Americanization of Anime
...sagi” to “Serena.” On top of that, the relationship between Uranus and Neptune had to be changed in order to avoid controversy. In the original series, the two women are actually lesbian lovers. In the American version, however, they are “cousins.” Not only did a quite a few scenes need to be cut out, but several jokes and inside comments had to be edited out as well, because the relationship was changed. What’s most bizarre is that much of the original scenes where the two are holding hands or engaged in more-than-family-like physical contact remained unchanged. Even worse than lesbian lovers, the American edit might suggest some sort of incest. Why is it, then, that Sailor Moon had to be edited for containing homosexual-related themes, but Buffy the Vampire Slayer had two lesbian characters that didn’t bother anyone? Two of Buffy’s sidekicks, Tara and Willow, were romantically involved for about two seasons on the show. In one episode, they were even shown naked in bed together, suggesting that they just had an intimate moment. Above all, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is shown on a national TV station – UPN. It is shown at 8:00PM on Tuesday nights. I’m sure many kids are up at that time looking for a post-homework, post-dinner television show to watch. I would think the lesbians in Buffy would be more impressionable than the lesbians in Sailor Moon because they are real-life characters played by human actors. Then again, a cartoon in the U.S. is meant only to be clean, whole, fun entertainment for the kids. But what about the adult population that watches anime? They’re all stuck watching the “kissing cousins” on Cartoon Network. Pokemon is another example of the Americanization of anime. There is an episode, titled “The Legend of Dratini,” that explains the appearance of a new Pokemon named Dratini. Many people were left in the dark because this episode was banned in the US. At some point of the show, a warden appeared with two guns shooting in all directions. He wasn’t shooting at anyone in particular, just shooting for attention. The censors the like the idea of showing a gun-happy man on an episode of Pokemon. The warden’s behavior with guns is unacceptable, but it’s ok by everyone for Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam to do the same? Now that doesn’t seem to make sense to me. If you think about it, the world famous Looney Toons consists of a wacky cast that is engaged in many violent act. How many times have we seen that anvil fall on Wyle E. Coyote’s head? And how many times has Elmer Fudd gone “hunting for wabbits” with his hunting rifle. Time and time again, but it’s only when a foreign cartoon cares to do this that it becomes a problem. Honestly, I don’t understand why this episode was banned for something so insignificant. This was an essential episode, though, because it had an important character revelation, and explained the appearance of an all new Pokemon named Dratini. American viewers had to just guess who the Pokemon was in the later episodes because there was never an episode that explained its origin. Pokemon also had another incident with an episode titled, “Holiday in Acapulco.” It was also banned in U.S. because the male member of the comedic villain duo, Team Rocket, wore inflatable breasts and bathing suit at the beach to be in disguise. It wasn’t gross or indecent humor; the whole scene at the beach was actually quite funny. This episode also explained an essential type of Pokeball (the balls to hold Pokemon in) called a Green Ball. Once more, this left the viewers guessing what the function of a green ball is. I, myself noticed the gap and had to guess what a Green Ball was and how the main characters came across it. It was only through an online transcript of the original Japanese episode that I found out exactly what it was. The censors had a problem with James cross dressing to be in disguise at the beach. This is also rather ironic because we often see America’s favorite bunny kissing men on the lips and cross dressing for comedic purposes. Bugs Bunny is often shown with skirts, lipsticks, and fake breasts, often confusing his foes rather comically, until they find out and attempt to shoot him. Cross dressing and violence together and no one has anything to say about it? If it’s American, no one seems to want to make any bad opinions about it. Another Anime that was altered drastically is a movie titled Movie X. American companies added dialogue to the dubbed version where there wasn’t any. When watching Movie X, the dubbed (English dialogue) is different than the subtitled version (Japanese dialogue, English subtitles). In the original, Kanoe, the pseudo-leader of the group, is confronted by Fuuma, her brother, and 1) does not know who he is, and 2) had no idea what he is doing there. The dubbed version, however, has Kanoe asking Fuuma, by name, if he is the ‘lover Kotori summoned.’ Manga entertainment, the company that purchased the rights to Movie X, adds implications of incest where there are none to begin with. Certain characters are even femininized, such as the playboy of the movie Yuugo and Shuugo Asagi, for no apparent reason. The well-known Anime titled Card Captor Sakura is yet another example of Anime that was been dissected under the hand of censors. In the U.S., Warner Bros. s...