Are they softening and censoring the story?

Okay first of all, I haven’t read the novel, but the only real difference in S2 based on the manga is that it will have significantly less rape scenes going forward from S1, it’s still dark don’t get me wrong, but the way it’s dark is going to differ. It’s not the fault of anybody deciding to cater to a broader market, just the author focusing more on the plot and world building.

Also, what the heck does Chinese markets have to do with any of this? This is a Japanese show, other markets don’t really matter that much.

I’m really hoping that BD release gets uncensored/original versions, but from the looks of this, it seems that the content is proactively censored in production instead of afterwards, which is sad.

@MewsicMagic Dude, it feels like you've been living under a rock and have no idea what's actually happening in the world. Right now, there is a brutal censorship war going on globally. Japanese anime now makes more money internationally than it does in its own domestic market. That is why foreign markets matter so much today, which brings up the issue of trying to please absolutely EVERYONE

In China, companies like Bilibili, Tencent, and iQIYI have been funding Japanese anime for years. This means Chinese corporations are paying to get Japanese anime made. On top of that, if you want to sell to China and make more money, you are forced to tone down the stories and make them more kid-friendly just to get them distributed there

The exact same thing is happening in the West. A lot of people put pressure on payment platforms like VISA and Mastercard to block payments to Japanese companies that are deemed "immoral" by Western standards. Basically, this forces them to tone down stories and strip away all the adult content. In short, they’re censoring gore, fanservice, violence, and the like.

It got so intense that even the Japanese Prime Minister had to step in. He pointed out that the global success of otaku culture is due entirely to the passion of creators, publishers, studios, and fans, not government intervention. He promised zero interference in creative freedom, acting as a shield to defend authors against external complaints or pressure. He noted that while people have every right not to consume the content, creators must have the freedom to create it.

The real issue is that the production committees the ones putting up the money are the ones calling the shots. To boost sales and maximize profits, they will censor, infantilize, and soften any story to make it appeal to a general audience.

The most famous and recent case is the third season of One Punch Man. Although it's supposedly a 100% adult anime, they went to the extreme of censoring Zombieman's cigarette because China bans any anime that shows someone smoking. And that's not to mention the blood, gore, or fanservice, which are censored even worse

@Xcilionsial You do realize that it’s been very common to have different versions of a show/movie for different regions right? Even going back to the 80s and earlier. So what if China requires censoring something? They can censor it in the Chinese release of the show and leave it normal elsewhere, it’s really not something that should affect you unless you live there yourself.

The type of censoring that’s happening in the world right now is quite varied, and realistically it shouldn’t affect this show at all just yet in most regions. More importantly was how you somehow missed my entire statement and went on about world issues causing the problem instead. The age rating for this season probably isn’t lower because of censorship, but rather because the story shifts its focus and the main thing making it have an adult rating, the rape scenes, don’t really show up in the future story content

I’m not interested in a big censorship argument over this show, I’m happy that it’s getting another season, something there was no garuntee of ever seeing.

Crunchyroll says:
"Content Advisory: 16+ Violence, Sexual Violence, Sexualized Imagery"
but that may be because of last season, since they are rating them together.

people whined and cried about the SA at the beginning of the first ep of s1, so they probably just cucked themselves for a "wider audience"

@EcchiGodMamster The funniest thing is that because of scenes like that, the series becomes popular and people want to watch it. For the second season, they eliminate everything that made it good, and then it becomes an empty shell. In other words, without scenes like that, the series wouldn't have even had a second season since it would have failed with just season one

@Xcilionsial

Yep... society always gets cucked by those who whine and cry the loudest, then they wonder why people are more less giving up on the future, which obviously destroys entertainment

Same thing seemed to happen to Goblin Slayer

@EcchiGodMamster The curious thing is that those who complain don't even watch anime; they are mainly activists and political or ideological groups. And I'm glad you mentioned it, because it was precisely since Goblin Slayer that I started hating censorship. Since then, any anime with censorship, poor animation quality, or that isn't faithful to the original material gets the lowest rating from me. And I've seen many others starting to do the same. Those who make anime while censoring everything won't stop until it hits their pockets, that's how the market works, and with that, let only those who don't censor anything succeed. 'Natural selection

@Xcilionsial

yep...


but the problem is good luck convincing the higher ups that they AREN'T being finessed by catering more towards "global standards". theyre generally too old to know whats going on, ie they can't even use a computer etc, not to mention since many of them don't speak anything but Japanese, they really have no way of figuring out what FANS actually want if they even give a shit about fandom

you can't really stop people from consuming butcherd products :/

i mean, look how many anime adaptations are butchered... yet as MOST of us are anime onlys, at least when it comes to most shows, are we even gonna know if what were watching is butchered?

yes, the bad art thing i think is pretty noticable to ANYONE but some people just don't care enough and are still gonna watch

then theres the fact that streaming services often opporate at a loss as streaming isn't anywhere near as protiable as physical media, so they tend to avoid taking risks hence them trying to make everything globally appealing

but at the end of the day, as long as Japans population is doomed its kinda on them.. theyre constantly losing talent/potential talent :/

and yea, OPM s3 would NEVER have happened had it come out even 10 years ago, the medium has gotta TOO BIG for its own good and Japan is being TOO SMALL to handle the demand

Halfway through episode 1 now and jumped in here too see if the ratings had changed, then i saw this post, like i probably would not have thought too hard about it if it was like this from the start, but it just seems weird to swap on season 2, like who is starting with season 2 but they cant see season 1 due to age? Honestly while i dont need a full on gorefest, the fact that season 1 episode started with a wyvern slash that cut them clean in 2 and season 2 wyvern slash ruins the clothes on his back just takes something away from the show for me especially after having experienced it.

I rewatched season 1 and it was quite a nice rewatch, although lacking in some parts. But I liked the mix of maturity and ridiculousness.

I never did read the source, but I still felt that season 1 did cut a lot of corners and watered thigns down though.


But when I started season 2, I was shocked at the huge piles of bullshitting that is going on:
- absolutely no human is is even able to BLEED anymore
- of course absolutely no human can lose any limbs in fights
- fire does not burn, it makes bandits sleepy
- no human can die or get killed. Not the bad guys, not the raping bandits, not victims for dramatic effect. Only old people die, but talking about death of old people would be too scary, so don't mention this neither.
- supposed rape victims / slaves don't feel that way at all when freeing. When freeing, they just happily stand up and leave, looking like they were just bored and slightly inconvenienced by the prison cell, since they had no cards to play inside.
- the typical bath scene in which the female main character(s) enter a bath after the guy did lost all maturity and have the girls childishly just attacking the guy (you have seen that stuff many times before)

And finally the reason that made it unbearable for me:
- the noble laidy's poision tester does happily live after, after eating poisioned food meant to KILL said noble laidy.

THEY COULD NOT EVEN KILL AN INSIGNIFICANT SIDE CHARACTER OFFSCREEN!!!

That was at 6:20 of episode 2 and it was that moment when I could no longer bear that piling bullshit anymore.
When that anime even steeps THAT far, then there is really just no hope that it can become even anything remotely decent anymore!

...Which is very disappointing, since I was really looking forward to watching this show...


Well, I also did read up the comments of this topic and the political statements make a lot of sense, given the state and course of other shows.

I have to disagree with the assumption though that things can actually change or return how it used to be.
Corporates look at how to make money, not at how to maintain cultural heritage or individuality.

If there will not something big and very significant happen to give a call of ,,this can no longer continue to go on" of some sorts, that forces people to uncompromisely resist the censorship, then compromises will be made until it all waters down into an even worse mess than what we even have now....

And if forced censorship of payment providers is not such a wake-up-call, then by any means I can not imagine what will be.


Show dropped.

Oh wow, you predicted it.

I really wonder why they toned down this season and decided to make it PG-13. I mean, even removing all the blood and violence.

I can't think it's anything as simple as "card processors, censorship" or whatever. That's a problem, but I highly doubt they were obligated by some higher force to "clean Skeleton Knight up" as if it were a paragon of anime to begin with.

I wonder if someone more familiar with Japanese broadcasting could add any thoughts on this.