I wanna know why...

[Guest BadDragonBran]

...every time I look up a picture of Hyuuga Neji, he has a swastika on his forehead

His curse seal is shown during the Chuunin exams, and is very clearly a green X in the bloody center of his brow with two prettyily curved lines to either side. There is only the hinting of an even foot at the end of all legs of the x...NOT A FRIGGIN NAZI SIGN! (Or the reversed version meaning Peace in Cherokee {which I didn't even know until I saw a bridge here in the Cherokee capital that had the friggin thing all over it and my bf had to explain it, thereby making me feel like a dumbass})

But seriously. It saddens me to think that artists intentionally draw the beautiful Neji with the characteristics of Charles Manson. YEAH! Think about that one.

[Anonymous_Nanotyrannus]

Prior to Nazi Germany, the Swastika was considered a very positive thing in both the Western and Eastern world (espiecally in Buddhism) for thousands of years. It still has negative connotations in America and Europe, while it's still viewed as highly positive in Asian countries. It is a religious symbol. It's been around for millenia.

Swastika is important for "enlightment" and statues of Buddha often feature the swastika on his forehead. http://www.clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2007/9/16/89609.html

Many animes feature the swastika, however when the animes come over to America or Europe things are "dubbed" or colored over to make the series appropiate for the Western Audience. In the Sonic the Hedgehog, Rouge's cleavage is covered up, Melfina from Outlaw*Star wears a swimsuit when she's in her navigational state, and any reference to "swastikas" in anime are covered up. I'm going to assume Neji had originally had a swastika on his forehead before it being covered over by American censors. Another anime, hell if I remember it, also has a similiar thing happen where cartoon wrestlers had their symbols on their masks covered for syndication on American television.

A lot of artists often try to remain as truthful as possible to original culture of the character, instead of what has been "Americanized" so they draw the Swastika.

The Nazis and Manson fucked up a good symbol for the rest of us. I hope that helps.

[Guest sylvir]

I downloaded the Manga off the internet instead of buying the books in stores. Yes on Neji's forhead it is a swastika not a X. For the cartoon network version of the anime they edited it. This also happened in the second episode when Naruto accidently kisses Sasuke.

I was a little weirded out to see it because when you see a swastika all you think is Nazi and holocaust.

Because bad memories make more of an impression than good ones what ever the swastika meant before the Nazis used it for their evil gets lost, expecially to an American audience.

[shinigamiinochi]

I remember the medieval years of Cartoon Network when they first started to put out Gundam Wing. No swearing or blood was shone (even if the scene made no bloody sense without the blood). One of the oddest things was that the term 'I will kill you' was censored to 'I will destroy you'. It's a show about war, you have to say 'kill' at some point! Just took the realness out of it for me. At least there wasn't any nudity, so it wasn't like Tenchi Muyo and the painted on bathing suits that you could tell were added in.

The funniest Gundam Wing censorship moment would have to be when Hilde walks in on Duo in their little house. He's sitting at a table with this big bottle next to him, that he's clearly been drinking out of. Now, anyone capable of common sense knows that it's a bottle of alcohol, but Cartoon Network erased the brand name and replaced it with Tabasco sauce. 0.o So... he's been swilling Tabasco sauce? At least they could claim that it's root beer or something... normal. I don't know if it was the alcohol element, or just the fact that he's fifteen, but it made us crack up every time. Fortunately, we have the uncensored set, all alcohol and swearing kept the way the original creators had intended.

[Guest sylvir]

In the history of American cartoons you will notice that no one ever dies and no one ever kills anyone. They always are destroyed, defeated, or simply disapear never to be heard from again.

In Naruto I've seen tons of scenes that make no sence at all without the blood. During the first episode Naruto uses his sexy jutsu and Iruka turns white and flies back with weird squiggly lines comeing out of his nose then when he comes too for some reason he has tissue shoved up his nose. For those of us who are really into anime we know that a nose bleed is a visual way of showing arousal but if you didn't know that it looks weird.

[Psychostorm]

I remember the medieval years of Cartoon Network when they first started to put out Gundam Wing. No swearing or blood was shone (even if the scene made no bloody sense without the blood). One of the oddest things was that the term 'I will kill you' was censored to 'I will destroy you'. It's a show about war, you have to say 'kill' at some point! Just took the realness out of it for me. At least there wasn't any nudity, so it wasn't like Tenchi Muyo and the painted on bathing suits that you could tell were added in.

The funniest Gundam Wing censorship moment would have to be when Hilde walks in on Duo in their little house. He's sitting at a table with this big bottle next to him, that he's clearly been drinking out of. Now, anyone capable of common sense knows that it's a bottle of alcohol, but Cartoon Network erased the brand name and replaced it with Tabasco sauce. 0.o So... he's been swilling Tabasco sauce? At least they could claim that it's root beer or something... normal. I don't know if it was the alcohol element, or just the fact that he's fifteen, but it made us crack up every time. Fortunately, we have the uncensored set, all alcohol and swearing kept the way the original creators had intended.

Yeah but they did have Gundam Wing Uncensored On Toonami at Midnight. It was bascially a precursor to other animes shown on the adult swim nowadays.

And whats wrong with nudity in Tenchi? Being ashamed or embarrased about the human body is disgustingly ignorant.

[foeofthelance]

Because the Japanese approach to nudity, especially in a group bath atmosphere, is something most Americans have never encountered and thus aren't very comfortable with. For all that we are today, we were founded by a bunch of Puritans, and that comes back a lot when things from different cultures get introduced to ours. Interestingly, you tend to see a backlash against the censorship, as people don't want watered down entertainment, they want the original material. So while adults are freaking out over a bare ass on NYPD Blue or a nipple slip in the Superbowl (though admittedly, that had to have been planned, which means they knew they were breaking the rules. Why else the star?) while the younger generation is watching imported animation, which almost always features a group bath scene somewhere along the line. "Sneaking over the girl's side" is the Japanese equivalent of the panty raid, just with bare flesh instead of women's underwear.

[Psychostorm]

Because the Japanese approach to nudity, especially in a group bath atmosphere, is something most Americans have never encountered and thus aren't very comfortable with. For all that we are today, we were founded by a bunch of Puritans, and that comes back a lot when things from different cultures get introduced to ours. Interestingly, you tend to see a backlash against the censorship, as people don't want watered down entertainment, they want the original material. So while adults are freaking out over a bare ass on NYPD Blue or a nipple slip in the Superbowl (though admittedly, that had to have been planned, which means they knew they were breaking the rules. Why else the star?) while the younger generation is watching imported animation, which almost always features a group bath scene somewhere along the line. "Sneaking over the girl's side" is the Japanese equivalent of the panty raid, just with bare flesh instead of women's underwear.

Well this cultural bullshit pisses me off. Fuck culture, I don't subscribe to american, japanese or any fucking dogmatickal bullshit. I approach a situation with rationality and logic, having a certain opinion because it is your "culture" is fucking stupid.

I swear, humans are such a worthless bunch, not bothering to thing rationally but more comforatable allowing cultural bullshit to think for them.

[Animefan249]

what i want to know, is why in the archives i can't find the pokemon section, nor the star wars one. I have stories ready to go for all and yet i can't find the sections and i know they used to be there. Don't hide them on me please, it's very difficult to find them when i need to post stuff.

[Animedevildog]

Well, as far as the cencorship issue is concerned in anime, there have been inroads in the American marketplace for us anime fans who prefer the real deal. You can find the uncut versions of Naruto and One Piece right at Wal-Mart now. (You can definitely tell that they are uncut because Kakashi has his hand THROUGH Haku's chest with blood pouring out of him like Bill Clinton nosebleeding over a cigar)

As for Outlaw Star, I never knew that there was a cencored version. As in I have always seen Melfina navigating in her birthday suit. Also, Aisha Clanclan has an awesome set of melons!