Sailor Moon S

Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S
The anime series title, which translates to Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S
Country of origin	Japan
No. of episodes	38
Release
Original network	TV Asahi
Original release	March 19, 1994 (1994-03-19) – February 25, 1995 (1995-02-25)
Season chronology
← Previous Sailor Moon R Next → Sailor Moon Super S
List of Sailor Moon episodes

The third season of the Sailor Moon anime series, titled Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon S(美少女戦士セーラームーン S(スーパー), Bishōjo Senshi Sērā Mūn Sūpā^?), was produced by Toei Animation and directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. It began broadcasting on TV Asahi on March 19, 1994, and ended on February 25, 1995. Like the rest of the series, it adapts the manga series by Naoko Takeuchi and follows the adventures of Usagi Tsukino and her friends. In 2000, Cloverway Inc. licensed the season for an unedited English-language broadcast in North America. Optimum Productions continued to dub the series. The series aired on YTV, who adjusted the episode numbers to match those of the original Japanese version, from June 12, 2000 to August 1, 2000. Edited and unedited videotapes as well as uncut bilingual DVDs of their adaptation were released by Pioneer Entertainment. In contrast to DIC Entertainment's dub of the first two seasons, Cloverway retained the background music and sound effects from the original Japanese version. Eventually, in 2014, Viz Media licensed the series from the start for an uncut release, and released the first part of the season on November 15, 2016. While Sailor Moon S began very similarly to the first two seasons, Sailor Moon S eventually took a darker, more emotional turn.

One of the controversies surrounding Sailor Moon S is in the romantic-lesbian relationship of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, who are subtly depicted as romantic lovers, although this is never mentioned directly. Takeuchi has openly admitted they are a romantic couple, and their voice actresses were instructed to play the characters "as if they are a married romantic couple." However, because of differing cultural standards, most countries outside Japan, excluding Greece, Germany, Sweden, Spain and Mexico, have censored the relationship. Alternatively, in the Cloverway/Optimum English-dubbed version, this subtext was made more taboo by way of portraying Neptune and Uranus as biological cousins who were involved in a romantic relationship with each other. The Studiopolis/Viz Media English-language dub preserves the subtext of the original material.