Was Sailor Moon edited in the English version?


Was _Sailor Moon_ edited for the English version, to show less in the
transformation when they are naked? Was it originally meant for children?




In general, Sailor Moon was heavily edited for the US release as detailed by
fans for example [here](http://www.smuncensored.com/season.php?season=1). In
particular nudity was avoided as exemplified below.

[![Sailor Moon bathtub
censorship](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jMN6D.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/jMN6D.png)

[![Sailor Moon bathtub
censorship](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nLxM5.png)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/nLxM5.png)

The source of these images is [this](http://www.movie-
censorship.com/report.php?ID=1489254) comparison between the US and the German
version. While the German version is not completely uncensored (see the linked
site for details) it is almost equal to the Japanese original and does not
have censorship of nudity.

Regarding the **transformation scenes** in particular: Many sites claim the US
censorship manifested itself in removal of the breast outlines, however all
examples I find on youtube look the same to me. The two sites mentioned above
also say that the only change is a speed-up of the transformation - likely to
fit the overall episode runtime due to other edits.

Other changes include the removal of violence in particular against children
and gender changes as not to display homosexuality. This all pertains to the
original US release, while subsequent ones
[apparently](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailor_Moon_%28anime%29#Localization)
stayed more true to the Japanese original.

To address the second question, as [Skullclutter already
mentioned](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/28304/34) Sailor Moon is
considered a _shōjo_ series and therefore aimed at young women.

