Sailor Moon in Russia

Character names in Russia (anime)
Japanese	Russian
Usagi Tsukino	Банни Цукино (Bunny Tsukino) — seasons 1-3 Усаги Цукино (Usagi Tsukino) — seasons 4-5
Ami Mizuno	Ами Мицуно (Ami Mitsuno)
Rei Hino	Рей Хино (Rei Hino)
Makoto Kino	Макото Кино (Makoto Kino)
Minako Aino	Минако Аино (Minako Aino)
Haruka Tenou	Харука Тено (Haruka Teno)
Michiru Kaiou	Мичиру Кайо (Michiru Kaio)
Setsuna Meiou	Сецуна Мейо (Setsuna Meio)
Hotaru Tomoe	Хотару Томо (Hotaru Tomo)
Chibiusa	Малышка Банни (literally: Little Bunny) — seasons 1-3 Чибиуса (Chibiusa) — seasons 4-5
Mamoru Chiba	Мамору Джиба (Mamoru Jiba)

The Sailor Moon anime series was broadcast in Russia by the TNT channel, four times in total. The Russian voice acting was ordered by TNT and performed by SV-Double (СВ-Дубль). Despite the company name, the translation was, as it is common on Russian television, a multi-voice voice-over and not a full, lipsynched dub.

The four runs

In the first run, only the original season was broadcast. In the second run, it was followed by the R and S season. The Russian name of the series was written as one word, "Sailormoon" (Сейлормун), and this tradition mostly persists in Russian media to this day.

The season names were changed as follows:

• Original: Сейлормун — Луна в Матроске (Sailormoon: the Moon in a Sailor Suit)
• R: Сейлормун снова с нами (Sailormoon is with Us Again)
• S: Сейлормун — супервоин (Sailormoon the Super Warrior)

The designation "Moon in a Sailor Suit" (Луна в Матроске) appeared in Sailor Moon's introduction speech in the first run, and was subject to frequent parody in Russian media due to its surreality. For the second run, it was removed and the introduction speech rewritten more faithfully to the original, but the designation remained in the season title. It was never referenced in the episodes themselves apart from the original introduction speech.

In the third run, the SuperS and Stars seasons were added; Russia thus became one on the few countries where all 200 series were broadcast. However, it was not without a quirk. As TNT apparently purchased the German dub, which was then re-dubbed into Russian, these seasons became the only ones where the season logos, as well as opening and closing sequences from their Japanese counterparts, were not used.

In addition, unlike the first three seasons, the last two had no season subtitle and were broadcast simply under the name "Sailormoon". As they were dubbed later, different voice actors were used.

The fourth run had virtually no changes compared to the third run, except for the opening sequences for the last two seasons.

Opening and closing sequences

The original, R and S seasons each retained the Japanese opening and closing sequences for those seasons. In each episode, the Russian season title was voiced over the Japanese season logo.

The first two seasons used the original Japanese opening (Moonlight Densetsu) and closing music, but without words. In Sailor Moon S, the words were retained as well, marking it as the only Russian season where Moonlight Densetsu was sung, not just played.

For the last two seasons (SuperS and Stars), the original opening sequences were removed. The first season video sequences and closing music were used. The opening songs were replaced with the German opening song, and the season logos were changed to "Sailormoon: Das Mädchen mit die Zauberkräften" (Sailormoon: The Girl with Magical Powers). Halfway through, however, the German subtitle was replaced with the Russian name of the entire series, so the text on the logo read "Sailormoon: Сейлормун" until the end of the series.

For the fourth and final run, the bilingual "Sailormoon: Сейлормун" logo was used for all SuperS and Stars episodes. In addition, the opening song was changed to Moonlight Densetsu (without words) to bring the sequence closer to that of the first season. However, two additional shots were inserted just before the logo: one of Sailor V (from the first season), the other one of Luna on a roof, despite the fact that Sailor V was never mentioned in these seasons.

Name changes

Except for Usagi, Chibiusa and Queen Beryl, no characters suffered significant name changes; those that were made were mostly done for the ease of pronunciation by Russians.

As it was common in European translations, Usagi became Bunny Tsukino (the name Bunny was not translated from English into Russian). Chibiusa became "Little Girl Bunny" (Малышка Банни), although she was usually simply referred to by the Russian term for "Little Girl" (Малышка).

Dark Kingdom

Character names in Russia (anime)
Japanese	Russian
Queen Beryl	Королева Погибель (Queen Ruin)
Jadeite	Джедайт (Jedite)
Nephrite	Нефрит (Nefrit/Nephrit)
Zoisite	Зойсайт (Zoisite)
Kunzite	Кунсайт (Kunsite)

Queen Beryl is the only known case in the entire series where the Russian name had nothing to do in sound or meaning with the original. Jadeite, Zoisite and Kunzite retained the English pronunciation of their names, while Nephrite did not: his name was translated into the Russian name for the mineral nephrite. Also, Queen Metalia was referred to as a male, and became King Metalia.

Makaiji

Character names in Russia (anime)
Japanese	Russian
Makaiji	Дерево Тёмного Мира (Tree of the Dark World)
Ail	Эйл (Ail)
An	Анна (Anna)

An became the Russian equivalent of the name Ann, while Ail's name was unchanged.