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I am one of those unfortunate people who was exposed to the American
version of DBZ and love it. Let's face it. When you live in a place like
Tampa, the chances you'll find uncensored DBZ is next to nothing. And
when you do, they want to charge you nearly as much as the crisp clean
quality of Pioneer's censored versions.
I've noticed that on your opinion page, some people are pro-censored DBZ
and others are anti-censored DBZ. I'm neither for or against FUNimation's
DBZ. What I am against is FUNimation's inconsistency in their own efforts
toward DBZ. So without further ado, I bring you a "Funimation
Commentary".
The Funimation Commentary
Has anyone seen FUNimation's Dragon Ball show? They only made thirteen
episodes, but what was most interesting is how relaxed they were with
censorship. Sure the perverted jokes and sick minds of Oolong and the
Turtle Hermit were downplayed, but other things remained intact.
Let's look at nudity censorship. In Dragon Ball Goku's butt was showed
all over the place. Both with a tail (Bulma giving him a bath) and
without one (after Puar cut off his tail). If Goku's butt can be shown in
Dragon Ball, why can't Gohan's be shown in DBZ? It's not like I like
looking at cartoon butts, but give me a break. Show some consistency
Funimation. Be true to yourselves and your fans. My second point on
nudity is with Bulma. We see her in a bath, then Goku walks in. This was
a funny scene. Later in the desert, she is taking a shower and Yamcha
peeks through the bathroom window and freaks out at having seen the nude
Bulma. Now it is true that Funimation's magic paint bucket was used in
some parts of Dragon Ball, but it was kept to a minimine, and only hid
those parts (that moving flower in front of Goku's crotch after he turns
back into a boy or that streak in that bathroom window that covers Bulma's
breasts) that would be unexceptable even by "The Simpsons" standards.
Continuing on this point of nudity censorship in DBZ. By going through
countless websites, such as yours, I've read some interesting points on
this subject. In the Frieza saga, it seems that scenes with Bulma taking
baths were completely edited out, and others such as Bulma in her
underwear, were edited to make it look as if she was wearing boxer
shorts. Again I have to question Funimation's tactics. Why is it okay to
show a 16 year old girl in bathtubs and showers in Dragon Ball, but not
okay to show a grown woman (who happens to be the same character) in these
same situations in DBZ?
Here is my second point on Funimation's inconsistency. In Dragon Ball
(which was aimed at little kids) the terms die, kill, I'm going to kill
them, eat human flesh, bones crunching, murder, etc.) seem to be
acceptable. Even in the first four episodes of DBZ terms such as "are you
going to sacrifice your life for these earth dogs" and "hurry my ribs are
broken" were quite common. It seems that after Goku and Raditz die, all
future episodes revolve around using the term "new dimension", "next
dimension", "another dimension", or "(insert word here) dimension". Also,
pain and broken limbs were downplayed. Are we to believe that Emperor
Pilaf was going to kill little Goku, his teenage pal Bulma, and the rest;
and all Mr. Nappa and Mr. Vegeta were going to do is send a group of adult
warriors to the "next dimension". Please, Funimation. Give your viewers
some credit. Americans are not that dumb. No offense Funimation, but
Emperor Pilaf scares me more. He might actually "kill" me, whereas, I
might just be sent to the "next dimension" by Vegeta and see Nappa waiting
there at a "bus stop".
My third point on Funimation's inconsistency is that of blood. In Dragon
Ball, Chi-Chi chops the head off of a T-rex. Blood splurts all over the
place, then Chi-Chi freaks out and zaps the T-rex to ashes. In DBZ, Gohan
pulls this stick out of a Brontosaurus, and the stick has blood all over
it. And where the stick was, is a gaping wound. Why can Dragon Ball and
DBZ show cruelty to animals, but not to people? Are we to believe that
only animals bleed. At least when Piccolo had his arm blasted off, it
dripped green blood. I'm not saying that we want to see Tien's stump
splurt blood all over the place like the T-rex did, I'm saying show
something, anything. Show a blood stain, something. Once again
Funimation assumes that Americans are idiots. Funimation have you even
talked to kids and interviewed them? If you did you would know that they
might even be more intelligent than the censor on your staff. This brings
me to my final point.
Funimation's biggest mistake was changing their censorship tactics. I bet
most of you didn't realize that most censorship is not from the
government, but from the individual production companies that follow
governments guidelines to what they think is best. This probably explains
why Dragon Ball and the first four episodes of DBZ seem to differ in
censorship compared to the rest of DBZ. Or why Robotech shows blood and
people dying all the time (and this show was done in the supposedly
conservative 80's). If anyone has read or seen the issue of Animerica
where they interview Funimation and even ask them the question about the
"other dimension", you learn that Funimation is a self censoring company.
All censorship is decided by that one woman in the article and what she
feels is appropiate for American children. Either she has become more
conservative, or she replaced the original censor (who in my opinion did a
better job). Also, I believe that Saban probably pressured Funimation to
be stricter after the first four episodes of DBZ. With that in mind, why
didn't Funimation stand their ground? They were given a second chance
with the Frieza Saga. Why didn't they go back to being more relaxed?
Once again I want to point out that I don't hate American DBZ. I hate
Funimation for being inconsistent with themselves and for not trusting in
the intelligence of Americans. It's one thing to censor a show so that
it fits American standards, not Japanese standards, but it is entirely
different when you compromise not only your own standards but those
standards of consistency and quality. It is consistency and quality that
made Coca-Cola and Disney well respected companies and products.
- Adrian Saavedra |
   
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