Sailor Moon (English adaptations)

The "Sailor Moon" anime and manga metaseries has been adapted into many different languages, including English. One of the series' later localizations (the first dub having been in French), [cite web | author = Homme de Verre | title = Sailor Moon | work = Fiches de Séries | publisher = Planète Jeunesse | date = August 19, 2006 | url = http://www.planete-jeunesse.com/sources/series.php3?cle=161&sec=1 | accessdate = 2007-02-16 ] the English-language anime has also served as a profound introduction of anime to mainstream entertainment around the world.Fact|date=April 2007 The entire manga series has also been translated and released in English-speaking countries.

All English adapted anime episodes and the three movies were helmed by executive producer Janice Sonski. Lisa Lumby-Richards is the only writer to be credited throughout all four seasons, and the only script writer listed in the credits for the three "Sailor Moon" movies and the last seventeen episodes of "Sailor Moon R".

Anime

Production

The English adaptation of "Sailor Moon" was produced in an attempt to capitalize on the success of "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers". [cite journal
last = Allison
first = Anne
title = A Challenge to Hollywood? Japanese Character Goods Hit the US
journal = Japanese Studies
volume=20
issue = 1
pages = 67–88
publisher = Routledge
date = 2000
doi = 10.1080/10371390050009075 ] After a bidding war between Toon Makers and DiC Entertainment, [A clip from the Americanized version of "Sailor Moon" that Toon Makers presented to Toei can be seen at cite web |url= http://www.toonamiarsenal.com/download/sailormoon.php |title= Toonami Digital Arsenal |accessdate= 2007-03-16] DiC (which at the time was owned by The Walt Disney Company) [ [http://www.dicentertainment.com/corporate/ DIC Entertainment ] ] acquired the rights to the first 72 episodes of "Sailor Moon", consisting of the entire first series and two-thirds of "Sailor Moon R". Through the omission of 6 episodes and the merging of two, the total episode count was reduced to 65, the minimum number of episodes required for strip syndication on US television. These remaining episodes were each cut by several minutes to make room for more commercials, to censor plot points or visuals deemed inappropriate for children, and to allow the insertion of brief "educational" segments called "Sailor Says" at the end of each episode. The remaining 17 episodes of "Sailor Moon R" were adapted later,Clarifyme|date=March 2008 and were treated in much the same way.

At the time, it was unusual for anime theme songs to be translated, and this was one of the first such themes to be redone in English since "Speed Racer". [cite book |title=The Complete Anime Guide: Japanese Animation Video Directory & Resource Guide |last=Ledoux |first=Trish |coauthors=Ranney, Doug; Patten, Fred (e.d.) |year=1996 |publisher=Tiger Mountain Press |isbn=978-0964954236 |pages=p.38 ]

The English adaptations by Optimum Productions for Cloverway of "Sailor Moon S" and "Sailor Moon" SuperS (the third and fourth series) stayed relatively close to the original Japanese versions, and no episodes were skipped or merged.

Broadcasting history

North America

Beginning

The English adaptation of "Sailor Moon" hit the airwaves on August 28, 1995, with the show airing on YTV in Canada, and entered syndication in the United States two weeks later. While the show had moderate success on YTV, in the US the show struggled in early morning "dead" timeslots,cite book |last=Clements |first=Jonathan |authorlink=Jonathan Clements |coauthors=Helen McCarthy |title=The Anime Encyclopedia: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917 |date=2001-09-01 |publisher=Stone Bridge Press |location=Berkeley, California |isbn=1-880656-64-7 |oclc=47255331 |pages=p. 338 |edition=1st ed. ] [The series originally aired in the USA at 9:00 am, and 2:00 pm, which Anne Allison describes as unsuitable for the target audience, cite journal
last = Allison
first = Anne
title = A Challenge to Hollywood? Japanese Character Goods Hit the US
journal = Japanese Studies
volume=20
issue = 1
pages = 67–88
publisher = Routledge
date = 2000
doi = 10.1080/10371390050009075 ] implied to be due to local shows taking precedence for better times, leaving syndication in 1996 after 65 episodes had been broadcast, leaving no real conclusion or resolutions to the major "Sailor Moon R" storyline. A year later, in 1997, the show resurfaced on USA Network where it aired for several months before leaving the airwaves again.

Although the series aired at various times in America, in Canada it was fairly consistently given an early-afternoon timeslot (YTV scheduled the program for noon), and this consistency may explain how "Sailor Moon" was initially far more of a ratings success in Canada than in the States. In addition, the dialogue in the English-dubbed "Sailor Moon" was recorded in Toronto.

DiC originally dubbed a total of 65 episodes for distribution in 1995, a number that took them approximately two-thirds of the way through "Sailor Moon R" and ended on something of a cliffhanger. Fans created "an ultimately unsuccessful" campaign to keep Sailor Moon on the air, which Susan J. Napier believes "may have inspired" fan campaigns for Japanese voice tracks on DVD releases. [Napier, Susan J. (2001) [http://web.mit.edu/lipoff/www/hapr/fall01_health/pikachu.pdf Peek-a-boo Pikachu - Exporting an Asian Subculture] ] Two years later, in Canada, funding was acquired to dub the remaining seventeen "Sailor Moon R" episodes into English and the episodes aired in Canada to wrap up lingering plotlines. Ironically, the last episode of Sailor Moon R was a clip show episode, which featured previews for "Sailor Moon S", the show's third season. The shows were brought over to America a year later, initially billed as "The Lost Episodes."

DiC subsequently fell into breach of its contract to dub "Sailor Moon", allowing Cloverway Inc., the North American branch of Toei Animation, the Japanese studio that produced the original version of the anime, to pick up the distribution rights to "Sailor Moon S" and "SuperS".

Cartoon Network

On June 1, 1998, Cartoon Network acquired the rights to the original 65 English-dubbed "Sailor Moon" episodes and began airing them as part of its anime-themed Toonami block. The decision proved extremely profitable for Cartoon Network, as ratings for the show helped boost viewership for the Toonami programming block and generated revenue for them to acquire more shows such as Dragon Ball Z to add to the block. Cartoon Network later acquired the rights to the remaining "Sailor Moon R" episodes, and subsequently aired English-dubbed versions of "Sailor Moon Super" and "Sailor Moon SuperS". The Super and SuperS episodes also aired in Canada on YTV, in 2000.

Cloverway's production of the North American versions of "S" and "SuperS" was strikingly different from DiC's dubs of "Sailor Moon" and "R" in that it was much closer to the original version. All of the original animation and music was kept (except for the opening theme, which was the same as DiC's version (with different animation), and the closing theme, which omitted the vocal track). The "Sailor Says" segments were eliminated, and much less overt censorship was in evidence, as the rules for children's television in America having been relaxed in the intervening years due to the advent of a TV ratings system. However, many "Sailor Moon" fans disliked Cloverway's "Americanization" of the two series by the addition of slang words (such as "fine" or "buggin'") with no corollary in the Japanese series. [cite web |url=http://smuncensored.com/comparison.php?episodeid=143 |title= Sailor Moon Uncensored: Episode 143 |accessdate= 2007-07-06 |last= Wheeler |first= Robert |coauthors= Bednarski, Dan; Wood, Tiffany Full list of changes made for English dub] [ [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/sailor-moon-super-s/dvd-4 Sailor Moon Super S DVD 4 - Review - Anime News Network ] ] They also vehemently objected to the treatment of the characters of Sailor Uranus (Amara/Haruka Tenoh) and Sailor Neptune (Michelle/Michiru Kaioh) during "Sailor Moon S". Though it was never stated in the show, in the original Japanese series it was strongly implied that they were lesbians, a fact that manga creator Naoko Takeuchi has confirmed; in Cloverway's adaptation they became "cousins" instead, an attempt to explain their relationship away as something else (homosexuality being an extremely taboo subject in American children's entertainment). [cite news
last =Sebert
first =Paul
title = Kissing cousins may bring controversy Cartoon Network juggles controversial topics contained in the “Sailor Moon S” series
work = The Daily Athenaeum Interactive
pages =
language =
publisher =
date =2000-06-28
url = http://www.da.wvu.edu/archives/002806/news/002806,07,01.html
accessdate = 2007-02-21 ] Nonetheless, it is generally agreed among the fan community that Cloverway's efforts represented a major improvement over DiC's dubbing of the first two series.

The "S" and "SuperS" dubs were first aired in 2000 on Cartoon Network as part of their Toonami programming block, and on YTV. The movies were also dubbed by Cloverway (but with many DiC voice actors returning for their previous roles) and aired on Cartoon Network and YTV. The broadcast syndication licence for "Sailor Moon" in North America recently expired, and Cartoon Network lost the rights to it in May 2003.

The dubbing in all cases was performed at Optimum Studios in Toronto, Ontario, with Canadian voices in most of the character roles. The show was originally distributed for broadcast syndication by Seagull Entertainment, and later by Buena Vista Television (who had obtained an interest in DiC after Disney purchased ABC) and the Program Exchange. As indicated by the [http://www.optimumprod.com/ Optimum Productions] website, the writing staff is employed by Optimum; as such, some writers are common to both the DiC and the Cloverway produced versions of the show. The company boasts "trained adapters" who utilize "hip" colloquialized dialogue of the target country.

In addition to Cloverway's edits, Cartoon Network cut out 1-2 minutes of footage per episode to make room for more commercials when shown on their network. Occasionally, they made additional changes to skip visuals they believed were inappropriate. For example, an image of full rear nudity when Sailor Uranus detransforms was skipped. [ [http://www.smuncensored.com/comparison.php?episodeid=115 Sailor Moon Uncensored: Episode 115] ] Most cuts were made similar to DiC Entertainment's censorship policy (see "Alterations" below) although not as harsh nor restricted to just cutting out. Two episodes were skipped by Cartoon Network when the problem couldn't be solved. Episode 119 for instance was at first skipped because its monster-of-the-day was essentially naked, and thus deemed too risque for the show's target audience. In the series' second run, however, the episode finally aired, and solved the monster's revealing skin by digitally adding in a bikini to it. [ [http://www.smuncensored.com/comparison.php?episodeid=119 Sailor Moon Uncensored: Episode 119] .] Episode 152 was also skipped by Cartoon Network, but for reasons that are not as clear. Like episode 119, it also eventually aired on the series' second run. [ [http://www.smuncensored.com/comparison.php?episodeid=152 Sailor Moon Uncensored: Episode 152] .] The VHS and DVD releases of Sailor Moon S and Sailor Moon SuperS by Cloverway restore most of the scenes cut by Cartoon Network, including the controversial ones.

Australia

In Australia, the first 65 syndicated episodes of "Sailor Moon" were first seen afternoons on the ABC's children's block in late 1995 [cite web | url=http://www2b.abc.net.au/tmb/Client/Message.aspx?b=2&m=128723&ps=20&dm=1&pd=3 | title =ABC Discussion: Bring Back Sailor Moon! ] [cite web | url=http://www.dvd.net.au/review.cgi?review_id=1700 | title =DVDnet: Sailor Moon Vol 1 Review ] . The following year, they were transferred to the Seven Network's "Agro's Cartoon Connection". They were replayed there several times, until early 1999, when Seven would finally air the newer 17 episodes. All 82 English episodes would be played on Seven once more; late 1999 - early 2000 on their morning program, "The Big Breakfast". In early 2002, the series was again transferred, this time to Network Ten's "Cheez TV". "Cheez TV" only played the first 65 episodes (twice), and due to classification restrictions, were forced to skip two episodes, "Match Point For Sailor Moon" and "A Friend In Wolf's Clothing".

"Sailor Moon" also played on Australian cable network Fox Kids from September 2001; Fox Kids was the first Australian outlet to play the entirety of the English-dubbed series, with "Sailor Moon Super" starting in April 2002 and "Sailor Moon SuperS" starting in August 2002. In December 2002, Fox Kids aired a marathon of all 159 episodes over two weeks.

United Kingdom

Sailor Moon first aired on Fox Kids UK (now known as Jetix) in 1999, paired off with Digimon, and used the North American DiC dub.

Fox Kids repeated the Dark Kingdom arc and the Alan and Ann arc of "Sailor Moon R" until airing the rest of R around the end of 2000. Fans with the Internet found out about the later seasons, and signed petitions to put "Sailor Moon S" on Fox Kids. Fox Kids stated repeatedly that they were going to, and in 2002 they showed a preview clip with scenes from the S season that declared "New episodes of Sailor Moon coming soon!". Fox Kids never aired S. Much the same thing happened with the fourth season of Digimon at around the same time.

Around this time, UK channel 3, or ITV1, started showing "Sailor Moon" in a kids' segment of GMTV on Saturday mornings, called "Up on the Roof" (now known as " [http://www.toonattik.tv Toonattik] "). This, despite time edits which compounded the already problematic DiC cuts, proved popular, but since Fox Kids (who held the UK rights for Sailor Moon) would not give them up apart from the first 13 episodes, Sailor Moon was cancelled on that network, and shortly thereafter cancelled on Fox Kids as well.

Although ITV put the first 13 episodes they had on VHS, they did not sell very well. MVM, a UK anime company, released the dub versions of the first two seasons on DVD, but they did not sell well either,cite journal
last = Cox
first = Gemma
title = Anime Archive: Sailor Moon - The Most Popular Unsuccessful Series Ever?
journal = NEO
issue = 18
pages = 98
publisher = Uncooked Media
date = Spring of 2006 ] a fact MVM attributes to the dub only status of the DVDs, as MVM were unable to secure uncut masters, and major retailers' refusal to support the show meaning the release neither appealed to children nor older anime fans. This release nearly led the company to bankruptcy,Fact|date=February 2008 and MVM's fortunes have been mixed ever since. No attempt was ever made to release the uncut version of the show or the later seasons.

[http://www.evivid.co.uk/ Vivid Imaginations] , a UK distributor, also released some of the Irwin Sailor Moon toys, such as the Crescent Moon Wand; these items, as well as the dolls, sold fairly wellFact|date=February 2008 despite an advertising campaign considered by many to be poor.

According to TV schedules on sites like Virgin Media, the dubbed anime is currently rumored to be aired on a FTA channel called Sat 1, however Sat 1 official schedules contradict this, so this information cannot yet be confirmed.

Home video

During 1996-97, a total of six VHS tapes, each containing two key (nonconsecutive in most cases) episodes of the series, were released by Buena Vista Home Video . These tapes were originally available exclusively through Toys 'R' Us stores, but later saw wider distribution in other chains. In 1998, a VHS boxset containing all thirteen episodes of the "Doom Tree" storyline (the first part of "R") was released, also through Buena Vista.

Pioneer Entertainment (now Geneon Entertainment) had the rights to release "Sailor Moon S", "SuperS" and the movies on Region-1 DVD and VHS, both in the dubbed and uncut versions. In 2000, ADV released the English dubs of "Sailor Moon" and "Sailor Moon R" in a 20 volume VHS series. [ [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2000-10-24/adv-press-release-re-sailor-moon-announces-dirty-pair-flash-dvd ADV Press Release re: Sailor Moon, Announces Dirty Pair Flash DVD - Anime News Network ] ] During 2001, Pioneer had released Sailor Moon in four different stock-keeping units, and released a box set of the movies in that October. [ [http://www.icv2.com/articles/indepth/619.html ICv2 Talk Back - Sailor Moon Explained, Plus Fushigi Yugi, Cardcaptors, More ] ] The series release was later taken to DVD in 2002, released over fourteen Region-1 DVDs. These were also released on Region 4 (Australia) by Madman Entertainment and Region 2 (UK) by MVM Films. ADV also released a subtitled version of the entire "Sailor Moon" and "Sailor Moon R" series in two separate DVD boxsets -- uncut, except for the removal of next episode previews and one episode (67) from the "Sailor Moon R" set, and using different versions of some openings than were in the original. ADV's license to distribute "Sailor Moon" and "Sailor Moon R" in either form expired at the end of March 2004. Geneon's license expired in 2005.

The plot of episode 67 involves Chibiusa finding and befriending a dinosaur, but not any fighting against the main villains of the series. Its absence is notable due to it being "Sailor Moon R"'s requisite "summer holiday" episode, of which one was featured in each of the five "Sailor Moon" series. Some printings of the ADV box set include a full description of episode 67 in their liner notes, perhaps suggesting that the decision to remove it was done relatively late in the production process.

So far, no American company is known to have the rights to release the "Ami-chan no Hatsukoi" theatrical short (shown prior to the "SuperS" movie), the "SuperS" TV special, or the "Sailor Stars" series.

Alterations

The North American version of the "Sailor Moon" anime was translated and distributed in 1995 by DiC Entertainment, initially airing on YTV in Canada and various television stations in the United States. Although the basic storyline remained the same, many alterations were made - the target age group was several years younger in America, and so censorship was often applied due to differences between Japanese and American views about what is and is not appropriate material for younger viewers.

Many "Sailor Moon" fans familiar with the original Japanese version express great disdain for the English adaptation. [http://www.neomag.co.uk/article.asp?IntID=9] Alterations ranged from mild to severe; plot points were vastly altered, and in some cases dropped altogether. Some of these changes include:

* General renaming. Besides individual characters, the Sailor Senshi team became the "Sailor Scouts" instead of the more accurate translation "Sailor Soldiers". In later episodes the second term was used more often. Almost all of the original attacks were renamed despite already being in English, and the phrase "Make-up!" was removed from transformations. It was replaced with the "Scout Power!" or "Transform!" only in group transformations.
* Omission of the Japanese version's original music. The original background music was mainly recorded by a live orchestra, while the English dub music was all computer-made. The melody of the original theme song, "Moonlight Densetsu" ("Moonlight Legend"), was retained for the dub's theme song, but with very different lyrics and redone instrumentation, animation, and special effects. A shorter version of the same song was used at the end credits, replacing the original end credit song. After Cloverway took over from DiC (episode #90 onwards) the original background music was retained.
* Small transition sequence-animations were added, used whenever the story skipped ahead in time or from one scene or location to another. Some of these were made with CGI. In addition, the original eyecatch-animations for the mid-episode commercial breaks were removed.
* Scripts were rewritten to suggest that "all" enemies came from the so-called "Negaverse," rather than having distinct alliances and histories. This practice was soon downplayed by DiC themselves, and dropped altogether once Cloverway took over.
* Some elements of the plot or dialogue were reworked, often resulting in continuity problems from one episode or one scene to the next. For example, in "Day of Destiny," "Serena" (Usagi) remembers a scene in which she and "Darien" (Mamoru) fall off a balcony and she uses an umbrella to float safely to the ground, but that scene was cut from the actual dub episode from which it came, and she still remembers it.
* Adding a one minute "explanation sequence" at the beginning of episode one, explaining the background story of the plot. This sequence was edited together by clips from later episodes, combined with a narration voice. Often clips were used in these previews that were not even viewed in the English season, defeating the purpose.
* Complete omission of six episodes by the dubbers, for varying reasons not always but usually stemming from content concerns. These included the use of fortunetelling and tarot cards in Episode 2 and Usagi's transformation into an older, "punkish" version of herself to get into a piano bar in Episode 6.
* Removal of much of the adolescent sexuality, and of homosexual relationships. These relationships were "solved" in three separate cases: twice by giving effeminate men a female voice actor and using feminine pronouns to make their relationships heterosexual, [This was done with Zoisite, who was in a relationship with Kunzite, and with Fisheye, who cross-dressed and was openly attracted to various men (including Mamoru Chiba).] and once by making the characters Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune (who were obviously female) cousins instead of a lesbian couple, and by editing out most of their implicitly romantic scenes. For scenes of near-nudity, such as transformation sequences and bathing scenes, body lines were removed around the breasts and pubic regions. [ [http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=871098 SSRN-Of Otaku and Fansubs: A Critical Look at Anime Online in Light of Current Issues in Copyright Law by Jordan Hatcher ] ]
* Removal of "any violence"cite journal | last = Allison | first = Anne |authorlink = Anne Allison | title = A Challenge to Hollywood? Japanese Character Goods Hit the US | journal = Japanese Studies | volume=20 | issue = 1 | pages = 67-88 | publisher = Routledge | date = 2000 | doi = 10.1080/10371390050009075 ] (such as when Sailor Mars slaps Sailor Moon), and removal or alteration of small details like people sticking their tongues out. These scenes were believed to have a potentially negative influence on children's behavior.
* Removal or altering of some (though not all) specifically Japanese cultural references which might not have made sense to English-speaking audiences - for example, changing dumplings to doughnuts, removing references to mock exams and other characteristics of the Japanese school system (such as marking right answers with circles and wrong answers with crosses), and changing the cram school that Ami Mizuno attends to a computer school (though the dub script did refer to it as a "cram" school once). At the same time, the English dub left most of the Japanese text on signs, in publications, etc. untouched and untranslated, with a few exceptions (such as the sign over the junior high school).
* An end-of-show "morals" segment, "Sailor Says", which was added on to each episode to satisfy the contemporary requirement of educational content on American children's TV shows. Again, this no longer occurred after Cloverway began handling the dub. On several occasions, the "Sailor Says" segments - which were played out as voiceovers over vaguely-related clips from the episode they were tacked on to - contained footage that had been cut from the dubbed version of that episode, including some of the more controversial footage.

Perhaps most infamously remembered among fans was the treatment of the episode "Day of Destiny," which concluded the first series. The original version of this episode was actually two separate episodes, the first of which included the deaths of all the Sailor Soldiers except for Sailor Moon herself; as the storyline progressed, Sailors Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, and Mars sacrificed themselves to protect their friend and leader. The second episode involved the deaths of Tuxedo Mask and ultimately Sailor Moon herself. Though each character was resurrected in the conclusion, it was still deemed necessary to remove all references to death in the American episode: instead of being killed, the Senshi's death scenes were rewritten to say that the girls were captured and held hostage in the Negaverse. Enough editing was required, in fact, that the two episodes were merged into one. Bootleg copies of the original two-parter were popular among fans in North America during the height of the series' popularity in the region.

The North American version was the first experience with "Sailor Moon" (if not anime in general) for many Anglophones, and the differences between the two versions led to much confusion. However, many fans worldwide would never have known about the series had it not reached North America, and so many regard the North American version as a mixed blessing. [cite web | url=http://moonkitty.net/Ep_SM_index.php | author=Brad | publisher=MoonKitty.net | title=Sailor Moon Anime Guide | accessdate=2006-12-01] [cite web | url=http://smuncensored.com/editorial.php?article=13 | author=Robert Wheeler | publisher= Sailor Moon Uncensored | work= Editorials| title=Disliking Vs. Hating | date=April 3, 2002 | accessdate=2006-12-01]

Name changes

Before "Sailor Moon's" American debut, DiC distributed a promotional tape to syndicators and stations to sell the series. This tape is notable in that it features completely different names for the five main characters; Usagi was called "Victoria," Ami "Blue," Rei "Dana," Makoto "Sarah," and Minako "Carrie." Tuxedo Mask was temporarily "The Masked Tuxedo." [cite web |url= http://www.toonamiarsenal.com/download/sailormoon.php |title= Toonami Digital Arsenal |accessdate= 2006-11-02 |author= Tyler L. |coauthors= Zogg ] However, when the series aired the names were closer to their original form, either in sound or meaning:

*Usagi Tsukino - "Serena" (named for Princess Serenity)
*Ami Mizuno - "Amy"
*Rei Hino - "Raye"
*Makoto Kino - "Lita"
*Minako Aino - "Mina"
*Haruka Tenoh - "Amara"
*Michiru Kaioh - "Michelle"
*Setsuna Meioh - "Trista"
*Mamoru Chiba - "Darien"
*Chibiusa - "Rini" (diminutive of "Serena", as "Chibiusa" from "Usagi")The only Sailor Senshi who retains her original name is Hotaru Tomoe, though in line with English pronunciation practice, the final 'e' in her family name is not pronounced (IPA|/ˈto(ʊ)ˌmo(ʊ)/ instead of IPA|/ˈtoˌmo.e/).

"Saban Moon"

When "Sailor Moon" was up for bids by Toei to be produced in North America, Toon Makers, Incorporated attempted to obtain the rights to the franchise in order to produce an original "Power Rangers"-style version of "Sailor Moon". This version was intended to be half live-action and half American-style cartoon. Toon Makers produced a two-minute music video and trailer for this version of Sailor Moon, but it was rejected by Toei because the series would have cost significantly more than simply exporting and dubbing the original anime. The trailer was shown to an audience at Anime Expo 1998 and met with scorn and derision. Commonly known as "Saban Moon" in fan circles (because of the mistaken belief that Saban had created it), the clip was taped off the screen at the Anime Expo exhibition and is available for viewing on the Internet. It has been cited as a worst-case scenario in comparison with the dubbed episodes. [cite web|url=http://www.lizzard.net/SuperS/downloads/index.html| title=In Defense of Sailor Moon SuperS|accessdate=2007-04-04] A pilot episode was completed, but due to the negative feedback the trailer received at the Expo, combined with Toei's rejection of the concept, it was decided that the pilot would not be shown to the public.

All of the five Guardian Senshi are depicted in the "Saban Moon" clip. An interview with Rocky Solotoff, [cite web
last = Arnold
first = Adam "OMEGA"
title = Sailor Moon à la Saban: Debunked - An Interview with Rocky Solotoff
publisher = Animefringe
date = June 2001
url = http://www.animefringe.com/magazine/01.06/feature/2/index.php3
format = Q&A ] founder and CEO of Toon Makers Inc. is still sketchy with regards to many details of what would have been. What is clear is that the show, like "Power Rangers", tried to be as "politically correct" as possible; one Senshi was depicted as wheelchair-bound, and another was cast to be African-American. Although only a fluffy white cat is seen in the pilot (and was, according to the trailer's lyrics, apparently planned to be Luna), Solotoff reported that both a white and a black cat were planned to be in the series.

One curious remnant of Toon Makers' involvement with Sailor Moon is the Moon Cycle toy that Bandai manufactured and sold as part of the U.S. line of Sailor Moon toys. The vehicle was to be featured in the Toon Makers series, but was not part of the original metaseries. The logo used in the "Saban Moon" preview was adopted by the North American dub and is the one that is most commonly recognized by English audiences.

Manga

Although the original manga came before the TV series, it was not translated into English until two years after the anime. The English version was released in 1997 by manga publisher Mixx (now renamed Tokyopop). The manga was initially syndicated in "MixxZine" but was later pulled out of that magazine and moved into a secondary magazine called "SMILE." [cite web
title = Mixx Controversies: Analysis
work = Features
publisher = Anime News Network
date = August 14, 1998
url = http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/1998-08-14/5
accessdate = 2007-01-24 ]

The U.S. Sailor Moon monthly comic ran for 35 issues, and aside from finishing up the Dark Kingdom storyline, it featured the manga versions of Sailor Moon R and Super. The US manga volumes were released as three series: "Sailor Moon", which collects the first three arcs (the Dark Kingdom, Black Moon, and Infinity arcs), Sailor Moon SuperS, which collects the Dream arc, and Sailor Moon Stars, which collects the Stars arc. As of May 2005, Tokyopop's license to the Sailor Moon manga has lapsed, and the English-language manga is out of print. [cite web | url=http://www.tokyopop.com/oop.html | title=Tokyopop Out of Print | accessdate=2006-10-18]

Alterations

For the most part the names chosen for the English manga matched up with those chosen the English television dub. Some modifications were made—for instance, Darien is given a surname, Shields (a play off of his Japanese name, Mamoru, 'to guard/protect'), and Serena is usually called by the nickname "Bunny" (a literal translation of her original name, Usagi). Other senshi are given family names matching the Japanese versions (Tsukino, Aino, Kino, Mizuno, and Hino). All of the Outer Senshi, who were introduced in the English manga before their appearance in the Cloverway dub, retain their original names. The manga was also flipped left to right, which was standard at the time of publication. The US manga, while omitting some of the bonus artwork included in the original manga, featured new bonus artwork commissioned exclusively for the US manga series. Inserts, dust jackets, and introductory pages were cut for budget. There were a few minor tweaks at the beginning, where many of the girls talked in stereotypical teenager talk. This was later changed when the editor changed. Also, in the instance of a poem by William Butler Yeats having been used in the text, the editors translated it back from the Japanese rather than using the original English.

Other changes of note are the covers, which do not exactly match the original, and the sizes of the manga are slightly different. (The original is 4.5" x 6.75", but the Mixx manga is 4.5" x 7.75".) As "Sailor Moon" was Mixx's first title, the quality of its translation in the beginning is considered poor, though it improves somewhat towards the end of its publication run.

Mixx also altered Takeuchi's side-notes in the manga, completely rewriting them so the fundamental points were the same but they took on the appearance of an interview between herself and MixxZine (which didn't occur). Cultural references were Americanized, and because Japanese is read right-to-left and English is read left-to-right, Mixx flipped the pages (save for full-page images) so that all the drawings were mirror-images.

Future development

It has been confirmed that "Sailor Stars", the final season of the "Sailor Moon" anime, will not be dubbed, because Toei is not putting it up for license. The manga is expected to remain out-of-print as well, although TokyoPop is looking into renegotiating the rights. [ [http://www.genvid.com/News/TokyoPop-attempting-to-renegotiate-manga-license.html The Sailor Moon Soapbox @ Genvid | TokyoPop attempting to renegotiate manga license ] ] On May 5th, AnimeonDVD reported from Anime Central 2007 that "Toei currently has a lockdown on all Sailor Moon licenses, but Geneon may be interested if the situation changes." [ [http://www.animeondvd.com/conitem.php?item=278 AnimeOnDVD.com - Convention Reports ] ] Geneon later suspended its North American business in October of 2007.

Toei has also stated that it does not ever intend to license its recent live-action series "Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon", or the musicals, outside of Japan.Fact|date=October 2007 Viewers outside the country, including those in North America, generally rely on alternate means, such as the Internet, to obtain these.

In August 2007, Toei held a poll to determine viewer interest in potential series to make available for Video on Demand. There were 50 options, including popular titles such as "Sailor Moon", "Digimon", and "Ojamajo Doremi". [ [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/survey/140/result Toei Video on Demand - Anime News Network ] ] The results of the poll show that 2535 out of 3979 votes had been placed for the "Sailor Moon" series. The poll included not only the four English-dubbed series, but the fifth "Sailor Stars" series as well.Fact|date=October 2007 According to Anime News Network, the "Sailor Moon" anime is currently part of a subscription service in Japan where premium members are allowed full access to their titles. This was produced in accordance with the ISP BIGLOBE and subscribers pay 1554 yen (US$13) (UK£6:50) per month. [ [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-09-05/toei-strikes-deal-with-nec Toei, NEC Offers Online Anime Service in Japan - Anime News Network ] ]

ee also

*List of Sailor Moon chapters
*List of Sailor Moon episodes
*Sailor Moon soundtracks (USA)

References

External links

* [http://www.optimumprod.com Optimum productions] - Official website of the English dubbing company.
* [http://www.smuncensored.com/ "Sailor Moon" Uncensored] - Details on the differences between the Japanese and English versions of the show.
* [http://thetour.animehunters.com/mareingenii/dubbed/index.html The Tour] - A guide to the dubbed version of Sailor Moon, including character info and voice acting info
* [http://www.toonamiarsenal.com/download/sailormoon.php Toonami Digital Arsenal] - A page with many Sailor Moon downloads, including the Toon Makers trailer clip and the DiC promotional video.