People around the world have experienced Sailor Moon in different ways. Depending on where you lived, the main character could be named Usagi, Serena, Bunny, or even Sabrina depending on what language you saw the show in. It's also important to remember that some countries even had more than one dub. Sometimes, for example, an early version was released on VHS and a different dub was used for television, thus fans of different ages got different tastes of the same series.
It's also important to remember that dubs sometimes get accused of things they didn't actually do. For example, the infamous recap episode, "Follow The Leader," was skipped in so many countries that many fans mistakenly thought it was made for the English dub.
Let's take a look at some interesting changes the show experienced throughout the world. Remember, since even the ending could change, spoilers abound.
10 Sailor Moon In Brazil
Being influenced by the Mexican dub, which itself was influenced by the English dub, many of the characters had names like in the Dic dub, like Usagi being "Serena."
In one Brazilian dub, the production staff didn't realize that Tuxedo Mask and Mamoru, or "Darien," were the same person and so they were dubbed with different voice actors for a few episodes. Minako's early role as Sailor V was also lost in translation. Instead, she was called Sailor Venus from the beginning.
9 Sailor Moon In Greece
One translation mistake caused Sailor Mercury to become Sailor Saturn for the first two seasons. When the actual Sailor Saturn showed up during the third season, the dub went back and forth between Ami being Sailor Mercury and Sailor Saturn. This mistake was also repeated during a redub of the series.
As with many dubs, some characters had their genders changed. One interesting change is that for the first three seasons, Artemis was female. Presumably, Diana being introduced in the fourth season caused him to be changed back to male.
8 Sailor Moon In South Korea
Interestingly, one South Korean dub seemed influenced by the English dub. Usagi became "Sera," Makoto became "Lita," and Minako was shortened to "Mina."
The show also had to be edited for modesty issues. Kissing and romantic scenes were often cut. Transformation scenes were often made instantaneous. The Sailor Starlights' outfits had to be edited to cover more skin. The final episode, in which "Sera" appears as a nude angel, edited it so she appeared to wear a white dress; this last change was notably repeated in a later redub.
7 Sailor Moon In Vietnam
Vietnam's first taste of the series was actually based on the English dub produced by Dic. This version of the series was only released through a series of VHS tapes and only featured a handful of episodes from the first season. Instead of redubbing the characters, a single female narrator explained the story over the dialogue.
When the first three series were redubbed for television, this time, it was based on the Japanese version. Interestingly, Sailor Venus and Sailor Mercury's transformation were cut by censors, sometimes entirely.
6 Sailor Moon In Indonesia
One of the more interesting things is that the voice actors didn't always match the characters' genders in this dub. Sailor Mars was originally played by the same dubber who also voiced Usagi's friend Umino. Zoisite was given a female voice actress, but was male, and he and Kunzite were changed to be cousins. Ironically, the two characters were meant to have a sibling-like relationship in the manga, according to the Materials Collection.
According to an interview, editor Osano Fumio once claimed that Sailor Saturn's role was also heavily cut from the series' Indonesian dub, although he was unsure of the exact reason.
5 Sailor Moon In Australia
Australia did not have its own dub of the series, normally airing the English dubs of the series produced in Canada, but the series did go through some changes of its own.
Some televisions channels that aired the show skipped episodes that might have been deemed too violent, such as the episode involving Nephrite's death. There's some irony to this, as the English dub already cut a few episodes in its first season, even combining the final two episodes into one.
4 Sailor Moon In France
In one interesting change made in the French dub, Haruka, here called Frédérique, appeared to be a man and was given a male voice actor, usually the same actor who played Tuxedo Mask. Sailor Uranus, however, usually had a female voice actress, usually the same actress for Sailor Mars. The Hungarian dub, which was based on the French version, followed suit.
Some fans like to play up the idea of Sailor Mercury being the Sailor Scout of ice and snow, rather than water, to differentiate her from Sailor Neptune. France did the opposite: Sailor Neptunes' attacks were changed to be more ice-based. Ironically, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Mars both had fire powers in the French dub. Some changes were also made to the manga. Rei Hino became a Catholic who used Latin exorcisms, possibly tying into her attending a Catholic school in the original.
3 Sailor Moon In Russia
When the fifth season was originally dubbed in Russian, Haruka was changed to have a male voice actor in her civilian form, similar to the French dub. While that change often got her compared to the Sailor Starlights, they also went through an interesting change in the Russian dub: they were referred to as male in both their civilian and transformed states, but they switched between male and female voice actors.
In one interesting gender change, Queen Metallia, the main villain of the first story arc, became "King Metallia."
2 Sailor Moon In Taiwan
In one Taiwanese dub, the Sailor Scouts became the "fairies" of their respective planets, with Usagi being the "Moonlight Fairy."
As in other places, the transformation scenes were often edited to be more instantaneous. Similar to the South Korean dub, one Taiwanese dubbed version of the final episode censored Usagi's nudity by placing her into a yellow bathing suit.
1 Sailor Moon In Germany
Probably the most interesting thing about how Sailor Moon was treated in Germany might not be anything changed in their dub, but how they promoted the series.
The Super Moonies was a German pop group developed to provide the dub's soundtrack, led by singer Bianca Hanif. She was usually accompanied by dancers, Gabriela Gottschalk and Jascha Anantaponge, who dressed as Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask. The group even released songs in English.