We’ve all seen censorship in anime lead to some incredible hilarious moments—we’re looking at you, 4Kids One Piece dub. However, according to Studio Perriot’s president Michiyuki Honma, it can completely ruin a show’s overseas appeal.
Honma says that censorship increases the difficulty drastically for shows looking to build an audience and become an overseas hit. In an interview with Japanese news outlet Natalie, he explains that while it was censored in some markets, staying true to the source material is what made Naruto the gigantic hit it is today.
“It’s difficult to aim for something that will be popular overseas or become a long-term series,” Honma explained in his interview, translated by Google. “Of course, you’re aiming for half the head, but if you make an anime with that in mind, it becomes boring. `I won’t let you smoke so I can take it overseas. Violence is a little weaker. Avoid sexy expressions.’ There’s no way that people overseas would want to watch Japanese anime that restricts a lot of expressions like that. Works that are hits in Japan are also hits overseas. I don’t think you should take the wrong approach when creating anime.”
Honma would seem to be the best authority to speak on this given that over a quarter of Studio Perriot’s global sales come from Naruto and the popularity of its sequel series Naruto Shippuden and Boruto.
Fortunately, with the move to streaming rather than broadcast TV, shows haven’t suffered anywhere near the level of scrutiny they used to when coming to the West. In fact, most shows are available internationally in the same state they air in Japan. Still, longtime anime fans will remember the days when shows like Naruto would air on TV with the blood being edited out, scenes removed, and other tedious censorship decisions. Hopefully, we’ve all grown up enough to leave that in the past.
