A weekly look into American otaku culture

If you recall about a year ago, the whole anime community made a big stink over the fact that Del Ray was going to censor Ken Akamastsu latest comic, “Negima”, when it came out in the US. The nudity was not so bad to begin with, but they were going to add on underwear to bare asses as well as add bathing suits while the girls were, well, bathing. They probably would have started publishing it with all the edits if it wasn’t for Ken Akamatsu himself reporting it on his blog months beforehand. This caused for a campaign among fans against Del Ray, and the company listened and sent the books to the printing press uncensored. It was a true sign of the respect that the company had for it’s fan, and they were rewarded with very high sales on the “Negima” series.

Unfortunately censorship has struck again the manga industries, and this time it wasn’t discovered until the books had been printed. When CMX released the highly raunchy “Tenjho Tenge” in early March, the fans discovered that this wasn’t the version they read in the original Japanese. In total 36 different edits were made, most of them covering up nudity. For a list of all the edits, as well as side-by-side comparison images, check out this website.

As you can see from that website, anime fans were PISSED about this, and they started up a campaign against CMX to get the books uncensored. This is very similar to the response to the “Negima” controversy. However, the major difference this time is that the books were already published. This causes difficulties for company when it comes to recalling the product. The company has yet to respond to the fans demands, but we’ll see what happens when the next volume comes out.

Personally I didn’t get too mad over “Tenjho Tenge” because I didn’t care much for the manga. I was pissed off over “Negima” but that got settled rather quickly. But now the newest form of censorship has struck, and it’s one the series I’ve been anticipating the most.

I’ve recently became a fan of Masakazu Katsura and his “Video Girl Ai” series. Not only is it an addicting story, but he also draws the most realistic female bodies I’ve ever seen in manga. His girls are not your typical exaggerated anime babes. They often have petite figures with realistic breast sizes. His proportions are dead on, and his details and shading are incredible. He nudes look as if he had sketched real female models. It proves just how much anime is an art form.

And so when I saw the cover art for his newest series, “I’s” (pronouced “eyes”), I was blown away. That sketch is not your typical anime girl, that sketch is a real Japanese girl! Now granted, the actual manga will not look as great as this, but it’s pretty damn close. So I couldn’t wait to buy the first volume and see how much the artist has matured over the decade he’s worked since “Ai”.

But then a few days ago I found out that “I’s” has been the latest victim of censorship. And by how? They placed stars over the female nipples. Yes, stars over the nipples! It’s not like they made small changes to hide them, THEY PUT STARS ON THEM!!! That’s a tactic used by porno video companies to sell smut. They put stars over the nipples of girl on the video covers to say, “Wanna see what you’re missing? Buy this and we’ll show you!”

What a disrespect that is to the artist and his art. But most of all, what a disrespect that is to the fans! How dare they tell us, “You’re not supposed to see this!” Why? What is their reasoning behind it? The only reason to do it is make it suitable to a target market, but what market are they targeting this to anyway? I can understand editing Saturday morning cartoon such as One Piece and Tokyo Mew Mew. They are not targeted towards anime fans, they are targets to American children. But “I’s” is clearly for anime fans from audiences on up. It’s the same audience who read “Video Girl Ai.” Why must this be censored and not that?

And so I’m torn as what to do. I don’t want to support Viz’s decision to do this, but at the same time I want to buy the book and enjoy it in English. So this is my way of doing something. I’m cross posting this over different internet outlets, as well mailing a copy to Viz themselves. As anime fans we have a right to be mad when people say that the medium is wrong. Please make your voices heard to Viz.

My message is clear:

Please don’t cheapen the beautiful art of “I’s” to that of pornography. The artist and the fans deserve better then that.

If you’d like to contact Viz directly:

Kit Fox, Editor
VIZ, LLC
P.O. BOX 77010
San Francisco, CA 94107