American audiences do not have the same history of homosexuality in their culture as the Japanese do. They do not believe that a schoolgirl crush on another girl is innocent and normal; in fact many Americans would find it abnormal and distasteful. They also do not have a concept of love between samurai or of the bishonen, and therefore cannot understand these things as well when they are presented in Japanese animation. Thus when anime is brought to the United States, many things are edited. Yet in an attempt to cover controversial issues up, it seems that the writers of the dubs go to the extreme.
The most obvious example of this is the conversion of Haruka and Michiru from girlfriends to cousins. While Haruka and Michiru are generally subtle about their lesbian relationship, their American counterparts, Amara and Michelle, are abundantly vocal about their familial one. However, in order to change the context of their relationship, occasionally an excessive amount of explaining is needed. For example, in the scene where Haruka and Michiru first meet (Enokido, "The Bond�"), it has to be explained Amara and Michelle have been out of touch for years and that Elza Gray, who just happens to have met both of them, is reacquainting them (Richards and Gregoire, "Related�"). Even the title of this episode, now "Related by Destiny," has been changed in such a way that the audience is completely aware that Amara and Michelle are not lovers, but family.
In "Leave It to the Moon for Love Aid," Haruka and Michiru enter an affections contest, not with the goal of actually winning, but to keep an eye on the winner's pure heart crystal. When it appears that they are going to win, they withdraw from the contest (Shigeru). In the American version, Amara and Michelle make it clear that they entered the contest only as a practical joke. When the other girls see them, they are appalled that the two girls would enter the contest, and come to the practical joke conclusion on their own. Yet throughout the contest, the announcer makes it clear that he is fine with Amara competing for Michelle's affection. This is because every time he interacts with Amara and Michelle, he refers to them as "best friends" (Richards and Gregoire, "Blinded�"). In "Mixed Emotions" (the American version of "The Kindness of a Man! Yuichiro, Heartbroken by Rei?"), Chad, Ray's (Rei's) off-again, on-again boyfriend, has trouble explaining why he feels jealous of Amara, since he does not believe that she is a man, as he did in the Japanese episode. First he is simply upset that Ray is taking advice from Amara and not from him, but later he jumps to the conclusion that she and Michelle are doing something sneaky behind Ray's back, although when he is listening to them, they do not mention Ray at all (Richards and Gregoire, "Mixed Emotions"). All this is done so that by the end of each of these episodes, the American viewer still can assume that Amara and Michelle are not girlfriends, although it seems to have taken a lot of work from the dub writers.
However, the dubbers might have tried a little too hard in the case of Amara and Michelle. Much of how Haruka and Michiru feel about each other in Sailormoon S is not revealed by what they say as much as by how they act around each other (although in the Sailormoon SuperS Special and Sailormoon Stars, they give many more vocal hints about the extent of their relationship). Even in the original Japanese, the viewer must look for visual clues of the love between them, such as the way Haruka looks at Michiru as the latter talks of kisses, or the way Michiru takes Haruka's hand to comfort her when she is worried. Looks and gestures cannot be as easily edited out of the story, especially when they are vital to the storyline. In "Death of Uranus and Neptune!? Talisman Appear," the storyline focuses on Haruka and Michiru's relationship. This episode is vital to the season, since without it, it would be difficult to explain how Haruka/Amara and Michiru/Michelle have fulfilled their initial mission and where the Holy Grail/Purity Chalice has come from. Yet none of the scenes that display Haruka and Michiru's relationship can be edited out either. The most important one consists of Haruka worrying about their mission and its implications.
Haruka (thinks while looking at her hands): These hands have been tainted now. No matter what
methods I take and what sacrifices I make, I will make sure to get a hold of the talismans.
(Michiru comes over to her)
Haruka (out loud): Michiru?
(Michiru takes her hand and intertwines their fingers together. For a few silent seconds, the shot focuses
on their hands and Michiru smiling at Haruka.)
Haruka: Hey, what's wrong?
Michiru: Haruka. It's alright, I like your hands. (Enokido, "Death�")
Since the episode is so crucial, much of the dub is similar to the subtitled version, although this is somewhat surprising considering how great the suggestion of a lesbian relationship is in it (Richards and Gregoire, "Destiny Arrival"). Yet the "hands" scene cannot be edited out, since it shows that Haruka/Amara is willing to sacrifice anything to save the world, thus explaining why she is the holder of a pure heart crystal and a talisman. Nor can Michiru's/Michelle's sacrifice of her own life for Haruka/Amara be edited out, for without this, the viewer would be clueless as to how the talisman within her pure heart crystal appeared. Since most of the love between the two girls is expressed through their actions, the episode remains more or less intact. However, this does lead to the disturbing question of whether Amara and Michelle are being portrayed not only as lesbians, but as incestuous lesbians.
While the L-word has yet to be uttered by a single character, the gay subtext still exists. However, the
two media outlets may have very well ended up shooting themselves in the foot. What could go down as
one the most dubious moments of judgment in television history occurred in one of last week's episodes,
when in what appears to be an attempt to draw attention away from the character's relationship, the two
girls referred to each other as "cousins."
It was an utterly surreal moment that I couldn't help but respond with [a] chorus of laughter. In an
attempt to avoid controversy, Cartoon Network and Cloveway took a sensitive issue and actually made it
even more potentially offensive by inadvertently throwing in a suggestion of incest. (Sebert, "Kissing
Cousins�")
Certainly, this is not what was intended by the change, but the suggestion still exists. This seems more absurd, if one realizes that if the dub writers felt that children would not pick up on the visual cues in the dub, the same children probably would not have figured out that the couple is gay in the original either.
