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NEWS: Sword Art Online Episode Censors More Content on U.S.-Based Streaming Services

Which begs the questions, pre-Goblin Slayer, was there any huge backlash when a scene like that appeared in a show? Or a content warning?

It doesn't surprise me to be honest. No offense to people in the States, but online debate about these kinds of issues gets toxic much faster and in a much greater magnitude than anywhere else. Maybe Aniplex is just trying to to err in the side of caution with what they know will be a very, very controversial episode (considering what happened with Goblin Slayer).
I think that unfortunately self censorship by artists and production companies will become much more prevalent in the future.

I don't know how significant it was because I wasn't very active on forums at the time, but I do remember there was a lot of chatter about the rape scene in Perfect Blue.

So, more lazy story telling. The authors excuses on twitter were laughable.

The women in SAO exist to be rescued by the guys (GGO the exception). That was obvious from the very beginning when Asuna (setup as an ace in the first 12) spent the next 12 episodes locked in a cage with a creeper while in the real world apparently nobody knows how to sniff packets and figure out where she (and the others) was logged in at.

EDIT: Also, to address this:

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Yes indeed, I complained about that back then as well. Is it really so hard to write a content warning that doesn't spoil the plot?

Yes, because a content warning is what it says on the tin. What good is a content warning if you don't know what kind of content you're being warned about.

(And really, when has anyone ever been *happily* surprised by a rape scene. )

Reki Kawahara is a garbage human being and Studio A-1 are now also garbage for apperantly going much more far with this.

Oh, and they're whining about this being "censorship" too. Just...just pure scum, really.

Right. But what's stopping a major licensee, like Crunchyroll or Hulu, from having special requirements in their contract regarding which version(s) they are given?

In this case the article makes it clear that this is more than just "foreign vs. domestic", since the French platform was not censored to the same degree as the US based ones were.

[snip]

That's an interesting assertion; I haven't even stated who I am mad at.

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This is all on Aniplex (likely a business decision to avoid courting controversy)

Obviously.

Does it really have to be explained to you why people are tense around sexual violence? Just because you weren't personally offended doesn't mean other people can't be.

(And really, when has anyone ever been *happily* surprised by a rape scene. )

To answer your first point, because from insider information Answerman articles and others have shown, licensors don't get to make demands. That's why Japanese Blu rays might "mysteriously" end up having nicer masters than their primarily US counterparts.

But as to your second, I understood you to be making the assertion that content warnings led to more censored versions, which to me is a case of correlation rather than causation.

Aniplex as a company is probably more aware that depictions of sexual assault are more heavily frowned upon in the US vs other countries, and I think that awareness is what led to the US getting a more heavily edited version, but I think the content warnings themselves are not a real factor in that decision. They're just a result of CR's company policy. That's why I took you to mean that you were mad at CR, because CR put up a content warning which in your mind led to a more censored broadcast. That's why I assumed your ire was directed at broadcasters over the publishing company.

In my opinion a vague warning works fine. That way someone who thinks they might be offended knows to research it further (or simply err on the safe side and not watch it at all) while it doesn't give away any details to someone who is OK with the potentially graphic content.

Which begs the questions, pre-Goblin Slayer, was there any huge backlash when a scene like that appeared in a show? Or a content warning?

I am curious to see if this type of additional censorship becomes a recurring issue in future episodes.

bleachj0j wrote:

Does it really have to be explained to you why people are tense around sexual violence? Just because you weren't personally offended doesn't mean other people can't be.

If they are offended they don't have to watch it. 99% of anime (outside of hentai) don't have sexual assaults. You only see like 2 or 3 anime per year that has this kind of stuff. Do these people want sexual assaults completely banned in every anime ?!

And yes I would like to know why people get too tense over sexual assaults but not other form of violence even if it is much worse ?! Inuyashiki episode 2 has extremely violent stuff (whole familly killed brutally) and yet did not get people triggered like SAO. Even SAO season 1, the guy barely touched Asuna and some people started to scream about it

EDIT: Also I missed your point about content warnings taking the edge off of shock value moments. So: I get what you're saying, but I'm in the minority of people who cares more about the execution of an idea rather than the idea itself. So I'm largely okay with spoilers so long as the execution is good, though I'm aware that a large majority of people heavily dislike spoilers.

Having said that, any person's need/desire to know or be forewarned about a plot point that could induce panic attacks, anxiety, PTSD, etc. far outweighs any desire I might have for an unspoiled viewing experience, full stop. I don't think it's fair to impose a largely selfish desire over another person's mental well-being.

Based on vociferous complaints over the Goblin Slayer situation and a few other cases, vague warnings are not sufficient. The people who are bothered by those scenes - IOW, the people that the content warnings are actually for - have made it clear that they want specific warnings.