Ask John: Why Edit Anime?

Question:
Why cut anime? Why not show it in the original Japanese way besides dubbing/subbing it. (I know that dubbing sometimes cuts out stuff so as to make the voice match the mouths.) If it has sex or violence just put up a rating. Is there a point to editing anime?

Answer:
Anime fans may find anime totally normal and appropriate, but we must keep in mind that die-hard anime fans are not mainstream, average viewers. Mainstream American viewers watch sitcoms and Julia Roberts movies, not Japanese cartoons. But for anime to be successful in America, it has to appeal to “mainstream Americans.” The anime community in America may seem big, but it’s not nearly big enough or wealthy enough to support a big anime distribution market in America. The reason why so few anime films have made it into American movie theaters isn’t due to problems with licensing or poor promotion. It’s simply because anime isn’t popular enough in America to support major theatrical releases. Consider this, if an anime film were to play in a movie theater in your area, how many people would come to see it? You may get a full house, but could you keep the theater full for several screenings each day, day after day? Now consider that we’re only talking about a single screen in a single theater. Now you may appreciate the true size of the anime market in America.

For this reason, anime must conform to the mainstream because mainstream viewers will not accept or watch foreign “cartoons.” If you’ve ever encountered someone who laughed at you for watching “Jap cartoons” or someone who said “isn’t it all Transformers,” that’s the person the American market it trying to appeal to. There’s no need for American anime translators and distributors to market heavily to anime fans, because they know we’ll buy it anyway. To increase the market base of anime in America, anime has to appeal to viewers that have never watched anime before and viewers that previously scoffed at the medium.

When anime is broadcast on television it gets edited to meet broadcast and network standards. When anime makes it onto television, with the exception of rare instances, it’s not really “anime” any longer. It’s a product to be altered and tailored in whatever way will make it most profitable. On the Cartoon Network, for example, the editing of anime is controlled not by Toonami but by the mandate of the Cartoon Network to provide all-audience content all the time. Ratings are simply not an option. In the case of Cardcaptors, which is broadcast on network television, the editing is partially controlled by network executives who know nothing whatsoever about anime or anime fans, and are more interested in a massive broadcast audience rather than the anime fan market. (Gundam W is the lone exception to the editing rule. Because Gundam is such an important franchise to Bandai and Sunrise, Bandai was able to make stipulations like “broadcast this uncut or don’t broadcast it at all.”)

When home video anime is edited, when digital overlays are used, when subtitles leave out Japanese “honorables,” and especially when dialogue is added, removed or translations drastically changed for dubbed versions, this is done to make anime more accessible to mainstream viewers. Translating companies may be afraid that a new viewer will be put off by seeing too much Japanese language or too distracted by confusing terms like “-san” and “-chan” added to names and therefore decide not to buy any more of the series. American viewers are simply too used to watching disposable entertainment that doesn’t require any thought. Watching unaltered Japanese anime, even pure escapist anime, does require some consideration and effort. Subtitles require a viewer to simultaneously read and watch. Japanese terms like “oniisan” may confuse mainstream American viewers because these American viewers don’t understand that, in Japan, calling someone “brother” doesn’t necessarily signify a blood relation. Adding footnotes or explanations would again require viewers to read, so instead domestic translations simply edit out the “honorable” suffixes and transpose generic personal pronouns like “oniisan” (brother) and “obasan” (aunt) with the character’s proper name, although such is not a proper, literal translation.

The original reason for editing and dubbing anime was to make anime easier for non-anime fans to watch. That reason has lately turned into a way to make anime more profitable. If you’re really concerned over the editing of anime in America, do something about it. Watch subtitled or untranslated anime (because even the best dub is still edited and at least one step removed from its original Japanese version because the original Japanese dialogue is missing.) Use edited or dubbed anime to introduce new viewers to anime, then convince them to watch the show in Japanese. If you happen to be only interested in watching dubs, watch uncut dubs. This may sound extreme, but I believe that it’s true. As long as people continue to watch edited anime, companies will continue to release edited anime. If anime fans suddenly buy only uncut anime, and convince their friends to buy only uncut anime, guess what type of anime companies will begin releasing more of.

Readers who find this topic especially interesting may want to visit the Anime No Editing Zone which does a great job of keeping track of all of the alterations, edits and changes made to domestic anime releases. If you have any questions about what anime titles have been edited or what editing was done to them, this is the place for you.