Forum - View topicCensorship of anime, a savage hypocracy
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ParaParaJMo
 Posts: 333 Location: Gilbert, AZ, USA |
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After finding myself the stomach to watch through the Naruto dub again, I decided to point this out. Though it doesn't turn me on personally, this kind of triggered on why I wanted to make this rant. It was the 3rd episode of Naruto, what was edited out was the scene where Naruto and Sasuke accidently kissed. It was mentioned but the scene itself was cut. Which brings to my next subject, the hypocracy behind it. Cartoon Network decides not to show this type of scene on prime time television, and yet the name network can show Bugs Bunny dressing up in drag and kiss Elmer Fudd on day time television. This is just hypocracy at it's worst.
Other examples of hypocritical censorship on America's networks. For example, with Elmer Fudd, it's ok to see people get shot or get blown up by dynamite or rockets in Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner clips. Or in Tom and Jerry, it's ok for Tom to get his skin cut off to his muscles or get blown up by bombs or get his tail cut off. But while in anime, it's not ok to see someone get ki blasted or something like that. Another type of censorship I didn't like was in the Hajime no Ippo dub. In the original Japanese track, when they introduce Jason Ozuma, they tend to strongly emphasize that he's black. While in the dub, they tend to avoid that but on the other hand the dub can use George Carlin's list of swear words. My point here is that the dub took away a certain important fact about a character that was strongly emphasized in the original Japanese track, something probably unfamiliar to the Japanese culture. The Japanese track tends to talk about that all the hardcore American boxers are black which attributed to the Ozuma character himself. The fact that Ozuma is black is supposed to be unique or on "why he is so strong." Instead, they just make a statement that he's strong in the dub without any mentioning of his skin color and to assume that he just is. I believe One Piece did an edit like this too. They made a black character white. Since I refuse to watch that God forsaken edit, I can't really point at the specific episode but I saw a site that showed the pictures (forgot the site). OK, enough of that rant. I just wanted to point out that the censorship we see in anime is totally unfair and hypocritical. |
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Animefan16
 Posts: 1020 |
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They haven't shown the old Looney Toons in cartoon network for years. They only show Duck Dodgers and Baby looney toons which are pretty tame compared to the old cartoons. American standards have become stricter these days. Most american kids cartoons these days are very tame compared to shows in the 90s and before that. Some old american cartoons are even edited when they're shown on tv these days. Gargoyles is one example. It was edited when it was on Toon Disney. I heard the animaniacs were edited in nicktoons tv.
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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They have shown Tom and Jerry fairly recently though.
Also, in JLU the characters ometimes have guns. very gun-like guns, not toy guns. You don't see individual bullets, byt they could certainly be shooting bullets by how it looks. No overt attempt is made to disguise them as "blasters" or anything, and yet in shows like Gash Bell the go so far as to cover a silenced pistol in line jello in a ridiculous attempt to hide that it's a silenced pistol. Even Sigma Six suffers from ridiculous editing, like that one character's "energy" chainsaw. |
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ShinobiX
 Posts: 889 Location: NY |
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CN was intentialy made for kids and it still is so you have to expect those things. Toonami made for 6-7 year olds. Adultswim made for 7-14 year olds. Ratings don't lie. Ofcourse, anybody could watch CN, Toonami, and Adult Swim.
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benbboy
Posts: 66 |
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I think you can half thank our staff at the white house for this. All of those protective right wingers and their censorship on many things. I also can't stand when they cut out scences....the only reason i see for it is nudity and harsh language. Even as i say this i see that i didn't mention anything about violence...and that truly did not cross my mind right away...the first nono of society these days is nudity and sex. It is ironic because each person has their own body and knows what it looks like and sex is natural and has kept all animals alive for years upon years. Then swearing...sure it's not nice to say nasty things to people, and if you were to swear or harrass a person enough it may rattle their esteem, but does it even compare to what physical violence can do?
I often will look at the ratings on DVDs; any nudity whatsoever will earn at least an R..(PG in the old days cause there was no PG-13 and R was reserved for more severe cases). Then language and violence will usually earn a PG-13..especially language. Another thing that i find funny is that some movies Disney will put out will have jokes that only adults would get but can get fairly dirty. This is not an example of a joke...but in Shrek when they enter the castle and the boys choir starts to sing and end by pulling their pants down...is that really much more nudity than seeing the rear of an animated character. I know this example is stretching it but i do feel people are byass and that old companies such as disney will always get the benefit of the doubt whereas anime will be criticized much more. |
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Emerje
 Posts: 7395 Location: Maine |
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It does seem hypocritical to have guns removed from one show and left in in the following shows, but keep in mind that often it's the producer of the series (Viz, FUNi, Geneon, etc) that makes the edits, not Cartoon Network. The problem is that they're working on a time frame and they can't just keep submitting the same show over and over to CN until it clears, they have to do what they think will work the first time every time. Often this seems to lead to over cutting to play it safe (like in Zatch Bell). On the other hand when Cartoon Network produces a show (such as JLU) they know their own boarders better than anyone so they can push the envelope every time. I do blame the producers for playing things too safe at times, but at the same time it could be a matter of Standards and Practices not being as clear as they should be. Just look at some of the past Viz offerings: Inu Yasha was originally over edited for content when it could have been mostly uncut on Adult Swim. Zatch Bell has received some somewhat nonsensical gun edits (does it matter what it looks like if we still know it's a weapon for killing?). Then you've got Naruto which features one of the best edit treatments yet, but could still lighten up just a bit (nose bleeds). Easily Naruto could be seen as Viz lightening up, obviously CN's standards are actually higher when they've got a show like JLU which features content that at times makes you question whether or not Adult Swim was moved up an hour. Now, I'm not saying that Cartoon Network doesn't screw up edits from time to time, there are anime out there that they handle themselves. I'm pretty sure Kenshin was their doing, but then again that was quite some time ago and their practices have changed quite a bit, I'm really not sure what their recent "works" have been. I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I wouldn't cry hypocrisy unless the inconsistency is with the same editor.
Emerje |
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Sir_Brass
 Posts: 476 Location: Prescott, AZ |
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This is a crime for which they have yet to be forgiven  . Same with nick for editing anamaniacs.
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Steventheeunuch
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Except that Sigma Six is only animated by gonzo, whereas it was written by Americans. It was always meant to be "energy" chainsaw. Also, OP, it's called context, but please complain about how old 50's cartoons are relevant to new Japanese ones thanks. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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But they make the edits (in those cases) to suit the tastes of the people buying the product. If CN told them not to, they'd stop (One Piece being a minor exception because it's run on two different networks, one on Saturday morning and insane).
CN doesn't produce Justice League either, it's a Warner Brothers show, but nobody that works at CN has a direct hand in making it, the division between the two units is much higher up. They have no more or less creative control over JLU than they do over Gash Bell.
I'm offended by such edits. Same thing by when people say "bull spit" or something in a movie. If you make an edit, make it clean, and very very obvious, like a bleep or a black bar. Don't get cute with it. Gash Bell's are probably the worst ever, because not only do they try to get cute, but they're completely ridiculous. What was that gun, made of Kryptonite or something? The guy should have been decaying from radiation poisoning or something.
I won't believe that until I see it officially. The effect on the chainsaw, and some other sequences in that episode, had the same "quality" to it as the sort of edits one sees on One Piece or Gash Bell. They did not appear to be Gonzo quality effects. I know it's writen by Americans, but I believe that there does exist a version of that scene with a metal chainsaw, that will probably be released overseas at some point or something, and that we got the edited copy. It just didn't look right.
What about Itchy and Scratchy? |
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Steventheeunuch
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They love, they share, they love and share and share, Love love love, share share share? Then again, Itchy and Scratchy are in themselves an absurd parody on various US cartoons, and as such can't really be taken seriously. The actual violence in them is so disconnected from anything even resembling reality that it's hardly worth discussing. edit: to get into a bit more detail, various WB cartoons and Tom and Jerry and whatever else aren't protrayed as anything above a cartoon, a completely fictional image that regardless of what happens, can't actually die nor can actually feel real pain (bomb blasts, gun shots, burns, whatever else). What Naruto and such do, and while I agree with some cases and not others, is builds up actual, relateable characters who, in non-comical moments, actually feel reprecussions, both physically and mentally from the actions of others and themselves. Now the extent is completely within the context of the show, but this is generally why you can get away with some things in certian shows (IE itchy replacing scratchy's eyeballs with bombs and such) but not in others. Now I haven't seen Zatch Bell, so forgive me if I get this wrong or if I'm being ignorant or something, but can any of the characters, in a situation where there is/would be guns, get hurt by them? You could make an assertion that Justice League can allow guns, because people such as Superman and co generally are above that (notice the large ammounts of lasers and such that are in the series, while it's usually due to alien things, they're still there), but you could also raise the issue that knives or swords, re One Piece, can stab and maim a person and are generally more accessable. In the end it's one big gigantic mess, but it would be nice to get down to the bottom of it, but then you have a whole load of child psychologists and marketting people and corporate producers and stuff throwing things into the mix that inconsistencies between shows of different origin, country and production are going to agree or disagree on a plethora of different things. Not that it should be any excuse, mind you
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Starwind Amada
Posts: 981 Location: Easton, PA, USA |
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Starwind Amada
Posts: 981 Location: Easton, PA, USA |
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I saw that gun. That was so pathetic. In the last episode, they showed a guy holding that old man at gunpoint, with an unaltered gun, yet they can't show a guy firing at some girl without "SEEDerizing" the gun. Oh, wait, he was shooting at a princess, and kids everywhere will be traumatized if they see a fictional princess get shot. 
And how the hell does this "energy chainsaw" work? Anyone got a pic? |
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DarkTenshi90
 Posts: 440 Location: Nebraska |
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Something that bothers me is that anime is always the first to be edited. They still show Tom and Jerry, and that show has some violent stuff. I was talking to my mom about this, since, it's more explainable to ask a parent about this stuff.
And trust me, my mom's pretty laid back when it comes to preventing me watch things. I told her about the Sasuke and Naruto kiss, asking what she felt about it. She said asked me if the show was directed for kids, which I replied with a nod. Then, she said, "Little kids wouldn't understand. They probably did that so they wouldn't question their parents about why are these boys kissing? " I agree. Little kids find these things strange, but then you reminded me of the Looney Tunes stuff. Truthfully, I never thought any second thought from the Bugs Bunny cross-dressing or anything. I thought it was funny, but maybe it affected boys differently than what it did for girls (is a girl) I dunno, but honestly, I used to get a kick out of Looney Tunes. I wish they would show it again.... Now, something that perturbs me is when they make a video game rated Teen of the anime (One Piece, for example) and they even decided to edit out the cigarette there to. Now, this game isn't directed towards children. There was no point in editing that out (but the game still rocks). Another thing that bothers me is when they needlessly change the background music to a show. It's a waste of money because there's already a track that better fits the background music. Now, I know they're just trying to make the shows sound more kid-friendly than what they are. Honestly, it's annoying. Why waste more time putting different annoying tracks of music in the background when you already have beautiful music that has been made especially for that show. It's stupid because there's nothing to even block the kids from from it. In conclusion, America tends to over-edit a little too much. |
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Mugen The Great
Posts: 189 |
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But Toonami gathers ratings from anybody 6-17 (although if a shows on their block does well with 6-8 or 15-17 without many 9-14 viewers it'll likely get canceled). Adult Swim is primarily targetted to ages 18-34, although they tend of relish ratings from anybody 12 and up. Do your research, people. Anyway, censorship in anime can get pretty hypocritical, but it's essentially the same issues with the rest of TV. Why The Simpsons can show Homer's butt crack without a disclaimer while Family Guy can't has always confused me. Of course, anime generally has it a bit rougher. As for the Naruto kiss edit, they at least made it obvious that it happened even if it wasn't shown. In comparison to Looney Tunes stuff, maybe it always had to do with the fact that Bugs was in drag. Eh, I'm just confusing myself. Whatever. As long as 4Kids doesn't somehow steal the rights to Fullmetal Alchemist from FUNi midseason and end up having Ed and Al try bringing their mother back from the Shadow Realm using circle cards and tons of other worse crap I can deal with the current state of anime censorship. |
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Ohoni
Posts: 3421 |
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Visualize a regular chainsaw, and then Photoshop the blade with a solid green blob that is the exact shape of a chainsaw blade, then put a little white glow at it's core. It looked very much in composition like those bullets the gun shot on Gash Bell last night. I'm an artist, and in my artistic opinion, it was 'shopped on there. One of these things was not like the other. |
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