Has Japan or anime altogether lost its balls?

[ParaParaJMo]

http://kotaku.com/as-far-as-anime-censo ... Socialflow

First Jojo, a late night anime censors smoking and now this shit.

I can't believe 30 years ago, Go-Lion (the series that was later the basis for Voltron), a children's TV show got away with practically the same shit. Hokuto no Ken found ways to make it suggestive. Ranma was also aired on TV and had nudity.

If kids can handle the graphic material in manga, they can sure as fuck handle it in anime.

Seriously, what the fuck has happened to Japan?

[greg]

Wow, that is weird. I can imagine that with Governor Ishihara's ruling to ban violence and nudity, this sort of thing is done as a form of protest. Maybe they're covering their butts and making a point at the same time.

[davemerrill]

On the "other hand", however, the giant penis-hands of Parasyte are making it onto the air untouched. So there's that.

[usamimi]

On the "other hand", however, the giant penis-hands of Parasyte are making it onto the air untouched. So there's that.

haha, well, to be fair...if you haven't read the manga, you might not know what's going on. I almost missed it when I watched the ep today, it's not as obviously graphic as the manga.

Someone uploaded the clip--here's how it was in the anime: http://youtu.be/dxdchWDdCRc?t=19s

Here's how it was originally in the manga (NSFW!!!) http://i.imgur.com/8q9EK.png

I'd seen one of the screencaps for Terra Formars on Twitter...the one with the big guy and the dots. It's all really...weird. In Jojo's at least it's just "Oh, a well-placed shadow", so it's not really THAT annoying to me. But damn, if I was watching that show...that is pretty frustrating. It's like they didn't even try to do it creatively. Let's just throw black bars and dots over everything!

[greg]

This could possibly be some "clever" strategy to push DVD sales. You know, release a lousy version for broadcast TV so that fans won't be content with simply keeping it on their DVRs, and give them incentive to see what exactly that bizarre, African-looking, racist charicature man is holding in his hands.

[davemerrill]

I agree, it's a situation where they can tease the audience with the TV broadcasts and then deliver "the real goods" with the DVD. Or, as in the case of the new Sailor Moon series, they can fix their animation errors for the DVD release.

[usamimi]

This could possibly be some "clever" strategy to push DVD sales. You know, release a lousy version for broadcast TV so that fans won't be content with simply keeping it on their DVRs, and give them incentive to see what exactly that bizarre, African-looking, racist charicature man is holding in his hands.

That's not too far-fetched. I mean, gotta pus those sales somehow, right?

I agree, it's a situation where they can tease the audience with the TV broadcasts and then deliver "the real goods" with the DVD. Or, as in the case of the new Sailor Moon series, they can fix their animation errors for the DVD release.

Well, in Sailor Moon's case, it's not even broadcast on TV--it's an internet-only show. So even more incentive to make the DVD/blu-ray sales more appealing!

[Char Aznable]

As far as any television censor guidelines are concerned, whether in Japan or the US, it seems that what's acceptable for broadcast television is ever-changing.

Just look in the US at cartoons broadcast in the '70s. They were far tamer than what was broadcast in the 1980s when Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Thundercats came along. Between the '80s and '90s you even had animated shows based on hard R-rated movies like Robocop, Rambo and Toxic Avenger. Then, by the mid 1990s, with a few exceptions (Batman TAS, X-Men, etc) most cartoons were castrated by censors. Spider-Man couldn't even throw a punch in the '90s series. However, there seems to be far less restrictions today. Maybe Japan television censors are going through the same motions now, even though what airs on Japanese TV, typically, has often been less rigid in their censorship than what broadcasts in the US.

I'm also of the belief that these episodes are being censored further by the animation studio's hand to ensure future Bluray sales. Truly a genius marketing tactic that will guarantee more purchases by fans eager to see what they missed on television.

[greg]

Then, by the mid 1990s, with a few exceptions (Batman TAS, X-Men, etc) most cartoons were castrated by censors.

Hey, does anyone remember Exo Squad? That was a pretty cool SF caartoon epic. They even released many of Matchbox's Robotech toys under teh Exo Squad name. That was like a dream come true in the '90s. I think I still have a couple.

Spider-Man couldn't even throw a punch in the '90s series. However, there seems to be far less restrictions today.

With the Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes and Wolverine and the X-Men cartoons, whenever a punch is thrown, there is some quick editing between the wind-up and the person flying backwards. I'm pretty sure the Batman cartoon is the same way.

The problem with these weird black spots is that the pendulum is swinging too far to one direction. It is pretty weird. If the Attack on Titan anime is anywhere as gruesome as the manga (I've only read some of the manga), it has amputations and people getting munched. That anime wasn't censored ridiculously this way, was it? I don't think so. This is just beyond common sense, I think.

[usamimi]

The problem with these weird black spots is that the pendulum is swinging too far to one direction. It is pretty weird. If the Attack on Titan anime is anywhere as gruesome as the manga (I've only read some of the manga), it has amputations and people getting munched. That anime wasn't censored ridiculously this way, was it? I don't think so. This is just beyond common sense, I think.

Did Attack on Titan air late-night in Japan? I tried to Google it but couldn't find anything. The anime is pretty graphic, but they were smart about not showing EVERY gory detail. It never looked weirdly censored, from what I remember.

Crunchyroll DID announce they were gonna start adding uncensored Terra Formars eps once they got them: http://www.fandompost.com/2014/10/13/cr ... -episodes/