Censorship in anime

DeviantH · Post by **DeviantH** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 4:28 pm

It's a well known fact that all anime is censored going from one country to the next but censorship goes far beyond that. the fact is that religion is, if it isn't already, usually turned into christianity. Violence is reduced to a bloodless thing in some circumstances. Even language is blown out of proportion, one way or another. The reason why I created this forum is because I would like to know how censoring effects the story of a anime in the anime that you watch. Also how censoring is a bad thing or even a good thing in some circumstances. Like how it's good because it may reach a broader audience by censoring some things and introducing more people to anime. Or even it's a bad thing because it loses some of it's flavor and it doesn't remain true to what the creator wanted to share with the audience.

Arigatomina · Post by **Arigatomina** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 4:38 pm

Okay. Since most people know about it, I'll use Sailor Moon.

By censoring it and dumbing it down for the kiddies (taking out the yaoi and yuri by turning male characters into females and girls into cousins), they've made the anime into something targeted for young teens or children. This means the final series - which revolves around sex-changing scouts - will never be released with the rest of the anime. They can't. They've convinced the kids and their parents that it's a cute, non-controversial (excusing the half-naked girls) anime. If they were to bring Sailor Stars over here, those unsuspecting kids would want it. Then their parents would be up in arms over the realization that the anime was not actually so 'safe' as they thought. There just isn't a quick way to convert the final arc into something 'US kiddie' friendly. So they've screwed those older fans who happened to like the original.

madbunny · Post by **madbunny** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 5:06 pm

Since Ari stated her case for Sailor Moon so well, I'll use Cardcaptor Sakura.

By butching the storyline, and making the capture of cards more of a competition, the original endearing story of Sakura learning to use her powers, and facing dangers along the way gets lost.

Virtually all of the interpersonal interactions are lost, several characters are done away with, and much of the mystery is tossed off like so much refuse.

Here is a page that goes into lots of detail, and does several comparisons for episodes with the Original and American version side by side.
She even has a couple of AMV's to check out.
Cardcaptors vs Card Captor Sakura

Moonlight Soldier · Post by **Moonlight Soldier** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 5:54 pm

Hmm....actually I wrote an editoreal about censorship and fansubbing last year as an assignment. Keep in mind it was a persuasive assignment. I conducted a poll here to include in my research, and J-0080 provided me with a picture to use under which I had a caption reading "Nudity is the most common edit in anime" If interested see below

I wrote:
Ready Aim Censor!
Anime Under Glass. A look at the Cause and Effect of Censorship.

Most people wouldn’t understand the word anime had it been mentioned ten years ago. However, as Japanese Animation creeps subtlety into the mainstream world of Western culture the word anime takes on a whole new meaning. People are beginning to understand that these “big eyed cartoons” are more than just kid shows that the Saturday morning line-up makes them out to be. The Japanese animation industry is without a doubt more diverse in content that North America’s regular television line-up. It includes all genres found in Cinema, from heroic epics, science fiction, dramas, comedies and romance to risqué types such as pornography. As Matt Greenfield, the founder of ADVision (a popular dubbing company), points out: “I think that one of the mistakes a lot of people initially had was those shows [anime] were all fighting giant robots, there’s nothing wrong with fighting giant robots, but that’s like looking at American TV and saying that’s all car crashes. We’ve got a lot of car crashes but that’s not what it’s all about. Anime is not a genre, it’s a medium.” Most anime features sophisticated storylines with complex characters aimed for adults. So what does this all mean? In most cases, unless you are already an anime fan, it means absolutely nothing. Yet as a fan, I know that many anime titles have been butchered in the editing room, and I along with legions of others, want the uncut.

But why does a show originally geared for teenagers become a show for children five and up? The answer is simple, marketing. North American companies would rather release a title where they can appeal to a broader audience than the actual age group it was intended for. The result being unfavourable episodes and scenes cut, dialogue changed and even entire storylines altered. A fitting example is that of Cardcaptor Sakura, a recent anime title whose entire demographic was changed to solicit the maximum amount of viewers as possible. The show in its uncut format features an NAPC rating of 13+ yet it became 5+ once it aired on North American television. In addition to the rating change, the plot was altered. Cardcaptor Sakura was a romance drama aimed at girls, focusing primarily on the heroine’s ability to build relationships. Yet somehow the show became male oriented, centring instead on Sakura’s love interest Shaoran Li, and dealt largely with the capture of the magical tarot cards, which in the original series barely makes up a third of the eighty episodes. Characters were changed, relationships skewed and homosexuality cut out. Fans were outraged with the result and sought out ways to rectify their disappointment. The answer? Fansubs, (fan subtitled) were released over the Internet. Japanese and English speaking individuals captured the show from Japanese laser disks and inserted English subtitles using computer software. This is a common practice.

The problem with fansubbing is that it’s illegal, and as such fans have developed a code of ethics to appeal to the companies who produce the anime. First, no money for a fansub is ever exchanged, and if it does, it should only be for the cost of postage and whatever blank medium the anime is being copied to. Second, there is an unofficial agreement with fans to stop distributing a title should it become licensed for commercial release. However, due to the recent advancements in modern technology, improving image quality and the accessibility of the Internet, these ethics have been virtually destroyed. Instead the fansubbing practice has begun to delay the release of newer titles that have yet to arrive in North America. Ken Wiatrek of ADVision’s marketing department says: “ It hurts the industry, because why do we want to release something when it’s been fansubbed to death? We don’t want people aware of it that aren’t aware of it. We don’t want people to get it for free.” Ironically, both sides manage to cancel each other out. Companies that refuse to release uncut anime force fans to acquire it illegally, which in turn delays, if not stops future commercial releases. But in all fairness, how is it possible to test the marketability of a title when companies refuse to take the initial risk? It has been shown that if you give fans what they desire, sales will rise. The uncut Cardcaptor Sakura DVDs outsold the edited televised versions despite the episodes still floating around on the Internet. The Cartoon Network even created an “Adult Swim” airing late at night, where fans can find less censored programs more suited to their demographic. While most fans admit that they have watched fansubs, they insist that if anything the experience has left them wanting more, therefore promoting the series in question.

And so we are left with a question of ethics. Should fansubbing cease and desist? In all honesty I don’t think the anime industry would be ascending so quickly into the realm of mainstream entertainment if it weren’t for fansubs. People can be exposed to raw uncut anime in its true form, before it has been sliced apart in the editing room. When fans see the difference between the original versus the censored, they demand the uncut. Shows like Sailor Moon, released in 1995, whose editing ordeal was just as horrifying as Cardcaptor Sakura, has finally begun to be released in its uncut format now in 2003. This is atrocious! Fans have been screaming for these titles uncut have now, eight years after the fact, been given what is rightfully theirs. Why should anyone have to wait that long? Though make no mistake, sales of those DVDs are selling as fast as proverbial hotcakes. Companies need to re-evaluate their marketing strategy and learn to appeal to the rightful audience, the intended audience. Only then will fansubbing become obsolete.

Informal Poll Regarding FansubsConducted at www.animemusicvideos.org, a popular Anime Bulletin Board.
80% Admit they have watched fansubs of unlicensed anime.
70% Destroy these fansubs once the title becomes licensed.
55% Download already licensed anime, but insist it’s to view the title before they buy it.
85% Insist fansubs helps to promote anime releases in areas other than Japan.

The above article in its entirety © Moonlight Soldier 2003

Rorschach · Post by **Rorschach** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 6:41 pm

Actually, I kind of like the effects of censorship, albeit not out of any love for censors. A lot of the fun of getting the uncut version of an anime series lies in knowing that you're in the privileged position of being allowed to see something not everyone gets to see. I believe our television censors should be allowed to go on censoring things for our kids, as long as they allow the adults to have the uncut version.

In a way, this policy of theirs is nothing new: fairy tales were originally tales about adults told to adults by adults, and only later (after much cleansing and abstraction) made into stories for children. Of course, even then a lot of the "mature" material got through. (Rapunzel, for example, still turns up with her twin children at the end of the story about her, although the obvious reason for their existence is edited out of the contemporary children's version. Question that originally got Rapunzel in serious trouble with the witch: "Mother, why is it that my clothes are so tight, and they don't fit me anymore?")

Offhand, one of the delights of reaching adulthood was finding out just what the recorders of the mythical tales I'd learned in my youth had been keeping back from me. As I told someone once, having an uncut anime is like finding out that there's an adult version of your G.I. Joe cartoons with characters who talk more like real people and use realistic ammunition that does realistic damage. As such, rather than arguing against censorship for the masses (which is, after all, largely a commercial concession to cultural taboos), I argue in favor of getting the uncut versions released faster. For authenticity's sake, of course, these uncut versions should always come in the original Japanese, even if commercial necessities require that a dub also be provided.

bubblehead · Post by **bubblehead** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 7:07 pm

I generally dislike censorship, but I could see censoring out a little blood or something as long as they don't drastically change the storyline, and DO release an uncut DVD version at the same time as any cut version DVDs. I was pissed when I found out how much of Cardcaptor Sakura they cut out to make Cardcaptors (I still haven't seen the original but I now own the mangas). Especially since I like the storyline of the manga more than the cut version of the anime.

As for aiming it at a younger audience, if it means changing the storyline or characters, forget it. There are plenty of kid's shows out there. I'm sure if what they want is an anime they could market to little kids, they could find one that wouldn't require cutting (or not as much anyway).

...actually I mostly dislike censorship on principle, that it's untrue to the creator's intentions.

Also, it just occured to me that by censoring anime, they help to support the stereotype that animation is all fairly mindless kiddy stuff, without any real substance.

Charizard305 · Post by **Charizard305** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 7:51 pm

Censorship does turn Anime into "Mindless Kiddy Stuff". I;; give you an example.

One of the first Anime's that I started watching on a regular basis was CardCaptors (the American Version), I started buying the DVDs and by accident I bought one DVD of Card Captor Sakura that I already had in the American Version .. one of the lines was where Sakura stated to Li that she had feelings for Yukito, and in japanese Version Li said Something to the effect of 'yea, so do I'. When I first saw the difference in the 2 versions I was totally stunned. I couldnt believe that they would do such a thing in Anime, because all I had known was the Cencored American Versions. After that moment, I never saw Anime in the same light. It had become something more to me knowing that it wasnt just mindless kiddy stuff, that it actually had a deep story line behind it.

If a particular show wasnt ment to display nudity, Bad Language, or sexually explicit scenes then the creators wouldnt have created them like that. Censors take it upon themselvs to show to the world what they think is best. in most cases they are right, but for the more mature audiences like most everyone here censorship isn't needed. We all know about sex, Yaoi, Yuri, Pornography and if your offended by it, Don't Buy The Shows.

HeartbreakerByZep · Post by **HeartbreakerByZep** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 8:32 pm

Religion is turned into Christianity? Haven't seen that, but I guess it probably happens.

Anyway I quite hate censorship. It's almost like a pet peeve of mine, I can't stand if something is altered even if it is fairly meaningless (like the removal of the couple frames in the "Progress" episode of Kare Kano, I was so pissed that a few frames were missing even though you don't see much) but censorship on TV is the worst.

Another thing bad about anime on TV, or rather CN atleast, no openings and sometimes fractionalized endings. I would never be able to stand that, you have to have the opening and ending. I'm glad I don't watch anime on TV.

HeartbreakerByZep · Post by **HeartbreakerByZep** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 8:35 pm

Darn, something I ment to say but forgot to type. Sorry for the double post.

Honestly, I consider censorship in some cases pathetic. I completely understand the need for censorship, in certain cases and for certain things. But, for example, an anime on at 1AM. There's no reason what-so-ever you shouldn't be able to show Hellsing completley uncut. Seeing a vibrant red color on the screen is hardly comparable to some live action gore fest. It's pathetic if something like Hellsing would have to be censored, because it would show the common law of substance means nothing, simple restrictions mean everything.

aznfs · Post by **aznfs** » Mon Jul 12, 2004 10:48 pm

i going to use dragonball Z no i dont watch it and yes i hate the many amvs that were crudely made with dbz source

dragonball z the north american tv version was so screwed up... not necessarily in the storyline, but helpfully confused a wide population of people where as people dont die they just go to another dimension and mr. satan's name is now hurcule and HELL is deemed HFIL most people in the right mind know that by seeing the placards that hurcule's name is is moving... obviously censoring whatever was below it.... and hell was just funny when i saw it on cartoon network

i realli never understood why the anime was censored like that hell i was like 9 when i saw those episodes and i knew that hfil was supposed to be hell