History Main / Pixellation

* Used several times to cover up especially horrible violence in ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi''. This includes Fake!Kanon sticking his fingers into a gaping wound in his chest, six people [[CruelAndUnusualDeath having their stomachs ripped out and stuffed with candy]], and Rosa having her head impaled on a spiked fence. It's probably just a matter of time before they pull it out again; [[{{Gorn}} it's a bit of a violent show]].

Used to blur out faces (of criminals, crime victims, and undercover police officers; people who didn't sign releases to allow a show to use their likeness), offensive body parts (mostly breasts on women, [[FlippingTheBird the middle finger when used as a rude gesture]], and anything below the waist on both sexes -- that includes front and back), obscene words and written messages (mostly on T-shirts, billboards, and signs), trademarked product names and logos which have not paid for placement (MTV does this a lot to their rap videos and on most of their reality shows, like ''TheRealWorld''), extremely graphic injuries (particularly the bloody stumps left behind when someone loses an arm or a leg or wide open head wounds), depictions of marijuana (be they the actual leaf or a rolled joint that's been lit and smoked), and even the years on closed-circuit date stamps (done a lot on reality shows that focus on police chases and crime, such as ''America's Dumbest Criminals'' or ''World's Wildest Police Chases'').

* In ''LightNovel/TateNoYuushaNoNariagari'' when [[spoiler:Motoyasu]] unlocks a combination of the Envy and Greed series of his weapon, Naofumi is confused as to why the blade is covered with a mosaic. He's also rather disturbed that it's then specifically aimed at Firo's lower body.

* PlayedForLaughs in the VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi season 1 OVA, making one wonder just what exactly [[AllMenArePerverts Keiichi was fantasizing about]].

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** Nagato's ero-game is also pixelated in the parody series, ''Manga/{{Haruhi-chan}}''.

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* Parodied in a ''[[WebVideo/RoosterTeethShorts Rooster Teeth short]]'', in which everything from tattoos to brand labels are censored ''in real life'', much to the confusion and annoyance of some of the characters.
* Helix from ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' has PG-13 vision system - he sees black bars in place of "inappropriate" body parts.
* The Website/DesuDesBrigade uses 'Cover Otter' when naughty bits show up, if they can't be cut around. Especially prevalent in the ''Anime/KekkoKamen'' and ''Bible Black'' reviews.

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* The final scene of ''CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'' is set on Times Square. The extended cut on the scene seen on the DVD visibly blurs one of the signs on the background.

* Parodied in a recent [[RoosterTeethShorts Rooster Teeth short]], in which everything from tattoos to brand labels are censored ''in real life'', much to the confusion and annoyance of some of the characters.

* British automobile MagazineShow ''Series/TopGear'' often uses pixellation of a person's mouth in conjunction with audio bleeping when presenters or guests let loose with profanities on the show. Very common during the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" segment, as the celebrity drivers get a bit excited doing the lap around the ''TopGear'' test track.

* ''Series/TheOffice'' uses this from time to time, which makes sense given its mockumentary style. But it's quite hilarious in the episode ''Benjamin Franklin'' when a few characters visit an adult bookstore and pretty much the ''entire'' backdrop behind them is pixellated.

* in ''Mx0'' Lucy get soaked in pixelalation potion and pixellate any people she run into on random places, ''Hilarity Ensues''

* Subverted in the manga version of the sixth episode of ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' (and in the [[BetterOnDVD uncut version of the episode proper]]). The MonsterOfTheWeek has captured all the women and children and is displaying them on a monitor to Kamina, with pixels covering the necessary areas. When their safety is threatened Kamina exits Gurren ''on the sole condition that the pixels are removed.'' When the baddie complies Kamina is infuriated to see that what the pixels covered were, in fact, the towels that the girls had been wearing the entire time. The only one who actually ''deserved'' to be pixeled was Gimmy, a little ''boy.''
* ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'' normally use BarbieDollAnatomy, except when Chisame walks in on [[RatedMForManly Jack Rakan]] [[FanDisservice while he's taking a shower.]]

** Likewise, in a TV edit of ''Film/SupermanII,'' General Zod is thrown into a giant blurred red-and-white Times Square advertising sign. In a shower of equally blurred sparks.

-->'''Stephen''': You know what, uh, Jimmy? I think you were right. I think it's only better to pixellate [Julian] and affect his voice rather than mine. Has his face been on camera? Have they seen him?
-->'''Jimmy''': Yes, they have.
-->'''Stephen''': Oh, he's a dead man. Go ahead and take it off. Take it off. (''pixellation disappears and his voice returns to normal'')
* Used to interesting effect in some "suprise camera" sections of Japanese variety shows. When the host visits an unsuspecting celebrity at home, all background around their house is pixellated, making it look like they live in [[WebAnimation/HomestarRunner Cubeland]].

* When Creator/CraigFerguson swears on his show, they cover his mouth with an Italian, Spanish or French flag (pardon my french) and dub over with his own impression of a stereotypical person from that country.

* On ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', whenever Oscar smokes a joint it's blurred out. Six years later on ''Series/{{Community}},'' [[SocietyMarchesOn they don't have to.]]

* ''[[Series/AnimalPlanetHeroes Animal Cops]]'' also often does the COPS style face blurring of crininals.
* Played with on ''The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency,'' since they would blur women's breasts and genitals but not their butts.

* In some edits for the video for Music/LadyGaga's song ''Telephone'', the recipe used to prepare the poisoned food is blurred out ... despite that ''all of its ingredients were all fictional poisons from various sci-fi works.''

->''"One way you can tell if a child will grow up to be a criminal is if they're born with their faces already pixellated."''

* In ''Manga/{{Kochikame}}'', Special Detective Kitano who only wears a speedo and necktie will always take off his speedo when fighting crime completely unarmed. His privates will always show pixellation. Occurred a few times to other male characters in the manga.

It's interesting that a movie may have given impetus for another practice: blurring people's lips when they say an obscenity that has been "beeped" over. In the movie ''TheBestLittleWhorehouseInTexas'' his deputy tells the sheriff how a local TV station broadcast a tirade the sheriff made when he came in contact with the reporter: "They bleeped you out but my momma read your lips on every 'hell', 'goddam' and 'shit'." So now, a number of programs not only 'bleep' someone's bad word, they also blur the area of their lips so you can't read them.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HulkAndTheAgentsOfSmash'', when Spider-Man is unmasked, his face is pixellated. Justified because the series is a set of recordings by Rick Jones, and he probably respected not giving away his secret identity.

* When the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame aired its induction ceremony of 1998 on {{VH-1}}, Music/{{Paul McCartney}} was joined onstage by his daughter Stella, and her shirt was pixelated. It was hiding an F-bomb on the shirt but, since Stella was a fashion designer, there may have been people wondering if it was hiding something else.

* In an episode of ''Anime/FullMetalPanicFummoffu'', the class president tries to explain to Kaname why Sousuke had a reasonable excuse for blowing up the school's shoe lockers when he noticed they'd been tampered with. He asks Kaname to imagine what her reaction would be if she discovered a suspicious package in the mail with a "foul stench" and that's slightly damp. While he's doing this, Kaname has an ImagineSpot of her coming to the door and discovering the package--she drops it on the ground, which causes the package to open slightly. The contents are pixellated, but between the president's description and the reddish color of the pixels the viewer sees enough to be {{squicked}} out.

* Ample usage of this in ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' is probably the only reason why it's still considered suitable for its age demographic, with the sheer amount of MaleFrontalNudity it blocks. It's also used to tone down the gross factor of poop and vomit to the point where it becomes completely comical.