They did a lot of that "butchering" back in the day here in the States. Voltron was one of them. Hyakujuu-ou Golion (Hundred Beast King Lion) is the series Japaneese name and there was lots of blood and gore (Robots getting there heads chopped off by Voltron, etc) in the original. They also had to re-work the death of Sven. In the original he dies, funeral shown and all. In the states version he just disappears after getting wounded in battle.
Voltron was two different series mashed up into one. GoLion and something called Dairugger.
Edit: Forgot to mention Media Blasters will be releasing Hundred Beast King Lion soon.