Was this really the original American/English-language opening/intro to Sailor Moon? If so, why was it so heavily changed? Original Japanese intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WdSzmL80eE
Swedish intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2tQKejS9Fo
American/English intro (if true): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxjlcUw1Wkw
Having never heard or seen the American/English version, I was shocked and in disbelief when I looked up what appears to be the English/American version of the intro.
Not only does it contain a weird intro part not even seen elsewhere, but it announces main characters which only join very late in the series, right away in the intro for the first episode. If this is true, that is. I looked through numerous videos and couldn't find a different &quot;original&quot; intro in English/for the USA audience.
Why did they so heavily change the already perfect intro sequence and opening theme like that? I'm really dying to know.
The Swedish version (which I grew up with and thus included as a reference) only has very minor changes from the Japanese original. For example, when the three girls fly toward the camera as silhouettes, in the original Japanese version, they never get &quot;light&quot; shone on them, but in the Swedish (and American) ones, they &quot;light up&quot; when they get close to the camera. But that's a very minor detail compared to the entire re-cut American/English one, which also has changed the theme song entirely.
Wasn't the point of importing this very Japanese show to the West to keep the look, sound and atmosphere, rather than changing it all around? I mean, wasn't there already a wealth of American-origin animated shows? Why did they have to change around Sailor Moon like this?
This is neither a rant nor really me being &quot;upset&quot;. I'm just baffled by this decision and feel as if I'm missing some major understanding about this world since they changed it like this for the American/English-speaking audience. I'm not sure, but I believe that they didn't touch the show itself. (Perhaps they did, though. I can imagine that certain shots where you see the underpants of the girls when they jump around might have been cut away.)
I'd love to hear if there are any interviews or reliable sources discussing what could've justified this decision to so completely change the opening theme and intro cut. Even if the answer is that it had to attract a very different audience who expects things to be a certain way, it still doesn't explain why they would introduce characters from far into the series right away.
I almost wonder if this can really be the original intro, or if it's consistently mislabeled, and this is for season three or something instead?
I'll preface this answer by admitting that I couldn't find any interviews in which DiC (the company responsible for the original English-language dub) explained why they changed the opening so much. I've nonetheless tried to provide the best explanation possible for why it was done.


Was this really the original American/English-language opening/intro to Sailor Moon?

Sure was, and for those who grew up with it, it's arguably just as iconic as (say) the original English-language Pokémon intro.

Why did they so heavily change the already perfect intro sequence and opening theme like that?

Because that was the done thing. Back in the 90s (and in fact, up until quite recently), it was common practice to &quot;Westernise&quot; imported shows as much as possible, to make them more familiar and relatable to Western audiences. This included replacing the Japanese intros and outros with brand new ones - in English, of course.
According to Wikipedia, the Sailor Moon intro was actually unusual for the time in that it kept the melody of the Japanese intro and just changed the lyrics. Most dubbed anime of the time just threw the intros out entirely and made new ones from scratch (see the Pokémon example above, and also Sonic X, Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece... basically anything 4Kids got their hands on).

Wasn't the point of importing this very Japanese show to the West to keep the look, sound and atmosphere, rather than changing it all around?

Nope. The point of importing it was that it was insanely popular and it was going to make a lot of money. As noted above, keeping the Japanese atmosphere was not only not the point, it was the complete opposite of what actually happened, not just to Sailor Moon but to pretty much every anime that made its way to the US until about the late 2000s.

I'm not sure, but I believe that they didn't touch the show itself.

I'm afraid they did. Changes included:

Giving everyone American names instead of Japanese ones (Usagi Tsukino -&gt; Serena, Ami Mizuno -&gt; Amy Anderson, Mamoru -&gt; Darien, etc.)
Adding &quot;Sailor Says&quot; segments to the end of every episode in which Serena gives the viewer life advice (example)
The removal of any hints of nudity or violence against children (and yes, probably the pantyshots)
Making Uranus and Neptune cousins and removing any romantic subtext between them
Making Zoicite a woman so their love for Kunzite/Malachite wouldn't be gay

And probably a whole load of others. Mind you, Sailor Moon got off pretty lightly compared to Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger (from which the fight scenes in the original Power Rangers were taken; they threw literally everything else out and filmed their own plotlines with Western actors), and the three different anime that were torn apart, mashed together, and re-dubbed to create Robotech.

[Why would they] introduce characters from far into the series right away?

I can't answer that, but spoiler openings are ubiquitous in anime. Even the original Japanese intro(s) contained one or two spoilers.