Ask John: Is Guro Manga Unlicensible?

Question:
I was wondering what would make grotesque manga unlicensible since U.S. have the movies Cannibal Holocaust & Guinea Pig released uncut, so isn’t that a double standard?

Answer:
I don’t think that grotesque manga is “unlicensable” for America at all considering that there are already a number of “guro” manga officially available in America. In fact, Hideshi Hino’s grotesque horror manga “Hell Baby” has been available in an official American edition since 1995, meaning that it was released in English well before the modern “manga boom.” Many of Hideshi Hino’s gruesome horror manga are available in English from Cocoro Books. And Viz has published official English language versions of Junji Ito’s grotesque Gyo and Uzumaki manga series. Media Blasters has also published exceptionally graphic splatter manga like Takayuki Yamaguchi’s Apocalypse Zero.

There’s no double standard preventing the American licensing and publication of extremely graphic horror and gore manga. What prevents more “guro” manga from reaching America is simply a lack of consumer interest. Despite being available in English for a dozen years, the Hell Baby manga is still unknown to most American manga fans, as are all of Hideshi Hino’s English language horror manga. Likewise, Viz’s Gyo and Uzumaki manga have never been especially successful in America. And Media Blasters canceled publication of its mature audience horror manga titles last March due to poor sales. There just doesn’t seem to be enough consumer demand in America to encourage licensors to invest in translating and publishing “guro” manga in English.

Ironically, reaffirming the well known critique that American society opposes sexuality, but doesn’t mind excess violence, extremely gruesome and violent manga are perfectly acceptable for mainstream American release, but Seven Seas Entertainment was apparently forced to cancel its planned American publication of Kaworu Watashiya’s Kodomo no Jikan manga because its primary theme is a comical parody of underage sexuality. Despite the fact that Kodomo no Jikan contains no actual sex or graphic nudity, and the series actually repudiates “Lolicon” relationships, the mere suggestion of underage sexuality, even when it’s a humorous condemnation, still stirred up enough online outrage to force Seven Seas to withdraw its publication plans. So if there’s any double standard, it lies in the ironic fact that manga with horrifying gore and violence are acceptable in America, but a manga about an adult who adamantly opposes a “Lolita” relationship is not acceptable in America.