  Rei and Andrew were talking about Darien living by himself in
an apartment and going to the same college as Andrew.
    Rei thought her "dream" about Darien was possible, not that she'd die if
it happened.
    Darien wasn't meeting anybody later.
    The end dialogue is almost completely different.  Rei thinks that Mamoru
is Tuxedo Kamen, but Usagi says he can't be.  Mamoru asks who Tuxedo Kamen is,
but they won't say. As the camera panned up, everyone didn't say "Sounds like
a date to me!", although Mamoru did.
    Episode 13 (16): Some scenes at the start were cut a bit.  The sign
reading "DRESSMAKAR" was spelled properly in the dub version.  A scene showing
the sign for the wedding dress contest in Japanese was removed.  The building
is the Juuban district meeting hall, not a wedding chapel.  The prize was not
a trip to Hawaii; the prizes were a video deck, CD player, and "small gift".
A shot of Raye hitting her grandfather with a broom was cut.
    Serena calls Tuxedo Mask Darian in a daydream by mistake.
    (Information from Mr. K):
     The girls weren't mad at Melvin, they were surprised that the teacher was
getting engaged.
    Ms. Lambert was named Higure Akiyama.
    Ms. Lambert didn't say anything about buying cheap fabric.  She said she
hadn't found the silk she liked.
    The pie Usagi's mom made was storebought.
    Ms. Lambert wasn't quite as mean to her fiance as the dub made it seem.
She told him not to come back until she finished the dress or the wedding was
off.
    Ms. Lambert wanted to win the contest, not draw energy from everyone and
make them "negaverse" slaves.
    Serena called Luna a pervert (ecchi?) for looking up her dress.
    Episode 14 (17): Yet another bento box scene was cut, as well as a scene
with Amy doing math homework while eating lunch.  The scene of Amy on the
communicator was extended by adding video noise and repeating the end.
The scene with Serena's brother and the picture was edited, pausing before the
original end and superimposing a circle and a slash to create the same effect
as in the original, but with no kanji.
    Serena, in the original, was practicing proper speech while walking.  The
final scene did not, in the original, have any references to a princess, just
a wonderful girl--it should be obvious that it _can't_ have had any, because
Sailor Moon didn't _say_ anything about coming from the moon or being a prin-
cess.
    Episode 15 (18): The "DOLL EXHIBITION" sign was redrawn, being in Japanese
in the original.  The attacking doll did so without a lightning special ef-
fect.  More noteworthy was a cut in the fight scene; the doll monster had
strangled Serena with its detachable hands.  Raye was unable to get it to let
go (you can see a second or so of her fire here; it was cut), and Tuxedo
Mask's attack finally freed her.  Serena was starting to turn blue from being
choked.  The last scene did _not_ take place at Crossroads Junior High (Sam
doesn't go to school there).
    Referring to "Sailor Venus" was an error.  We're not supposed to know yet
that she is really Sailor V.
    The script otherwise seems to follow the original.  Mika's Japanese name
was even kept.
    Episode 16 (19): Yup, back to the rewritten scripts this episode.  The
letters all said Tuxedo Mask, and weren't unsigned.  Haruna was upset over not
getting a love letter, not over having to chaperone the kids.  Serena did not
turn around and say she should really be helping; she said "Look out, Tuxedo
Mask!".  The elevator dialog was different, and Serena once asked if Tuxedo
Mask was Motoki (Andrew).  At the end of the episode, Nephrite said nothing
about a memory wipe.
    In the dub, Serena blows Raye's secret identity in front of Tuxedo Mask,
which I don't think happens in the original.
    When I saw this episode, it had lots of ads for Sailor Moon dolls in it,
even though advertising a show's products during the show is prohibited in
America.
    (Episode 20): Completely deleted.  This episode features the Sailor Scouts
staying overnight at a haunted house.  The episode starts out with fake mon-
sters (disguised servants), but later they find a man living at the house
wants to unlock his daughter Sakiko hidden supernatural powers, by getting her
to release a (real) spirit, then making her destroy it.
    The episode is also a swimsuit episode.
    This is one of the few episodes where the monster of the episode has
nothing at all to do with the main plot.
    Episode 17 (21): The Sailor V TV scene was changed to not show Japanese.
A joke was deleted, where Serena wished they'd make an anime of her.  Amy had
to go to juku, not do her homework.  There was no "animation school".
Nephrite didn't tell Ami the Sailors are pathetic; rather, he bragged about
hiding a monster.  Serena wanted animation cells (not to meet Sailor V), and
Raye wanted autographs of people doing the animation, not of Sailor V.  They
removed a joke where Serena is eager to go to the studio, Raye says anime is
for kids, and then Raye shows up with the autograph boards anyway.  Luna
didn't say Amy shouldn't have challenged Nephrite on her own.  Raye was not
accused of cutting class, and Haruna wasn't mentioned.  The Sailor Scouts made
a speech, they didn't introduce themselves 3 or 4 times.
    I saw more Sailor Moon doll ads here.
    Episode 18 (22): Serena originally claimed to be the Princess of the
Ivanovich Kingdom.  This matters because of the irony in Serena being
disguised as a princess.
    In the original, Serena's father _did_ say she looked like his daughter.
    The original had no reference to the princess's standin.
    They cut out a scene which had Serena dropping from the roof with Tuxedo
Mask, Luna throwing her umbrella down to her, and her floating down with the
open umbrella.  My guess is that this is censorship due to fear that kids
would try it (curiously, they didn't worry about kids jumping off roofs when
they left in the scene with the Sailors jumping after the princess).
    The final scene was rewritten.  In the original, Tuxedo Mask _really_
kissed Serena (and said it brings back back memories).  It was not a dream,
and nobody said anything about princesses.  (More censorship, likely--Serena
got drunk.)
    Episode 19 (23): This episode was accurate (including "in the name of
the moon, I will punish you!"), except for the usual name changes, and it even
took care to refer to Zoisite as "that person" without mentioning gender.
    Episode 20 (24): Another accurate one!  Changes that _were_ made, though,
include cutting Nephrite's first scene (probably for time), cutting the scene
where he sees through Molly's body (probably because she's nude), changing the
phone scene to  put Serena and Molly on the same split screen, deleting a re-
mark where Serena says she can't run fast because she's not a cat, deleting a
comment where Nephrite says he doesn't care for Molly (right before he burns
the note), changing "Sunday" to "holiday", and changing the line where Zoisite
says that Nephrite should be happy to die with the one he loves (it became
"... you lose your girlfriend too!")  (These are minor changes compared to
any of the other episodes.) And they did use "in the name of the moon, I'll
punish you!" again.
    Zoisite was referred to as "Madame Zoisite" here (hah!).
    Episode 21 (25): A joke where Serena introduces Raye as "the mean Rei"
was changed to arguing over a different reason.  There was no reference to
giving the toys to the poor.  Lita suggested that using power to get the toys
is cheating; Joe didn't suggest it.  Nobody thought Zoisite was a jealous
girlfriend. :-)  They edited the video game again.
    Joe was named Joe in the original.
    And those were rice balls, not muffins.
    Episode 22 (26): The original actually called the priest a priest.
Melvin's remark that made Serena slap him was asking to go eat chocolate
parfait, not saying that Maxfield Stanton is missing.  Melvin did not refer
to the Internet (they must really hate us out there), nor did he say anything
about inchworms or bugs.  The piggybank scene actually happened and wasn't
just Luna's guess.  Everyone went out to eat, not to see the Sailor V movie.
Serena didn't ask what a rainbow crystal is.
    Episode 23 (27): Another episode very much like the original, though in
the last scene Amy said nothing about having her mouth open like Serena.
(Greg was originally named Urawa.)
    Episode 24 (28): Not like the original.  Melvin did not offer to list the
chemical elements in paint.  Serena, in the original, got a strange feeling
from the painting, but didn't compare her hair to it, and it didn't say it
was about a moon princess, though I'm not sure.  Lonnie (Yumeno Yumemi) kept
her identity a secret so people would think she's pretty, not because her
paintings wouldn't sell--sheesh, that's totally inconsistent with the rest of
the episode.
    In the scene walking in the street, Lonnie said Serena might want to walk
with Darian.  When Serena met Luna, she said she dropped the stick when she
was thinking about Tuxedo Mask; the entire scene's dialogue is nothing like
the original.  Lonnie said Zoisite was pretty, not an art thief. :-)  Serena
didn't say "it's me, Serena, I'm Sailor Moon", revealing her identity in front
of Tuxedo Mask, Zoisite, _and_ Lonnie all at once.  (Whose idea was this one?)
    When Serena says that Tuxedo Mask is cold like Darian, and then is shocked
that she'd think they're similar, the original dialogue was like "Tuxedo
Mask...  Oh, no, the battle's not over yet!"
    Sailor Jupiter's attack got yet a third name this episode.
    Episode 25 (29): May as well ask what they didn't change.  Andrew in Lita's
daydream didn't offer free tokens.  Lita originally said she was going to come
clean house as well as cook, and when she finally came she did not ask him to
do the dishes.  (Making it more PC?)  The Andrew/Darian dialogue was massively
different; there was no reference to karate.  When Serena and Lita were
talking, she briefly thought Andrew loves Lita in the original.  The Sailor
V video game went from blue to pink again,  A scene was cut where Serena
daydreams kissing Andrew and instead nearly kisses Lita; when Luna tells them
to relax because it's just cooking, this is what Luna's really making that
face for.  The reference to potatoes was carrots (Lita was even holding a
carrot), and I must conclude that some writers change things only because
they can.  The phone call was not about being heartbroken, but Rita deciding
she was going to go to Africa.  The final scene of the episode was reversed
in meaning; in the original, Lita and Serena _were_ going to go after Andrew.
    They partly cut a scene where Lita tries to choke Darien.
    By the way, Rita was originally named Reika.  Calling her Rita, when you
already have a character named Lita in love with the same guy, is a testament
to bad dubbing.
    Episode 26 (30): Chad was originally named Yuuichiro, he wasn't a singer,
and the dialogue wasn't even close in other ways.  The chocolate cakes were
daifuku.  (Chad is _not_ homeless, however; see episode 34.)
    Episode 27 (31): I missed this episode, but heard that it was good, and
that it did use "in the name of the moon, I'll punish you", implying an
otherwise good translation.  (Incidentally, Hercules' original name was
Rhedd Butler, a pun.  The girl was named Ohara.)
    Episode 28 (32): The password was originally the same password as before,
with the same pun (though the new dub password is closer to it than the
first one was).  Luna's speech over the computer didn't say anything about
crystals.  The meeting of Scouts was mostly about the princess of the moon and
the kingdom of the moon.  The shrimp was not "coconut fried".  (I'm surprised
they left the bento box in.)  There was no reference to studying for math
tests and none to the Internet (Melvin has _got_ to be from AOL. :-)).  The
"Wacky World Wrestlers" was really Redman, and Andrew didn't want to go be-
cause it was too childish, not because he was expecting a phone call from
Rita.  (Note: Toei, which produces the Sailor Moon animation, is also
responsible for the Sentai series, from which the Power Rangers were derived,
and many Sentai series are named _____man, so it's _not_ a coincidence that
Redman looks like a Power Ranger.) They changed the lines where Zoisite men-
tions he's changing the crystal to work on ordinary humans, which matters for
the plot--as it is, you're wondering "hey, it can't do that!"  Melvin was not
outside Molly's door for the whole night.  Serena's first attack was "moon
tiara action...  just a little bit", and the latter phrase was removed, re-
placed with a reference to Redman which was probably a nod to the original.
    Episode 29 (33): This one was hard to change because it was mostly action,
but they tried. :-(  When Serena said she wanted to find out who the fake
Sailor Moon was, she really said she couldn't stand to see Sailor Moon suffer.
Malachite's speech viewing the city, about waiting for Tuxedo Mask, actually
had him saying that he wants to see the darkness instead of the light of the
city.  In the final scene, Sailor Venus _didn't say anything_ when asked if
she's the princess.
    They also mangled one specific idea in this episode: Sailor Venus, until
well into her appearance, is referred to as Sailor V.  As Sailor V, she wears
the mask that she threw away in this episode, and Serena was so excited about
her being there because Serena is a fan of Sailor V, not just because they've
finally found the fifth member of the team.  The dub of this episode doesn't
use the name Sailor V at all except in the title.
    Episode 30 (34): Unfortunately, this particular critical episode _wasn't_
done by the good writer.
    In the first scene, Sailor Venus was (in the original) asked if she's the
princess.  Also, they made the same goof as before in not saying "Sailor V"--
Serena thought it was really cool to meet her because she is Sailor V.
    The Malachite/Zoisite scene had them asking Queen Beryl why they had to
retreat, not talking about the crystals.
    The scenes with Serena and Darian in the street had different dialog, with
no reference to bees, karate classes, or first aid.
    Mina's line about not being able to recognize the Scouts in their normal
identities was an addition for the dub.
    Darian had not promised not to call Serena "meatball head".
    The scene where Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask reveal their identities had a
bunch of extra dialog.  The scene at the end where Sailor Moon becomes the
princess had a voiceover ("Me, Serena, the princess...") added for the dub too.
    The scene where Tuxedo Mask gets attacked from behind not only was partly
cut, but the DIC dialogue made it sound like the crystal was originally aimed
at Tuxedo Mask instead of Sailor Moon.
    Episode 31 (35): The voiceover at the start was nonexistent.
    The "Cosmic Moon Power" attack really had no name.
    Serena wasn't suddenly talking without contractions once she realized
she's the moon princess, and there was no voiceover in the flashbacks.
    The Zoisite/Malachite dialogue had Zoisite telling him that Serena is
the princess, not commenting about the crystal.
    When Zoisite said not to forget him/her, Zoisite really said he wanted to
die pretty.
    Serena's question over whether the Scouts abandoned Tuxedo Mask was really
asking if he died.
    In the flashback, the Earth was taken over.
    The other four girls weren't said to be princesses on their home planets.
(There is a bit of evidence of this in the Sailor V manga and the later Sailor
Moon manga, but it isn't in the animation and certainly not in this episode.)
    They censored out a scene where Raye slaps Serena, as well as a brief
flashback to Tuxedo Mask falling, in silhouette, with a crystal in his back.
(For some reason, the slap was left _in_ in the preview.)
    In the original, Serena, when she said she wanted to be normal, added that
she didn't want anyone else to be hurt like Darian.  This dialogue was deleted.
She also didn't say that everyone hated her.
    There was no reference to getting burgers in the original.
    Episode 32 (36): Not changed as much as most "bad" writer episodes.
    There was no reference to repairing toasters at the start, and Serena did
not say anything about bad hair days.  Later references to burgers and fries,
and programming VCRs, were absent from the original.
    Tuxedo Mask said he didn't like fighting girls.
    He also didn't ask why he wasn't sent as the Prince instead of Tuxedo Mask.
    At the end, Serena said she'd change Tuxedo Mask back with her love.
    Episode 33 (37): Apparently this one got the "good" writer.  Most things
were the same, although a scene of Serena being late for school was cut,
probably for time.  The cocoa was really coffee, and Artemis did not say that
what makes someone a princess is in the heart (a bit of thought should convince
you this isn't true :-)).
    The dub made a rather half-hearted attempt at "... punish you".
    Episode 34 (38): A scene of Raye imagining herself winning the contest was
cut.  There was no reference to Chad singing, of course.  There was no hunk
instructor.  Serena did _not_ say "hey, I'm Sailor Moon", though she did say
the monster was wrong about Raye.  In the ending scene, Raye said that the
Sailor Scouts saved them, not Chad.  The contest was called the moon princess
contest, and that house did belong to Chad's parents.
    Episode 35 (39): Nothing significant changed here.  "In the name of the
moon, I'll punish you" did not appear, but neither did the dub speech.
    Episode 36 (40): Heavily changed, even though "punish you" was used.
    A scene at the start with Luna awakening to find that Serena left a note
and a bowl of cat food was cut.
    Serena didn't say the hot springs are for whackos, and in general the
original didn't try to explain away the hot springs, which are less unusual in
Japan than in North America.
    Darian saying he didn't remember the name "Darian" was absurd in the dub,
because he was constantly called Prince Darian.  In the original, he said he
didn't remember the name Mamoru, and he was called Prince Endymion, so it made
sense there.
    There was no reference to water sprites, and if you listen carefully,
you'll realize that the dub legend was awfully confused about which one of
the women in the legend was the water sprite.
    There was no joke about Serena coming from another planet.
    In the original, Sam stole Serena's lines when the Scouts appeared.
    The ending was changed.  Serena originally asked why the others came, and
they replied that Luna had told them she was there.
    Episode 37 (41): A scene was cut where Greg said that he planned to ask
Ami for help, but he shouldn't keep relying on Ami.
    Some dialogue was changed when the girls were in Rei's room.  Originally,
Mina said "I don't understand very well, but do Urawa's predictions come
true often?", and Ami replied yes.
    Luna and Artemis said that the future of the Sailor Senshi looked very
dark, they didn't wish that the girls had that much enthusiasm against the
Negaverse.
    In the original, Greg referred back to Ami's plea for Greg to make his own
future when Darian was confronting him.
    They changed Greg's dialogue when he shouted "A murderer! Help!"
    In the original, when Darian was ready to punch Jupiter, she screamed, and
Darian said "As I thought, it's no contest with you alone!".  But in the NA,
she didn't scream, and Darian said something different.
    When Ami had tears in her eyes asking Darian why they wanted the Rainbow
Crystal carriers, she actually said she'll never forgive him.
    Luna didn't say "It's working!" during the
"MOOOOON...HEALING...ACTIVATION!", she told SM to raise the energy level.
    In the NA version, at the end, Serena was angry at Ami for taking so long
on the Ferris Wheel.  In the original, she was worried that Ami would forget
about their mission and then they wouldn't have a leader.
    (Episode 42): Completely deleted.  This episode had Sailor Venus meeting
a woman (Katarina) who was a friend when she was Sailor V.  They had finally
separated when Sailor V appeared to die in an explosion; Sailor V really
survived, but let her think she died because Katarina had fallen in love with
a man named Alan who Sailor Venus also liked.
    Katarina becomes the monster of this episode, but most of it is a
flashback.
    The episode has nothing objectionable in it, but is unnecessary for the
main plot and was probably cut for time.
    Episode 38 (43): The monster didn't say the jewels are "perfect for my
little black dress".
    They censored out a scene where Sailor Mars kicks Sailor Moon.
    The news reporter's business card (all Japanese) was removed from the dub.
    They censored out _another_ kick, though the dialogue still referred to it.
    The line "they're fighting for real" was changed to "anyone got a bottle
of aspirin?"
    Another shot of the business card was cut when Serena goes to the
reporter's house.
    Note: the synopsis is wrong about the time being 10:00.
    The speech where Serena says she doesn't care about Mars was changed.
    The explanation for Mars having the wand was _completely_different_.  She
was _given_ the wand by Sailor Moon, and pointed out to the other Scouts that
if they really hated each other, Sailor Moon would never have trusted her
with it.  Sailor Moon certainly did not leave it in her room by mistake,
and they were _not_ arguing over this at the end of the episode.  Yes, this
means that Mars doesn't hate Moon, exactly the opposite from what this _bad_
dub implied.  The joke used at the end of the episode had Sailor Mars saying
that Sailor Moon cried, and when she asked when, she replied "11:16:28".
    There was no reference to getting ice cream or not inviting Raye and Serena.
    Episode 39 (44): There was a scene cut from the start, probably for time.
    The reference to Central Control was a _big_ dubbing goof.  Central
Control's voice was shown to be Artemis before, and Central Control doesn't
really exist.  Oh, and Serena doesn't talk without contractions as a princess.
    Not much of this episode was like the original, either, though the overall
plot was the same.
    Episode 40 (45-46): I'm not going to go into details.  Get Hitoshi Doi's
synopses.  The episode was hacked and slashed to shreds.
    The hospital scene is wrong.  What _really_ happened is that Serena tossed
a test paper at Darian just like when they first met.

    OUT OF ORDER EPISODES: The 13 episodes with the two aliens (episodes 41-53)
were shown out of order, after episodes 54-65.
    Janice Sonski (Sailor Moon co-executive-producer) has explained: "We hoped
we would be able to place the Alan and Anne story on a network and so we held
them out as 13 exclusive episodes, but no decision has been made and we needed
to run them."  In reruns, the episodes appear in the proper order.  (Most of
the time, anyway.  Canwest Global kept showing them out of order.)
    Episode 41 was also shown out of sequence as a special on Fox on September
2, 1995, before the regular series started.

    Episode 41 (47): The episode starts with some Star Wars-style text before
the opening animation.  This text doesn't appear in other episodes, and along
with the 9th/10th grade goof, the appearance on Fox, and the lack of a "Sailor
Says" segment suggests that the episode is a pilot.  When the episode was
shown later, the text was removed, but the rest was still there.  The episode
is _much_ more inaccurate than most of the Alan/Anne dubs.
    An announcer was added, explaining the past episodes.
    The episode claims that Alan and Anne were sent by Queen Beryl, which is
nonsensical and invented purely for the dub.
    A few seconds were cut at the start where Artemis tries to cuddle with
Luna and gets a paw across the face.  The entire scene with Serena at school
was cut, so after she's late to school she's suddenly home again.
    The ending was different.  She originally walked away saying "to the
normal Usagi, bye-bye..."  This was changed to a joke.
    Episode 42 (48): Accurate, and it starts a long run of accurate ones.
    Luna didn't say that Darian would be getting his memory back soon.
    The TV station's Japanese sign was replaced with a shot of the Tokyo Tower.
    When Molly asked Serena to come with her, she really told Serena that
since she has a lot of weird things happen to her she's afraid it might be
another.
    Episode 43 (49): All I could find was:
    The pool of blood scene was cut short (though they didn't delete it).
    The dialogue between Alan and Anne about pretending to be brother and sister
at the high school was a dub addition (as well as perpetuating the "high
school" goof), and right after that a scene of them kissing was cut.
    Episode 44 (50): As far as I know, the reference to Serena not liking war
games was a dub addition.  Her episode-specific speech was different, and at
the end of the show she was wondering about her tiara as well as Darien.
    Episode 45 (51): Accurate except for the cuts and the speech (I don't
know _how_ the speech got that way).
    The day wasn't part of their environmental studies.
    They deleted the scene where Molly closes the sleeping bag with Melvin
inside as a prank.
    Melvin's lunch had no prunes in it. :-)
    They also deleted the scene where Serena puts extra mustard on Raye's
food and Raye runs around screaming with fire coming from her mouth.
    The nude scene was a bit cut to remove a breast shot.
    Episode 46 (52): Mostly accurate except for the speech.  Oh, and the
kids were actually singing the opening theme (which wouldn't make sense in
the dub because the dub version of the opening theme talks about Sailor Moon,
which the original version doesn't).
    Episode 47 (53): I missed this one.  At the very least, a scene with
the baby pissing on Anne was changed to him throwing up (but was left in
in the Sailor Says, though the whole Sailor Says was left out in the rerun in
some areas...)
    Episode 48 (54): A scene was cut at the start with Mina and Lita selling
good luck charms at the temple.
    Episode 49 (55): Here, the _bad_ scripts start again.  Though some of it
was inevitable, since the bento boxes and lunch sharing are pretty Japanese-
culture-specific.
    They removed the reference to Moonlight Knight reminding Lita of her old
boyfriend.
    Molly didn't ask Melvin if he was showing her inchworms.  Melvin wasn't
making the food for an anniversary.
    They cut the scene where Serena was late and forgot her lunch.
    A joke was removed where Amy asked Lita if Alan looks like her old
boyfriend, whereupon she said no, but they did both like music.
    They censored out the end of the Lita/Amy scene, where Lita slaps Amy
hard before running off to share lunch with Alan.
    There was no voiceover "what's that guy got that we haven't got?"
    That wasn't squid.  That was sausage cut to look like squid.
    The Lita/Alan dialogue on the roof was completely different--get a
synopsis.
    Haruna didn't ask Serena to get her lunch.  Haruna was upset over Serena
sleeping through classes (presumably out of hunger).  It was not lunchtime
when Serena finally got her lunch.
    Lita didn't wonder why Anne was so jealous.
    Lita had asked Alan if he likes to wear Arabian clothes much earlier on--
for some reason they moved the line.
    Serena's remark about Alan looking like Lita's old boyfriend was added
for the dub.  Odd, since they took out earlier references to the same joke.
The rest of the dialog in that scene wasn't the same either.
    Lita didn't want to run a restaurant.
    Alan didn't say that love is supposed to be special (and have Lita
agree), he said that love has to be stolen by force (and Lita disagreed).
(Of course, no way could the original line appear on US television.)
    The removal of Serena's speech mattered here, since in the original she
was interrupted before she got a chance to finish it.
    They misdubbed Mina's attack name; it was really the "shower" version of
her attack, but they dubbed it as the first version instead.
    The original joke at the end was Anne asking "what do I do with it?"
    Episode 50 (56): To anyone who's wondering, yes that was Snow White in the
original.  This seems to be a "good" writer episode except for the few changes
I list below.
    They cut the first scene (Serena late for school).
    Alan said that they didn't need to study English, not read fairy tales
(though the book itself was still originally a Snow White book).
    A brief scene was cut where Raye reads a wish that Darian wrote on a
board at the temple.
    Lita's "talents" referred to her breast size.
    Sailor Mars introduced herself as "Mars of the red heel".  Venus's gesture
was really referring to her mask as Sailor V, not to "V for victory".  This is
one of the few cases where the Scouts actually said things in the original
that could be used (but of course never are) to deduce their secret identities.

Episode 51 (57): Not the good writer.

A scene at the start was cut with the Scouts fighting a cardian. The class in question was originally an English class. No essays were in- volved; you can see from what's visible of the problems near the end that Serena and Anne had to answer questions, not write essays. When Anne was asked to read poetry, she was really being asked to translate. Alan originally blamed the Scouts for the lack of energy. There was no reference to seeing a video. They were going to a movie instead of doing real work, though I suppose it could be a movie on video. Serena did not say she was going to go home and do the "essay" in front of the TV (she did say she was going to find Darian). They removed a reference to Serena and Darian being tied by the red string of destiny (and Anne cutting it), a cultural reference. When the cardian breaks out of the "computer class" you see a building front with Japanese writing. This building was originally shown at the start of that scene, too (the dub replaced it with a generic park view). Haruna, on her date, realized she was forgetting something. The Scouts' original speech ended in "in the name of Sailor Moon, we will punish you!" When Anne remarked about the Doom Tree growing stronger when Serena was nice to her, the dialogue was nothing like the original. Anne was actually remembering the fable of the rabbit and the tortoise, where the rabbit is faster but the tortoise manages to win. (note, rabbit=Usagi, Serena's original name). She had asked Serena to rest for ten seconds to give her a chance to catch up, not try mindreading. Venus and Mercury used their powered-up attacks, which were mistakenly dubbed as their non-powered-up attacks. When Sailor Moon jumped down to join with the Scouts, the part of the jump where she is shown coming out of the window was cut (probably censored for fear kids would imitate it).

Episode 52 (58):

The synopsis is wrong here--it was done from a book that left out the first scene. This is one of those episodes where it's honestly hard to tell if it's the good or bad writer. If I had to answer I'd probably say good, but it's much harder to tell than usual. They removed a joke where Luna says that any show about Serena must be a comedy show. Serena's remark about Alan being a major hunk really had her saying that Alan and Anne don't have other friends. That wasn't hot chocolate, it was tea. Both times. Serena's remark when looking in the tree's room was on the order of "if people tell me not to look, I want to see it more", not anything about curiosity killing the cat. (Though this is sorta close.) The reference to thousands of years (of getting energy) was a dub addition. The dub tries to pretend the "Negaverse" is involved with the tree and lied to them, which isn't true,

Episode 53 (59): (Thanks to Cory Thibault for this list)

When Alan kicked Darian and Serena's hands apart, he said, "I won't let you touch my Usagi-san.." That's why Anne was angry with him, and said nothing about him lying to her. The Sailor Scouts' lines about not knowing friendship was telling Alan and Anne that love is not something you take. When the Moon- light Knight appeared, he said nothing about the situation looking bad, nor did he say to Anne that she can't bear that Darian dumped her. He said that all people on Earth are brothers, and that Anne should look into her heart before fighting. Though Anne's NA line was "...I'll show you what this misfit can do!", she actually said that anyone on Earth couldn't understand the pain felt by she and Alan. In this episode, we learn the Moonlight Knight's story, and it's accurate, except that he was created by the Ginzuishou, not a part of Darian that wanted to protect Serena. The Doom Tree's story was accurate, ex- cept that the beings born from it were not created on purpose.

Episode 54 (60):

I missed this one. Reports are that it cut a scene where Rini shoots Serena with a toy gun, and had her leave by showing a reversed version of her arrival scene; more censorship for the kiddies. At the start, that was really a big long kiss, with no dialogue about caramel bubblegum. They also edited a bath scene to cover Serena's cleavage. The milk in the tea reference was different, and Rei's grandfather was making passes at the Sailor Scouts. When Serena asked "And since when do we have a cousin named Rini!", she really said that Rini wasn't human.

Episode 55 (61):

This apparently got the 'good' writer and is the same (including the scene where Rini says "Mommy... Daddy...") except for the following: There was a brief cut shortening the scene at the start where Serena hugs Darian and where Luna tells her to look for Rini. No mention is made of Darian's age. (And you get the impression that Serena's father is upset because Serena is growing up and is old enough to have a boyfriend, period, no matter what his age.) The "crystal nucleus" is really a crystal point. According to Hitoshi Doi's synopses, there are six episodes with crystal points (original numbers 61-3, 65, 66, 71). There are ten points on the star, 5 inside and 5 on the tips. Apparently whoever rewrote the US scripts was unaware of this and concluded that the sixth point has to be in the center. (They also said that the next episode's point was the first one, which is likewise wrong.) The sign on the cosmetics shop, and the papers, had the language changed (they originally said "Elegance Shop Otafukuya". The old name was kept inside the shop; only the outside was changed. Even though "love and justice" was, for once, kept, "in the name of the moon, I'll punish you" was removed again. This is surprising for an episode otherwise done by the 'good' writer.

Episode 56 (62):

Not even close. The new items were not 10 times as powerful as the old ones. (The Sailor Scouts certainly weren't doing ten times better!) Amy had some dialogue where she asked Rini where she was really from. This was all deleted and replaced with "I always study best at night..." Serena did not say the party was her excuse for buying a dress. According to the synopsis, Amy had to leave in 10 days, not 2 weeks. There was no reference to Queen Beryl. A seatbelt was painted on Amy in the dub. The ending joke was completely absent from the original.

Episode 57 (63):

The first scene didn't have Raye's grandfather get an expensive 2 page spread by mistake. What really happened was that the magazine had an article warning about a perverted old man. A scene where Serena spanks Rini was deleted. Raye was arguing with her grandfather because he likes to fool around with girls, not because she was afraid he'd get a heart attack. She was jealous over Chad bringing in a lot of girls who liked him, not over her grandfather liking him. (See a pattern here?) "Wait, I'm the coach" said by Chad became "No one has to fight". Amy made a comment about doing her homework in the original. Serena's speech seemed exceptionally redundant in this episode. (In the original, she scolded the enemy for destroying the fun of an old guy who's a little lecherous...) She didn't thank Tuxedo Mask, she said maybe she'll join the gymnastics class. Sailor Mars didn't thank Sailor Moon, she made a comment that Tuxedo Mask still cared for Sailor Moon. And of course, the "Moon Star Power".

Episode 58 (64):

It's now back to "Moon Crystal Power" and "punish you!", but the rest of the episode wasn't close. Although Serena was scared by lightning, what was mentioned at the beginning of the episode was that the kid was, not Princess Serena. They cut a scene of Serena jumping up and screaming at the lightning. Amy didn't say Serena and Darian are crazy to be out in the storm. What she said is that if they have enough time to be running around in the rain, they should study. I don't _think_ there were any karma references in the original. That voice in the ball was messed up. It's not supposed to be Luna; Rini wasn't talking to the ball, but to a particular person who I won't name here.

Episode 59 (65):

Half of the first Black Moon scene was moved to closer to the beginning of the episode. A _lot_ of dialog was changed ('bad' writer episode). They removed the line about Rini wanting to marry Darian. The sign on the store was there in the original, but there was another sign in front which had more Japanese in it. A shot of the second sign was replaced with the first. Serena _wasn't_ supposed to drink the good luck potion in doses. Drinking it all at once was the recommended method (though it still doesn't work so well. :-)) The girls weren't arguing over getting the "forgiveness" stone to forgive each other; they wanted it for boyfriend help and were trying to pretend they didn't have any boyfriend trouble. Where Prisma said to get out of the store, she really said "love is worthless". In general, references to love and to men were changed in this episode (though not in the next.) Mina did not call Lita "Jupiter" while in civilian ID. (What is it this dub has with people giving their secret IDs away?) They censored out a bit of the scene at the end. When Serena drinks the good luck potion, she spits it out at Raye.

Episode 60 (66): Got the better writer this time.

The Black Moon scene originally appeared much later in the episode. The line "didn't your boyfriend dump you?", said by Avery to Prisma, was removed (it was what made her drop the cake). They cut a scene with Serena and the others at home trying to cook. (Obviously because kids would learn to cut vegetables dangerously. :-)) The scene was left in in the Sailor Says.... The ingredient that Serena forgot was not curry, it was meat. And it wasn't chicken curry, it was beef, and when you see Raye's thoughts about using instant curry, it _says_ "beef" right on the packet! In English. Someone at DIC was _not_ paying attention. "... punish you!" was there for once, but mistimed. They removed the joke where Tuxedo Mask's speech was the same as Sailor Moon's.

(Episode 67): Completely deleted. The episode is another one not part of the main plot, where the Sailor Scouts and Rini go to an island while on summer break. The only monsters are a dinosaur and a cute baby dinosaur, and they're friendly (though the Scouts have to stop a volcanic eruption.)

Episode 61 (68):

Not done by the 'good' writer, despite "punish you!. This episode has a script (available in Hitoshi Doi's page), and you can use it and easily see just how much was changed. A scene where Serena is accused of wetting her bed, but it's really Rini who did it, was removed, and the later dialog changed to not refer to it. Serena was going to go shopping, but had planned it and wasn't out of money. Rini did not say that her mother can't be Serena. And she was using the Luna ball as a communicator, not talking _to_ it (though at least the dub didn't use Luna's voice this time). The villains didn't claim they could take Rini home. When the injured Luna appeared to the others, she _told_ them where to find Rini. The entire plot about Serena not caring for Rini was completely a dub invention. (Consider: when we are shown at the end that she does care for her, Serena is still in costume--and Rini doesn't know Serena is Sailor Moon, so if this plot was real, Rini would never know Serena changed her mind.) Serena didn't say Rini must be a princess. Finding her mother was not one of the requirements for Rini to go back home. She only needed the crystal. The scene about Wiseman saying Rini is Serena's daughter was _not_ that obvious in the original.

Episode 62 (69): Mostly accurate.

They did cut out a scene where Raye slaps Serena. Again, this scene was left in the preview. Darien's line at the end about roses was originally stating that they were no longer bound by the string of destiny.

Episode 63 (70): Not accurate.

They cut a scene where Chad tried to sell various items to Catzy. (She eventually got a fortune from him, with large Japanese writing on it). Serena was saying she's reading comics because she can't read them with Rini and Luna around, not because she'd be tired bringing the comics home. Important: In the conversation with Raye, Catzy, and Serena, Raye did _not_ blame Serena in any way for the breakup, and needless to say, nobody said that she should apologize. Where Artemis says that the girls are stuck with the cats because they don't have boyfriends, a bit was cut where Mina hits Artemis in the nose with her finger, hard. Also, Catzy did not make the remark about ruling the universe.

Rini did not read Raye's comics. Half the references to love were watered down (admittedly, they're sickeningly sweet for a US audience). For instance, "your heart's good, I believe in you" originally said that since Catzy knows love, she can be a friend. Compare to the next episode, where such changes were not made.

Episode 64 (71): Not _too_ inaccurate.

They cut part of the chess scene at the start, where Rini plays chess with Serena and wins. They deleted dialogue where Birdie says "I hate nice people like you." Also, where she said that fighting 3 against 1 isn't fair. The reference to a wing clipped was an obvious addition. Serena's speeech was a _different_ cheesy speech in the original, and did use "punish you" then. (At least they're keeping cheesy speeches now, even if they do invent new ones instead of using the original.) The hug scene near the end didn't have a frame around it.

Episode 65 (72):

Hard to say whether this got the good or bad writer. Those were sweet potatoes, not weight-gain bars. The two remaining sisters' mission was not to change the other two back, but to get information from them (who the Scouts are and where Rini is). (It should be obvious that Rubeus did not want to change them back, since he did reject them in previous episodes.) The synopsis contains no reference to the sisters' old selves being good before they worked with Rubeus. I can't prove this wasn't in the original episode, but it does sound unlikely. Yes, they did say in the original that the stick must be influencing Avery. Rubeus didn't say the sisters were badly dressed. At the end, Rubeus learned Sailor Moon had the crystal, in the original.

8) Questions about plot elements: (spoilers are in rot-13)

Q: Is it true that Venus and Mars are lesbians?

No, no, no! This is based on a misinterpretation of a scene in the manga in the June 1996 Nakayoshi, where they are actually expressing their devotion to the Princess, except that since she doesn't say any words, people reading just the translation thought they were referring to each other. I hope this stupid rumor dies soon.

Q: Why does nobody ever recognize Serena or the others in costume?

There's no real explanation. You can guess that they're magically immune to being recognized, but we never get _told_ that. In Japanese episode 5, and in the dub episode 15, she hides from her brother when in costume, ap- parently because she's afraid she'd be recognized, so if there _is_ magic in- volved, she didn't know it. Dub episode 31 says that they can't be recog- nized in their normal identities, though I'm not sure if this line was in the original version.

Asai in episode 100 recognizes Venus. Fiore in the R movie recognizes Tuxedo Mask.

This problem doesn't happen in the manga; they seldom appear in front of people they know, Usagi (Serena) and Tuxedo Mask recognize each other almost immediately, and Motoki (Andrew) does recognize them in costume (V3 p. 100, 177; V4 p. 113).

Q: Why do the villains all attack places in walking distance, at best, of where the Sailor Scouts are? They can't teleport like the Power Rangers (they do have a Sailor Teleport group power, but they don't teleport routinely), so if the villains attacked Paris or New York, the heroines would be helpless to stop them. For that matter, why don't they ever attack somewhere far away from school when the Sailor Scouts are in class?

Boy, you're smart.

Q: Why does nobody attack the Scouts while they're transforming or charging their attacks?

Usually, the transformations don't really take much time and are there just for the viewers' sake. (Like near the end of the first series where Serena and Darian are attacked, and Serena completely transforms while the attack is still in the air.)

There is an episode, however, where Jupiter does her usual motions to attack and gets tied up in mid-gesture. In dub #32, Sailor Moon was attacked while trying to "heal" the youma. According to the storyboard writers, in dub #30 Usagi was embarassed at transforming in front of Mamoru because she would be seen naked, implying the transformations do take some time (Source: Animage 5/93, formerly translated on ftp.tcp.com)

Q: There are nine planets, so why don't we see a Sailor Scout for each one?

Darian (Chiba Mamoru) is prince of the Earth, and hiS name in Japanese uses the kanji for "Earth", so he obviously represents Earth (besides, the moon revolves around the Earth :-)) and you'll probably never see a Sailor Scout for the planet Earth. Mamoru is claimed to also represent the sun, with Helios (from SuperS) as his guardian, and his astrological sign is supposedly ruled by the sun.

Sailor Pluto is technically visible in the dub series; she's the one that Rini is talking to in her Luna ball. Uranus, Neptune, and Saturn appear later--in the third year of the ori- ginal. They're not actually part of the team. Sailor Mars has pet ravens named Phobos and Deimos (which are the moons of Mars). They have been shown in human form in the manga, where they are said to come from planet Coronis (which is not a real planet). The black moon in Sailor Moon R is Nemesis, a dark star theorized as responsible for comets like the one that killed off the dinosaurs. In the manga corresponding to Sailor Moon SS, the Amazoness Quartet become Sailor Scouts of the four largest asteroids, but not in the anime. The Sailor Stars don't seem to be associated with particular heavenly bodies.

Q: Who is Sailor V? Does she really exist?

Sailor V is really Sailor Venus, the fifth member of the team. In real life, the Sailor V comics were published first, before Sailor Moon. After the Sailor Moon comic started, Sailor V was included in it as Sailor Venus.

Unfortunately, DIC messed up the dub. The first Sailor Venus episodes had Sailor Venus appear, and everyone was told she's Sailor V, with Serena happy because Serena is a big Sailor V fan. The dub of those particular episodes took out all reference to Sailor V except in the title.

Q: Who is Luna talking to on the computer in the early episodes?

It's Artemis, Sailor Venus's cat. Luna is rather annoyed when she finds out.

The dub goofs here. In dubbed episode 39, Luna and Artemis inexplicably refer to a real Central Control. I would guess the episode was dubbed by someone who didn't see the episode where Central Control is found to be Ar- temis. Anyway, ignore it. Central Control doesn't exist.

Q: Who is the Moonlight Knight?

Tuxedo Mask was split into two when revived after the battle with the Dark Kingdom. The Moonlight Knight held his love for Serena, so his regular self didn't remember anything of her for a while.

Q: Who is Rini (Chibi-Usa)?

She is the daughter of Serena and Darian, time-travelled from the future.

Q: Who is Rini talking to back in the future, through her Luna ball?

Sailor Pluto, who Chibi-Usa calls "Pu". The dub messes up the first occurrence of this by using Luna's voice and pretending Renie is talking to the _ball_ instead of using it as a communicator to talk to another person.

Q: Why does Serena stop using some of her magic items later on? Why does everyone else stop using some of their attacks?

The attack in the first episode, where she hurts the monster by crying, reappears in Sailor Moon SS, as a joint attack of Usagi and Chibi-Usa.

Usagi loses the first moon stick at the end of the first storyline and never gets it back, though she does recover and use the silver crystal (which moves to her brooch).

There is no explanation of why she stops using the disguise pen. (It is still around; at least, Venus uses it later in SMS when she has to disguise herself as Sailor Moon.)

The explanation of why she can't use her moon tiara is that she has to really want to be Sailor Moon to use it. This immediately makes you wonder if she uses it again when her mood improves. In (Japanese) episodes 98, 100, and 123, she _does_ use it again, although the attack is stock footage, cut so that you can't see that she wore a different brooch when the stock footage was drawn. She also uses it in the R movie, episode 163, and the SuperS movie without the old stock footage. The Eternal Sailor Moon outfit in Sailor Stars no longer includes a tiara however, Usagi uses "Moon Tiara Action" with a frozen pizza in episode one hundred eighty four.

The attacks that the Senshi get in the Earl/Ann story almost never appear later except for Sailor Moon's, with no explanation of why not. (Crescent Beam Shower shows up in #141 with a different name, and Shabon Spray Freezing is reused in #80. The attacks show up in the video game Another Story, but these are the only single attacks without voice samples.) The real explanation is that these episodes were something of a fill-in (the original comic is monthly, and the series is weekly, so they had to stretch it out). Note that in the clips episodes (Japanese #89 and the start of the SS special) no clips from these episodes are shown; also, although the Another Story game uses all the old villains and monsters up to S, it leaves out Earl and Ann.

Q: Who is Chibi-Chibi?

The manga and anime differ on this question. In the manga, she is the early form of "Sailor Cosmos". I've heard several stories about exactly how Cosmos is related to Usagi. In the anime she is the "light of hope" from Galaxia's star seed.

Q: Is Nephrite really dead?

YES. No, he doesn't come back in any way, shape, or form. This is not Marvel comics.

Q: Why does Sailor Jupiter wear a different school uniform?

From a Japanese book "Secrets to Sailor Moon": because there isn't one of the school's uniforms in her size.

Apparently in Sailor Stars (anime) and SuperS (manga) she gets the regular Juuban uniform.

Q: What city does the series take place in?

Tokyo, even in the dub. "Kitty Chaos" mentioned the name, and the episodes derived from the second part of Sailor Moon R refer to Crystal Tokyo. That tower is the Tokyo Tower. (It's not in France.)

Q: Are Alan and Ann really brother and sister? Wouldn't that make their relationship incest?

They're really children of the tree, from which their race came. In a sense, this does mean they really are brother and sister (and they admit the tree is their mother), but in another sense, they're no more brother and sister than Adam and Eve were. Take your pick.

Q: Have Serena and Darien had sex together (in the present day)?

There is a scene in the manga which is commonly pointed to as evidence. (act 18, manga 5), showing them kissing and lying on top of each other. Later, she shows up with the same dress she had on but with her shirt off, implying that she undressed. Nothing is shown explicitly, though.

Q: How can Rini's hair be pink when her parents' hair colors are black and blond? How is pink hair inherited anyway?

Anime hair colors are normally a stylistic convention and the characters' hair colors are almost never really what you see. Apparently her hair is really pink, though, as mentioned in the Chibi-Usa segment in the SS special, and in the manga story it was based on. So I guess this will remain forever a mystery.

Q: Is Fiore (from the Sailor Moon R movie) from the same planet as Alan and Ann?

He certainly looks similar, and is voiced by Alan's original voice actor. It is conceivable that they're from the same race, but this is never stated. (They definitely aren't the same _person_.) Ikuhara Kunihiko, the director of the R series and R movie, has explained in the LD bonus for the R movie that the movie contained shared ideas with the TV series.)

Q: What does the writing on Rei's shrine mean? Does such a shrine really exist in Japan?

The shrine is based off a real one. The writing reads "Hikawa shrine", with the character for "fire" (hi) substituted for the one for "ice" (also hi) in the real shrine.

Q: What does the symbol Nephrite uses mean?

It is not a kanji and has no real meaning. Some people have suggested that it is a stylized "ne" hiragana.

Q: Have the Sailor Senshi ever killed anyone? Most of the enemies seem to die by other enemies killing them off, by running into their own attacks, getting caught in the destruction of their base, etc.

Metallia ("negaforce") is obviously killed at the end of the first series. It is arguable that they killed Kunzite (Malachite), although he really died from his own reflected attack. Many monsters of the day die, but they prob- ably fall under the usual animation/comics rule that if you're artificial, it's not considered killing to get rid of you even if you _are_ sentient. In the manga, the Senshi do kill their enemies.

Q: Were the four main generals really friends of Tuxedo Mask once?

This idea is stated in the Sailor Moon "Friends and Foes" children's book, in English. The idea really does come from the original manga, though not the anime, and is also used in the Another Story video game.

There are also pictures in the manga showing them paired with the four Senshi. I haven't yet been given any references to them being engaged or in love from the _text_, though.

Q: What happened to the parents of all the Scouts (present day)?

Sailor Moon: parents alive and shown.

Tuxedo Mask: parents dead in a car crash.

Sailor Mercury: parents separated; she lives with her mother. Her mother is shown from the back in the SuperS movie, and her father in #151.

Sailor Mars: lives with her grandfather (mother's side). In the manga it is explained that her mother is dead (V4) and that her father is alive but she prefers living with her grandfather to living with him (V11).

Sailor Jupiter: parents dead in an airplane crash; she lives by herself. (Don't ask how, or where she gets money.)

Sailor Venus: parents alive. Shown only in manga?

Sailor Uranus/Neptune: they have an unknown benefactor (in the manga) and live by themselves. (I've gotten some conflicting information on this, specifically that their stuff is paid for by their parents.)

Sailor Pluto: old enough to live on her own, and if she was brought back as an adult (in the manga) she wouldn't have parents anyway.

Sailor Saturn: mother apparently dead, father alive in anime, but dies in manga at end of SMS story. Names are Tomoe Keiko and Tomoe Souichi. Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto act as substitute parents in the manga after her father dies.

Asteroid senshi, Sailor Stars: not much known. Mo> Q: Who was Serena's father in the Silver Millennium?

Apparently unknown.

Q: Is Sailor Jupiter a lesbian?

The episode which makes people think this is #96 where she seems to have a crush on Haruka (Sailor Uranus). While some of the other characters thought it might be a homosexual attraction, it was not. It's a cultural difference; she really more looks to Haruka as a role model, and wants to be like her, but is not in love with her. The same cultural difference has made Westerners misinterpret similar situations in other series, such as Akane in Orange Road supposedly being in love with Madoka.

Q: In flashback, we are shown that Queen Serenity died immediately upon using the Silver Crystal to send the Scouts into the future. Yet we are also shown that she split up the crystal to seal away the Seven Shadows. How could these both have happened?

The writers goofed.

The entire Seven Shadows plot was added to fill time in the anime version. In the manga, the crystal comes directly out of Sailor Moon's tear, rather than her tear combining the seven pieces into the crystal.

Q: Are the Starlights really male or female?

The obvious choice is that they are male and change to female, but there are two manga references which suggest otherwise (but are ambiguous):

First, Princess Fireball asked the Starlights why they chose "this appearance", and they responded that it was easier to find women that way. Some people have interpreted it to mean that they chose to be male, although it could also refer to their singing career.

Second, in manga #16, page 165-166, Tin Nyanko tells Usagi not to trust those who are female but dress up as guys. Of course, though she is obviously referring to the Starlights, she is not really in a position to know much about them.

9) Questions about the series itself

Q: What about this "live action version" I've heard of?

The half live action version was a really horrible idea that indeed was one possible plan for a North American Sailor Moon. All they made was a brief promo (lucky for us). The promo was first shown to the public at Anime Expo in summer 1995. The animated part was _American_ animation. No, I don't know how to get a copy.

A special showing of several episodes in the USA at about Thanksgiving 1995 had the episodes introduced by a live action Sailor Moon, no relation.

Q: Why does everyone look American if this is a translated Japanese show?

It's the style used in Japanese animation. The large eyes date back to artists partly inspired by Disney. The hair is not 'really' colored the way you see it; normally, the hair color of Japanese characters in anime is always brown/black no matter what you see on the screen, and is shown as something else only to visually distinguish between the characters.

Q: Why do the heroines get their power from jewelry and makeup, if they are supposed to be fighting sexism?

Dave Barry had a field day with this question. The truth is that they aren't fighting sexism (except in the sense of having heroic female charac- ters). The anti-sexism idea seems to come from an early press release; it described a scene (in dub episode 10) where the Sailor Scouts dodge airplanes sent after them by Jadeite and make comments about how women aren't fools, not to belittle women, etc. The speech was there, but someone took it more seri- ously than it should be. As a final irony, when the episode appeared in the dub, the lines were removed.

Q: Are there male monsters-of-the-episode?

The monsters of the episode are mostly female, but there is a point where Zoisite is turning ordinary people (reincarnated youma) into monsters, which includes several males (a priest, Raye's grandfather, and Amy's boyfriend). Still, it's usually pretty rare. Also, in episode 18 the monster is formless but has Nephrite's voice, and might be considered male (this episode was adapted from a manga story, so the monster is a little unusual) and in episode 35 two skaters, one male, are changed into monsters. And in Sailor Moon SS, Fish Eye's monsters are male. The gender of the monster of the episode seems mostly random in Sailor Stars.

For those who are interested, the original names of the monsters of the episode are as follows:

Episodes 1-46 (versus the Dark Kingdom): youma
Episodes 47-59 (versus Earl and Ann): cardian (also used in the dub).
Episodes 60-88 (versus the Black Moon): droid (also used in the dub).
Episodes 90-125 (versus Master Pharaoh 90, Mistress 9, Professor Tomoe, and the Death Busters): daimon
Episodes 128-166 (versus the Dead Moon Circus): lemures
Episodes 167-172: mirror paredories
Episodes 173-200: phage

Q: Aren't those North American dolls horrible-looking?

The Japanese dolls are also horrible-looking. Really, I think the fans who are upset over this are being a bit ridiculous. (Hey, I write this FAQ, I get to put personal opinions in.)

Q: American voice actors/actresses (I'm not going to bother trying to phrase this as a question):


Serena/Sailor Moon:       Tracey Moore (eps. 1-11, 15, 21, 41)
                          Terri Hawkes (all others)
Ami/Sailor Mercury:       Karen Bernstein
Rei/Sailor Mars:          Katie Griffin
Lita/Sailor Jupiter:      Susan Roman 
Darien/Tuxedo Mask:       Rino Romano (1-11), Toby Proctor
Mina/Sailor Venus:        Stephanie Morganstern 
Luna:                     Jill Frappier
Artemis:                  Ron Rubin
Sailor Pluto/Luna Ball:   Jill Frappier (58), Sabrina Grdevich (61)
Molly:                    Mary Long
Melvin:                   Roland Parliament
Andrew:                   Colin O'Meara
Rini:                     Traci Hoyt
Queen Beryl:              Naz Edwards
Jedite [sic]:             Tony Daniels
Neflite [sic]:            Kevin Lund
Zoycite [sic]:            Kirsten Bishop
Malachite:                Dennis Akayama
Queen Metallia/Negaforce: Maria Vacratsis
Alan:                     Vince Carraza
Anne:                     Sabrina Grdevich
Doom Tree/Tree of Life:   Liz Hannah
Catzy:                    Alice Poon, Mary Long
Avery:                    Jennifer Griffiths
Birdie:                   Kathy Laskey
Prizma:                   Norma Dell'Agnese
Rubius:                   Rob Tinkler 
Wiseman:                  Tony Daniels
Queen Serenity:           Wendy Lyon
Sammy:                    Julie Lemieux
Serena's Mom:             Barbara Radecki
Serena's Dad:             David Hubard
Patricia Haruna:          Nadine Rabinovitch
Grandpa:                  David Fraser
Chad:                     Steve Bednarski
Announcer:                Chris Wiggins
Monster of the Day:       Harvey Atkins, Lindsay Collins, Lisa Dalbello,
                          Tony Daniels, David Fraser, Terri Hawkes, Elva Mai
                          Hoover, Loretta Jafelice, Julie Lemieux, Allison
                          Sealy-Smith, Maria Vacratisis
Background voices:        Steve Bednarski, Chris Britton, Lindsay Collins,
                          Tony Daniels, David Fraser, Hillary Goldhar, Loretta
                          Jafelice, Julie Lemieux, Roland Parliament, Alice
                          Poon, Nadine Rabinovitch, Greg Swanson

(one-shots)
Mr. Baxter:               Chris Wiggins
Game Machine Joe:         Rino Romano
Jordan (baby):            Tony Daniels
Peter Fisher:             Joel Feeney
Greg:                     Eric Kimmel
Peggy Jones:              Katherine Trowell
Misha:                    Jeff Lumby
Jenelle:                  Tracey Hoyt
Mika:                     Kathy Laskey
Mika's Mother:            Wendy Lyon
Chess Tower owner:        Roland Parliament
Countess Rose:            Wendy Lyon

Q: When does the (English dub) series continue?

The chronologically last dub episode is in the middle of the Dark Moon story. When the episodes were first run, they were shown out of order, making the end of the Alan/Ann story the last new episode actually shown. In reruns, they're usually shown in the proper order.

The Japanese episodes which come after the end of the dub series are episodes 73 up. 73-81 have been fan-subtitled by VKLL with more upcoming.

New episodes up to the end of the Dark Moon story will be released, but not in the US. There's no firm date yet.

Q: Do we ever see the Scouts transform back?

In episode 115, Sailor Uranus transforms back normally. We also see Sailor Moon transform back twice when she loses a previous transformation before getting powered-up, but these are arguably abnormal transformations back that might look unusual.

Q: Do we ever see Tuxedo Mask transform?

Episodes in which he transforms are 16, 22, 30, and 62 (19, 26, 34, and 69 for Japanese versions.)

Q: Why do they stop the episodes and rerun even though they're in the middle of a story?

Because that's all the episodes that have been dubbed! Try some of the synopses on Hitoshi Doi's site to see what happens next. (And/or get the Japanese episodes or fansubs).

Q: Why do we see a few times and then we never see it again when we logically should? Values of are: Sailor Moon's parents and other relatives, Greg (Urawa), Rita (Reika), Queen Serenity's ghost, Moon Tiara Stardust, Lizzie (Unazuki), Molly (Naru), Melvin (Umino) and Molly together, Chad (Yuuichiro), etc.

The anime was partly based on the manga, but was weekly instead of monthly, so had to be stretched out a lot. This means that one shot characters or minor characters from the manga got major roles in several stories, and it also means that several characters and subplots were completely invented for the TV series. This made it look like something was a big part of the series when it really never was.

Q: When does the Another Story RPG take place? It couldn't take place after S because Saturn turned back to a baby at the end.

It takes place right after the end of S. Saturn was specifically aged in the Another RPG story (and de-aged back to a baby at the end), but you have to read the dialog to understand this.

Q: How do I get past that boss on Ami's level in the Another Story RPG?

The fastest way is to use a manicure to raise your attack power, then attack and heal when you start running low on hit points. (Don't bother to cure yourself of freezing.) Many monsters around this level provide healing items. Unfortunately, I know of no way to get a manicure there--you'd have to buy it in advance at home before knowing you need it. Raising your level a little bit helps, too.

Alternatively, raise your level to an ungodly amount so that you're doing around 10 points of damage per round, then attack and heal constantly.

The only special attack that works on this boss is Shabon Spray. The boss can be killed using Shabon Spray plus healing items, but this takes much longer because of the Shabon Spray animation.

In any case, be sure to wear both special accessories, and buy another one to fill the third slot.

Q: How do I get all the puzzle pieces on the Another Story RPG?

I wish I knew. There are four missing from the ones you get when killing monsters. You can get one of the missing ones early in the game in Makoto's stage in a hidden area; later in the game you get sent directly to the area and can find out about the pieces, but it's too late to get them then! I have no idea about the other three.

Q: How do I get the second ending on the Another Story RPG?

You get divided into two groups. Usagi's group fights the final boss. If you lose with Usagi's group, Chibi-Usa's group comes in, and defeating the boss with her (which is hard, since you don't get a chance to control how your characters are arranged in the formation) gives you a different ending. (Knowing more Japanese than I do probably helps in understanding the differences in the endings.)

Q: What does "talent" mean (as a joke used on the Internet)?

This refers to a line in the Snow White episode. Sailor Jupiter said that she should be Snow White because she has the largest breasts. In the dub, it was changed to having the most "talent". So people on the net will sometimes refer to breast size as "talents".

Q: Why are the attacks in the Mixxzine translated manga different from the ones shown in the dub?

The dub use different attack names from the original TV episodes. Also, the original comics were sometimes different from the original TV episodes. The Mixxzine version is different for both of these reasons. For instance, the original manga (and Mixxzine) uses "Moon Frisbee", the original TV uses "Moon Tiara Action", and the dub uses "Moon Tiara Magic". Mixx used the original; they didn't change it. This does not apply to "cow tails".

Q: Where do the movies take place, chronologically?

It isn't really possible to fit the movies into the series continuity. In the R movie, Chibi-Usa (Rini) appears. She leaves at the end of the R series, which means that the R movie could only happen if the Black Moon villains are alive but for some reason not doing anything during the movie.

In the S movie, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto appear. Pluto is gone before the end of the S series, which means that the S series villains would also have to be alive but not doing anything. Furthermore, Hotaru does _not_ appear in the movie, yet in the series she appears before Pluto reappears. (This movie was based on a manga story, and probably fits into manga continuity.)

In the SS movie, Pluto appears, yet in the Sailor Stars series, the Senshi are surprised to learn that she is alive. Also, Uranus and Neptune get versions of their new attacks in this movie before they actually do for real in Sailor Stars.

Q: Why is Pluto associated with time and Saturn with death? I thought it was the other way around? By the way, isn't it strange that "Silence Wall" is yelled while "Dead Scream" is whispered?

I have no idea. Anyone care to answer this?

10) Movies, comics, video games

There are three Sailor Moon movies released in Japan, with no North American release. (There was an early, false, rumor started by Arctic Animation about release of the R movie; they apparently misunderstood reports about the pilot episode (#41). There are other rumors about it floating around.) The movies are probably the most commonly fansubbed stories.

A special, "Ami-chan's First Love", was shown with the SMSS movie but released to video separately.

Several Sailor V stories were be released directly to video in Japan, but have been indefinitely postponed.

The Japanese comic (manga) was published in a monthly collection, on news- print, at one chapter per issue, mostly in black and white (which is typical for a Japanese comic), and the chapters are collected into volumes (tan- koubon) about the size and cost of a paperback book (all B&W). There is also a Japanese Sailor V manga. These are all in Japanese (several fan translations exist); you can get them at Japanese bookstores. #18 is the last Sailor Moon manga; Sailor V is continuing.

Translations of the manga include French (by Glenat publishers), Chinese, and a lot of other languages. French and Chinese keep the original notes. Mixx is releasing the manga in English in black and white in Mixxzine (which also includes other Kodansha manga), with a minimum of changes, and keeping some of the original notes. (They are required to use DIC names, although Sailor Moon has "Bunny" as a "nickname".)

Note: in the manga, Sailor Uranus has white hair and Sailor Pluto has somewhat dark skin. (The other colors are basically the same as the anime.)

The color manga (anime manga) actually uses the TV series dialog and pictures and isn't the original manga.

Over in the UK, Bloomsbury (which has translated Ironfist Chinmi cheap and in its original format) was once planning to translate Sailor Moon manga in its original format. This fell through for some reason.

There are Japanese video games for just about every system. The games ex- ist in the arcade and for the PC Engine Duo (TG-16), Super Famicom (SNES), Gameboy, Mega Drive (Genesis), Game Gear, 3DO, Playdia (a Japan-only system), Playstation, and Saturn. The Duo, Gameboy, Game Gear, and 3DO ones are compa- tible with American systems. The Super Famicom and Mega Drive ones are compa- tible if you remove the plastic that keeps the games from fitting in some machines. Saturn requires an adaptor or hardware modification, and Playsta- tion requires a hardware modification (or _may_ play with disk swapping on early machines).

Most anime-based video games are terrible as games. Most of the Sailor Moon games are no exception (though the Another Story RPG seems well-liked).

In North America, six dolls are out: Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, and Queen Beryl. Some runs of the dolls have the wrong boots. Ac- cording to a Bandai representative in the July 22 1995 Washington Post, "We discovered that some Americans thought the outfits were too sexy for little girls. The short skirt and high heels--that means a prostitute in the US, is that right? So we shifted to boots." Nevertheless other toys have the proper heels.

There is no Tuxedo Mask doll despite the picture of him on the Moon Cycle box. Only a prototype was made. There seems to be a set of pirate dolls called "Planet Girl(s)" which uses recolored and (possibly) renamed Sailor Senshi. The Rini (Chibi-Usa) doll has blonde hair instead of the proper pink. [Has this changed?]

The locket is from Sailor Moon R but uses the tune from the first Sailor Moon series.

11) Episode availability

Japanese versions of the whole series have been released on videotape and on laserdisc, about a year behind the television episodes. The laserdiscs for the first year, and the movies, include brief bonuses (such as interviews). Japan uses NTSC like North America does, and the tapes and discs will work on North American machines. The episodes, of course, are in untranslated Japanese.

There are bunches of episodes subtitled unofficially by Japanese animation fans. (Note: this _is_ technically illegal.) Ask around to get these. Don't ask me; I have no way to copy tapes and don't know where to get most of them anyway. The ends of R, S, and SS have no known publicly distributed fansubs, so it's probably useless trying to look for those. Commonly wanted episodes which do have fansubs are 44-46, 73-81 (the ones after the end of the dub), the movies, the SS special, and the Ami special.

There is an audio tape for dub episode 12 (Unnatural Phenomena).

Another source of episodes may be Chinatown, if you have a Chinatown and can speak the right dialect (if dubbed) or read Chinese (if subbed).

Buena Vista Home Video has released dub episodes in North America at $10 a tape.

Volume 1 (A Moon Star is Born): episodes 1, 2
Volume 2 (Scouts Unite!): episodes 5, 7
Volume 3 (Evil Eyes): episodes 9, 14
Volume 4 (Jupiter and Venus Arrive): episodes 21, 29
Volume 5 (Secret Identities): episodes 30, 31
Volume 6 (The Good and the Bad Queen): episodes 39, 40
Alan/Ann boxed set (4 tapes, 13 episodes, 41-53)

The American soundtrack has been released on CD.

12) Character Personal Information

The Japanese information below is mostly "official", written by Takeuchi Naoko, and is directly translated from manga #10. The exceptions are the gem- stones, which come from the Super Famicom roleplaying game, Tuxedo Mask, from the SuperS movie Memorial Album, and the Sailor Stars, from May 1996 Nakayoshi. I've decided to include the gemstones from the game because the game is mostly consistent with the official information on the rest. I have no idea if these gems are the ones associated with the Senshi's astrological signs. Note: Blood type is in Japan considered to fit certain personality types just like astrological signs. This is only for O/A/B/AB, not + and -. From the rec.arts.manga glossary:

In Japanese pop culture, blood type is thought to be related to personality. This belief became popular in the early '80s. Profiles of manga artists or characters from manga will often include blood type along with other statis- tics like age and place of birth. A very rough guide to blood types:

A nervous, introverted, honest, loyal
B outgoing, optimistic, adventurous
AB proud, diplomatic, discriminating
O workaholic, insecure, emotional

The North American version is from the back of the doll boxes. It fits the original in some parts, and changes it in others (mostly when it's a cultural reference like Japanese food, or when it's not in the original at all).

Japanese version:

Sailor Moon:

Name: Tsukino Usagi
Birthday: June 30
Astrological sign: Cancer
Blood type: O
Favorite color: white
Hobby: eating cake
Favorite food: ice cream
Least favorite food: carrots [note: Bwahahahaha]
Favorite subject: Home Economics
Worst subject: math, English
Has trouble with: dentists, ghosts
Strong point: brownnosing, crying
Dream: to be a bride
Favorite gemstone: diamond

Tuxedo Mask:

Name: Chiba Mamoru
Birthday: August 7
Astrological sign: Leo
Blood type: A
Favorite color: black
Hobby: reading books
Favorite food: chocolate
Least favorite food: none
Favorite subject: physics
Worst subject: none
Has trouble with: Usagi's persuasion in tears (?)
Strong point: Lady First
Dream: to be a doctor
Favorite gemstone: (not listed)

Sailor Chibi-Moon:

Name: Chibi-Usa
Birthday: June 30
Astrological sign: Cancer
Blood type: O
Favorite color: red and pink
Hobby: collecting Usagi goods (can also be translated as rabbit goods)
Favorite food: pudding
Least favorite food: carrots
Favorite subject: drawing
Worst subject: languages
Has trouble with: taking care of the house [note: this must be _hard_ in a large crystal palace]
Strong point: getting people to give her things
Dream: becoming a lady
Favorite gemstone: diamond

Sailor Mercury:

Name: Mizuno Ami
Birthday: September 10
Astrological sign: Virgo
Blood type: A
Favorite color: aquamarine
Hobby: reading, chess
Favorite food: sandwiches
Least favorite food: yellow-tail tuna (hamachi)
Favorite subject: mathematics
Worst subject: none
Has trouble with: love letters
Strong point: calculating
Dream: to be a doctor
Favorite gemstone: sapphire

Sailor Mars:

Name: Hino Rei
Birthday: April 17
Astrological sign: Aries
Blood type: AB
Favorite color: red and black
Hobby: fortunetelling (also reading, in the SFC RPG)
Favorite food: fugu
Least favorite food: canned asparagus
Favorite subject: ancient writing
Worst subject: modern society
Has trouble with: television
Strong point: meditation
Dream: to be a head priestess
Favorite gemstone: ruby

Sailor Jupiter:

Name: Kino Makoto
Birthday: December 5
Astrological sign: Sagittarius
Blood type: O
Favorite color: pink
Hobby: bargain-hunting
Favorite food: cherry pie
Least favorite food: none
Favorite subject: Home Economics
Worst subject: physics
Has trouble with: airplanes
Strong point: cooking (listed as a hobby in the SFC RPG)
Dream: being a bride, selling cake, selling flowers
Favorite gemstone: emerald

Sailor Venus:

Name: Aino Minako
Birthday: October 22
Astrological sign: Libra
Blood type: B
Favorite color: yellow and red
Hobby: chasing after idols
Favorite food: curry
Least favorite food: shiitake mushrooms
Favorite subject: Phys. Ed
Worst subject: math, English
Has trouble with: mama and the police
Strong point: playing (listed as a hobby in the SFC RPG)
Dream: being an idol
Favorite gemstone: topaz

Sailor Uranus:

Name: Ten'ou Haruka
Birthday: January 27
Astrological sign: Aquarius
Blood type: B
Favorite color: gold
Hobby: driving
Favorite food: salads
Least favorite food: natto (a fermented soybean Japanese dish that even a lot of Japanese will refuse to eat)
Favorite subject: Phys. Ed.
Worst subject: modern Japanese
Has trouble with: confessing
Strong point: racing
Dream: to be a racer
Favorite gemstone: amber

Sailor Neptune:

Name: Kaiou Michiru
Birthday: March 6
Astrological sign: Pisces
Blood type: O
Favorite color: marine blue
Hobby: collecting cosmetics
Favorite food: sashimi
Least favorite food: kikurage (a kind of mushroom)
Favorite subject: Music
Worst subject: none
Has trouble with: sea cucumbers
Strong point: violins
Dream: to be a violinist
Favorite gemstone: aquamarine

Sailor Pluto:

(Note: in the Japanese comic, Sailor Pluto is teenage, but in the animation she is not, so much of this isn't true for the animation.)

Name: Meiou Setsuna
Birthday: October 29
Astrological sign: Scorpio
Blood type: A
Favorite color: dark red
Hobby: shopping
Favorite food: tea (o-cha)
Least favorite food: eggplant
Favorite subject: Physics
Worst subject: Music
Has trouble with: cockroaches
Strong point: sewing
Dream: to be a designer
Favorite gemstone: garnet

Sailor Saturn:

Name: Tomoe Hotaru
Birthday: January 6
Astrological sign: Capricorn
Blood type: AB
Favorite color: purple
Hobby: reading, collecting lamps
Favorite food: nihon soba (Japanese buckwheat noodles)
Least favorite food: milk
Favorite subject: World History
Worst subject: Phys Ed.
Has trouble with: marathons
Strong point: injury treatment
Dream: to be a doctor
Favorite gemstone: fluorite

Sailor Star Fighter:

Name: Kou Seiya
Birthday: July 30
Blood type: A
Responsibilities: Lead Vocal (Keyboard, Writing Lyrics, Composing Music)
Club membership: American Football club
Hobby: American Football
Favorite subject: Physical Education
Least favorite subject: Literature
Favorite food: Hamburgers
Has trouble with: Girls

Sailor Star Maker:

NameL Kou Taiki
Birthday: May 30
Blood type: AB
Responsibilities: Guitar (Keyboard, Writing Lyrics)
Club membership: Literary club
Hobby: Reciting Poetry
Favorite subject: Literature
Least favorite subject: None
Favorite food: Sushi
Has trouble with: Arguments

Sailor Star Healer:

Name: Kou Yaten
Birthday: February 8
Blood type: B
Responsibilities: Keyboard (Arrangement)
Club membership: Homecoming club
Hobby: Cameras
Favorite subject: Art
Least favorite subject: Physical Education
Favorite food: Caviar
Has trouble with: Physical Exertion

North American Version:

Sailor Moon:

Name: Serena
Age: 14
Birthday: June 30
Likes: eating, video games
Dislikes: surprise tests in school
Hobbies: shopping
Special strengths: Loyal Friend
Favorite food: peanut butter and jelly, ice cream
Favorite color: pink
Favorite animal: bunny rabbit
Favorite subject: music

Sailor Mercury:

Name: Amy [last name possibly Anderson in the show]
Age: 14
Birthday: September 10
Likes: books, chess
Dislikes: practical jokes
Hobbies: computers
Special strengths: smart, strategist
Favorite food: sandwiches
Favorite color: blue
Favorite animal: cat
Favorite subject: math

Sailor Mars:

Name: Raye [last name Hino in the show]
Age: 14
Birthday: April 17
Likes: meditation
Dislikes: TV
Hobbies: reading
Special strengths: Dedication to Causes
Favorite food: vegetarian pizza
Favorite color: red
Favorite animal: panda
Favorite subject: classical literature

Sailor Jupiter:

Name: Lita
Age: 14
Birthday: December 5
Likes: romance novels
Dislikes: cheaters
Hobbies: cooking
Special strengths: strong, athletic
Favorite food: cherry pie, meatloaf
Favorite color: green
Favorite animal: horse
Favorite subject: history

Sailor Venus:

Name: Mina
Age: 14
Birthday: October 22
Likes: sports & dance
Dislikes: show-offs
Hobbies: playing games
Special strengths: leadership
Favorite food: any pasta
Favorite color: orange
Favorite animal: birds
Favorite subject: gymnastics

Queen Beryl:

Name: Queen Beryl
Age: Twenty-something
Birthday: November 1
Likes: Anarchy, Bedlam & Chaos
Dislikes: Sailor Moon and the Sailor Scouts
Hobbies: snooping, spying & sabotage
Special strengths: ability to control henchmen
Favorite food: liver
Favorite color: black
Favorite animal: scorpion
Favorite topic of conversation: world domination

Heights: The Nakayoshi "Sailor Moon" fan book gives Usagi's height as 150 cm, which is about 4'11". Kyle Pope has done a comparative guess based on the Sailor Moon Nakayoshi Anime Album character sheet, page 103:

Sailor Moon: 4'11"
Sailor Mercury: 5'2"
Sailor Mars: 5'3"
Sailor Jupiter: 5'6"
Sailor Venus: 5'2"
Tuxedo Mask: 5'8"
Motoki (Andrew): 5'8"
Jadeite: 5'11"
Queen Beryl: 6'2"
Naru-chan (Molly): 5'1"
Umino (Melvin): 5'1"
Shingo (Sammy): 4'5"
Sailor Moon's mother: 5'4"
Sailor Moon's father: 5'7"

13) Episode list

SAILOR MOON (first Japanese year)


 Episode                                       Original  Broadcast Date
 Number                                                  (North
 J.   NA.   Episode title (North America)     (Japan)   America)    (YTV)
----  --- --------------------------------  ---------- ---------- ----------
(1)   1.  A Moon Star is Born                  3/7/92    9/11/95    8/28/95
(2)   --  ----                                3/14/92      ---        ---
(3)   2.  Talk Radio                          3/21/92    9/12/95    8/29/95
(4)   3.  Slim City                           3/28/92    9/13/95    8/30/95
(5)   --  ----                                4/11/92      ---        ---
(6)   --  ----                                4/18/92      ---        ---
(7)   4.  So You Want to be a Superstar       4/25/92    9/14/95    8/31/95
(8)   5.  Computer School Blues                5/2/92    9/15/95     9/1/95
(9)   6.  Time Bomb                            5/9/92    9/18/95     9/6/95
(10)  7.  An Uncharmed Life                   5/16/92    9/19/95     9/7/95
(11)  8.  Nightmare in Dreamland              5/23/92    9/20/95     9/8/95
(12)  9.  Cruise Blues                        5/30/92    9/21/95    9/11/95
(13)  10. Fight to the Finish                  6/6/92    9/22/95    9/12/95
(14)  11. Match Point for Sailor Moon         6/13/92    9/25/95    9/13/95
(15)  12. An Unnatural Phenomena [sic]        6/20/92    9/26/95    9/14/95
(16)  13. Wedding Day Blues                   6/27/92    9/27/95    9/15/95
(17)  14. Shutter Bugged                       7/4/92    9/28/95    9/18/95
(18)  15. Dangerous Dollies                   7/11/92    9/29/95    9/19/95
(19)  16. Who is that Masked Man?             7/25/92    10/2/95    9/20/95
(20)  --  ----                                 8/1/92      ---        ---
(21)  17. An Animated Mess                     8/8/92    10/3/95    9/21/95
(22)  18. Worth a Princess's Ransom           8/15/92    10/4/95    9/22/95
(23)  19. Molly's Folly                       8/22/92    10/5/95    9/25/95
(24)  20. A Friend in Wolf's Clothing         8/29/92    10/6/95    9/26/95
(25)  21. Jupiter Comes Thundering In          9/5/92    10/9/95    9/27/95
(26)  22. The Power of Friendship             9/12/92   10/10/95    9/28/95
(27)  23. Mercury's Mental Match             10/10/92   10/11/95    9/29/95
(28)  24. An Artful Attack                   10/17/92   10/12/95    10/2/95
(29)  25. Too Many Girlfriends               10/24/92   10/13/95    10/3/95
(30)  26. Grandpa's Follies                  10/31/92   10/16/95    10/4/95
(31)  27. Kitty Chaos                         11/7/92   10/17/95    10/5/95
(32)  28. Tuxedo Melvin                      11/14/92   10/18/95    10/6/95
(33)  29. Sailor V Makes the Scene           11/21/92   10/19/95    10/9/95
(34)  30. A Crystal Clear Destiny            11/28/92   10/20/95   10/10/95
(35)  31. A Reluctant Princess                12/5/92   10/23/95   10/11/95
(36)  32. Bad Hair Day                       12/12/92   10/24/95   10/12/95
(37)  33. Little Miss Manners                12/19/92   10/25/95   10/13/95
(38)  34. Ski Bunny Blues                    12/26/92   10/26/95   10/16/95
(39)  35. Ice Princess                         1/9/93   10/27/95   10/17/95
(40)  36. Last Resort                         1/16/93   10/30/95   10/18/95
(41)  37. Tuxedo Unmasked                     1/23/93   10/31/95   10/19/95
(42)  --  ----                                1/30/93      ---        ---
(43)  38. Fractious Friends                    2/6/93    11/1/95   10/20/95
(44)  39. The Past Returns                    2/13/93    11/2/95   10/23/95
(45)\_40. Day of Destiny                      2/20/93    11/3/95   10/24/95
(46)/                                         2/27/93

SAILOR MOON R (second Japanese year), part 1 (Skipped and shown later)


 Episode                                       Original  Broadcast Date
 Number                                                  (North
 J.   NA.   Episode title (North America)     (Japan)   America)    (YTV)
----  --- --------------------------------  ---------- ---------- ----------
(47)  41. The Return of Sailor Moon*           3/6/93   11/22/95   11/10/95
(48)  42. So You Want to be in Pictures       3/13/93   11/23/95   11/13/95
(49)  43. A Knight to Remember                3/20/93   11/24/95   11/14/95
(50)  44. VR Madness                          4/10/93   11/27/95   11/15/95
(51)  45. Cherry Blossom Time                 4/17/93   11/28/95   11/16/95
(52)  46. Kindergarten Chaos                  4/24/93   11/29/95   11/17/95
(53)  47. Much Ado about Babysitting           5/1/93   11/30/95   11/20/95
(54)  48. Raye's Day in the Spotlight          5/8/93    12/1/95   11/21/95
(55)  49. Food Fetish                         5/22/93    12/4/95   11/22/95
(56)  50. Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall         5/29/93    12/5/95   11/23/95
(57)  51. Detention Doldrums                   6/5/93    12/6/95   11/24/95
(58)  52. Secret Garden                       6/12/93    12/7/95   11/27/95
(59)  53. Treed                               6/19/93    12/8/95   11/28/95

* Aired on 9/2/95 as a special on Fox

SAILOR MOON R (second Japanese year), part 2
(Although these episodes were shown out of order, they're not numbered out of order; the satellite link numbers them as 54-65, just like they should be.)


(60)  54. Serena Times Two                    6/26/93    11/6/95   10/25/95
(61)  55. The Cosmetic Caper                   7/3/93    11/7/95   10/26/95
(62)  56. Sailor Mercury Moving On?           7/10/93    11/8/95   10/27/95
(63)  57. Gramps in a Pickle                  7/24/93    11/9/95   10/30/95
(64)  58. Trouble Comes Thundering Down       7/31/93   11/10/95   10/31/95
(65)  59. A Charmed Life                      8/14/93   11/13/95    11/1/95
(66)  60. A Curried Favor                     8/21/93   11/14/95    11/2/95
(67)  --  ----                                8/28/93      ---        ---
(68)  61. Naughty 'N' Nice                    9/11/93   11/15/95    11/3/95
(69)  62. Prediction of Doom                  9/25/93   11/16/95    11/6/95
(70)  63. Enemies No More                     10/2/93   11/17/95    11/7/95
(71)  64. Checkmate                          10/16/93   11/20/95    11/8/95
(72)  65. Sibling Rivalry                    10/30/93   11/21/95    11/9/95

Other internet resources

Newsgroups:

rec.arts.anime: discusses Japanese animation in general. This group has been renamed to rec.arts.anime.misc.

alt.fan.sailor-moon: specifically for Sailor Moon. Note: the existence of this group does _not_ mean that Sailor Moon discussion doesn't belong in rec.arts.anime or its subgroups.

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