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Sailor Moon has an important place in the world of anime. The series became a huge hit in Japan, making an unavoidable mark on the magical girl genre and helping to introduce millions of kids around the world to anime. In the US, however, that introduction came by way of the infamous DIC dub, which made some… changes to the source material. It wasn’t the most accurate dub for plenty of reasons, but that first Sailor Mood English dub still deserves to be celebrated for what it tried to be.

The year was 1995 and the first episode of the Sailor Moon DIC dub appeared on US television and held the distinction of not only being popular but also being popular among both boys and girls at the time. This dub was many American kids’ first introduction to anime, but that doesn’t mean they got the full Sailor Moon experience. As we’ve discussed before, DIC changed many things about Naoko Takeuchi’s iconic manga. Some, like the violence and the hint of nudity from the teenage cast during their magical girl transformations, we can understand. However, other choices are a bit more difficult to swallow.

The DIC dub of Sailor Moon was actually produced by a company called Optimum Productions, which took a rather heavy-handed approach to censoring the series. In addition to the aforementioned cuts, most of the characters’ names were Anglicized. Usagi Tsukino was changed to Serena, while most of the other Sailor Senshi got similar treatment. Most references to the show’s setting being in Japan were removed or altered as well. Content was cut to reduce the episode count and “Sailor Says” informative segments were added at the end to make the series appear more educational.

However, the most frustrating change came as DIC and Optimum Productions effectively erased any hint of LGBTQ+ characters from the show. Sailors Uranus and Neptune had their romantic relationship changed to 'cousins' for the American broadcast of Sailor Moon, while Zoisite’s gender was changed from male to female to remove another gay relationship from the show. You can argue that these changes were made to make the show more appropriate for kids, though that implies the existence of gay people is dangerous for kids which is categorically false.

Despite these changes – and they are substantial changes – many fans have a special place in their hearts for the original English dub of Sailor Moon. And they should, of course. It was, as I said before, their gateway to the wonderful world of anime. The core message, of using the power of the moon (and friendship) to be a hero, remains inspiring to this day. There are some great things about this dub, like the English version of Moonlight Densetsu as its opening. I can even get behind the Sailor Says segments; they feel very in line with G.I. Joe’s 'Knowing is Half the Battle' bits that many cartoons had at the time. They help make Sailor Moon feel like it belongs on Western TV as much as anything else that was airing in 1995.

Do I agree with every change made for the Sailor Moon DIC dub? Obviously not. I’m glad we’ve got the VIZ dub airing on American TV at long last, allowing new fans to discover a version of the show that is far more faithful to the original manga than we had growing up, but I’m not going to begrudge someone for loving the version they’ve always known. Among older otaku (or oldtaku, as I like to call myself) in the West, the leader of the Sailor Scouts will always be named Serena and the team always banished their enemies back to the “Negaverse” rather than killed them.

No matter what version of Sailor Moon you first encountered, we’re all bound together by our love of a show that changed the magical girl genre forever and paved the way for other shows like Dragon Ball Z and One Piece to find a home with American audiences.

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