C&C - Sailor Moon (UNCUT) Talkback Thread [5/31-TBA]

[Daikun]

After leaving the airwaves more than 20 years ago, Sailor Moon makes its triumphant return to Toonami--this time, in uncut form thanks to a brand-new dub courtesy of Viz Media!

Episode 1

OPENING: Moonlight Densetsu by Dali
ENDING: Heart Moving by Misae Takamatsu

The Crybaby: Usagi's Beautiful Transformation
Friday 5/31 at 5.0 PM

Synopsis: Usagi Tsukino is a 14-year-old schoolgirl who is very cheerful, but clumsy and is always finding herself into unwanted trouble. One day, Usagi meets a talking black cat named Luna, who reveals that dark forces are threatening the lives of the innocent and that Usagi has the power to stop them. Using a magical brooch, Usagi is transformed into Sailor Moon, the chosen guardian who fights for love and justice.​

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

I have seen the first episode of Sailor Moon ages ago so the story and plot set up are uber familiar but man I am still sooooooooooooo used to the original dub it is weird now hearing her called Usagi instead of Serena and Molly being Naru without her accent. I guess it'd be like hearing the original Yu Gi Oh and Jonouchi talk you not as Joey Wheeler. Still I do appreciate that they are being faithful in keeping the original intro and outro and you know not censoring really anything which has to be a first for Sailor Moon on English TV. Like Naruto and DBZ are probably more technical Toonami staples at this point but we've seen even them uncut done properly so it's really Sailor Moon being brought over faithfully that is the big hook that I hope gets people talking.

 

[Majin_Megabyte]

It was nice to see the first verison of Moonlight Densetsu on tv as well the next episode preview. I really enjoyed the Viz dub from what I watch so far (I'm currently up in the middle of Sailor Moon S.).

 

[Bluebaron]

So the toonami shows in the afternoon, they will mostly be uncut?

 

[aegisrawks]

So the toonami shows in the afternoon, they will mostly be uncut?

I think so, yeah, I cant think of anything that might cause a problem.

 

[Majin_Megabyte]

There are a couple episodes during the later seasons (S, Super S, and Sailor Stars) that have couple of the monster of the day that have some nudity which have to be censored a bit.

 

[aegisrawks]

What media rating does this particular run of Sailor Moon have? If its 14 I doubt it will need censorship until a really extreme episode down the line.

 

[Space Cadet]

I don't get CN anymore so I that's why I haven't been in the talkback threads like I used to but I went ahead and watched the first episode with the Viz dub since I never heard it before and as someone who watched the DiC and then Cloverway dubs, it's kinda weird to hear the Japanese names being used instead of the Westernized ones. But it's not a complaint! As for the dub, I enjoyed it, loved hearing the Japanese music in the early episodes. And I'm glad that the opening aired. Did the ending song also air on Toonami?

Never thought I would see the show again on American television, especially on Toonami. The show is actually trending on Twitter/X right now, which is pretty cool. Love seeing the reactions of people who grew up watching the show watching it again. And even though kids don't watch linear tv like they used to, I know there's probably small amount that probably tuned in for the first time and their first experience is an uncut dub.

 

[Majin_Megabyte]

Yep, the first ending song aired as well the next episode preview. The great thing is next week, we're getting the first of the 7 banned episodes from the OG - Super S stuff. So we pretty much got a brand new episode next week.

 

[JMTV]

I did watch Sailor Moon on Toonami Rewind, and coming from someone who wasn’t into Sailor Moon(I’m more of a Dragon Ball guy), I really enjoyed it a lot. It’s such a classic.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

What media rating does this particular run of Sailor Moon have? If its 14 I doubt it will need censorship until a really extreme episode down the line.

This had a TV-PG (with a warning of bright lights before the episode and mid way after the commercial break) but keep in mind the first episode is particularly light on content. I did note that the Naruto first episode was TV-14 (probably because of having more blood) but yeah unless they specifically go over time I think PG/TV-14 will mean every episode won't have to worry about like any actual edits from their original cut.

 

[aegisrawks]

This had a TV-PG (with a warning of bright lights before the episode and mid way after the commercial break) but keep in mind the first episode is particularly light on content. I did note that the Naruto first episode was TV-14 (probably because of having more blood) but yeah unless they specifically go over time I think PG/TV-14 will mean every episode won't have to worry about like any actual edits from their original cut.

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...If its just PG and they intend on keeping it that way, they will DEFINITELY have to edit stuff out. I hope they will just bump the rating for the needed episodes tho.

 

[Corwin Haught]

Yep, the first ending song aired .

It was cut in half, while a version of the credits played that only featured the major Japanese crew and the English dub cast and staff.

 

[zoombie]

Well get used to Naru being the first victim of the villains, that seemed to happen in every arc in this series until she is phased out.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU...If its just PG and they intend on keeping it that way, they will DEFINITELY have to edit stuff out. I hope they will just bump the rating for the needed episodes tho.

If they do get to later episodes (and let's hope this winds up doing well for it to last that long) then I'm sure the rating will jump to accompany that. But keep in mind especially with AS shows it depends on the CONTENT of particular episodes and what they have in them that determines the ratings. Thus why some episodes of ATHF were PG and others were TV-14 or how the Boondocks episodes that didn't have the N word in them tended to get TV -14 in stead of MA back in the day. So again due to there not being much heavy content in the first episode (there was blood though which yeah was totally edited out in the original english cut of this episode) it only needed that light PG rating. With heavier ones if again they get up to them we'll get TV-14 I'm sure.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Nudity seems likely to be the only thing subject to censorship. If you look at Kill La Kill censorship videos on YouTube, you will see AS has a limit on the amount you can show on Toonami. The only other thing I could think of being censored is language and this dub seems very tame on that so far. Usagi said “darn” at one point. I think no actual swearing was in the episode. Given the ads for Toonami Rewind show a TV-14-DSLV and Naruto aired uncut with a TV-14-V rating, censorship should be as light as if it were airing on the main Toonami block. Though I haven’t seen all of Sailor Moon, and can’t comment on specific scenes that might require edits, they definitely shouldn’t need to make any edits to Naruto and Kai. Especially since Japan already pretty heavily chopped up Z to remove nudity and violence for Kai, and it has aired in prime time uncut before on AS.

As for the dub itself, it’s funny no one on here has seen it before it seems. I hadn’t either actually. I have seen some of the older dubs as a kid on Moltar era Toonami. It is a bit weird watching without the accents and dub names. I am fine with it though. Viz always does a competent job on the acting. Usagi was annoying but I am sure she is supposed to be, since it’s episode one and she is still just a whiny young girl not used to her powers. Stephanie Sheh is fine as Usagi. A lot louder than the usual Hinata/Orihime whisper she does, but you can definitely still tell it’s her. Between her and Michelle Ruff (Rukia), it definitely sounds like Viz’s Naruto and Bleach dubs. Even Naru was voiced by the same actress as Tenten from Naruto. I wonder how audiences who haven’t seen the show in decades will react to this version. I know there was a lot of backlash to Kai from older Z fans over recasting, but this isn’t just Gohan, Android 18, and Bulma. Its the entire cast. It will take a lot of getting used to.

The music is also going to take some getting used to. At one point they were using some jazzy music with a singer chanting occasionally “Sailor Moon!” while Sailor Moon is bleeding and crying. Older anime music can be comical because it’s often the same few songs played continually even in the most unfitting and random scenes. There was also some relaxing jazz music playing when the villains were starting to carry out their plan in an evil lair. It makes you realize why older dubs felt the need to replace music with what they felt would better fit the scene. Even seeing the intro in Japanese instead of English felt like a huge change, but at least the melody is similar unlike most dub theme songs.

 

[Rick Jones]

I was looking forward all week and I forgot about it when it was actually airing. I watched Sailor Moon syndicated and never even saw its original run on Toonami. It was definitely one of those formative shows for me. I watched Season 1 of the Viz dub a couple of years ago but it would have been fun to see it on Daytime TV.

 

[Corwin Haught]

Nudity seems likely to be the only thing subject to censorship. If you look at Kill La Kill censorship videos on YouTube, you will see AS has a limit on the amount you can show on Toonami.

Does the fact the show's few female nude scenes don't feature nipples or genitalia mitigate this? (Given your Kill la Kill example, it may not.)

 

[Rick Jones]

Does the fact the show's few female nude scenes don't feature nipples or genitalia mitigate this? (Given your Kill la Kill example, it may not.)

I think I've seen it said that nudity was the biggest reason they didn't acquire Ranma ½, and it wasn't explicit there.

 

[A.Magik]

I first saw SM during the summer of 1997 on the USA Network. Then I saw it again on Cartoon Network the following Summer in 1998 to the end of of that year. I even bought the ADV Uncut Subtitled DVD Set in 2003 (at the same time the DRAGON BALL 23rd Tenki’ichi Budokai DVD came out. Did anyone know which DVD sold more?) I did begin a 30th Anniversary viewing of the first season in March 2022, but due to certain private problems I stopped watching around the climax of the Rainbow Crystal Arc, only returning to the two parter finale in February 2023.