From arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu Thu Oct 26 00:42:37 EDT 1995 Article: 858 of alt.fan.sailor-moon Path: informer1.cis.McMaster.CA!mcshub!hone!torn!howland.reston.ans.net!swrinde!cssun.mathcs.emory.edu!emory!darwin.sura.net!blaze.cs.jhu.edu!jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu!not-for-mail From: arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee) Newsgroups: alt.fan.sailor-moon,rec.arts.anime Subject: Sailor Moon FAQ Date: 24 Oct 1995 22:30:17 -0400 Organization: Johns Hopkins University CS Dept. Lines: 1545 Message-ID: <46k7fp$po7@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu> Reply-To: arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu (Ken Arromdee) NNTP-Posting-Host: jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu Xref: informer1.cis.McMaster.CA alt.fan.sailor-moon:858 rec.arts.anime:151244 Once the episodes past the finale air in Canada, I'd like to know which ones they are, and if Canada aired reruns due to not getting episodes in the proper order. I need the personal information for Sailor Venus and Queen Beryl from the doll boxes. [Last modified 10/24/95, last posted 10/24/95.] The Sailor Moon FAQ! -------------------- 1) Introduction 2) Air Times/Channels 3) Japanese television series 4) Character names and identities 5) Theme song 6) Japanese myths and cultural elements 7) Cuts/Censorship 8) Questions about plot elements 9) Questions about the show itself 10) Movies, comics, video games, etc. 11) Episode availability 12) Character personal information 13) Episode list 14) Other internet resources ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Introduction Sailor Moon is a cartoon about 14-year-old sailor-suited superheroines, aimed at young girls, which began broadcast in North America on September 11, 1995 (August 28 on YTV in Canada). The show is syndicated and airs at dif- ferent times in different areas. The North American version is produced by DIC Entertainment and distributed by Seagull Entertainment, and the toys pro- duced by Bandai USA. It is not a Fox show, although some Fox stations are showing it and Fox also showed one episode as a special. The series is a dub of a Japanese cartoon (anime) whose name (Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon) is usu- ally 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.) In North America, DIC has made 65 episodes available for 1995-1996, and has committed to 65 more episodes available in 1996-1997. It appears that the US version's first year will cut off after episode 70, which is somewhat of a breaking point (Rubeus is defeated) but doesn't quite end things. Sailor Moon is unique as anime that is broadcast in America, is heavily promoted, and was well-known to fans before it ever appeared here. (Before 1995, the last anime series that appeared nationwide on US broadcast televi- sion at all was Dragon Warrior, 13 episodes, in 1991?, and before that, Robotech, in 1986?. And these didn't have 200 licensed products.) The ex- istence of anime fandom means there are many people in the US who have seen the original Japanese version of the series and know information about charac- ters and plots that have yet to appear here, information that this FAQ heavily uses. Note: Anything past the air time section is likely to include heavy spoilers for future episodes. I've tried to rot13 them, but can't rot13 everything. Read at your own risk. (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.) 2) Air Times/Channels (all are weekdays unless otherwise specified). The first air date is September 11 (except for YTV in Canada). (This is not as accurate as the rest of this FAQ, because I've collected these from the net.) Akron, OH WBNX 55 5:30 AM Albuquerque, NM KASA 2 5:30 AM Atlanta, GA WVEU 69 8:30 AM Austin, TX KNVA 54 8 AM Baltimore, MD WBAL 54 6 AM Boston, MA WLVI 56 2:00 PM (changed from 2:30 PM) Chicago, IL WCIU 26 2:30 PM (changed from 8 AM) Cincinatti, OH WSTR 64 5:30 AM Columbus, OH WWHO 53 7 AM Dallas/Ft. Worth, TX KDFI 27 8:30 AM Dayton, OH WRGT 45 5:30 AM (shown Tuesday-Saturday) Denver, CO ???? 20 6:30 AM Detroit, MI WXON 20 7:30 AM Greenville, SC ???? 21 ? Hawaii KFVE 5 6:30 AM Houston, TX KTXH 20 5:30 Indianapolis, IN WNDY 23 6:30 AM Jacksonville, FL WNFT 47 8:30 AM (cancelled?) Jackson, MS WDBD 40 5:30 AM Los Angeles, CA KCOP 13 7:30 AM Milwaukee, WI ???? 18 6:30 AM Minn./St. Paul, MN KMSP 9 6 AM Nashville, TN WZTV 17 5:30 AM New Orleans, LA WGNO 26 2:30 PM New York, NY WPIX 11 6:30 AM Orlando, FL WRBW 65 7 AM Philadelphia, PA WGBS 57 8 AM Phoenix, AZ ???? ?? 8:30 AM Raleigh, NC ???? ?? 2:30 PM Richmond, VA WRLH 35 5:30 AM Rochester, ? WUHF ?? 5 AM (starts Sept. 4?) Sacramento, CA KTXL 40 5:30 AM Salt Lake City, UT KSTU 13 5:30 AM Seattle, WA KTZZ 22 9 AM San Diego, CA KTTY 69 7:30 AM KTVU 2 2:30 PM San Francisco, CA KBHK 44 2:30 PM Washington, DC WFTY 50 8 AM ?, CA ???? 11 (starts Sept. 25?) ?, IA KDSM ?? ? ?, IA KFXA/B 8 AM ?, TX KTHX 20 5:30 AM ? WWHO 53 7 AM Canada: Buffalo: on channel 29, about a week behind YTV. YTV: Noon and 3:30 PM (same episode). 1 PM and 4:30 PM in Winnipeg (time zone difference) 2 PM and 5:30 PM in Edmonton (time zone difference) YTV started August 28, and is 8 episodes ahead of everyone else (would be 10, but one less for a rerun due to an episode not arriving on time, and one less for Labor Day) CanWest Global Network: 8:30 AM weekdays, 3 episodes behind YTV. Saturday 7:30 AM, 1 per week in order--way behind everyone else The following is the satellite schedule. This is directly from a Usenet post; I have _no_ idea what most of this stuff means. * M-F 11:00 am ET T1-5 (C-band) Mono mix (wide): 6.8 MHz; Discrete stereo (wide): 5.8 MHz L, 6.2 MHz R Feed is one week ahead of regular TV schedule * M-F 9:00 am ET C1 (F1) -19 (C-band) Mono mix (wide): 6.8 MHz; Discrete stereo (narrow): 7.38 MHz L, 7.56 MHz R Current week feed * Sa 8:00 am ET T1-13 (C-band) No other info--new feed starting 9/30/95 * Su 5:00 am ET T1-5 (C-band) Mono mix (wide): 6.8 MHz; Discrete stereo (wide): 5.8 MHz L, 6.2 MHz R 5 episode (whole week) block feed Feed is one week ahead of regular TV schedule 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 and Ann. 60-88 are a fight against the Black Moon family, also introducing Chibi-Usa, who is an 8-year-old (roughly) 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. 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-? (episodes 128-?): ??? 4) Character names and identities Japanese 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 used in the corresponding planet. (They are sometimes, but not always, 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 use the kanji for the elements too, 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 also be considered an elemental-based team if you want to count Tuxedo Mask as the element earth (even though Saturn's "earth" 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 metal and the Japanese name for Venus does use the kanji for "metal". Sailor Jupiter uses attacks associated with the god Jupiter, but does use attacks associated with wood in the manga. Planet, etc. Day of Week Kanji Used Character ------------ ----------- ---------- --------- Sun Sunday sun -- Moon Monday moon Sailor Moon Mercury Wednesday water (element) Sailor Mercury Venus Friday metal (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 Sailor Uranus Neptune -- sea Sailor Neptune Pluto -- dark Sailor Pluto The characters' birthdays are all astrologically appropriate. Tuxedo Mask and Sailors Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus all appear in the first series. The others don't appear until later--sometimes much later--and it may be a while before they appear in the North American version; the only one likely to appear before Fall 1996 is Chibi-Usa. 1st 1st ep. ep. 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* ? S. Chibi-Moon June 30 Moon 60/103 ? Meiou Setsuna ? Sailor Pluto October 29 Pluto 68/75 ? 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 ? * 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.) ** Last name "Anderson" used in Tuxedo Unmasked episode (37). The double entries are because Pluto, Uranus, and Neptune first appear sha- dowed, and Chibi-Moon and Saturn appear in their normal identities first. Ages: What the characters' ages are is a complicated question. 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 off at age 14, in second year junior high school (grade 8). They lose a year at the end of ep- isode 46 (things start again, everyone has no memory), and are still 14 after that. By Sailor Moon S, they have moved up to third year (grade 9) and are 15, though the only birthday shown onscreen is Sailor Moon's. Sailor Uranus and Neptune are one grade ahead (first year high school, grade 10), and were born in the same year as the others, but before April (which is when the Japanese school year starts). Tuxedo Mask starts out in high school in the manga and in college in the animation. Sailor Pluto is in her first year in college in the manga, 3 years older than most of the others and probably 18, but in the animation hasn't been reincarnated and is thousands of years old. Chibi-Usa is 900, believe it or not, in the manga (her age isn't given in the animation). In the dub, they are still 14, and they go to Crossroads Junior High. However, Alan (Earl) and Ann claim to be high school students, are described as grades 10 and 9 respectively, and go to the same school as them, with Ann in Serena's class, which contradicts this and implies that the Sailors are in grade 9 and that grade 9 counts as high school. (Earl and Ann were originally in grades 9 and 8 while Usagi was in grade 8, so the original version doesn't have this problem.) Supporting characters: Luna: Sailor Moon's magical cat. Artemis: Sailor Venus's magical cat. Darian: Serena's boyfriend, and Tuxedo Mask. I listed him above, but need to point out another screwup by DIC. In the original, his name as a prince is Endymion; this is taken from mythology, where Selene loved Endymion. They changed it to "Prince Darian" in the dub, which makes _no_ sense. 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. 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. [Spoiler warning for 1997] Diana: cat whose parents are Luna and Artemis. Doesn't show up until Sailor Moon SS. 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). Although the dub keeps most of the villain names, the dubbers seem not to have realized they are English words, and the official North American versions tend to misspell or mispronounce them. "Neflyte" is just silly. Here's as many spellings 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. Sailor Moon: Queen Beryl*, Jadeite*, Nephrite*, Zoisite*, Kunzite* (renamed Malachite* for the dub), Queen Metallia (Negaforce in the dub). Kunzite's name was apparently changed for legal reasons (the mineral was named after a person). Sailor Moon R, part 1: Earl (Alan in the dub) and Ann. Their names seem to be a pun on "alien" (Earl would be pronounced "ail" in Japanese). In the origi- nal, 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** (cohenite?), Beruche** (berthierite), Cala- veras** (calaverite), Petz** (petzite) (the latter three aren't guesses; they're from the Japanese merchandise, which also claims Cooan is named after kermesite, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me) Rubeus** (ruby), Esmeraude** (emerald), Safir** (sapphire) Demand** (diamond), Black Lady, Wiseman. Sailor Moon S: Professor Tomoe, Kaolinite*, Eudial** (eudialyte), Mimete** (mimetite), Tellu** (tellurite), Viluy** (villiaumite), Sapphirine*, Puchirol** (Puchirite), Mistress 9. Sailor Moon SS: Zirconia*, Hawk Eye*, Fish Eye*, Tiger Eye*. The following lists some early, not-used, 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 publishes the Japanese comic but isn't connected to the animation) and the third is the current version. Identity Japanese Name First Kodansha Current -------- ------------- ----- -------- --------- 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 either "Selenity" or "Serenity". In Japanese, there is no distinction between the sounds "l" and "r", and the name has two origins. The first is the reference to the Sea of Serenity on the moon, where the ruins of the moon palace are located in the manga (volume 3). The second is to the moon goddess Selene (who also happens, in mythology, to love someone named Endymion, which is Tuxedo Mask's name as a prince, and which was deleted >from the dub version). The Japanese merchandise spells it with an "r" when it uses Roman letters. Which version is more "correct" is debatable, though I personally prefer "l". In the original version, Usagi's regular name wasn't the same as her name as a princess. On the other hand, in the original version, her mother on the moon was also named Serenity, giving her mother and her the same name. (So the original has Queen Serenity and Princess Serenity, while the dub has Queen Serenity and 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. There was no reason for the dubbers to change it.) Nor were the later villains from there; tying them all together was a US invention. "Meatball Head": originally "odango atama" (roughly "dumpling head", but odango really don't exist in America). Sailor Mars' anti-spirit attack (when she chants and tosses a magic paper) is done with the words (in the original) "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, ret- su, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan!". Not only is it changed to calling on the power of Mars fireballs (even though she was using them before she was Sailor Mars, and not only that, there are no fireballs in the attack!), but the fire has been visually edited to remove a horned silhouette seen in the fire. (It is excruciatingly obvious that the dubbers were afraid Americans would see it as Satan.) The characters on the paper (called an ofuda) are also "akuryou taisan"; they mean "evil spirit, begone". 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 (I can't translate it, though "ginzuishou" means "silver crystal".) The dub can't seem to decide what to call it, so it becomes the Silver Imperium Crystal one episode, the Silver Moon Crystal another, and eventually the Imperium Silver Moon Crystal. Doom Tree: originally the "Makaiju". 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 (not used--episode cut) Moon Tiara Stardust n/a 5 Moon Healing Activation Moon Healing Escalation 21 25 ? Moon Princess Halation ? 51 ? Moon Spiral Heart Attack ? 91 ? Rainbow Moon Heart Ache ? 112 ? Moon Gorgeous Meditation ? ? Mercury Mercury Bubble Blast Shabon Spray* 5 8 ? Shabon Spray Freezing* ? 53 ? Shining Aqua Illusion ? 62 ? Double Shabon Spray Freezing* ? ? Mars Mars Fire Ignite Fire Soul 7 10 ? Fire Soul Bird ? 54 ? Burning Mandala ? 63 Jupiter Supreme Thunder Crash (21)Supreme Thunder 21 25 Jupiter Thunder Crash (22, 24+) Jupiter Thunderbolt Crash (23) ? Supreme Thunder Dragon ? 55 ? Sparkling Wide Pressure ? 65 Venus Venus Crescent Beam Smash Crescent Beam 29 33 ? Crescent Beam Shower ? 52 ? Venus Love Me Chain ? 65 Chibi-Moon ? Pink Sugar Heart Attack ? 103 ? Twinkle Yell ? ? Uranus ? World Shaking ? 92 Neptune ? Deep Submerge ? 92 Pluto ? Dead Scream ? ? Transformations: Moon Moon Prism Power Moon Prism Power, Make Up 1 1 ? Moon Crystal Power, Make Up ? 51 ? Moon Cosmic Power, Make Up ? 91 ? Crisis Make Up ? 112 Mercury Mercury Power Mercury Power, Make Up 5 8 ? Mercury Star Power, Make Up ? 62 Mars Mars Power Mars Power, Make Up 7 10 ? Mars Star Power, Make Up ? 63 Jupiter Jupiter Power Jupiter Power, Make Up 21 25 ? Jupiter Star Power, Make Up ? 65 Venus Venus Power Venus Power, Make Up 32 36 ? Venus Star Power, Make Up ? 65 Chibi-Moon ? Moon Prism Power, Make Up ? 103 Uranus ? Uranus Planet Power, Make Up ? 109 Neptune ? Neptune Planet Power, Make Up ? 109 Pluto ? Pluto Planet Power, Make Up ? ? Miscellaneous: Moon Disguise Power Moon Power 2 3 Moon (no words used) Sailor Moon Kick 14 17 Chibi-Moon ? Luna-P Henge** ? 60 (combined) ? Sailor Teleport ? ? * Shabon translates to "soap". ** meaning "Luna-P, transform". 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 comes after a short, more episode-specific, speech, and is sometimes parodied (for instance, the teaser for the episode with the minister 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 starts out 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!" Serena does say "In the name of the moon, I will punish you!" in episode 2, but the dub claims, "that's not how it's supposed to be". It also shows up in episode 10 and a few others, mostly the episodes which have otherwise reasonably accurate scripts. Toy changes: "Cosmic Crescent Wand": originally the crescent moon stick. "Sailor Locket": this was originally the toy from the _second_ year (R) of Sailor Moon. The music that it makes is from the original Japanese version of the second year, but the lid has been changed to fit the first year. 5) Theme song The American version: (This is taken from the closed captions and is probably as accurate as you can get, but closed captions _are_ known to mess up at times.) Fighting evil by moonlight Winning love by daylight Never running from a real fight [ed: did whoever write 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 Moon! Sailor Venus! Sailor Mercury! Sailor Mars! Sailor Jupiter! Her secret powers are so new to her, She is the one named Sailor Moon! Fighting evil by moonlight, Winning love by daylight, With the sailors here 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. 6) Japanese myths and cultural elements Sailor Moon's Japanese name (Tsukino Usagi) means "rabbit on the moon", specifically referring to an Asian legend of a rabbit on the moon. 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; 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 pun; for instance, in the French version she's named "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. They were derived from the uniforms worn by the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Meiji era (late 19th-early 20th century). 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 such a school. 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: These items are based on the myth of the legen- dary three treasures of Amaterasu, which the legendary 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). The mirror was used to fascinate Amaterasu with her reflection. The sword was found in the tail of a dragon by Amaterasu's brother, Susano-o. Amaterasu gave him the jewel in exchange for it. Shooting stars: shooting stars are considered an omen of bad luck in Japan, and good luck in North America. 7) Cuts/Censorship Transformations and attacks: Sailor Moon's first transformation is uncut. The first few appearances of Sailor Mercury and Mars either remove 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). Sailor Mars' attacks from above, which give brief panty shots, have been cut. Miscellaneous: The Sailor Scouts were reincarnations of the originals on the moon. The word "reincarnation" doesn't appear in the US version; they make it sound like everyone just appeared out of thin air as teenagers, which obviously doesn't fit the rest of the plot. Zoisite and Kunzite (Malachite) in the original were male homosexuals. The dub changes Zoisite to a woman, as a lot of fans expected. (Awfully flat-chested woman.) Yes, he disguised himself as Sailor Moon. There seem to be several cuts of violence: Raye slapping Serena, and one episode where a monster strangles Serena. Future censorship: A line will be removed from an episode where one of the girls remarks on her breast size. (Sailor Jupiter does this in #56.) Episodes 44-46. These episodes end the first series. [Spoiler Warning] 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 episodes first came on. It has been confirmed that these episodes will be changed for the dub. The Sailor Scouts are "held hostage in the Negaverse" and don't die. Guys, get your fansubs now.... Although we don't _know_ what else will be censored, Japanese animation fans can make some pretty good guesses: -- Gay characters. In particular, Zoisite and Kunzite (male) of the Dark Kingdom, Sailors Uranus and Neptune (female), and several gays and transvestites in Sailor Moon SS, including the leader Fish Eye. (See above.) Sailor Uranus dresses as a man (and is mistaken for one), and sometimes flirts with Serena. Note: homosexuality is, in astrology, associated with Uranus and Neptune. In the anime, Sailor Neptune says she's not Sailor Uranus's girlfriend, though there's clearly some romantic tension between them. In the manga, they sleep in the same bed and wear wedding bands.... -- 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. The Japanese culture item that seems to be cut most is the bento boxes (specially arranged school lunches that don't look like American lunches). -- From Sailor Moon S [Spoiler Warning]: Serena gets the holy grail and is the messiah. (There is also an evil messiah...) It seems to be more of a mythological-like reference rather than a religious one, but I'll be even _more_ surprised if they keep _this_ part in. -- 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 and had no glasses. Bad guesses: -- They didn't change the age disparity which had Serena in junior high and Darian in college. 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, 15, 19, 20, 23. An almost foolproof way to know if the dialogue has been drastically altered is to check if Serena's speech is "in the name of the moon, I will punish you!" It also adds a moral at the end, titled "Sailor Says". (Television sta- tions in the US are required to have a certain percentage of shows with educa- tional content.) Cuts/changes; Japanese episodes are in parentheses. Full synopses for most of the episodes can be found on Hitoshi Doi's WWW page. No episode is even mostly unchanged unless I say so explicitly. I'll take submissions for lists of changes in episodes. 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. 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. The scene with Queen Beryl seeing pictures in her ball was edited; in the original, the ball is blank. 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 new technique (Moon Tiara Stardust), an absence of Tuxedo Mask (Luna tells Sailor Moon not to depend on other people), and Serena hiding from her brother to protect her identity (an idea that seems to have been dropped in later episodes.) It's also the episode where Serena asks her mother if she can 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. The scene with Queen Beryl watching people in her crystal ball doesn't appear in the original, and must have been made up with a combination of stock footage and scenes from this episode. The contest was called "Cinderella Caravan". Episode 5 (8): The subplot about thinking Amy was working for the "Negaverse" did exist in the original. Queen Beryl's crystal ball was blank; it had no scenes of smoke or any- thing else. The gossip over Amy's introduction had no reference to being re- jected 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 all in En- glish; 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 mochi". A clip of Serena imagining her mother angry at her was re- moved. A scene edited to remove Japanese writing caused the loss of a joke where Darian asked who Serena was talking to and if it was 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 instead 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 bill with the 10 on it was really a 1000 yen bill. Episode 7 (10): Lots of stuff, but I'm going to point out that the original had Serena wondering if Raye is the princess. Episode 10 (13): Surprisingly, not a whole lot. This script was reason- ably (for a dub) close to the original, right down to the paying for the dam- aged 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 used in the media to claim the Sailors are fighting sex- ism, was removed. Episode 12 (15): Not sure about the rest, but I know the video game was changed again the same way as before. Episode 13 (16): The sign reading "DRESSMAKAR" was spelled properly in the dub version. Episode 14 (17): Yet another bento box scene was cut. The scene with Serena's brother and the picture was edited, using a frame not from the end of the scene, and a superimposed circle and slash, creating the same effect as in the original, but with no kanji. 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 princess. 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 part of 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 kept her Japanese name (though it might have been 'Miko' in the original; it was hard to tell), and even Nephrite's alias (Maxfield Stanton) bore a slight resemblance to the original (Sanjouin Masato) Episode 16 (19): Yup, back to the hideously rewritten scripts this episode. Nephrite's early flashbacks of Sailor Moon were not shown inside a circle. 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, Tux- edo Mask!". The elevator dialog was different, and Serena once asked if Tux- edo Mask was Motoki (Andrew). At the end of the episode, Nephrite said noth- ing about a memory wipe. (I've seen questions to rec.arts.anime wondering why she remembers who he is if her memory was wiped. Well, now you know.) Oddly enough, this episode had 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 the house's owner wants to un- lock his daughter's hidden supernatural powers, by getting her to release a spirit, then making her destroy it. The episode is also the 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. Also, I think the original had it a TV series, not a movie (though I really don't know enough Japanese to say for certain). Amy had to go to juku, not do her home- work. There was no "animation school". Nephrite didn't tell Ami the Sailors are pathetic; rather, he bragged about hiding a monster. Serena wanted anima- tion cells (not to meet Sailor V), and Raye wanted autographs of people doing the animation, not of Sailor V. They removed a joke where Raye says anime is for kids when Serena is eager, but still shows up with the autograph boards. 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. Finally, the last part of the battle and the rest of the show, in the original, used an image song rather than sound effects. 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 because they were afraid 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 cut because she's nude), changing the phone scene to put Serena and Molly on the same split screen, deleting a remark 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!") (Even though I've described this in as many words as some of the episodes that were _really_ changed, the changes here were pretty minor.) 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. I don't _think_ there was any 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. And those were rice balls, not muffins. Episode 22 (26): The original actually called the minister a minister. 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. There was no frame around the piggybank scene, and it 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. Joe was named Joe in the original. 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. I don't _think_ Serena compared her hair to the painting, or that the painting said 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. 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. 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. The two parts where fans were worried about censorship weren't censored. (Incidentally, Hercules' original name was Rhett Butler.) Episode 28 (32): The password was originally the same password as before, with the same pun (though at least the new dub password is closer 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 because it was too childish, not because he was expecting a phone call from Rita. (Note: Bandai, which produces the Sailor Moon animation, is also respon- sible 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 the character looks like a Power Ranger.) They changed the lines where Zoisite mentions 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 must have been meant to refer to the original, but was out of place. 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. This episode is also the last episode where the Japanese original has narration by Sailor Moon. This narration has always been cut for the dub, so since it won't be there to be cut any more I'm dreading larger cuts in the episodes themselves, 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 was 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. There was a song in the original version at the end. Episode 31 (35): The voiceover at the start was nonexistent. The "Cosmic Moon Power" attack really had no name. Serena was not 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 Scoits 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. 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. 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 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 at the time it looked like Sailor V had died in an explosion, and she survived, but let them think she died because Katarina and a man named Alan fell in love (Sailor Venus was in love with Alan). 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 41 (47) (first shown out of sequence, on Fox instead of syndication): An announcer was added, explaining the past episodes. The episode claims that Alan and Ann 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. 8) Questions about plot elements: (spoilers are in rot-13) 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, she hides from her brother when in costume, apparently because she's afraid she'd be recognized, so if there _is_ magic involved, she didn't know it. In the [This might not be a problem in the manga. Can someone who read the manga please tell me if Usagi ever appears in costume in front of people she knows?] Q: Why do the villains all attack places in walking distance, at best, of where the Sailor Scouts are? They don't have the ability to teleport like the Power Rangers, 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 when the Sailor Scouts are in class? Boy, you're smart. Q: There are nine planets, so why don't we see a Sailor Scout for each one? The ones for the other planets appear later on--in the third year of the original, so you won't see them until the season starting Fall 1996. They're not part of the team, however. The exception is Earth. 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 never see a Sailor Scout for the planet Earth. No Sailor Scouts are named after other celestial bodies, although Sailor Mars does have pet ravens named Phobos and Deimos (which are the moons of Mars), and later villains come from Nemesis (which is a dark star hypothesized as responsible for comets like the one thought to have killed off the dinosaurs). 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 episode had Sailor Venus appear and make it known that she's Sailor V, with Serena happy because she's a big Sailor V fan. The dub took away all the references to Sailor V in that and the next episode, making it rather confusing. Q: Where is the princess that the Sailor Scouts are looking for? Serena is the princess. She just doesn't know it. The line in episode 1 about looking for the princess was removed, making it appear odd when people start talking about finding the princess. In the original version, Serena didn't have the same name as the princess, making it slightly less silly that she wasn't immediately recognized. (I would blame not knowing who she is even though she looks the same, on poetic license.) Q: Who is Luna talking to on the computer? It's Artemis, Sailor Venus's cat. Luna is rather annoyed when she finds out. 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 Chibi-Usa? [I don't know her North American name yet] She is the daughter of Neo-Queen Serenity (Serena) and King Endymion (Darian) from the future. Q: Who is Chibi-Usa talking to back in the future? Sailor Pluto, who Chibi-Usa calls "Pu". Q: Why does Serena stop using some of her magic items later on? She loses the first moon stick, of course, at the end of episode 46 and never gets it back, though she does get back and use the silver crystal (which is in her brooch later and not on the stick). There is no explanation of why she stops using the disguise pen. The explanation of why she can't use her moon tiara in the Earl/Ann story 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 episode 98 and 100, she _does_ use it again, although the attack seems to be stock footage, cut off so that you can't see that she was wearing a different brooch when the stock footage was drawn. Of course, one obvious guess is that the Japanese stopped selling the old toys and switched to new toys at the time of the switchover, so there was no reason to use items on the show that were no longer sold as toys. 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. Q: What city does the series take place in? Tokyo, even in the dub. "Kitty Chaos" mentioned the name. 9) Questions about the show 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. No, I don't know how to get a copy. 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 the dubbed 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 seriously than it should be. As a final irony, when the episode appeared in the dub, the lines were removed. Q: Are their 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 minister, 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, and two skaters one male, are changed into monsters later on. 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 (this name was still used in the dub). Episodes 60-88 (versus the Black Moon): droid Episodes 90-125 (versus Mistress 9, Professor Tomoe, and the Death Busters): daimon Episodes 128-present: lemures Q: Aren't those 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.) 10) Movies, comics, video games There are two Sailor Moon movies released in Japan. There have been no announcements of North American release for these. Yet. Several Sailor V stories will be released directly to video in Japan. There is no American comic. Yet. The Japanese comic (manga) is very dif- ferent from American comics. It is published in a monthly collection, on newsprint, at one chapter per week, and the chapters get collected into volumes (tankoubon) about the size and cost of a paperback book whenever there are enough. It is in black and white. This is very typical for a Japanese comic. There is also a Japanese Sailor V manga. These are all, of course, in Japanese (a fan translation exists of the first Sailor Moon chapter); you can get them at Japanese bookstores. There is a French translation of the manga, supposedly fairly good; it is done by Glenat publishers. There are many Japanese video games for just about every system. You can only get them from importers, and some of them won't work on American game systems without modification. (It is beyond the scope of this FAQ to explain the confusing world of video game compatibility.) In North America, six dolls are out: Sailor Moon, Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus, and Queen Beryl. The dolls have the wrong boots. According 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." [Section on Sailor Moon mooks goes here] 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 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. Buena Vista Home Video will be releasing episodes in North America on tape. Sailor V animation is being released direct to video in Japan. No news yet on North American versions. Japanese animation fans have had subtitled versions of the original Japanese versions since _long_ before the American version, avoiding the cuts and the changes. You'll have to ask around to get these, since it's techni- cally illegal to copy even shows that are broadcast for free. (Besides, I don't know where to get them myself. If you have some, please tell me....) 12) Character Personal Information The following information is translated from the Japanese manga version; many of these characters haven't even appeared in the dub yet. The North American version, so far only from the backs of the doll boxes, is listed afterwards. It seems to use some of the original Japanese material, including the birthdays, but not all of it. The Japanese information is all "official", written by Takeuchi Naoko. Note: Blood type is in Japan considered to go with certain personality types just like astrological signs. This is only for O/A/B/AB, not + and -. 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 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 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 Sailor Mars: ----------- Name: Hino Rei Birthday: April 17 Astrological sign: Aries Blood type: AB Favorite color: red and black Hobby: fortunetelling 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 Shinto priestess 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 Dream: being a bride, selling cake, selling flowers 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 Dream: being an idol singer 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 13) Episode list This is a modified version of an episode list posted to the net. The Japanese episode number is at the start in parentheses. Japanese episode numbers past where I've given dates, are best guesses based on the title. 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 Phenomenon 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 the 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' 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 10/11/95 (36) 32. Bad Hair Day 12/12/92 10/12/95 (37) 33. Little Miss Manners 12/19/92 10/13/95 (38) 34. Ski Bunny Blues 12/26/92 10/16/95 (39) 35. Ice Princess 1/9/93 10/17/95 (40) 36. Last Resort 1/16/93 10/18/95 (41) 37. Tuxedo Unmasked 1/23/93 10/19/95 (42) -- ---- 1/30/93 --- --- (43) 38. Fractious Friends 2/6/93 10/20/95 (44) 39. The Past Returns 2/13/93 (45)\_40. Day of Destiny 2/20/93 (46)/ 2/27/93 SAILOR MOON R (second Japanese year), part 1 (apparently to be shown as a miniseries in the US, after the other episodes) Episode Original Broadcast Date Number (North J. NA. Episode title (North America) (Japan) America) (YTV) ---- --- -------------------------------- ---------- ---------- ---------- (47) ? The Return of Sailor Moon* 3/6/93 (48) ? So You Want to be in Pictures 3/13/93 (49) ? A Knight to Remember 3/20/93 (50) ? VR Madness 4/10/93 (51) ? Cherry Blossom Time 4/17/93 (52) ? Kindergarten Chaos 4/24/93 (53) ? Much Ado about Babysitting 5/1/93 (54) ? Raye's Day in the Spotlight 5/8/93 (55) ? Food Fetish 5/22/93 (56) ? Just One Kiss (Mirror Mirror) 5/29/93 (57) ? 6/5/93 (58) ? 6/12/93 (59) ? 6/19/93 * Shown as a special on Fox on 9/2/95. 14) Other internet resources Newsgroups: rec.arts.anime discusses Japanese animation in general. World Wide Web and FTP sites: http://www.tcp.com/~doi/smoon/smoon.html includes a lot of information about the Japanese version of Sailor Moon, including synopses for most of the TV episodes. The page is mostly English, but includes some Japanese names that look like gibberish on a browser that doesn't do Japanese. http://anchor-net.co.jp/rental/kodansha/kmshop.html is the English version of the Kodansha manga (Japanese comics) page. Kodansha produces the manga but not the animation, and many things on this page are manga-only without being labelled as such, so watch out. (For instance, the Moon Tiara Magic/Action attack is named Moon Frisbee in the manga, and the four male leaders represent divisions of the continents.) Also, this site doesn't seem to have been updated since May 1995, and it uses old (wrong) American character names. http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~kchan/smoon.html is "Kev's Sailor Moon Page", under construction. (Note: this is in Australia and probably too slow to be usable in the USA.) rsavoie@engsoc.carleton.ca http://www.engsoc.carleton.ca/~rsavoie/smoon/smoon.shtml is an American Sailor Moon page. ftp ftp.tcp.com, pub/anime-manga/sorted/SailorMoon, contains a lot of Sailor Moon material including many pictures (and some copies of Hitoshi Doi's synopses). ftp remus.rutgers.edu, pub/anime/lyrix/SailorMoon, for original Japanese lyrics to some of the songs. Translated scripts exist on the net for Japanese episodes 1, 2, 8, 11, 68, and 69, as well as for the first chapter of the manga. Arctic Animation was subtitling episodes, but has stopped and plans to release their scripts. -- Ken Arromdee (arromdee@jyusenkyou.cs.jhu.edu, karromde@nyx.cs.du.edu; http://www.cs.jhu.edu/~arromdee) "One day, I shall come back. Yes, I shall come back! Until then, there must be no regrets, no tears, no anxieties. Just go forward in all your beliefs, and prove to me that I am not mistaken in mine...." -- Doctor Who