Sailor Moon (美少女戦士セーラームーン Bishojo Senshi Sera Mun) is a Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation. It adapts most of the 52 chapters of the original manga written by Naoko Takeuchi. The first installment in the Sailor Moon series, the show first aired in Japan on TV Asahi from March 7, 1992 to February 27, 1993.
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Dubbing History[]
In August 1995, after a bidding war with Toon Makers, who wanted to produce an American live-action/animated hybrid adaptation, DiC Entertainment licensed the first two seasons of Sailor Moon for an English-language release in North America. Canada-based Optimum Productions was hired to dub the anime. As the anime was marketed as a children's show in North America, DiC had mandated cuts to content and length, which reduced the first 46 episodes into 40 (removing episodes 2, 5, 6, 20 and 42).
The original music score was replaced with a new background score written by Bob Summers. Their adaptation was largely created to capitalize on the success of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Streamline Pictures founder and anime writer Carl Macek was originally hired as Creative Consultant, but was fired early on due to creative differences with DiC's CEO Andy Heyward. Fred Ladd took his place.
Sailor Moon's original English release was the subject of heavy editing which resulted in large amounts of removed content and alterations that greatly changed the original work. Much of these changes included altering every aspect of the show from character names, clothing, scenes and dialogue of the show. Some scenes of brief nudity and bathing were also censored, and any type of violence including violence against children were also removed. Homosexual characters, including Zoicite, Fisheye, Amara / Sailor Uranus, and Michelle / Sailor Neptune were also censored, with the former two's gender changed from male to female, and the latter two being explained as relatives rather than lovers (leaving the subtext very awkward).
The final two episodes had so much footage removed that they were merged into one episode. The deaths of the Sailor Senshi were explained away as them having been "kidnapped" by the Negaverse, something which confused fans who had never seen the original. Toei also had to approve all of the changes, often without consulting Naoko Takeuchi. DiC's edits have received much criticism from fans, going down in infamy for their often poor attempts at censorship.
The first series premiered in Canada on August 28, 1995, on YTV and in first-run syndication in the U.S. on September 11. Despite moderate success in Canada, the U.S. airing struggled in early morning "dead" timeslots; the series originally aired in the U.S. in morning and afternoon timeslots which Anne Allison describes as unsuitable for the target audience. On June 1, 1998, reruns of the series began airing on Cartoon Network's weekday afternoon programming block, Toonami, allowing the series greater exposure and greater success courtesy of The Program Exchange.
For many years, Toei Animation and Kodansha declined to renew any Sailor Moon licenses worldwide beginning in 2003. This left DiC's dubs out of print and the prospect of an uncut dub extremely unlikely. However, on May 16, 2014, North American manga and anime distributor Viz Media announced that it had acquired the Sailor Moon anime series, as well as the three films and specials, for an English-language release in North America, allowing Viz to restore the removed content from the first 89 episodes. Los Angeles-based Studiopolis was hired by Viz to redub the entire series.
The Viz Media dub would eventually make its English television debut on Adult Swim's short-lived Toonami Rewind programming block on May 31, 2024, marking the first broadcast of Sailor Moon on American television in 23 years, also showing episodes previously unaired in the country. It ran until November 29. The Viz Media dub will air on the Toonami block on January 25, 2025.
Cast[]
Main Characters[]
| Image | Character | Seiyū | Dub Actor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DiC | Viz Media | |||
 
|
Usagi Tsukino / Sailor Moon (Serena) |
Kotono Mitsuishi | Tracey Moore (eps. 1-14, 18, 25) |
Stephanie Sheh |
| Terri Hawkes (eps. 15-17, 19-24, 26-46) | ||||
| Kae Araki (eps. 44-46) | ||||
 
|
Ami Mizuno / Sailor Mercury (Amy Anderson) |
Aya Hisakawa | Karen Bernstein | Kate Higgins |
 
|
Rei Hino / Sailor Mars (Raye Hino) |
Michie Tomizawa | Katie Griffin | Cristina Vee |
 
|
Makoto Kino / Sailor Jupiter (Lita) |
Emi Shinohara | Susan Roman | Bennett Abara |
 
|
Minako Aino / Sailor Venus (Mina) |
Rika Fukami | Stephanie Morgenstern | Cherami Leigh |
 
|
Mamoru Chiba / Tuxedo Mask (Darien Shields) |
Tōru Furuya | Rino Romano (eps. 1-14) |
Robbie Daymond |
| Toby Proctor (eps. 15-46) | ||||
|
Megumi Ogata (young; eps. 34, 46) |
Nadine Rabinovitch | ||
|
Luna | Keiko Han | Jill Frappier | Michelle Ruff |
|
Artemis | Yasuhiro Takato | Ron Rubin | Johnny Yong Bosch |
Recurring Characters[]
Villains[]
| Image | Character | Seiyū | Dub Actor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DiC | Viz Media | |||
|
Queen Beryl | Keiko Han | Naz Edwards | Cindy Robinson |
| ||||
|
Jadeite (Jedite) |
Masaya Onosaka | Tony Daniels | Todd Haberkorn |
 
|
Nephrite / Masato Sanjouin (Nephlite / Maxfield Stanton) |
Katsuji Mori | Kevin Lund | Liam O'Brien |
|
Zoisite (Zoycite) |
Keiichi Nanba | Kirsten Bishop | Lucien Dodge |
|
Kunzite (Malachite) |
Kazuyuki Sogabe | Denis Akiyama | Patrick Seitz |
|
Queen Metalia (The Negaforce) |
Noriko Uemura | Maria Vacratsis | Mary Elizabeth McGlynn |
Episodic Characters[]
Additional Voices[]
Notes[]
- Many of DiC's character renames were adapted into the Latin Spanish dub and Brazilian Portuguese dub. While it is to an extent based on DiC's dub, the Latin Spanish dub and Brazilian Portuguese dub was much more faithful to the original with little edits and no episodes being cut from the rotation.
- The Lisa Ortiz who voiced Princess Diamond in the DiC dub is not to be confused with the New York-based voice actress of the same name. This Lisa Ortiz also appeared on the Canadian teen drama Hillside from 1991–1993, which many also assumed to be the latter voice actress.
- Due to Viz not using any custom credits (just the original Japanese credits); most of the voice cast (aside from the main cast revealed by press releases and the actors) is unknown.
- In the Toonami credits, Nicolas Roye is miscredited as Usagi's Dad.
Transmission[]
| Date(s) | Channel | Dub | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995-2004 | YTV | DiC | Canada | 
|
| 1995 | Syndication | United States | 
| |
| 1997 | USA Network | |||
| 1998-2002 | Cartoon Network (Toonami) | |||
| 2024 | Adult Swim (Toonami Rewind) |
Viz Media | ||
| 2025 | Adult Swim (Toonami) | |||
Video Releases[]
| Distributor | Year | Format | Contents | Dub | Region | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Buena Vista Home Video | 1996-1997 | 
|
Various Episodes* | DiC | NTSC | United States |
|
| 6 Volumes | |||||||
| ADV Films | 2000-2001 | The Complete Series | |||||
| 10 Volumes | |||||||
| 2002 | 
|
The Complete Series | 1 NTSC | ||||
| 7 Volumes* | |||||||
| Viz Media | 2014-2015 | The Complete Series | Viz | ||||
| 2 Volumes | |||||||
|
The Complete Series | A DVB-T | |||||
| 2 Volumes | |||||||
| 2022 | The Complete Series | ||||||
| 6 Discs | |||||||
* (1) Episodes 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 14, 21, 29, 30, 31, 39, 40
* (2) Volume 7 includes first two episodes of Sailor Moon R
References[]
- ↑ TOTS: The Official Tara Strong > Tara's Filmography. Retrieved March 26, 2019.
External Links[]
- Sailor Moon at the Internet Movie Database
- Sailor Moon (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
