Recently passed away news about banning access to a large number of sites where you can watch anime in Russia. The situation is sad, the reasons are also not the most pleasant. But today is not about that.
Today I want to talk about censorship and prohibitions not here. Why anime is banned, for example, in China, Australia or even Japan itself. And no, we’re not even talking about the mainstream ban on Death Note in different countries due to its double implications.
China and South Korea against militarism
Well, it’s worth starting with the country that takes the strongest approach to banning content on its territory. If you didn’t know, in China even the topic of death and the word “murder” are censored, so in the media of this country you can rarely see even painted skulls and skeletons.
It is for this reason that the anime “Psycho-Pass” and “Tokyo Ghoul” are banned, where the topic of taking a life is raised quite actively and in some episodes generally takes on a central role in the plot (The first season of Psycho-Pass is entirely devoted to the search for a serial killer, for example. By the way, I recommend watching it, it’s a wildly stylish thing).
But most of all, China hates militarism and everything connected with Japan before its surrender in World War II. The reasons for this are well founded, but I will not write in detail here about the atrocities of the Japanese Empire in general and the activities of Detachment 731 in particular. The film “The Man Behind the Sun” was made about this, and I categorically do not recommend watching it for the faint of heart.
So, anime. The most striking examples of the ban are “Code Geass” and “Attack on Titan” (It’s ironic that they have very similar plot twists related to the main character). Both projects are in one way or another permeated with allusions to Japanese militarism, themes of military rebellion and the validity of genocide. Watching this is strictly prohibited in China.
In much more liberal South Korea, some things are also ambivalent. The same Hajime Isayama (author of “Attack on Titan”) they don’t like him personally for his very controversial statements on Twitter on the topic of the Korean occupation (and this graphomaniac should be hated for the openly leaked ending of the manga, but this is already personal) and, accordingly, the attitude towards Ataka fans is also not very positive.
However, there are also examples of a complete ban. For example, in South Korea, the anime film “Grave of the Fireflies” was banned, which, despite its anti-war message, was considered propaganda.
The censors’ explanation for the ban was that Grave of the Fireflies was a propaganda anime designed to generate sympathy for the plight of the Japanese during World War II and thereby cover up their country’s war crimes.
France and Germany against Nazism and gadgets
Objectively speaking, Nazism is not approved anywhere. However, there are cases where anime has been censored simply because of the display of symbolism.
For example, in France, the series “Kinnikuman” became a victim of censorship due to the character Brocken, who wore a swastika on his clothes. In the context of World War II and the Nazi occupation of France, such a symbol was unacceptable. As a result, the character was modified for the French market and the swastika was removed from his image. However, the plot was not changed.
Unlike Germany. There, for example, “Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection of the Fusion” was censored. Due to strict laws against the use of Nazi symbols, all swastikas were replaced with red crosses, and all references to the “Third Reich” were removed. The character Dictator was also removed to avoid direct associations with Nazism and to avoid offending the feelings of Holocaust survivors.
However, I can generally agree with these two cases. But not with the ban on perhaps the most children’s anime in the world. I’m sure you’ve seen Doraemon at least once in your life. Yes, this blue cat with big eyes is a character from the oldest anime for preschoolers.
And this anime was completely banned in France. The reason is that the narrative about a robot cat from the future, which helps a small child cope with problems with the help of gadgets, was considered harmful to children. According to the authors of the ban, children need to be taught independence.
Horror that was banned even in Japan
And finally, about the film, which, due to its content, led to a ban even in Japan. This is Mr. Arashi’s Freak Show, released in 1992.
The film is based on a manga created by Suehiro Maruo, an author known for his love of the grotesque, body horror and horror about little girls. He was born in 1956 in Nagasaki.
“Mr. Arashi’s Freak Show” is one of Maruo’s most famous and scandalous works. The film adaptation, which transferred it to the screen almost unchanged, tells the story of Midori, a twelve-year-old girl who cared for her sick mother and sold flowers on the street to earn money. Realizing that her life has become unbearably difficult, she accepts the invitation of a certain Arashi, hoping that this will change her fate for the better. But instead she becomes a performer in a local freak circus.
It would seem, so what? Typical drama about disadvantaged children. But throughout the entire plot we will, to one degree or another, observe how terrible mutations change the human body, and even considering that this is a Japanese animation from 1992, it looks truly disgusting. About the scenes of beatings (and something else that also starts with “from”), killings of animals and, in general, an atmosphere of blackening hopelessness, needless to say.
Interesting fact: work on the film adaptation took about 5 years, literally all companies in Japan refused to sponsor “Mr. Arashi’s Freak Show,” and as a result, the film was shot with the director’s personal money. It’s no less funny that this nightmare has a page on Kinopoisk (with such delicious screenshots), and manga can officially be bought on marketplaces. At the same time, the project is still prohibited for display and sale in Japan.
The most famous censorship methods
Finally, let’s talk about the phenomenon of TV censorship of anime series. Often, most even modern series receive two releases: for broadcast on Japanese television (and on streaming platforms), and after some time the project is released on physical media. And sometimes this is not just a transfer of digital content, but a significant modification of it.
An example is the same “Attack on Titan” – the 4th season on TV and streaming differs quite well from the Blu-Ray version. And all because animators have more time to finalize the picture. And this is not an isolated case.
But there are also examples when a much more censored version of a series is released on TV, and the version is already on disc, so to speak, without cuts. And now I will give examples of methods of such censorship.
Smoke, water or light rays – This is a standard technique that is used in scenes where the action takes place in a bath, hot springs, beach or pool. That is, in places where you can easily imitate natural disasters. This allows you to distract the attention of the audience or, conversely, attract them by demonstrating the beauty of the body.
Shadows and filters used to avoid showing murder or dismemberment. This is also how human waste is often censored.
Repainting – in some anime they simply take the blood and paint it a different color. One of the most memetic examples is Family of the Spy. In the Chinese version, the blood is white, and… Well, in places it creates comedy where it wasn’t originally intended.
Framing erotica — the scene is scaled so as not to show too much, and the original version is inserted into the home release.
Manga is usually harsher than anime. – It is not uncommon for the content of scenes as a whole to be altered to reduce the level of violence. Above I showed examples from the same “Attack on Titan”.
How justified are censorship and bans?
Hayao Miyazaki did a good job of scaring Western censors in his time. The master was not very friendly with publishers in general (especially with Disney), and in the case of the distribution of “Princess Mononoke”, after personal negotiations with Harvey Weinstein, he sent him a real katana and a note “DO NOT CUT ANYTHING.”
Well, I’ll say in advance that sometimes censorship is a great incentive for merchandise sales. I devoted an entire section to this above; the method apparently still works, considering how vibrant the market for printed manga and anime on disc is in Japan.
And in the case of the rest of the world… More likely justified than not. As you can see, often the reasons for bans and censorship are either ethical or political. And many political reasons can be generally understood – there is still a fairly large level of misunderstanding between Asian countries, which dates back to the times of you know what war and what events.
When the same Chinese are offered to watch anime, where, although beautiful and dramatic, they still try to make the inhabitants of the Japanese Empire feel sorry for them… It is clear that not everyone will like this at the state level.
With all this, I deliberately did not mention the schizophrenic attacks on anime with accusations of LGBT propaganda (I condemn), corrupting and inducing children to do something (I condemn you doubly) and other statements at the level of “These Pokemon are teaching your children bad things, and in general there will be epilepsy!” And no, I’m not even talking about our country now. In Australia, it is periodically proposed to ban anime altogether precisely for the above reasons.
Finally, I personally advise you to familiarize yourself with those anime that were mentioned in one way or another in the text and form your own opinion. Will the perception of the plot of the same “Grave of the Fireflies” change, knowing in what context it is perceived in the same South Korea? The question is rather rhetorical.
I leave you with this thought. Have a good day.
Source: www.iphones.ru
