Bowdlerise / Anime & Manga J-R

J-L

• The TV Broadcast of Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure Stardust Crusaders censored Anytime Jotaro smoked by imposing a black blotch over his entire mouth, with the smoke still emitting… this was of course reversed for the DVDs, but not for the streaming releases which use the broadcast footage.

• The anime adaptation for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean was heavily censored, from cutting out Jolyne's statement that F.F. "throws like a queer" to the complete removal of The Klan from Pucci's Start of Darkness.

• Junjou Romantica was heavily modified for the anime adaption in terms of pornographic content/heavy erotica. For instance, when Usami kisses Misaki for the first time in the manga, it's a sloppy french kiss, while in the anime it's just a normal chaste kiss. The sexual harassment is left in, but toned down so not to show the movements of Usami masturbating Misaki nor the sperm when he climaxes (although Usami still licks his thumb and comments "That didn't take long", which doesn't take a genius to get what he's talking about). In general, all pornographic scenes are censored/cut/toned down to regular eroticism, like not showing genitals or direct contact between private parts, but spending a hefty amount of time showing their facial expressions and emotions (which makes the anime a lot more romantic than the manga, actually.) Some of the pornographic panels from the manga are used, but altered. This is all only the TV version though; the DVD removes all the Censor Shadows.

• Karakuridouji Ultimo's English translation does this a lot. They basically removed all of Rune's lines about his love for Yamato ("Yamato... is mine") and changed them to lines that don't even make sense ("Yamato... different?"). Also, they put digital bikinis on everybody when they go into Icon Mode with the doji, making some of the scenes more awkward. Karakuridouji Ultimo is actually a bizarre example of this trope. They removed EVERY curseword including crap, and toned down some violence (not in the volumes though). But some of the more suggestive jokes were left in. Some pretty distubing stuff, like a doji being molested on panel was not even touched, nor was K's comments about Sayama. As for Rune, chapter 10 was censored a fair amount, but in the next chapter he asks Yamato to marry him anyway. Hell, they even turned a completly innocent line of his into a rather suggestive one. There will probaly be even less censorship as the series is starting to get Darker and Edgier bit by bit.

• The Kinnikuman anime toned down a good amount of the violence and Toilet Humor compared to the manga.

• Kiki's Delivery Service:
  • When Osono offers Kiki a drink during their first meeting, in the original the drink was coffee. The English dub changed it to "hot chocolate", because of either the fact Osono was pregnant for most of the movie, or American children apparently can't have coffee.
  • In Spain, the main character's name was changed to "Nicky", as "kiki" is Spanish slang for a "quickie".

• In Kirby: Right Back at Ya!:
  • The chainsaw that King Dedede uses to cut down a forest is turned into a laser chainsaw.
  • A scene from the second episode where Kirby takes up an odd job at the Cappy Town police station went missing from the dub because it involves Kirby being given a pistol from which he immediately unloads several dozen rounds (even though he doesn't actually hurt anyone). A later scene in the same episode, featuring Kirby taking a job as a barman, has also been cut due to the presence of alcoholics.

• The Funimation dub of Kodocha blandly sanitizes many of Sana's more outrageous statements, starting with the title of the first episode — "I'm A Grade School Student With A Pimp" became "I'm A Grade School Student With An Agent". This practice stopped after the first four episodes. Fortunately, the subtitles for these episodes (or at least one of the subtitle options) retain the unsanitized lines.
  • The Italian dub also edited many elements of the series. For starters, Sana and Rei's relationship is usually glossed over, with the scenes where she gives him paychecks having dialogue changed to make it look like she frequently asks him to send letters on her belief. Many other things have been changed or removed, such as Sana's A-Cup Angst or the whole backstory of Sana's true mother.

• While the original Lupin III manga by Monkey Punch was aimed squarely at adults, most of the ensuing anime adaptations were aimed at a more all-ages audience. This means that much of the explicit nudity and all of the instances of Lupin committing Black Comedy Rape were removed, which also had the effect of softening Lupin and making him more of an Anti-Hero than an outright Villain Protagonist. The major exception is Lupin III: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine, which retains the nudity and gritty tone of the manga, but still does not depict Lupin as a rapist.
  • The Italian dub of Lupin III: Part 5 changed Ami's backstory. In the original version she was kidnapped by a child pornography ring, while in the dub her parents sold her to criminals in order to pay a ransom.

M-N

• MÄR has a character named Halloween who wore a giant cross chained to his back, as well as an ärm that attacks with the same. The American release of the manga edited the cross out by removing the horizontal portion, making it into a giant rectangular slab that looks more like a coffin or a generic headstone than a cross. The editing is at least well-done; if you didn't see the original release, you'd never know it was supposed to be a cross.
  • Oddly enough the anime adaptation itself was plagued with this in the Japanese version no less (probably because the anime aired on a morning timeslot). Changes that are usually made in edited English dubs were made, such as referring to alcohol as juice. Not to mention all the blood and violence that was either toned down from the manga, or just removed completely (at least in the first 52 episodes).

• MegaMan NT Warrior (2002) also suffered from frequent Bowderdization.
  • Shots containing projectile weapons pointed towards the camera were edited out. Swords were airbrused with a glow to look like lightsabers, though they usually ended up looking more like glowing popsicles. And for some reason, the dub seemed to make an attempt to hide the blatantly obvious fact that Commander Beef was Masa in a Paper-Thin Disguise.
  • Even more unnecessary, however, were the changes made to many of the names (more frequently the NetNavis' than anyone else's). Some of them can be chalked up to "Blind Idiot" Translation, but others are rather obvious cases of overzealous Bowdlerization (like the renaming of NeedleMan to SpikeMan, presumably as not to be confused with hypodermic needles, or ColorMan to the bizarre-sounding WackoMan, presumably because they thought Moral Guardians would think it was a reference to race).

• The Melancholy Of Haruhi Suzumiya had this with "Remote Island Syndrome", which is changed from the book through the addition of Kyon's little sister, who in the novel attempted to come along, but was discovered and left at home. Once on the island, the SOS Brigade members avail themselves of as much alcohol as their host can muster, which can't be shown on Japanese TV, since the characters are still in high school. The TV show has them doing things appropriate for the presence of a grade-schooler instead. Minus the murder-mystery part, anyway... This makes it completely nonsensical when Haruhi declares in the movie Dissappearance that she's never going to drink alcohol again; it's not like we ever saw her drink and get hangover in the first place. The issue is addressed in the English dub of the film. In that, she says she'll never drink so long as she lives, implying that she's never actually gotten drunk before.

• Metamorphosis: The cover art features Saki in the process of getting undressed, exposing her breasts, with the title along the bottom. Some printings of the English translation move the title up so that it obscures her chest.

• A rather infamous example happens in one episode of the shoujo anime Mizuiro Jidai. The entire episode is about the main girl Yuko getting her first period. In the Italian dub, in order to censor anything related to menstruations, all the dialogues were completely changed and the main plot point became "Yuko had a nightmare and she is worried about it being a premonitory dream". The result is utterly ridiculous, it's not clear why Yuko and her father blush when talking about this supposed nightmare, the tampon becomes an "anti nightmare talisman", and many scenes make no sense whatsoever. To make things even more confusing, the episode title is translated literally from the Japanese, "Major changes". What these "changes" have to do with premonitory dreams?

• Mobile Fighter G Gundam:
  • G Gundam had name changes to a significant number of the Gundams, which were mandated by Bandai. Examples include the eponymous Gundam changing from "God" to "Burning", the Big Bad Gundam going from "Devil" to "Dark" (as does anything associated with it, like the Death Army and DG Cells), and the Gundams with names that might be seen as racially insensitive (like Mexico's Tequila Gundam) being made completely innocuous (in this case, Spike Gundam). However, this only holds true for the dub; the subtitled version uses the original names. Not to mention, in at least one episode Mark Gatha (Domon's voice actor) apparently managed to slip in "God".
  • Reportedly, in the version of G Gundam aired in the Middle East, Relena's knee- and thigh-length skirts were digitally altered to ankle-length to meet with Muslim broadcast standards and sensibilities.

• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED:
  • SEED had more objectionable content than other Gundam series, including a sex scene featuring the 15-year-old protagonist Kira and the Cyclops System, a microwave-based weapon whose victims explode into Ludicrous Gibs. However, in SEED's case personal firearms were turned into laser pistols, with cheesy MS Paint-style graphics added on, resulting in the Gundam fandom meme of "Disco Guns". Notably, both G or Wing were allowed to keep their guns intact, which was especially obvious in G's first episode where Domon catches about a dozen bullets.
  • Of course, when SEED was moved to a Friday Night Death Slot, the disco guns appeared a bit more sporadically, with the final two episodes not using them at all (even in a flashback to an earlier episode). One popular fan theory suggests that the edits were intentionally cheesy because Bandai knew the fans would be well aware of the change and figured "We might as well give them something to laugh about".

• When Mobile Suit Gundam Wing aired on Toonami, all blood was digitally painted out, swear words were cut (though apparently "crap" was okay, since Quatre got away with that in one episode) and references to death were softened, which meant Duo's nickname "God of Death" became "Great Destroyer". However, this was also rather famously averted as Cartoon Network had a second, uncut airing at midnight which is believed to be the inspiration for [adult swim].

• This is Monster's original poster◊. This is Monster's American poster◊. Gee, the gun disappeared. This is made stranger by the fact that that's the only gun edited out in the American release. Furthermore, Monster is a very dark and adult show, and the dub did little to change that. Perhaps the gun was edited out in the poster because it was the most public portrayal of the show, and therefore the most likely to be seen by those too young to see it?

• My Hero Academia:
  • In France, the all-ages TV version is heavily edited to remove scenes with blood and all the sex jokes. If the former is already bad enough as it makes some fight scenes completely unreadable, the latter is somehow worse as an entire character, Mineta, revolves around making inappropriate jokes and overall being an unredeemable pervert which usually ends with him being unceremoniously corrected by Tsuyu and other characters. So here, everybody hates him and beats him up for absolutely no reason. Other disturbing scenes such as the one where the Sludge Villain tries to choke Deku to death in the first episode are heavily reduced as well. Uncut showings of the series occur later at night with a -10^note Not recommended for children under 10 years of age rating.
  • The Italian dub has a few instances of toned-down dialogue. Death is mentioned only a few times throughout the series, Toga talks about drinking other people's DNA rather than their blood, and Mineta wants to use the hole in the changing room to hear what the girls are saying rather than to watch them changing.

• The Manga Box app suffered this, particularly due to complaints from Google Play. The first seven chapters of Nozoki Ana are so ridiculously censored on the app it would immediately turn off any new readers, to the point where the author started pre-censoring later chapters of the manga just to try to make the censorship look less jarring. A few manga were straight-up never put on the Android version of the app out of fear of the same treatment.

O-R

• Outlaw Star had a number of censored moments during its US TV broadcast:
  • Some of the bigger ones include Gene's non-Caster Gun guns being labeled as blasters despite the fact that you hear gunshots.
  • In one particular scene, Gene's companion Jim touches him on the side and pulls back, freaking out when he finds blood on his hand. The Cartoon Network version had the blood removed so Jim's reaction goes from freaking out over Gene being wounded to freaking out over him having a hand (it should also be noted that when the episode that had this scene first aired, the censors didn't edit out Jim saying, "What the hell is this?" before freaking out).
  • Fred Luo's amorous advances on Gene and Jim (and some references to Fred being attracted to Gene).
  • References to Twilight Suzuka as an assassin were more censored than Fred Luo's homosexual attraction to Gene.
  • Hot Ice Hilda's suicide by tooth bomb/cyanide tablet was removed, making it look like she committed suicide by falling into Farfallas's sun and taking the creepy child demon with her (the flashback to Hot Ice Hilda's death also edited it this way). How that's an improvement is anyone's guess. She still killed herself — what does it matter if it was by detonating a bomb or letting herself fall into a hot, gaseous star?
  • Gene's line "she's nuts to get naked" (referring to Melfina getting in the Outlaw Star) changed to "she's nuts to get wet." Yet another example of a line that still carries questionable connotations even with Bowdlerization.
  • A poker game in an early episode was changed to "go fish."
  • Jim's suggestion that Gene sell his body to pay off a bill was changed to selling his car (which is ridiculous, as the Ehefrau is the only car Gene and Jim have and it belongs to Jim)
  • "Space cherry" was changed to "space rookie," and instead of "losing it," you either "are a space rookie" or you're not.
  • Last and most definitely not least, episode 23 ("Hot Springs Planet Tenrei") was cut completely on American TV. Given the episode takes place on a hot-spring planet, there's plenty of perverted moments along with scenes of female nudity (both brief and sustained) and editing the episode to fit broadcast standards would have resulted in a short, unwatchable mess — not that other censors haven't tried. The UK version of Disney's XD channel once aired "Hot Springs Planet Tenrei" with all the nudity covered up with digitally-rendered swimsuits and edited the suggestive dialogue by either cutting it or redubbing it. As predicted, this version was too short to air on a 22-minute timeslot, so it only aired once. The episode finally aired mostly intact on [adult swim] in 2018, with the only edit being an airbrush over Aisha's nipples so she has Barbie Doll Anatomy.

• Paranoia Agent episode 8 was heavily cut on the UK DVD due to the BBFC being particularly sensitive to harm involving children and dangerous actions that can easily be copied in real life^note (especially on something like home video or DVD where the viewer can rewind and replay the offending scene out of context, which is also why sexual violence and anything considered pedophilic on home release media is also a problem with the UK). A whole eighty seconds was cut to remove the sequence in which the suicidal trio — including an old man, a 20-something year old man, and a little girl — try to hang themselves in the woods, only for the two men to slip off a stack of rocks before they're ready and the girl to gleefully bounce with the noose around her neck until the tree branch snaps and they fall down a hill. And the volume with the episode on it still got an 18 rating for "suicide references and violence", which is quite strict compared to every other country (MA-15+ in Australia, 16 and up in the US, and M in New Zealand — all uncut). It wasn't until 2021 that the UK finally saw an uncut home video release, still with an 18 rating.

• The dub version of Powerpuff Girls Z has plenty of examples, the most notable examples being from the episode where the Rowdyruff Boys make their debut:
  • While in the original the Boys climb on a roof and take a piss on people's heads, in the dub they are completely re-drawn, showing them holding a garden hose and wetting people with it.
  • When the Boys start attacking the Powerpuff Girls, they flip their skirts. This was cut in the dub.
  • They then proceed to humiliate them further by taking off their pants and mooning them. Guess what happened to the scene in the dub? Their butts were redrawn to have their pants covering them, and a farting sound effect was added.
  • One dub change that didn't involve the Rowdyruff Boys: Turning Snake of the Gangreen Gang into a woman named Ivy. Note that even anyone familiar with the American original Powerpuff Girls series would know that that's supposed to be a guy...
  • The villain Great Michel is an extremely effeminate campy hairdresser guy in the original. In the dub he's turned into a woman.
  • Sakurako transforms into Sedusa because she wants to be 'sexy like Miss Bellum' and make her love interest notice her. In the dub of course this motive is removed. Later, she finds her boyfriend chatting with his female college professor. She turns into Sedusa because she thinks he's cheating on her with said professor. In the dub, she simply thinks that he found a new friend and that he no longer wants to be her friend.
  • In the original, Bubbles' childhood friend Taka has been isolated in a hospital for 7 years over a chronic, potentially lethal, heart condition. In the dub (where he's renamed as Cody), he only goes there over a minor injury.
  • They also have long white socks/stockings digitally added in the English dub.
  • Fuzzy Lumpkins marks his territory by hand-printing all over it. After falling in love with Ms Bellum, he dreams of smacking her butt, marking it this way to "claim" her. In the dub that scene was cut.

• Pretty Cure:
  • In an episode of the dub of Futari wa Pretty Cure, a flashback to World War II was changed to an earthquake.
  • The dub didnt go as far as Sailor Moon did when removing LGBT themes, but changed the Love Letters Nagisa got from girls into just fan mail Natalie got from girls who wanted to be just like her.
  • Strangely, the dub also changed an heterosexual crush. Seiko wanted to hand Kiriya a love letter which he cruelly ripped apart. Sophie just wanted to be friends with Kirea.
  • The English dub of Smile Pretty Cure!, released as Glitter Force, by Saban Brands has a number of changes and cut episodes. Of note is a number of episodes that rely on Japanese slapstick comedy and an episode focusing on Yayoi's Disappeared Dad, and how any scene where the characters cry is changed so it's less emotional.
  • Glitter Force Doki Doki censored, of all things, Rikka thinking that Ai-Chan needs a diaper change into Rachel thinking that Dina needs a nap.
• A very minor (mostly cosmetic) change made in Pioneer's translation of the Pretty Sammy series was to replace all instances of "Sexy/Sexual" with "Lovely" in Pixy Misa's incantations. This wouldn't really be noteworthy... except for the fact that in the subtitled versions, you can still clearly hear her saying "Pixy Sexual Fire," while the subtitles claim it is "Pixy Lovely Fire".

• In the Korean dub of PriPara, Leona is changed to be female instead of male. Another episode had a scene where Sophie kisses Laala and Mirei and embarasses them changed into one where she feeds them cherries and the duo reacting as if they tasted bad.

• Puella Magi Madoka Magica did this twice with the same scene. Near the end, there's a scene with two characters floating in a sparkly void. In the disk version, they're naked, though Barbie Doll Anatomy is in effect. In the broadcast, black sparkles covered their bodies. The relevant Compilation Movie played in theaters for semi-mainstream audiences, so it went a step further and put frilly dresses on them.

• Rave Master removes some partial nudity (as well as talk about breasts and panties), a scene of light groping, and casinos are changed to "arcades" (though in one of Elie's flashbacks, they don't really hide that her Dad bet on horseraces). Also an actual bomb planted on a train was dubbed as a "stink bomb". Besides that, everything was untouched, even Haru Glory dicing up a horde of monsters (helped that they had black blood).

• Rosario + Vampire: Season II at one point has a fight with an originally male (we think) Doppelgänger that takes the form of the buxom succubus Kurumu and then flashes Tsukune to distract him when his Superpowered Evil Side takes over. The Doppelgänger is bare-breasted in the original version, but in the American localization he inexplicably acquires a lace bra.

• A rare double Bowdlerization occurs in Rurouni Kenshin: In the anime adaptation, Saito defeats Usui by pinning him to a wall using the Gatotsu Zeroshiki. When the dub was shown on American television, they removed the sword. And in the original manga, the Gatotsu Zeroshiki rips Usui's body in half! It's by far the most violent scene in the manga because you can see Usui's intestines.

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