Don't Ruin it for the Rest of Us!
After the anime Pokemon exploded on to American television in ’98, companies are desperate to find the next hit show for children. So television stations looked toward more Japanese animation for their pot of gold. In doing so, they brought over Gundamwing, Tenchi Muyo, Digimon, and more episodes of Sailormoon and Dragon Ball Z. But with every new show, came the heavy price of editing, censorship, and Americanization. Names of characters were changed to sound American, scenes were edited out, and blood or any cleavage was blotted out. Although every anime shown on American TV has been edited to some degree, few have been so drastically altered from the original than Sailormoon and Dragon Ball Z. What was butchered in these anime for television? What do American cartoons get away with, that is generally edited out of anime? Finally, what are the rules of cartoons for children and how they are broken? In the original anime, Pretty Soldier Sailormoon, there were many important or humorous scenes that added variety to the enjoyment of the show. However, in America these scenes were edited out for fear of imitation or because the company felt young children could not handle the content. For example, one character named Minako was cutting carrots for her friend. Because she cut the carrot so fast, she thought she sliced the tip of her finger off. She found out later that it was just a piece of carrot. The dubbing company cut this innocent yet funny scene because they felt the younger children would become frightened. In another episode there’s a scene where Usagi, the heroin of the series, gets knocked off a balcony with Mamoru, another main character. In the original both fell and glided to safety with the aid of an umbrella. That scene was obviously cut and changed so children would not try that at home, but it looked odd that Usagi suddenly appeared on the ground with an open umbrella in hand. Other cut scenes include Usagi spitting love potion into her friend, Rei’s face, Chibiusa pointing a toy gun at Usagi’s forehead, and Usagi’s mental image of Naru fighting Umino in a pro wrestling ring, due to the misunderstanding of the word, “promise ring.” But the most edited episode by far was “Day of Destiny.” This episode, which was originally two episodes, cut out and hid the deaths of the sailor senshi in the first season. The girls were reborn afterwards for the second season, so it seems pointless to chop up the last two episodes. If scenes couldn’t be edited out, they would be censored by computer graphics. In fight scenes, any wounds would be made to look like scratchy black marks. Proof of this can be seen in the first episode where Sailor moon scratches her knee running from the enemy. Instead of crying about her knee bleeding, she whines about how much she’s scared. The bleeding knee was reduced to a bruise, and the blood was erased. The censors believed the “nudity”, nothing more than breast lines, in the transformation sequences were also offensive. They took great pains to go through each and every frame to delete the lines. A waste of time and money on their part because the breast lines were not detailed or even that obvious. Another censored sequence is the end of Sailor Jupiter’s transformation. As she is spinning around, her already short sailor skirt floats up briefly, exposing the bottom of her rear and part of her leotard style sailor suit. Many of these “Panty shots” were fuzzed or cut out of the show for fear of being too perverted for children. Which is again a waste of time because the shots go by so quickly that children would never notice or care. Anyone who has ever seen anime titles not broadcast on network TV knows there are a great deal of homosexual/transvestite characters in the programs. Sailormoon is no exception. In the first season we are introduced to the four Dark kingdom kings. Two of the kings, Kunzite and Zoicite, are lovers. They are never shown kissing but they do show characteristics of being in love like holding each other, mild jealousy, and passionate looks. In America, Zoicite switched genders so the relationship would be acceptable. It was not a hard feat to change Zoicite into a woman because he already looked feminine. A second villain that got a “sex change” is Fish eye. He too was feminine and would often dress as a woman to lure his victims who were mostly men. But the saddest change happened to Michiru and Haruka, also known as Sailor Neptune and Sailor Uranus. They, like the two Dark kingdom Kings, were ambiguous lovers which amounted to nothing more than romantic glances and odd comments between the two. America, however, is not ready for homosexual cartoon characters. So the couple were changed into cousins. Interestingly enough, most of the romantic scenes between Michiru and Haruka were left intact in the dub, no doubt causing confusion about their relationship. As if all the editing and censoring weren’t enough, the dubbing companies felt they had to Americanize the show as well! Beautiful, unique, meaningful names were changed to odd sounding names that didn’t fit the character's personality. A prime example is Usagi. Usagi in Japanese means rabbit or bunny. This name fits the happy go lucky main character. In the dub her name is changed to Serena. Serena means calmness and tranquility, the exact opposite of the bubbly, cheerful Usagi. Other names were just changed to sound American but end up loosing their deeper meanings. Kino Makoto means, “wisdom of wood”. A perfect name for Makoto, A.K.A Sailor Jupiter, who is physically strong yet, is compassionate and kind. Ten’oh Haruka means, “distant sky king”. A reflection of Haruka’s, A.K.A Sailor Uranus, cold additude towards the inner senshi. However, when changed to American names like Lita and Amara, the names loose all of their carefully planned meanings. What’s even worse is, that although the first names of the senshi were changed to English, their Japanese last names were kept the same! Another useless Americanization was the over use of valley girl speech and street slang. Phrases like, “what’s up dog”, “as if”, and “he’s trippin’ ” are littered through out the dub causing the over all quality of the show to drop. Even for someone who has never seen the show before, it is obvious the story takes place in Japan. Rei, one of the main characters practices the Shinto religion at a Japanese shrine. She can be found wearing a special priestess kimono through out many of the episodes. A view of the Tokyo Tower can be seen in the background of certain shots. Japanese writing, or Kanji, was left in the newer episodes and the characters can be seen eating Japanese food with chopsticks. The customs of Japan are present in every episode yet the companies felt the need to cover up or hide another culture from young children. Rei now has a religion that resembles witchcraft, scenes with cars in them were flipped so the car was on the “right” side, and foods like Odango and Nigirimishi were changed to “candy” and “doughnuts”. It’s sad, but in a lot of anime, episodes are dropped because they were considered "too Japanese" for children. With the great strides America takes to teach their children to accept other cultures, Anime could be a useful teaching tool if it weren’t cut up and Americanized. Dragon Ball Z faired no better than Sailormoon on American television. Again and again editing and censorship rears its ugly head. Every episode of Dragon Ball Z had little snippets of footage cut for time and content. Dramatic pauses were cut short and some establishing shots, just cut out all together. These cuts make the action go faster, which is OK but any drama in the show is lost. Most of the scenes that were edited though, were edited for content. Bloody fight scenes often had shots like decapitations and fatal penetration blasts through the body removed from them. Any scene with extensive gore was cut and/or censored. Which is again understandable but removing these scenes tells kids that if one was to get his arm blasted off it would not bleed. Another example of edits are the scenes of Gohan, a main character who is just a little boy, in the nude or engaging in an everyday, normal activity like peeing. These scenes are non-sexual and are not detailed but are cut none the less. What the dubbing company is most famous for is their use of digital paint. In the nude scenes that were left in, a stray plant hides Gohan’s privates or a piece of cloth covers his butt. In the original blood was ever present in the fight scenes. But like in Sailormoon, blood had to erased and painted over. The characters seemed in such agony yet not a drop of blood was ever shown. In one scene Piccolo, an alien, gets his arm cut off. What blood we do see is painted green so as not to scare children. The grass had to be painted over as well because the characters lost so much blood in the fight. The dub leaves in almost all the violence but cuts out or censors the consequence of such aggression. What does that teach our children? Some censored scenes are scenes where adults are drinking or smoking. The cigarette is painted over so it cannot be seen and the mugs of beer are painted blue to resemble water. Boy, there’s nothing like a frothy mug of water. But the most pointless paint-over is Gohan’s tears and Gohan’s mental bubble of an apple tree. In one episode a villain holds Gohan against his will. His tears flow in the typical gushing streams from his eyes. The two streams are painted over so he has no tears at all. The mental image is treated the same way! Gohan receives an apple from Piccolo and wonders where the apple came from. A thought bubble pops up of an apple tree in the original. Images weren’t the only thing censored. The mild language was written out of the scripts. Words like hell, damn, or shit uttered in the original were, not surpassingly, left out of the dub. Other dialogue changes are the denial of death. The characters do not die in the dub they go to “another dimension”. Funny, this other dimension looks a lot like an after world. People walk around with a halo over their head and some are wearing white robes. In the original DBZ other characters wear shirts with the English word HELL written on it. The dubbing company painted parts of the letters so it read HFIL or Home For Infinite Losers. As far as Americanization goes, DBZ lucked out. Most names weren’t changed from the original and not too much American culture creeps into the show. The one Americanization that has many fans seething is Kurinrin’s religion. Kurinrin is supposed to be Buddhist. But in the dub he is known recite the Lords Prayer and make other Christian references. This is a direct insult to the Buddhist religion and to those who practice it. Again another anime is cut up for little children who should not be watching this kind of show in the first place. This show was intended for teens and adults or at least children who are educated about such subjects as death and fighting. So what do American cartoons get away with that cannot be shown in anime? The answer to that is simple. Just about everything. Blood can be shown, death can be discussed, and bare butts can grace the screen at a moment’s notice. All these from well known shows such as Batman, Rugrats, and Powerpuff girls. Let’s start with Batman. Batman is about a boy whose parents are murdered (death) and seeks revenge by growing up to become the towns’ super hero. Every night he dons a disguise to fights criminals and super villains. In the animated version Batman fights gangsters that carry guns, smoke cigarettes/cigars and drink alcohol not to mention gamble. He is joined by Robin another boy whose parents are killed (death again) and wants to become Batman’s sidekick. In the show, blood is often seen bright and red when someone is shot or punched. Death is one of the main themes in the show and is openly discussed. Rugrats is a popular cartoon for children as young as 2. The show is about a baby’s point of view of the world. In one episode the babies decide to revolt against their parents and strip their cloths off so they can be “free” like the family dog. Although their privates are not shown their butts can be clearly seen throughout the entire episode. Many cartoons show their characters butts from time to time and nobody has ever complained. Finally, the Powerpuff Girls contain violence not unlike DBZ. The super hero girls can be seen punching, kicking, dismembering, and over all beating up the bad guys. Blood can also be seen in certain episodes of this show. So why is it OK to show such content in American cartoons yet must be diligently hidden in anime? Now finally the rule for television shows for children. Do today’s cartoons follow these rules or is it just America’s prejudiced against anime? Let’s find out. Television is responsible for insuring that programs of all sorts which occur during the times of day when children may normally be expected to have the opportunity of viewing television shall exercise care in the following regards: A. In affording opportunities for cultural growth as well as for wholesome entertainment. Children’s anime is perfect for cultural growth. Most shows are well written and are wholesome for the whole family. Even DBZ has touching moments of drama and emotion in it. B. In developing programs to foster and promote the commonly accepted moral, social, and ethical ideals characteristic of American life. Because anime is made in Japan, “the characteristics of American life”, does not quite fit but overall anime has all the commonly accepted moral, social, and ethical ideals that America has. C. In reflecting respect for parents, for honorable behavior, and for constituted authorities of the American community. Again the “American community” doesn’t fit. Anyone who knows Japan’s culture knows they are a highly honorable society. D. In eliminating references to kidnapping of children or threats of kidnapping. I know for a fact this rule has been broken by Tiny Toons. In one episode Elmira, a little girl, was kidnapped. This seems to be a lenient rule. However, not many anime are centered around kidnapping. E. In avoiding material which is excessively violent or would create morbid suspense, or other undesirable reactions in children. DBZ will have a problem with this rule because it is a more detailed style of animation as compared to shows like Powerpuff girls. A simple remedy for this is to show DBZ at a later time instead of in the afternoon. Sailormoon never had excessive violence to begin with. F. In exercising particular restraint and care in crime or mystery episodes involving children or minors. Childrens Anime generally follows this type of rule as well. Remember that anime had to be toned down from its original version, the comic book or Manga, for Japanese television. So it’s not like Japan doesn’t have any standards with regards to what their children watch. They’re just more open about subjects like death, sex and violence. Children’s anime follows the right pattern that is exceptional for kids. The hero wins, the villain loses, and something is learned through that experience.
In conclusion anime is a beautiful art form and although some
shows are unquestionably for teens or adults, they still can be
acceptable for children as well. If parents would just sit down
with their kids and talk to them and let them know that TV is
just “make believe” instead of plopping them in front of the
tube and walking away, anime wouldn’t be so chopped up for
television today. And if a parent does not like a show, they
can simply turn it off. TV doesn’t rule our life but neither
should the censors. I prefer to take this stance, “If you don’t
like a show, don’t watch it and don’t let your children watch it.
But don’t ruin it for the rest of us.”
Bibliography
Cohen, Karl F.
*I got the "Rules for Childrens tv Programing" from this book. It also describes Disney and Warner Bros. cartoons that were pulled from tv as well. An excelent book for those of us cartoon fans. I highly recommend it!*
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DragonBall Z Uncensored”
“Sailormoon Uncensored”
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