Ask John: Are There Any Banned Anime?

Question:
Is there such a thing as ‘banned anime’?

Answer:
My first instinct, as an American, was to say that there are no “banned anime” in the conventional sense, but some consideration, and some assistance from Newtype USA Contributing Editor Jonathan Clements has turned up a few examples of anime and manga titles that have been, in essence, “banned.”

Japan is country that allows tremendous artistic freedom and tolerates a much more expansive expression of fantasy than most Western countries. While America, for example, generally disallows even fictional graphic depictions of rape and pedophilia, such fetishes are accepted in Japan because they’re not real and only occur in print or film. Japan has temporarily, voluntarily delayed the release of certain anime titles, just as America has, but I’ve never heard of Japan imposing any legal or blacklist restrictions on anime or manga before, with one exception. In the early 1990s, the extremely violent Angel Cop OAV series release was temporarily delayed in wake of the infamous “Miyazaki” serial murder case (unrelated to anime director Hayao Miyazaki). In late 2001 Gonzo Studios voluntarily delayed the premier of the Full Metal Panic TV series about an anti-terrorist mercenary group in respect to the New York City centered terrorist attacks. And in 1997 Nintendo voluntarily temporarily shelved Pocket Monsters episode 38 after the evening broadcast of the episode sent over a hundred viewers into epileptic-like convulsions. The singular permanent exception that I know of is the adult manga “Misshitsu” created by the artist known as “Beauty Hair.” Last last year this hentai manga was withdrawn from publication after it was legally deemed too graphic and in violation of Japan’s censorship laws that prohibit uncensored graphic depictions of genitalia.

In the US, episodes of Cowboy Bebop have been pulled from the Cartoon Network’s broadcast schedule in deference to tragic real life events, but these episodes have never been banned from distribution. Likewise, adult anime titles including the American releases of Yakin Byouto (Nightshift Nurses) and A Kite have been censored to avoid challenging American obscenity laws, but again these films have never been banned from distribution. The third episode of the second Lupin the 3rd television series was removed from its proper sequence in the American DVD release and Cartoon Network television broadcast due to references to Adolf Hitler, but Pioneer confirmed well before the show’s American release that the episode in question was being only temporarily delayed to prevent controversy before it happened. Thus this missing episode counts only as delayed, not banned.

It is the UK which presents examples of “banned” anime. O-Genki Clinic and La Blue Girl have been refused ratings certification by the British Board of Film Classification, leaving them effectively banned from release in the UK. Parts of Urotsukidoji: Inferno Road episodes 1 & 2 have been refused released in the UK. Urotsukidoji IV part 1 has apparently been refused a ratings and distribution certificate not once, but twice.

So while relative to the total amount of anime and manga available worldwide, banned titles represent only a tiny minority, there do exist some anime that are prohibited from distribution in certain countries.