Anime censorship: Too much? Too Little? Just Right? (NSFW)

Just in case you missed the title, this post is NSFW.

NSFW

Censorship in anime has been a topic of debate for an extremely long time. If you compare the minimal censorship in anime in the past to the heavy censorship now, the difference would be like night and day. So why is the amount of censorship a problem? Well I think there are various amounts of problems that are born through excess amounts of censorship. Limiting the creator's creativity, ruining the atmospheres of scenes, and just overall disappointing fans are just a few of the reasons how censorship affects anime. All comparison images have been taken from posts at www.sankakucomplex.com

First lets talk about the two kinds of censorship that I'll be covering. There's the censorship for sexual content and then the censorship for violent content.

Censorship for sexual content is something that's become much more strict in recent years due to changing laws and greedy companies. Companies decided that they would air censored releases of anime and then uncensor them and fix up a few scenes with the blu ray release. Some television stations such as ATX would air the uncensored versions of shows which was great because I believe it's completely ridiculous to have to pay to watch something that you've already seen just this time without steam or black and white lines obstructing my view. Now, I want to clarify that to a certain extent I really do not mind censorship but I do mind excessive censorship. For example, the below image is from Saikin Imouto no Yousu ga Chotto Okashii. THe right side is from the tv broadcast and the left is from the blu ray release. I would understand censoring it if there was actually anything showing but literally nothing is being portrayed. The censor is just a huge nuisance that is covering up nothing at all.

Then there are anime from previous years such as Highschool DxD where the censored version was aired on separate television channels. I think this is actually pretty silly but it's nice that they were able to have the common sense to air an uncensored version of the anime. I believe that the upcoming release of its next season, Highschool DxD Born will not have the luxury of having two different versions being aired and I think that's the wrong decision. I would love to go into Japan and the display of sexuality, but I'll try to condense it so as to save time. Japan is ok with showing sex to people of young ages but not ok with violence. It's kind of the opposite of America where violence is ok to show but not sex. The fact that they're changing their values is interesting and I can only see it as a new marketing ploy to gain more profits and potentially "revitalize" the anime industry.

Censorship for violent content is very similar to the censorship for sexual content in that it is usually excessive and really detracts from the experience. For instance, in horror anime, with the gore censored, the intended grotesqueness of the scene is nullified and the experience is ruined. So let's take a look at our first example: Tokyo Ghoul.

 So looking at this, is any of this seriously helping? All the black censors are doing is being an obstruction of the anime's atmosphere. What are they really hiding with the censors? Nothing really. I understand that the images might be grotesque but it's shown in the manga so why not on television? Tokyo Ghoul is a late night show meaning it's more inaccessible to minors (unless they can stay up late or record it) but the manga is 100% more accessible and has no censors. So if it's out of concern for minors then they're not really focusing on the right things.

Then there were shows like Higurashi no Naku Koro ni which were ultraviolent but were not censored.

The lack of censorship in Higurashi made the anime much better than it would've been if it was censored. Denying the visual imagery that the creators wanted to portray is an insult to their artistic mind and also to its viewers. If Higurashi was censored, it would be incredibly difficult to understand exactly what is happening to these characters and the viewer would just get fed up like some people are today.

I'm not trying to say widespread portrayal of violence and sex in a publicly accessible form of media is necessarily a good thing but I believe that censorship is nothing more than a profitable barrier placed in front of fans and viewers alike denying the creators intended creativity and imagination to be fully conveyed. Censorship is frustrating, pointless, and overused in modern day anime. Having to wait until a blu ray release to watch something that I have already watched is incredibly ridiculous. I for one am extremely peeved every time I see excessive censorship in anime.