Basic Trope: Changing "questionable" elements in a work for a new audience.
- Straight: The Adventures Of Alice-chan is a popular manga in Japan. When it comes to the US, the company translating it removes a lot of the more questionable material such as sex, cursing, and drinking.
- Exaggerated:
- Macekre - Alice-Chan ends up borderline unrecognizable with how much they alter or take out.
- Even objects that imply violence, sexuality, and other unsavory facts of life are edited (read: say goodbye to kitchen knives, hammers, shirtless men, women in any clothes other than a full-length burqa, Super Soaker water guns, handcuffs when not used by police officers, etc)
- Any instances of Accidental Innuendo are removed, regardless of context.
- The editing is not only done like the above, but also doesn't bother to change things to match the context. This makes Alice-chan's Running Gag of eating too much candy with sugar rush consequences seem disturbingly similar to a drug addiction, and Kenji's implied relationship with Satou turns Squick-inducing when the censored version makes them step-brothers.
- Downplayed:
- The changes are reduced down to only risqué implications.
- Very minor changes are made such as a beer ad in the background becomes a soda ad, or blood is present, but is recolored or darkened so it doesn't look too gory.
- There is an alternate version of the show for younger audiences, but the uncut version is available too.
- Only the most noticeable adult themes are downplayed - so while Alice gets a Digital Bikini, the beer stays as beer.
- Justified:
- Values Dissonance. Just because Japan finds it okay to show extreme violence and sex to children doesn't mean everyone does (especially America)
- The creators want to appeal to more readers, so they tone down the content for their main demographic (but not their Periphery Demographic)
- Inverted:
- The American translation The Adventures Of Alice-chan adds adult content that wasn't in the original, such as adding curse words and blatant innuendos to random lines, replacing food and drinks with illegal drugs and alcohol, editing outfits to show more skin, and adding massive geysers of blood to violent scene.
- American Kirby Is Hardcore
- Subverted:
- The artist draws every panel with adult content twice, one as intended and one with censorship.
- When it comes to the US, the translation company seems that they'll heavily censor it, but they don't.
- Double Subverted: At least, they don't censor the first few issues. But when the Moral Guardians start complaining, they start censoring for real.
- Parodied: The censorship entirely intentionally creates a number of humorous inconsistencies which causes the translated manga to gain a fanbase that wouldn't have otherwise existed.
- Zig Zagged: It seems like they will censor it, but they don't at first. Then the Moral Guardians come a-knockin', but even then, they refuse to censor it.
- Averted:
- No censorship is attempted and the translation company is upfront.
- The Adventures Of Alice-chan isn't localized.
- Enforced: "You're telling me I have to follow these rules? Well, I guess you print the checks..".
- Lampshaded: "Well, we've had to make a few changes to this popular manga..".
- Invoked:
- Think of the Censors!
- A similar manga is summarily cancelled due to the influence of the Moral Guardians. So...
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: The translation company refuses to censor the manga, stating that they want to please their fanbase.
- Discussed: "Alice-Chan, this is an intervention. Your need to collect innocuous bags of flour is not only bizarre but also out of control".
- Conversed: "You really need to read the scanlation of Alice-Chan. The official release completely sidestepped her cocaine addiction".
- Deconstructed: The localized and sanitized version of Alice-Chan is panned by the fans and as a result, the company decides to no longer offer localizations.
- Reconstructed: The company learns from their mistake and offers localizations that are more faithful to the original version.
- Played For Laughs:
- The "questionable" elements end up being made funnier with a Censored for Comedy air.
- Gag Censor
- Played For Drama: In the original version Alice's parents were showing Tough Love with Alice's drug issues, in the censored version they are Control Freak Abusive Parents.
- Plotted A Good Waste: A In-Universe translation company bowdlerises a manga they've recently localized. The bowdlerised version get panned and it sells poorly, teaching An Aesop for translators to not overly censor works they are localizing.
Back to Bowdlerise. (Actually, can we not use "back"? It's a euphemism for... you know. How about "Return to Bowdlerise?")
