A Small-Sized Summary of the Sailor Scouts' Splendid Story
Transformations and Special Powers
Mythology Related to Sailor Moon
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Sailor Moon in the Philippines
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Where Can I Find More Sailor Moon?!
During winter break in 1996, my family and I vacationed in the Philippines. I was surprised to see so much anime on television! I saw episodes of Slam Dunk!, Tekkaman Blade (Teknoman, in the U.S.), Magic Knight Rayearth, Ranma 1/2, Yu Yu Hakusho, Robotech, and some other anime I couldn't identify. The only anime I expected to see was Dragon Ball and, of course, Sailor Moon!
During my stay, I saw three episodes of Sailor Moon (Japanese episodes #71-#73, North American Episodes #64-#65 and what will eventually be #66). I would've seen four, but I had to leave for the States. I managed to get episodes #72 and #73 on tape.
Sailor Moon was on Philippine (and many other) airwaves long before it hit our cities. It, like many anime on the islands, is a big hit with the youth population. There's even a thriving fan club (Membership closed December 97, but if anyone still wants to try, then call 867-10-08 or 867-10-09. And don't forget to add the international calling code (011) and country code (63) if it's necessary! It might even be necessary to add a city code (in this case, it's 2). So...the final result would be 011-63-2-867-10-08 or 011-63-2-867-10-09) (lol)).
As far as I can tell, the show is the same animation-wise, meaning that none of the image frames are "enhanced" or edited to meet the American "standard" for children's television programming. I'm almost certain that none of the dialogue changed...but I'm not fluent in the Tagalog language. The opening song is a Filipino version, probably just a translation of the original. The voice acting is good...I'm not exactly certain what would be a "perfect" voice acting performance. Overall, the A/V team (or whoever takes care of this stuff) did an excellent job in carrying the Japanese version across the Philippine sea.
Most of the character names are the same as in the original Japanese version. There were two exceptions (that I noticed). The first character is known as "Usagi" to the Japanese (and elsewhere), "Serena" to us North Americans, and "Bunny" to the Filipinos. Bunny is also used in the French, Italian, and Spanish versions (maybe even more?). The second difference is in the name of our favorite masked hero. It's a simple translation thing, where "Tuxedo Kamen" changes to "Tuxedo Mask". Other than that, "Sailor Moon" is still "Sailor Moon", "Chibi-Usa" is still "Chibi-Usa", and the "Wiseman" is still the "Wiseman".
The most recent news I received from the Philippines says that they're showing Sailormoon S, in the original Japanese, and still on ABC 5 at 6:30 pm Saturdays. (11/18/98)
The attacks and transformations are still the same as well (save two: Chibi-Usa's "Luna-P Henge" is translated into "Luna-P Change", and Sailor Mercury's attack, which is translated -- she says, "Soap Bubble Spray!"). All of the Sailors do add the words "Make Up" to their transformation cries.