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Jason Thompson's House of 1000 Manga - The Greatest Censorship Fails


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ptj_tsubasa



Joined: 04 Feb 2009
Posts: 129
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 9:03 am Reply with quote
I wonder what edition of Parasyte that image is from. The old Mixx versions I originally read had the penis arm very much intact. Did they censor it in later reprints?
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Myaow



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 1068
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 9:24 am Reply with quote
This is reeeally interesting stuff. The Shaman King "remove the crosses" example is especially neat, since on the very same page you literally have some kid being torn open, organs exposed, which I would think more people would find upsetting than a crucifix! I kind of like how capricious and kooky these decisions are. The manga business is so weird!
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Divineking



Joined: 03 Jul 2010
Posts: 1293
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 9:51 am Reply with quote
Well this was pretty interesting. I do think the case of changing 666 Satan to O-Parts Hunter was pretty justifiable though. The ensuing religious controversy that would have hit Viz probably wouldn't have been worth it. Plus from what I've heard none of the actual content is censored though I haven't really read any of the english volumes myself so I can't say for sure.

I suppose the one good thing about manga and anime having fallen out of the mainstream in the US is that we get signficantly less cases of stuff like this happening. Though the extent to which it bothers me kind of varies. Personally I kind of welcomed for instance when they added a censor sound effect to Tegami Bachi volume 1 during Lag's "confirmation" that Niche was a girl. Got the scene across without the need for blatant loli fan service, but yeah it's generally for the best to avoid censorship altogether if it can be helped. The fandom never takes kindly to it.

I have to give these guys credit though. The volume cover edits are pretty clever and I probably wouldn't have even noticed without the japanese covers next to them.
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sainta



Joined: 21 Feb 2011
Posts: 989
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:08 am Reply with quote
Then there is Dragon Ball's Mr. Satan whose name was yelled every freaking minute. He was changed to Hercule.

However, anime censorship is really excessive and sometimes too comical. Even the author of Ultimate Muscle was displeased with this.
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kgw



Joined: 22 Jul 2004
Posts: 1048
Location: Spain, EU
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:11 am Reply with quote
sainta wrote:
Then there is Dragon Ball's Mr. Satan whose name was yelled every freaking minute. He was changed to Hercule.

AFAIK, Mr. Satan's real name is... "Saturn" (hence, his champion belt showing that planet)
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thenix



Joined: 18 Apr 2012
Posts: 265
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:13 am Reply with quote
I did my big highschool research essay on censorship in anime/manga and that was way back in 2003. Mine focused on sailor moon since it was so heavy. Names, people's genders, blood removed, nudity removed. They even reversed scenes with cars so that they would look like they are driving down the right side of the street instead of the left.

I wonder if the people that are paid to erase or redraw some of these scenes feel bad about what they do? lol
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scineram



Joined: 17 Jul 2006
Posts: 371
Location: Green Hell
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:26 am Reply with quote
You just never know if the work you are looking is what the person named on the cover drew.

And people wonder why manga piracy is rampant. I will never ever buy censored stuff, just get the fansub or scanlation.
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danilo07



Joined: 25 Dec 2011
Posts: 1580
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:29 am Reply with quote
Quote:
And people wonder why manga piracy is rampant. I will never ever buy censored stuff, just get the fansub or scanlation.

Yup there goes our thread.
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Araki



Joined: 12 Apr 2007
Posts: 381
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:32 am Reply with quote
kgw wrote:
AFAIK, Mr. Satan's real name is... "Saturn" (hence, his champion belt showing that planet)


Uh, no, his real name, revealed in a databook, is Mark. there was nothing about "Saturn", ever.
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Polycell



Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 4623
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:33 am Reply with quote
scineram wrote:
You just never know if the work you are looking is what the person named on the cover drew.

And people wonder why manga piracy is rampant.
I thought it had more to due with the sheer amount of stuff that's never going to be licensed ever. Well, now I know better.
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Great Rumbler



Joined: 03 Oct 2006
Posts: 327
Location: Oklahoma
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 10:48 am Reply with quote
I actually read up on the censorship in the Pokemon manga the other day, it actually had A LOT of fanservice! Gotta wonder how that one slipped past Nintendo, especially when it was related to one of their most lucrative franchises.
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VegettoEX



Joined: 22 Aug 2003
Posts: 107
Location: New Jersey
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:03 am Reply with quote
kgw wrote:
sainta wrote:
Then there is Dragon Ball's Mr. Satan whose name was yelled every freaking minute. He was changed to Hercule.

AFAIK, Mr. Satan's real name is... "Saturn" (hence, his champion belt showing that planet)

Semi-In-Universe Answer: His "real name" is actually "Mark". Akira Toriyama revealed this in 2009's Super Exciting Guide – Character Volume. "Mr. Satan" has always been a stage name, and in a little Q&A session, Toriyama expands on this saying that the character's real name is "Mark" (or rather maaku, which is an anagram of akuma or "devil"... which perfectly fits in with the rest of the family's puns, with "Satan" being obvious and "Videl" being an anagram of "Devil"; they also have "666" on their car).

Name Origins: The "Hercule" name semi-originally comes from the French adaptation. Piccolo (Jr.)'s name was changed to "Satan Petit Coeur", which meant they couldn't have two characters called "Satan", which meant a name change, which meant "Hercules". FUNimation obviously went with a name change out of censorship "necessities", though they often kept the full "Mr. Satan" in their "uncut" home video dub (with the occasional slip of "Hercule" in there, too). The whole deal with Viz is kinda funny, since they started the Shonen Jump magazine launch in 2003 by promoting how awesome they were for NOT changing character names (specifically pointing to "Kuririn" and "Tenshinhan"). It was also only in the magazine during Mr. Satan's debut that they had a little side panel that acknowledges his original name in Japanese is Mr. Satan.

Fun Extra Facts: Early toys for the series in North America from FUNimation and Bandai labeled the character as "Mr. Savage" on the back. As for the planet, it's written in katakana as サターン while Mr. Satan is written without the extended syllable as サタン. Definitely an extra bit of word play if you want to stretch it, though.

And that's how Satan saved the world.
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No Comment



Joined: 19 Jun 2012
Posts: 83
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:10 am Reply with quote
Shadow Star always saddened me. I thought the anime adaption was really held back by its uncompleted story and limited animation, so I was eager to venture on to the manga. Lo and behold that isn't complete (or uncensored) either.

I guess manga censorship is one of those issues that doesn't have a solution that will please both manga readers, publishers, and annoying detractors.
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crazychild



Joined: 27 Jul 2003
Posts: 79
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:18 am Reply with quote
When they were translating Toshio Maeda's manga, Central Park Media really tried to hammer home the point that, "all characters are over 18...no, really," by always using "college" or "university" instead of "class" or "school". Like, "I can't go out tonight, I have college tomorrow," or, "Oh no, I'm going to be late for university!"

Or maybe Japanese universities really do make you wear uniforms, and close the gates when class starts, and make you see to the principal for being late.


Last edited by crazychild on Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:32 am; edited 1 time in total
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Dessa



Joined: 14 Jul 2004
Posts: 4438
PostPosted: Thu Jan 03, 2013 11:27 am Reply with quote
A bit of clarification/correction on the Pokemon: The Electric Tale of Pikachu issue with Misty's swimsuit. The editing in question was not prompted by parents, because parents never saw it unedited (unless they saw the Japanese version)! This one was all on Nintendo (and any other Japanese licensor).

Back when Viz, Mixx/Tokyopop, and a few other companies were still doing it, P:EToP was one of those manga that were released first in traditional US comic-book format, one chapter per issue, before getting the graphic novel treatment. In the case of Misty's swimsuit in P:EToP, this was when Ash traveled to Cerulean City to get his Cascade Badge. This is the second chapter of the 4-part story. In the comics, this was issue 3.

When issue 2 came out, there was something obviously wrong. The previous issue had hinted that Cerulean City was the next destination, yet here we had Mt. Moon (yes, in the games, Mt. Moon is before Cerulean City. It's been years since I've read these, I forget why they went back to Mt. Moon after Cerulean). Then, the next month, we got issue 3, which was the Cerulean City battle. Which then hinted at Mt. Moon as the next destination, despite "having already been there."

I e-mailed Viz on this (I wish I knew where that e-mail was now), and was told that yes, the Cerulean City battle should have been issue 2, but because of Misty's swimsuit, the licensor required that it be censored. For this release, they decided to release the chapters out-of-order, rather than to push back the series release by a month by delaying issue 2 (it sounds like it was a last-minute "you know you can't release this as-is, right?" thing). (BTW, the order was fixed for the graphic novel release).

So, unless there was backlash in Japan, this one can't be blamed on the parents.
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