The content of Japanese animation (anime) is frequently edited by distributors, both for its release in Japan or during subsequent localizations. This happens for a variety for reasons, including translation, censorship, and remastering.
Regional considerations
Japan
Under article 175 of the Penal Code of Japan, material containing indecent images are prohibited. However the laws date back to 1907 and were unchanged during the process of updating the Japanese constitution in 1947. Over time and due to changing tastes the acceptable standards have become blurred. The display of pubic hair was prohibited until 1991 leading to series such as Lolita Anime and Cream Lemon using the sexualization of children as a loophole. The use of tentacles in series such as Urotsukidōji enabled the creators to avoid a ban on the display of genitals. In other cases, the content is self censored through the use of blurring and black dots. When the censorship is removed for overseas release, the basic animation underneath is revealed, leading to concerns over the sexualization of children in those markets.
Cowboy Bebop and Gantz are examples of titles that received edited broadcasts and were later released as unedited home releases. Episodes of shows such as Mr. Osomatsu have been edited for repeats and home releases.
United States Due to the lack of a formal and consistent age rating system in the United States of America, age ratings for anime have created several problems. Blockbuster Video marked all anime titles as unsuitable for kids, leading them to appear as R-18 on their computer system. Publishers began using their own age rating suggestions on their releases, however due to differences between publisher assessments and the use of TV age ratings by some this resulted in an inconsistent system.
When Cartoon Network began to broadcast anime there were no internal standards in place for the use of overseas material. This required them to develop a set of standards and guidelines for the handling of the content. The display of alcohol consumption, tobacco smoking, violence (including depictions of death, spoken references to death and dying, scenes of characters being threatened or in life-threatening situations, and depictions of suicide), gambling, blood, offensive language, offensive hand gestures, sexual content (including nudity, intercourse, innuendo, and depictions of homosexual and transsexual characters), and the mistreatment of women and minors were all deemed unacceptable as well as other situations unsuitable to a younger audience. Material for Cartoon Network was edited for TV-Y7, whereas Adult Swim content was edited for TV-14 standards. However some content that aired on Adult Swim was originally scheduled to air on Toonami and was edited accordingly. Autodesk Inferno was used to digitally edit scenes to remove blood or cover up nudity on content edited by Cartoon Network. In some cases content was edited before it was given to Cartoon Network. The editing practices evolved over time due to complaints from parents.
4Kids Entertainment made changes to the anime they licensed to make them "more Western" in order to be more accessible to children. Another reason was so that they could easily merchandise them. However, they also released uncut versions of some of those shows.
Possible impact of Texas Senate Bill 20 In 2025, some individuals worried about possible censorship as a result of Texas Senate Bill 20, which creates new criminal offenses for those who possess, promote, or view visual material deemed obscene, which is said to depict a child, whether it is an actual person, animated or cartoon depiction, or an image of someone created through computer software or artificial intelligence. Much of the controversy regarding S.B. 20 involves the broad language pertaining to "obscene" pornographic images as including A.I.-created, animated, and cartoon depictions, with some critics arguing it could have a chilling effect on anime, manga, graphic novels, and other media produced, distributed, or created within Texas.
Anime Matsuri co-founder Deneice Leigh called for the law's wording to be clarified and described the bill as "vague and open to interpretation" as to what would be considered obscene and offensive. Kirsten Cather, an Asian Studies scholar at University of Texas, expressed concern at the law's misinterpretation because "many anime characters appear youthful, regardless of their actual age," said that the law could "stifle creative expression," and noted that the law's scope is broad enough to have manga and anime under scrutiny, a "real slippery slope here that's being breached."
Others argued that the law is problematic because many anime and manga characters are underage, with their actions possibly considered "violent or otherwise inappropriate from a certain perspective," argued that the law could apply in limited cases if state officials deemed an anime or manga under scrutiny as lacking "artistic value," said that the legislation's vague wording made it "dangerous" for anime such as Dragon Ball and Naruto, and said that it could be used to censor stories with "young LGBTQIA characters." Additional critics said that the legislation could lead to censorship of "many anime and manga projects," like Kill la Kill and The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, a larger ban of materials within Texas, and cause people to be thrown in prison for reading manga like Berserk and Vagabond, or watching Dandadan.
Additional critics argued that the law's broad wording could inadvertently "criminalize certain forms" of anime, manga, video games, and artistic expression, leading to censorship of creative works. Legal expert and Comic Book Legal Defense Fund director Jeff Trexler was also critical of the law. He expressed worry that the legislation "may discourage people from engaging with specific titles, leading to unspoken censorship," guessed that the law may be aiming to "instill fear" rather than enforce it, and argued that the law allows for the "unconstitutional prosecution for possessing certain cartoons or animation."
Italy History of censorship of anime in Italy The first anime aired in Italy on private-owned networks were almost uncut, even if those contained some vaguely risqué scenes such as in The Rose of Versailles and Georgie!
The first anime to be systematically censored in Italy probably was Alpen Rose, which aired in Italy in 1986, set during World War II. The censors went even to the point of cutting 9–10 minutes per episode, practically almost half episode in original version, in order to avoid any reference of the war.
Another series produced by Tatsunoko and with a similar wartime setting, Nobara no Julie, was censored by cutting every mention of Italy: the aircraft which killed the protagonist's parents was Italian.
The 1980s–1990s
Later, during the second half of the 1980s, another kind of censorship was applied to the original series, trying to remove every reference to Japan from the series and leaving the stories' settings more generic: an example in this sense was F, whose protagonist had his name changed from Gunma Akagi to Patrick and Formula J, the Japanese auto racing championship, became the European Formula 3000 and, if during the race, an ad signage with Japanese text appeared, said scene was cut.
Another 1980s series, Kimagure Orange Road, which was one of the most censored anime in Italy, alongside Kodomo no Omocha and Marmalade Boy. Besides the cut of several scenes, Mediaset did not air two episodes because these were deemed not suitable for children.
One of the executives in charge of Italia 1's programmation in an interview attributed the "cuts" carried out on Marmalade Boy due to the need of airing the series in watershed without come up against Moige's complaints. Not exempt from censorship was Oh Family, in which the dialogues were edited ad hoc to hide some of the bisexual relationships of the characters.
In the 1990s, when the pace of import of the series was reduced, anime such as Hokuto no Ken and Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon, the latter aired on Mediaset, not without polemic. In Autumn 1996, some young men threw a huge rock from an overpass killing a person. During the inspections carried out at the defendants' homes, the police retrieved a The X-Files poster, Dylan Dog comics and some volumes of the Hokuto no Ken manga, the later which was deemed violent and thus, accused of inciting similar behaviour.
Several TV programmes covered the subject and a journalist stated that "Ken is a warrior who throws stones against people".
A year later, psychologist Vera Slepoj stated that Sailor Moon S could be able of seriously compromise boys' sexual identity. Slepoj's accusations were based on some parents' reports, whose male sons who were fans of the anime, arrived at the point of relate to the protagonist. Later, the polemic also extended due to the presence of the Sailor Starlights, female warriors who when did not fought, had male forms.
As a consequence of the polemic, Sailor Moon, already re-edited, was edited even further: in video, with glaring stills and even more in dialogue at the point even of distorting the original plot. In the third season, Haruka and Michiru (Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, respectively), had their relationship changed from a couple of lesbians to two simple friends.
In the last episode of the series, moreover, Sailor Moon, during a particularly violent battle, appears at the end stark naked: even though that kind of nudity was meant as symbolic, it was censored.
Another series which suffered censorship was Slayers, had its title changed to Un incantesimo dischiuso tra i petali del tempo per Rina. Some names of the characters were changed and the characters' surnames were removed.
The names of the spells and the formulas were completely changed. The last three episodes of the second season were merged in one episode with over 40 minutes of cut scenes. Moreover, the periods which prevented Lina Inverse of cast her spells were became a non-specified "illness" in the Mediaset version.
The MOIGE era and ADAM Italia
In the year 2000, the Dragon Ball controversy erupted: a mother flipping through a volume of the Dragon Ball manga bought for her son, had read the part here Bulma showed her panties to Muten Roshi while she was not aware Goku took them off her a night before and, considering said scene not suitable for children, turned to the Cittadinanzattiva association, where the mother presented a statement to the Public Prosecutor's office in Rome against the Star Comics publishing house.
The incriminated scene was accused of favoring pedophilia because, by reading that scene, a child would think that showing underwear to something normal. Despite this, the incident was defused in a few time without any consequence, except for the two following reissues, Star Comics, in order to avoid further polemic and legal actions, decided to censor the scene in questionCompletely restored only from the fourth reissue, named Evergreen Edition, published in 2011. and in the initial page of every manga published by Star Comics, a disclaimer was added where it was specified that every character, even though being only graphical representations, are 18 or older, even though Goku himself, the series' protagonist, was still a kid.
In the latest years, One Piece and Naruto were added to the censorship lists. In the former, the scenes featuring blood were cut, in some cases the dialogues as well. In Naruto the scenes with blood were already cut since from the first episode, in other episodes, scenes featuring blood were censored by darkening the image or fading out the color of the blood (made black and opaque).