Censorship of 'mature/violent' content

[Chad -]

Do you like when certain aspects of an animé, be it fanservice or violent acts, is censored? Since the produces/creators do specify what content there is, and it's not aimed for children and such, why do they censor them? Discuss if you support censorship or not.

 

[The Corrupt Plague]

I hate it when they censor too much because when they do, they usually end up butchering important story elements and dumbing the whole thing down because they assume that all viewers are morons.

 

[Eucliffe]

*coughcoughTHE"LOSTEPISODE"OFPOKEMONcoughcough*

I honestly do hate it. I mean, I get why they'd censor them on TV, but I honestly think some of them should be uncensored when released on DVD or whatever, and have the box say "uncensored" (I think some of the Shaman King episodes were released uncut on DVD, I remember seeing something like that :/).

This is why dubbed anime that goes straight to DVD, is on "adult" channels (like SyFy), or an anime producing channel (like FUNimation's channel) are best.

 

[Master Bait]

Yeah since most of the viewers are teenagers/adults and not kids. I'd support censorship if an anime show endorses liquors or cigarettes.

 

[Ctrl.Alt.Geak]

I've never been a fan of censorship, but the government here loves it. For the most part they will just ban something all together. For most things I cant even find justification for the censorship, like replacing the words "Kill" or "Die" with something else, kids know what death is, why try to hide it.

 

[Weeaboo Name]

Sometimes it annoys me actually. Like when they turn make blood black, i mean what's the point?

Sometimes it's funny though.

Spoiler:

I LMAO at that.

 

[Shanghai Alice]

Yeah since most of the viewers are teenagers/adults and not kids. I'd support censorship if an anime show endorses liquors or cigarettes.

I'd agree, but liquor and cigarettes aren't really that big.

Most shows portray cigarettes in either a negative (Typically, the burned out, unsavory characters smoke) or neutral (Let the hardboiled detective have a smoke!) light.

Liquor is more prevalent, but... Come on. Everyone drinks. Well, almost everyone. But still.


For me, censoring out extremely extreme acts of violence (For example, even Detective Conan censored out a character's beheading on a roller coaster) is alright, but lesser ones (Blood, characters getting beaten to a pulp, etc.) should be uncensored.

 

[Quisling]

To censor animé, rated R/R+, is basically wrong and unjustified. I mean, these animé are not intended for a child or a young audience, it's aimed for young adults/teens. Censoring should only be used, if unsuitable content appeared in an animé that was intended for kids.

 

[Elite Overlord LeSabre™]

If it's on TV, fine. But I would like to think that if someone is buying a DVD of a series or movie, that a) it would be rated, and b) that they would at least have an inkling of what they were getting into when they bought it.

I don't understand the black blood either - makes it look like there's an oil leak :/

 

[Shanghai Alice]

All humans are BP-manufactured robots in anime.

 

[Shanghai Alice]

I think they should censor Sanae from the Touhou series, considering that she is NOT a good girl.


Now, about the whole "It's aimed at an older audience" argument, channels still have certain standards for what can and can't be shown, so yes, censorship is needed in extreme cases.

Also, you KNOW it's bad if the Japanese censor it...

 

[Livewire]

Most of the time censorship is just a nuisance. What is inappropriate and appropriate for some people isn't true for everyone else, its too broad a topic.

In the long run, it is the job of the parent and or guardian to determine what is appropriate for their children to watch, and it is their job to make sure their child understands its a Cartoon, not real life. Dont blame the video game companies because the kids are violent and acting out based on the games they play or what they see in the media. Blame the deatbeat parents who allowed them to act that way in the first place.

 

[Jordan]

Like LeSabre up there, I'll only tolerate censorship if it's done on TV where young children may easily access the content. Anywhere else, though, I'd prefer things to be shown the way they were meant to be shown. I mean, censoring cigarettes and putting lollipops in its place...that's just ridiculous.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I don't mind anime censorship, but I don't like it when they do it in excess.

 

[Masterge77]

Can anyone here say "4Kids Entertainment"!?

 

[Agent Clank]

I don't think they should censor out blood and stuff like that.
Because blood is part of the human body and its nothing worth censoring.

 

[Shanghai Alice]

Can anyone here say "4Kids Entertainment"!?

"NOBODY MOVE OR I'M GOING TO HIT THIS KID WITH A TOY HAMMER. DROP YOUR GUNS IMMEDIATELY."

 

[Cult Leader Lettuce]

Personally, my view in censorship in televised anime is this: While I might not agree with everything that is censored, there is a difference between what is considered "okay" in Japan vs. what is considered "okay" in many English speaking countries. While the nudity in the Dragonball series was acceptable in mid 1980's Japan, it would never be acceptable on a channel airing at a time when children and teens would be viewing it. While tobacco and alcohol references used to be no major issue in animation in the United States, now it is, and this is also censored for television broadcasts during timeslots that cater to children and teens. Personally, if this is what it takes for a series to get exposure via television, that is no problem (at least not in my opinion).

On the other hand, when it comes to dvd/bluray releases, many companies will release their shows completely uncut, and will include ratings and warnings on the packaging. As long as a parent who would be purchasing this for their child or teenager knows what is contained on the plastic discs inside the packaging, I have no issue with this. Personally, I prefer an uncut release in this format. On the other hand, when companies refuse to release a series in an uncut format for dvd/bluray release, I do not like that. Television, where a parent has less knowledge of what all is being shown at the various afternoon timeslots, is acceptable for censorship of a program. Media that is purchased, where a parent has full knowledge of what is contained, should never need censorship (unless there is a censored + uncut release available).

 

[A Pixy]

I hate it when they censor too much because when they do, they usually end up butchering important story elements and dumbing the whole thing down because they assume that all viewers are morons.

Most of the time censorship is just a nuisance. What is inappropriate and appropriate for some people isn't true for everyone else, its too broad a topic.

In the long run, it is the job of the parent and or guardian to determine what is appropriate for their children to watch, and it is their job to make sure their child understands its a Cartoon, not real life. Dont blame the video game companies because the kids are violent and acting out based on the games they play or what they see in the media. Blame the deatbeat parents who allowed them to act that way in the first place.

Can anyone here say "4Kids Entertainment"!?

I don't think they should censor out blood and stuff like that.
Because blood is part of the human body and its nothing worth censoring.

GOOD GRIEF.

MINI-TEE ELL DEE ARR WARNING

Let's say a company, let's call them 'FUNimation'. FUNimation wants to bring this really, really, REEEAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLYYY huge children's cartoon from Japan to America so that FUNimation and the company who made it, let's call that company 'Toei' can both profit. Unfortunately, this cartoon, let's call it, 'Dragonball Z' has content that is a bit too adult for young children in the Western World. But if they tried to market it to adults, it would fail because it's not meant for adults and marketing something for children to adults doesn't give you the best success rate. So FUNimation can either waste their money in localizing and then get sued by Toei or they can change some minor details so that Dragonball Z can become a big hit. Toei, at first, isn't too happy with the changes, but they understand the old phrase 'different strokes for different blokes' so they allow FUNimation to broadcast their version of Dragonball Z. They remove all the adult things so that kids have easy access to it and Dragonball Z is an enormous super-hit. It allows FUNimation to do more anime importing and now they have a bit of an empire. All because they understood that what might be okay for kids in one country might not be okay for kids in others. Eventually FUNimation releases Dragonball Z in a more uncut manner and all is right with the world.

Eventually, other companies start doing this because they want to make money off of it. Another company, let's call them 'Saban' imports a show, let's call it Sailor Moon and it too is a hit. And a third company, let's call them '4kids Entertainment' imports two more shows, let's call them 'Pokemon' and 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' and by the time they're hits, the Western world is lit on fire with Animation and soon teenagers all over are watching Japanimation but more adult things. Sure the three shows had their fair bit of censorship, but without that, they wouldn't have come and they wouldn't have been hits. America would've continued with they're animation instead of the state it's in now.

That's right.

Anime being big in the west?

YOU HAVE CENSORSHIP TO BLAME.

DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYING?

 

[Cult Leader Lettuce]

GOOD GRIEF.

MINI-TEE ELL DEE ARR WARNING

Let's say a company, let's call them 'FUNimation'. FUNimation wants to bring this really, really, REEEAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLYYY huge children's cartoon from Japan to America so that FUNimation and the company who made it, let's call that company 'Toei' can both profit. Unfortunately, this cartoon, let's call it, 'Dragonball Z' has content that is a bit too adult for young children in the Western World. But if they tried to market it to adults, it would fail because it's not meant for adults and marketing something for children to adults doesn't give you the best success rate. So FUNimation can either waste their money in localizing and then get sued by Toei or they can change some minor details so that Dragonball Z can become a big hit. Toei, at first, isn't too happy with the changes, but they understand the old phrase 'different strokes for different blokes' so they allow FUNimation to broadcast their version of Dragonball Z. They remove all the adult things so that kids have easy access to it and Dragonball Z is an enormous super-hit. It allows FUNimation to do more anime importing and now they have a bit of an empire. All because they understood that what might be okay for kids in one country might not be okay for kids in others. Eventually FUNimation releases Dragonball Z in a more uncut manner and all is right with the world.

Eventually, other companies start doing this because they want to make money off of it. Another company, let's call them 'Saban' imports a show, let's call it Sailor Moon and it too is a hit. And a third company, let's call them '4kids Entertainment' imports two more shows, let's call them 'Pokemon' and 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' and by the time they're hits, the Western world is lit on fire with Animation and soon teenagers all over are watching Japanimation but more adult things. Sure the three shows had their fair bit of censorship, but without that, they wouldn't have come and they wouldn't have been hits.

Indeed. Censorship for televised broadcast, is perfectly acceptable when you have a cultural difference in the country that a company is attempting to bring a series to. While some of the oldies like myself can remember watching some Japanese animated series on television in the 1980's, and can remember when a lot of the home vhs market of anime was geared towards adults (with films like Akira), the newer generation of anime fans do indeed have censorship to thank for making anime what it is today.

America would've continued with they're animation instead of the state it's in now.

Personally, I am not a big fan of the current US TV animation style. It just seems sloppy to me. While during the time period that anime on afterschool and Saturday morning television blocks, I was not following the TV animation scene as much, I do remember some series from the time like Rugrats and Ren and Stimpy that had good animation quality. We also had series like Beavis and Butthead that weren't as high quality as some of the other animation offerings, but that series was more of a vehicle to show music videos in a humorous way. And of course, some series in the US had animation that was outsourced to Japan (some of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles episodes had animation done by Toei if I remember correctly).