There’s a handful of series that come to mind when anime is discussed, and Sailor Moonis near the top of the list. Naoko Takeuchi’s story of teenage girls was unlike anything that had come before; it deftly blended elements of the tokusatsu series Super Sentai with the more standard tropes of shoujo manga, leading to a unique hybrid. It continues to inspire various animated projects, including Pixar’s Turning Red. There’s even a channel on the Pluto TV streaming service that plays Sailor Moon 24/7!
Sailor Moon‘s biggest claim to fame was the fact that it was one of the first anime series, alongside Dragon Ball Zand Pokémon, that U.S. viewers became fans of in the ’90s. But the English dubs of the series would often go out of their way to make things more palatable to American audiences — cutting out references to death, as well as excess violence and sexual subject matter. While sometimes this was necessary (see the infamous episode of Pokémon that only aired once in Japan), censors would often take things to the extreme, creating a transmogrification of the series due to Westernization and conservative norms. Sailor Moon was a strong case for this, as its original English dub was extremely edited to the point where some of the series’ key themes were diluted.
How U.S. Censorship Impacted ‘Sailor Moon’
The original English dub of Sailor Moon was overseen by DIC Entertainment, which oversaw a number of animated series including The Real Ghostbusters as well as Street Sharks and Extreme Dinosaurs (the latter two series being among the few cartoons that took the right lessons from the success of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.) Naturally, that came with a flurry of changes. The titular heroine saw her name being changed from Usagi Tsukino to Serena, and the Japanese intro was replaced with an admittedly catchy English theme. The DIC dub also added a segment titled, “Sailor Says” where the Sailor Scouts would impart lessons to viewers. The company took a similar approach with Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog, so it only makes sense that it would try the same approach for a series as popular as Sailor Moon.
Collider Exclusive · Universe Personality Quiz Which Iconic Universe Do You Belong in the Most? Star Wars · Lord of the Rings · Harry Potter · Game of Thrones · Star Trek
Five legendary universes. Five completely different visions of what the world could be — or already was. One of them is the world your instincts, your values, and your particular way of existing were built for. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🚀Star Wars
💍Lord of the Rings
🧙Harry Potter
👑Game of Thrones
🖖Star Trek
01
What gives your life its deepest sense of meaning? Every universe is built around a different answer to this question.
02
Which kind of world do you most want to inhabit? The environment shapes who you become. Choose carefully.
03
How do you prefer your conflicts resolved? The shape of a world’s conflicts tells you everything about its soul.
04
Who do you want beside you when things get difficult? Your ideal companions reveal the world you were made for.
05
What is your relationship with power? How you seek, wield, or resist power is the map of who you are.
06
How does your universe treat good and evil? A world’s moral architecture tells you more about it than any map.
07
What role would you naturally fall into? Every universe has archetypes. Which one fits you without trying?
08
What do you ultimately believe about the future? The answer to this is the clearest window into which universe already lives inside you.
Your Universe Has Been Chosen You Belong In…
Your answers point to the iconic universe your values, your instincts, and your particular way of seeing the world were built for. This is where you would find your people — and your purpose.
A Galaxy Far, Far Away
Star Wars
You believe in the cause — in the idea that freedom is worth fighting for even when the odds are impossible and the empire is vast.
You are drawn to the moral clarity of a universe where hope itself is a form of resistance.
You’d find your people in the Rebellion — a ragtag coalition of true believers held together by conviction more than resources.
Star Wars is fundamentally a story about ordinary people choosing to matter in an extraordinary conflict — and that is exactly your kind of story.
The Force may or may not be with you. But the will to use it for something larger than yourself certainly is.
Middle-earth
Lord of the Rings
You understand, in the deepest part of yourself, that the journey matters as much as the destination — and that the world’s beauty is worth protecting even at great cost.
Middle-earth is a world of ancient wonder, deep friendship, and a darkness that only retreats when enough small acts of courage accumulate.
You would thrive here because you value the fellowship more than the glory — the road more than the arrival.
Tolkien’s universe rewards patience, loyalty, and the willingness to carry something heavy across a very long distance.
Those are not burdens to you. They are simply how you move through the world.
The Wizarding World
Harry Potter
You believe that love, loyalty, and doing what’s right are not naive sentiments — they are the most powerful forces in any world, magical or otherwise.
The Wizarding World is a place of wonder hidden in plain sight, where learning is transformative and the bonds you form at school follow you into every battle.
You would flourish here because you take both the magic and the friendships seriously — and you understand that one without the other is incomplete.
Harry Potter’s universe ultimately rewards those who choose to stand for something even when standing is terrifying.
That choice — made quietly, without guarantee — is something you understand completely.
Westeros · The Known World
Game of Thrones
You see the world clearly — its power structures, its hypocrisies, its brutal arithmetic — and you are not paralysed by that clarity. You use it.
Westeros is a world that rewards intelligence, adaptability, and the willingness to understand that every alliance is also a negotiation.
You would survive here — possibly thrive here — because you don’t confuse the world as it is with the world as you’d like it to be.
Game of Thrones is a story about what happens when the idealists and the realists collide. You are sharp enough to know which one lasts longer.
Winter always comes. You are already prepared.
The United Federation of Planets
Star Trek
You believe the future is worth building — that curiosity, cooperation, and the expansion of understanding are not just ideals but the most practical path forward for any civilisation.
Star Trek is a universe where the questions matter as much as the answers, and where encountering something utterly alien is cause for wonder rather than fear.
You would belong here because you are fundamentally optimistic about what intelligence and decency can achieve — while being honest about how hard that achievement is.
The Federation is the universe’s most ambitious thought experiment: what if we actually got better?
You don’t just hope that’s possible. You think it’s the only thing worth working toward.
Some of the U.S. censorship, however, was frankly ridiculous. Chief among that censorship was the removal of death scenes. Instead, the evil Queen Beryl’s minions “were sent to the Negaverse.” This didn’t make any sense, as, for one, the Sailor Scouts’ attacks were fairly destructive. Sailor Mars summons a flaming arrow, and Sailor Jupiter can manifest a dragon composed entirely of lightning, so there isn’t much left in the way of the monsters’ bodies. But most important was the fact that the Negaverse is Beryl’s domain.
Therefore, sending her minions back would only empower them. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the fifth and final season of Sailor Moon never aired in the U.S. due to Minako, aka Sailor Venus, having fantasies about her favorite band, the Three Lights, as men. Takeuchi was never shy about exploring LGBTQ+ themes in the Sailor Moon manga, so it would only make sense that those themes would appear in the anime. But American censors would scramble to tone down those elements to align with more Western binaric thoughts and norms. But that wasn’t the only infamous example of DIC’s attempts to rewrite the show.
‘Sailor Moon’ Characters Were Re-Written To Reduce LGBTQ+ Representation
As Sailor Moon progressed, more Sailor Scouts beyond the core five would be introduced. Two of those scouts were Michiru Kaiou (Sailor Neptune) and Haruka Tenou (Sailor Uranus). The two were as different as night and day: Michiru was a refined violinist while Haruka was a confident, outgoing race car driver. But the biggest revelation came from the fact that the two were lovers, making them the first lesbian couple in Sailor Moon. It wasn’t the first time the series featured a same-sex relationship: the Dark Kingdom generals Zoisite and Kunzite were shown to be in a relationship, with Kunzite mourning Zoisite after Beryl executed him for attempting to kill Tuxedo Mask.
DIC’s censorship could be felt the heaviest here in the U.S. version of Sailor Moon, with Zoisite being referred to as a woman (even having a female voice actress in Kristen Bishop), while Neptune and Uranus were referred to as cousins. This caused a sharp debate among Sailor Moon fans that exists to this day. Some fans prefer the dub because it was their introduction to Sailor Moon, while others have balked at the egregious changes that scrubbed out a great deal of LGBTQ+ representation at a time when most fans could have used it. For a time, the DIC dub was the only way for Sailor Moon fans to engage with the show — but that all changed in 2014.
Sailor Moon holding a wand with a moon on the end in Sailor Moon CrystalImage via Toei Animation
Sailor Moon would race back into prominence with the debut of Sailor Moon Crystal, a new series from Toei Animation that hewed far closer to the original series than the first anime did. To that extent, many of the series’ original themes have been restored, including Zoisite’s gender as well as Neptune and Uranus’ romantic relationships. The original series was also redubbed with all-new voice actors, which also kept the original themes intact. Both series would fall under the purview of VIZ Media, which obtained the license for Sailor Moonin 2014.
Once again, this opened up a debate between Sailor Moon fans, as some prefer the new dub while others express their love of the DIC dub with its warts and all. No matter what side of the debate one falls on, it is clear that the VIZ version of the series hews far closer to Takeuchi’s original vision and keeps in all the themes that made the series worth a watch. With Sailor Moon Cosmos having debuted in June 2023, the legacy of Sailor Moon proves to endure no matter what umbrella it’s under, or what censorship issues it’s faced in the past.
Sailor Moon is available to stream on Hulu and Pluto TV in the U.S.
