[Part 5: "S Series" Japanese Episodes 90-127]

S Series in English - General Background

These English episodes (S Series) were translated at the request of Cartoon Network and aired on that station in the year 2000.  Translation was done by CWI (Toei's representative in America) and not by Dic.  As in previous English episodes, voice recording was done at Optimum Productions (Toronto).  Not all the actors were available so Sailor Moon, Mercury and Venus have new voices.  In multiple episodes, scene transitions effects added like stars or glitter were added to the English version.  The music is mostly unchanged from the Japanese version.  Some of the main changes are described in the following list...

Note an uncut version of S series is now available on home video and DVD.

Kaolinite is called Kaori Knight in the English version.

The major change in this episode was to reduce the amount of cleavage shown by the daimon.  In some parts, this was done by cutting to the next scene more quickly.  For the scene shown at the left, the American version is "zoomed in" so the picture is cut off at about the level of her left hand.

The scene in which Sailor Moon's transformation is reversed is virtually identical in Japanese [shown at right] and English.

In general, the dialogue in this episode was all very close to the Japanese.  The music within the episode was almost entirely unchanged from the Japanese version too except that the Japanese ending theme, Tuxedo Mirage, was replaced by a music-only version of the English theme song.  The end theme animation cuts off early in the English version.  In the original, the picture in the upper left continues to change until it is a picture of Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion (Prince Darien), then that picture disappears and after a sparkle of moonlight, the Prince appears on top of the 'magic lantern', beside the Princess who is already there (very romantic!).

The professor's introduction in English is similar in Japanese except that there is no mention of a "Purity Force".  In Japanese the professor discusses the need to locate the three talismans.  For some reason Kaori says that the daimon egg is going to invade and destroy a pure heart.  The daimon's purpose is to steal pure hearts, not to destroy them.

Cruelty to animals!  When the girls are giving excuses as to why they can't take the stray cats, Mina says that Artemis is already more than enough trouble.  Artemis starts to complain so Mina whacks him.  In English they cut out the punch.

Lita says she can't take a cat because of her mother's allergies.  In Japanese, Mako-chan has no parents and lives by herself.  She says she can't afford to keep a pet.

One of the best episodes!  The English version is pretty much unchanged except of course that Haruka is renamed "Amara" and Michiru is "Michelle".

Surprisingly, the Japanese text that flashes up when Serena and Mina first see Amara/Haruka is not changed in English version.  The text says kakoii which means 'cool' or 'attractive'.

Amara responds to Mina and Serena's questioning about Michiru by saying "there is no us".  This is immediately followed by the 'broken heart' graphic and Mina and Serena falling down.  Why a broken heart if "there is no us" between Amara and Michelle?  In Japanese, Haruka's response is "Girlfriend?  Michiru?  Maybe it's more than that".  The rest of the conversation is basically the same in both versions.

In both versions, Haruka/Amara says she had to give up her dream of becoming a race car driver, but in English it sounds like she just gave up because it was unrealistic whereas in Japanese she implies that she was somehow forced to give it up.

At the concert, Amara and Michelle spot Darien and Serena.  Michelle is looking at Darien and Amara jokingly accuses Michelle of drooling.  In this scene in Japanese, Haruka comments that Darien is a pretty sharp looking guy and Michiru merely comments that it's "nice to be young".

The scene where Serena is "misbehaving" at the concert is shortened in English.  In Japanese, it starts with a close-up of a drooling Usagi (Serena) with hearts for eyes, then pans up to Mamoru (Darien) who has the anime "sweat drop" (pressure/stress) on his head!

When the Sailor Soldiers confront their enemy, Sailor Moon scolds the daimon for interrupting the music.  In Japanese, she scolds the daimon for interrupting her romantic evening.

At the start, Elizabeth (who is named Unazuki in Japanese), says that Darien is giving her a lift because her brother "Paul" forgot something.  Guess they forgot that Elizabeth's brother is Andrew (the arcade guy)!

Amara and Michelle overhear Elizabeth and Serena talking at the dessert parlor and agree that the first kiss is an important memory then Michelle says that her first kiss was with a boy named Brad.  The Japanese version is quite different. Haruka (Amara) laughs at Unazuki's innocence and says it is very cute.  Then Michiru (Michelle) says she thinks it's romantic and says "Do you know who was the first to kiss in this world?  It was Adam and Eve."  [I have no idea why she says this.]  The rest of the conversation, about customs related to kissing in different parts of the world, is the same in both languages.

When the girls go to Elizabeth's house, Lita says she's looking forward to Elizabeth's cupcakes.  In Japanese, she says she wants to clean Motoki's (Andrew's) room again (like in the episode "Too Many Girlfriends").

Ah yes, the infamous kiss scene.  Although Elizabeth/Unazuki never actually manages to kiss anyone in either version, she gets a lot closer in Japanese!

The funny ending is identical in English and Japanese.

This episode is mostly unchanged, but there are a few weird parts in the translation.  For example, when Molly and Melvin pull out their contest tickets to show Serena, Molly says "You blew it Melvin"; a comment which doesn't seem connected to anything.

Another odd translation is when the girls gang up on Amy for saying that she wants to "witness" the contest.  In Japanese, she says that she might learn something from the contest.  The other girls want to know what Amy thinks she needs to learn from a lover's contest - and who she needs to learn it for!

Later, when Amara immediately finds Michelle's hand in the first contest event, Ami says (in Japanese) "I wonder if it's that kind of relationship."  That's why the girls all look at Ami and Ami looks embarrassed.  In English, Amy makes some sort of neutral comment.

In English, one of the girls comments that Michelle and Amara are cousins.  In the original story, they are not cousins.

The English episode gets really mixed up in that the translators can't seem to decide if it's a "Friendship Contest" or a "Love Contest".  At the beginning they go to great effort to make it a "Friendship" contest, but then the part where Amara is embarrassed to call out Michelle's name doesn't make sense.  At the end, when Melvin makes his love confession to Molly, the translators seem to give up on "Friendship" and it becomes a "Love" contest again.

Amara's speech when she and Michelle quit the contest is actually the same in English and Japanese.

When the couples go to confess their love, one man charges towards the woman yelling something about love being a battle.  She conks him over the head with a giant mallet.  In English you see the "before" and "after" but not the actual bonk on the head.

Melvin's speech is worded differently in English and Japanese but the overall idea is the same.

In this episode, Lita takes a liking to Amara and Serena starts to worry that she is losing her friendship with Lita.

In the Japanese series, Mako (Lita) is very self-conscious about her height and feels that boys won't like her because she is tall and unfeminine.  At the start of this episode she tells Usagi that part of why she started cooking was to be more feminine (or to show more of her "softer side" as she says in English), and to compensate for being tall and not pretty.  Haruka (Amara) on the other hand, makes no attempts to conform to society's idea of how girls should be.  She dresses boyishly, races motorcycles and drives fast cars.  So it's not surprising that Mako becomes fascinated with Haruka as a sort of feminist role-model.

Where the English and Japanese versions differ more strongly is that in Japanese, Usagi and the other girls think that Mako has fallen for Haruka because of her boyish looks!  Usagi reminds Mako several times that Haruka is a girl.  Since it has already been insinuated in S series episodes 3 and 6 that Haruka may prefer women to men, Usagi and the others become concerned that Mako may be heading into some sort of girl-girl romance.  When Lita is on the pier, the girls call her up on the communicator and tell her that there are plenty of great guys in the world and she shouldn't give up yet!  Actually, Mako is a little concerned about Haruka's reputation too.  That's why she blushes during the car ride when Haruka says she wants to be "closer friends".

When Serena pulls out the "love quiz" magazine from under Raye's books, the magazine cover shows a woman with a fake moustache.  The magazine is actually a souvenir book from Takarazuka Revue, a famous Japanese theatre group where all roles including the male ones are played by women.  In Japanese, Usagi teases Rei saying that Rei must have some "strange" reason for owning such a souvenir!

The scene of Michelle getting out of the pool is shortened in the English version by dropping this shot.

When the daimon attacks Lita, Lita makes a startled face and hides her eyes.  In the Japanese version, the daimon pulls back her cloak with a very dramatic motion, as if she is about to "flash" Mako.  Mako desperately tries to hide her eyes but when she looks up we see that the daimon has a red dress on.

In the English version the daimon's black star symbol is not shown. Geez I wonder why.

In the English episode, it's mentioned twice that Amara and Michelle are cousins, while in Japanese they are not.

There is an interesting Japanese cultural reference in this episode. Near the beginning of this episode, Amy/Ami is sitting in front of a statue of a girl when Darien/Maroru comes across her. The park with this statue is a real place in the Azabu Jûban district of Tokyo. The statue is called Kimi-chan or 'The Girl With Red Shoes' and it is based on an old Japanese song. An article in the Daily Yomiuri newspaper summarized the history of the statue this way,

The song goes, "The little girl who wore red shoes has gone--led away by a foreigner." The girl is believed to be Kimi Iwasaki, who was born in Shizuoka Prefecture in 1902. According to popular legend, Kayo, Kimi's mother, moved to Hokkaido to work on a farm when her daughter was 3 years old. Worrying that Kimi might not be able to survive the harsh Hokkaido climate, Kayo asked a foreign missionary to adopt the girl. Kayo believed her daughter was living happily in the United States. But, in fact, Kimi developed tuberculosis just before going to the United States and died at a church orphanage in Azabu-Juban. She was 9. The song's lyrics, based on a children's story, were written in 1921 by Ujo Noguchi (1882-1945), who met Kayo in Hokkaido.

In Japan, the statue has come to symbolize the sacrifices or harsh decisions that parents make for the good of their child. Certainly, this symbolism could apply to Amy and her mother who sacrifice their family life for the sake of an important career. A tradition has built up of placing coins at the foot of the Kimi-chan statue, which the local business association donates to UNICEF or other children's charities.

The ending is pretty similar in Japanese and English except that in Japanese, Ami never directly says that she and Tuxedo Mask make a good match; but she implys it when she says that she won't give up on "anything".

Amara wins the moto-cross race but Amy says she was too busy reading her textbook to see it.  In Japanese, Ami says that the race was so exciting, it made her forget one of the English vocabulary words she was memorizing!

When Serena and Amara hide behind the bushes from the biker guys, Serena thinks to herself that she wanted to be with Darien today.  In Japanese, she thinks to herself that being held by Haruka is like being held in the arms of a guy.  The part about the perfume is the same in both versions.

When Amara gets the call on her communicator watch, she says to Serena that she got an important call and has to go.  Doesn't Serena think it's odd that Amara has a communicator watch?  Apparently not.  (Hey, they have all kind of electronic gadgets in Japan, right?)  In Japanese, Haruka simply says that she has to go do something and takes off.

Why does Chad challenge a girl to a fight?  Doesn't seem very honourable, does it?  In Japanese, Yuuichirou (Chad) thinks that Haruka (Amara) is a guy!  That's why he gets jealous and challenges Haruka to a fight.  In English he's just jealous out of general frustration, or something.  The episode "Driving Dangerously" already established that people mistake Amara for being a guy, so it's not clear why they tried to change the plot so much for this episode.

In the story up to this point, it's not really clear how much feelings Raye has for Chad.  The second major change to this episode is that in Japanese, Rei never says that she is in love with Yuuichirou (Chad).  When Rei  talks to Mako (Lita), she doesn't say anything about Yuuichirou or guy problems at all.  She doesn't specifically say that she had a vision, either.

The dialogue in the scene in which Serena teases Chad about being in love with Raye is completely rewritten from the original.  In English, Serena tells him that he can't be so obvious about his feelings if he wants to win Raye over and at the end of their discussion Chad gets annoyed with Serena and starts yelling.  In Japanese, Usagi encourages Yuuichirou by telling him that Rei secretly loves him, then Yuuichirou starts freaking out because he's so happy.

Other changes are simply cultural changes, for example, changing the food items that Chad brings into things that would be recognizable to an American audience.

Here are the translated lyrics to the Japanese song that plays when Yuuichirou is leaving.

Tomorrow, I'll leave here forever
With a person you don't know
Actually, it was supposed to be you
To the Shinano-way, where spring hasn't come

Right now, what I recall
on the way, is you.
I am wishing that the solitude will
someday fade out gradually.

Sayonara is the last word...
that I could not say forever
For me, you're still one of the pleasant
memories of my youth

I must leave you.

In the English version, Kaolinite looks at Chad's heart crystal and says "This isn't a pure heart."  What a cruel thing to say about Chad!  In Japanese, she says that it's just a regular pure heart and not a talisman.

At the end of the English episode, Raye tells Chad that they're going to have an open heart-to-heart discussion about things.  In the Japanese episode, Rei simply tells him that Haruka is actually a girl.  Yuuichirou is embarrassed of course, and agrees to return to the temple.  Yuuichirou, although injured, is reluctant to allow Rei to help him, but she insists that he lean on her shoulder for support as the two walk home together.

Near the beginning, when Jamie (Asai) is called back to practice by the team manager (off-screen) she has a crabby old woman voice. This is not quite right since the team manager is actually Asai's new girlfriend!

For some reason, Amara calls Serena "Moonface".  In Japanese, Haruka calls Usagi "Odango-Atama" - which annoys Usagi because only Mamoru is allowed to call her that!  In previous episodes, "Odango-Atama" was translated as "Meatball Head" (a reasonable North American equivalent).

When Serena is crying over "breaking up" with Darien, Amara teases her saying that maybe she'll go after Darien and "scoop him up".  In Japanese, Haruka says now that Usagi is available, maybe she'll go after Usagi!  She says Usagi is very attractive.  That's why Serena/Usagi starts going all red!  Then Michiru tells Haruka to stop teasing.

When Amara and Michelle are following Kaori Knight (Kaolinite) they say that she must be using Darien to get to Serena, but in Japanese they think that Mamoru (Darien) is Kaolinite's target.

In case you're wondering how old Serena/Usagi is, she is turning 15.

Near the end of the episode, Sailor Uranus says she must have been affected by "what Sailor Moon said in the car".  However, in the original episode, Mina's disguise does succeed in making making everyone, including Neptune and Uranus, believe that Usagi (Serena) is not Sailor Moon.

Serena and the other girls wonder why Raye gave them the brush-off, then they spot her in a dessert parlor with another girl.  The girls start to wonder if Raye is dumping them and getting a new best friend.  But why are they all blushing?  In Japanese, Minako suggests that Rei may be on a date with the girl!  Usagi can't believe it but Minako points that it could be just like Haruka and Michiru.  Then Mako (Lita) wonders if the girl might really be a man dressed as a woman!

In English Raye agrees to help Maya with her problem, but in Japanese it's actually the reverse - Maya agrees to help Raye by performing at the festival.  In English Raye talks about how she is helping Maya overcome her nerves.  In Japanese, Rei talks about how hard Maya works and begins to feel some despair about how hard one needs to work to be successful.  In the end, she and Serena agree to just do their best.

Again in this episode, Uranus and Neptune look at the heart crystal and say "it's not a pure heart".  Poor Maya!  In Japanese, they say that the pure heart doesn't contain one of the talismans that they are looking for.

This episode introduces a new voice for Rini (now played by Stephanie Beard).  Sailor Mini Moon is called Sailor Chibi Moon in Japanese (chibi=small, mini).

Mina holds up Neo-Queen Serenity's letter and says "I read this with my imagination... it's just symbols".  Obviously it's written in Japanese.  In the original, Minako says that the letter is written without any kanji which shows that Neo-Queen Serenity is just like the present-day Usagi - no good at spelling!

Surprisingly, nothing is cut from the scene where the rude boy drops his pants. 

Tamasaburo looks like a girl, but in the original episode, Tamasaburo is a boy (unless I totally misunderstood the Japanese episode).

Some boys are drooling over Serena and her friends but they rush off when they hear that the buffet has opened.  In Japanese, they rush off because they've spotted some girls that are "even better", and in the next scene you can see they are staring at Michelle (Michiru) and Amara (Haruka).

Elsa's "spider stretch" tickles Mina and Lita!  In the original, she grabs their hips and says that they have good hips for running.  The scene is the same in both versions; only the dialogue is different.

In the original version, Haruka (Amara) and Michiru (Michelle) are not cousins.  They meet for the first time at the race when Elsa introduces them.  Michiru asks Haruka if she may paint her portrait but Haruka refuses.  In both versions, Michiru implies that Haruka is running away from her destiny.

In the English version, body lines in Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune's transformations are erased.

In both versions, Michiru says that she's glad Haruka is her destined Sailor Soldier partner.  In Japanese, on board the ship Michiru says that she admires Haruka and wants to take a drive with her by the ocean at sunset, which they do, at the end of the episode, although without any talk of ice cream.

S Series Episode 18
English: Episode 100 "Art Appreciation"
Japanese: Episode 107 "Art is an explosion of love! Rini's first love"

Amara asks Michelle if her flowers are from Mike.  There is no Mike in the Japanese version.  In both versions, Michelle (Michiru) asks Amara (Haruka) if she is jealous but in English she means envious that Michiru received flowers, whereas in Japanese she means jealous that Michiru accepted flowers from someone else.

This episode features the foreign gentleman.  In the Japanese version, the foreign gentleman and the foreign students all speak English.  Obviously this had to be changed for the English version!

Amara and Michiru's last names are mentioned in this episode.  They are Tenoh and Kaioh, just as in Japanese.

Serena gets "sick" from drinking too much "juice".  In Japanese, she gets "drunk" from drinking too much "cocktail"!

In Japanese, the "Ambassador of Good" was called the "messiah".  Trista was called Setsuna in Japanese.

Such a cool episode.

In Japanese, the "crystal treasures" were called "talismans".  The "Purity Chalice" was called the seihai which is generally translated into English as "Sacred Cup" or "Holy Grail".  The "Ambassador of Good" suddenly becomes the "Legendary Princess" who was called the "legendary messiah" in Japanese.  Of course, Sacred Cup and Messiah are words that have a special meaning in Christian countries that they don't have in Japan, so it's not surprising that these names were changed.  Sailor Pluto's staff is called the Garnet Rod.

This episode was essentially identical in both versions of Sailor Moon.  The character of Hotaru is portrayed a little differently in Japanese though.  In English, Hotaru speaks in an ordinary casual way whereas in Japanese she always speaks softly and very politely, to the point of being timid.

Doesn't Kaori Knight seem like a strange name?  In Japanese, she is only called Kaolinite when in her villain guise.  When she is at the Tomoe's home, everyone refers to her as Ms. Kaori.

One of the talent judges asks Mina, "Do you think you could pretend you're in love with Jonah, someone you don't know?" to which Mina replies, "That's a real piece of cake.  Everyone's in love with him.  I can give you puppy dog eyes and everything.  The problem is I just don't know if I can get out of character!"  In Japanese, a judge asks "What will you do if a kissing scene is required?" to which Mina replies, "I won't tell my father and mother that I'm going to be on TV!"

The scene in which Sailor Uranus reverses her transformation is removed from the English version.  In the original scene, her Sailor uniform faded out, then her normal clothes faded in.

At the picnic, Darien and Rini are reluctant to eat Serena's salad.  In the Japanese episode, they don't want to eat the green peppers.  If you watch the TV show "Iron Chef" on Food Network, you may recall the bell pepper battle in which it was explained that although French and Italian cuisine are popular in Japan, many Japanese people hate bell peppers!

In the original episode, Mimet spots Mamoru (Darien) and wants to target him instead of the botanist because Mamoru is more handsome.  However, each time she thinks about using the daimon to attack Mamoru, she remembers the Professor telling her not to fail.  So she sticks with his original instructions.

In the Japanese episode, the whistle-blowing security guards never speak.

In both episodes, Mimet blows her nose on an "authorized persons only" sign.  The security guard catches her doing this.  But in the English episode, they don't show Mimet putting the sign back up.  Why did I notice this??

This episode was essentially identical in both versions.  In neither version is it totally clear why Hotaru didn't hear or see Rini calling the Sailor Soldiers on the Luna P communicator.

This episode was skipped in the first run of the Sailor Moon S on Cartoon Network in America because the editing of the episode could not be finished in time.  The episode was later rerun with a green bikini top painted on to the monster-of-the-day.

Before:

After:

In the original episode, there was no mention of an eclipse.  Presumably this was added to explain how the outer planet soldiers knew that Hotaru's transformation would occur at this exact time.

At the start of the episode, the girls have a rather strange conversation about needing tickets to go watch the exam.  This is a weird way to translate their original discussion!  In Japan, it is standard practice to issue photo-ID passes to students taking entrance exams in order to insure that you can not cheat by having someone else take the exam for you.  There is a different pass for each school's exam.  Only people with passes would be allowed into the school on exam day.  In Japanese, they discuss how they don't have these passes, but then Ami says she already has one because she is registered to take their entrance exam. 

Julie/Byruit calls Amy, "Amy Mizuno" although in the first season English episodes, Amy's last name was once given as "Anderson".  Then she asks who Serena is, saying that if she's a friend of Amy then she must be a very cool person.  In Japanese, she said that any friend of Amy's must be a very smart person.

Web Page Credits:  List compiled by LP based on Japanese videos, translations by VKLL, translations by Hitoshi Doi.  Special thanks to Larry Pugh.