Old schoolDragon Ball Zfans might remember a site on the internet calledDragon Ball Z Uncensored. While it may sound like a dirty site (and full discloser: we do NOT recommend searching that term at work), it was actually a pretty informative site for early viewers about the changes and censorship that was being done to the English dub ofDragon Ball Zby Funimation Productions (now Cruncyroll). The website was one of the first major websites that was dedicated to informing viewers of the changes that were made to anime when they were imported from Japan and aired on American TV (albeit, for one show).
The site was discontinued in the early 2000s, yet for the ten-year anniversary creator of the website Chris Psaros did a followup interview with the new owners of the site, where he talked about the inspiration, where he was now, and what he thought ofDragon Ball Z Kai. While he nothing but praise for the dub ofDragon Ball Z Kai, he did note with some amusement that this iteration ofDragon Ball Zwas, in fact, censored by the Japanese producers themselves, which he found to be hilarious and very ironic. Why would the Japanese anime producers censorDragon Ball Z Kaithough? While a little violent, was a cartoon from the 80s really so bad that it could no longer be aired on TV as it was originally made? The answers may shock and surprise you.
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Why Was Dragon Ball Z Censored in America?
WhenDragon Ball Zaired in American in 1996, it was aired in syndication through Saban Entertainment. Saban was primarily known as the company behindMighty Morphin Power Rangers, but they also were successful in airing programs in syndication. Saban likedDragon Ball Zbut felt that the property was not suitable for children; blood, mild nudity, and sexual themes were present in multiple episodes, and if Funimation wanted their cartoon to air in good time slots then they would have to edit many of these things out.
This is why viewers back then saw aDragon Ball Zwith green blood, comments about destroyed buildings being empty on Sunday, and a (particularly memorable) episode in where Goku doesn’t go to ‘Hell’ but goes to ‘HFIL’ (Home for Infinite Losers). Though older fans would cringe at these changes years later, at the time most young viewers had no idea there were changes being made at all, and it made broadcasters happy enough to air the show where it has since gone on to become one of the most popular anime in the world. While the censorship may have been extreme, most will admit it was a necessary evil in the early days.
Why Was Dragon Ball Z Kai Made?
The whole concept behindDragon Ball Z Kaiwas to make a moremanga faithful adaptationofDragon Ball Z.Dragon Ball Zis 291 episodes long, and it was common knowledge that roughly half of hose episodes were comprised of filler episodes. Most of the filler was created to stretch out the manga enough to fill a weekly TV schedule (as well as to delay ending the Frieza saga while Akira Toriyamas editors made attempts to convince to continue the manga. Spoiler alert: they succeeded).
While there are memorable filler episodes (the driver’s license episode), most of the filler was unmemorable and tedious, giving the series the nicknameDrag-on Ball Zby detractors. The idea behindDragon Ball Z Kaiwas to cut most of the filler out, add new animation to make the edits flow better, and even correct some animation mistakes in the first several episodes. While all this was positive, there would be changes that the creators didn’t want to make if the new series was to air on Japanese TV
Why Was Dragon Ball Z Kai Censored in Japan?
The long and short of the situation is fairly simple:Japanese broadcast standards changed. Japanese parents got more anxious about blood and graphic violence on TV before a certain time. Nudity became a more taboo subject. What’s more, the new show would air in the morning where the original show aired in primetime.Dragon Ball Zwas created in a time when these things were not as big a deal (and in a time slot that was more forgiving), but now that they are they needed to make changes. So nudity involving children was removed. Blood was toned down. Sexual comments were removed.
Not to a large degree mind you; the changes were so minor that most fans didn’t even notice they had been made. What’s more, Funimations dub was much more faithful than the original dub was, and as such felt more mature despite the changes made on the Japanese side. There is also an argument being made that by editing the series to half of the length in the first place is censorship in and of itself, so some fans didn’t even bother to get upset about the visual censorship because in their owns the showitselfwas a censored product in principle.
Whether you agree with that stance or not, there is no denying thatDragon Ball Z Kaihad a mixed reception. Fans are still divided on whether itreplaces the originalDragon Ball Zseries, is a nice supplement to the original, or is a tainted hack job (there is also some debate about the replaced score that got caught in a plagiarizing scandal). If you’ve ever watched it and wondered why certain visuals were toned down though, that’s just an indication of things changing over time.
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