The modern viewer may choose from a wide variety of entertainment options. Anime, movies, online series, and traditional television programs Furthermore, the anime business has expanded significantly during the past few years.
Any episode of any anime series may be seen by anybody, anywhere. Almost every anime ever made is available anywhere. However, there are occasions when an anime has gone so far off the rails that it must be outlawed. Furthermore, numerous popular anime series have been prohibited in other nations.
Unexpected, yet accurate. Who cares if it causes harm, it’s only an animation. However, there are still a few nations that have banned specific episodes of anime from their airwaves. The list is so broad that not even kid-friendly shows like Pokemon are allowed.
The purpose of this essay is to investigate the reasons behind the bans on certain anime series in various nations.
Alright, then, let’s get going.
Parasyte (Banned In China)
Parasyte: The Maxim is a well-known Seinen anime series, and it is famous for its body horror theme and sci-fi components. When it originally came out, it was a huge success. However, the show was prohibited in China because of the obscurity of its subject matter.
Parasyte, like many other anime titles, has been banned in China for quite some time. No official explanation for why Parasyte was banned ever surfaced. However, there were reports that it was banned because of the graphic nature of the series’ violence.
Tokyo Ghoul (Banned In China & Russia)
Tokyo Ghoul, one of the most popular fantasy comics, was banned in China and Russia for depicting graphic violence and “crimes against public morality,” respectively.
Some Chinese teens, perhaps inspired by the Tokyo Ghoul character Juzo Suzuya, have begun a perilous fad of sewing threads and embroidery directly into their flesh. The Chinese government has banned both the graphic novel and the anime adaptation in an effort to avoid future incidents like this one.
High School DXD (Banned In New Zealand)
It’s no surprise to see High School DXD on this list, given the attraction of its harem fantasy setting and explicit content to both young and old audiences. The protagonist, Issei Hyodo, is slain on his first date and reborn as a demon.
New Zealanders didn’t care for the show’s angels-versus-demons premise, so they banned it on the grounds that its sexual nature and frequent scenes of nudity are inappropriate for children.
Elfen Lied (Prohibited in Russia and China).
Elfen Lied is a series about humans interacting with mutants in the dark fantasy anime genre. The series was praised for its cutting plot and brutal violence. However, in 2021 Russia removed the show from several online streaming services due to age restrictions.
This restriction was justified on the grounds that such graphic depictions of violence, sexuality, and death are inappropriate for children. Elfen Lied ran into the same problem in 2015, when the Chinese government banned the series.
Kinnikuman (Banned In France)
No one ever imagined that the straightforward but decently presented plot of the classic anime series Kinnikuman would become a point of contention. However, in France, it sparked a contentious debate about a person called Brocken Jr.
Brocken was deemed a “good Nazi” for his lack of dogmatism, which contributed to his positive portrayal. His father was a German Nazi, so it’s not surprising to see him in uniform. But many people seemed to find it unsettling, and so it was banned in France.
His toys were never released in the United States outside of France, and he was rarely featured in Nintendo’s adaptations of the series’ video games. Manga artists ultimately decided to reimagine him without swastikas.
Death Note (Banned In China & Russia)
Whether or not you consider yourself an anime enthusiast, you’ve probably seen at least one episode of Death Note. However, nations like China and Russia couldn’t handle Death Note’s melancholy tone, so they eventually banned it.
The Russian jury claimed that every episode of the show included graphic acts of violence. They said that the show’s themes of violence, brutality, and sadness might damage a young viewer’s morals and values.
According to some sources, Chinese students have taken to recording the names of their instructors in the notebook as a form of protest. The Death Note’s protagonist, Light Yagami, is widely believed to have been the inspiration for this move.
Attack On Titan (Banned In China)
Fans of Hajime Isayama’s exhilarating action anime series Attack On Titan love the show for its never-ending stream of action, drama, mystery, character development, and horrific images of the so-called huge giants, Titans.
However, due to the series’ unpleasant content, it has been prohibited in China. The show has been banned in China because of concerns that its depiction of gory violence would be inappropriate for children.
Record Of Ragnarok (Banned In India)
The first episode of Record of Ragnarok, created by Studio Graphinica and available exclusively on Netflix, debuted in June of this year. The series had a lot of prerelease buzz, but when it finally dropped, it got a lot of negative feedback from Indian viewers.
The program received backlash from Indian anime enthusiasts because of how Lord Shiva was depicted. As a consequence of protests from religious groups in India about what they saw as an unfair portrayal of Shiva, Netflix India has banned the film from being shown there.
Pokèmon (Banned In Saudi Arabia)
A ban on Pokemon! It’s true, yet it sounds ridiculous. The innocent-looking children’s program, which can be enjoyed by people of all ages, was prohibited in Saudi Arabia owing to a conspiracy theory about the show’s subject matter.
The prohibition was put in place by the country’s General Secretariat of the Council of Senior Religious Scholars because they considered Pokemon to be a sort of gambling.
In addition, they believed the program was too pro-Christian and pro-Shinto Japanese religious symbols for their comfort. Pokemon was prohibited in Saudi Arabia because it was deemed a national security threat.
Shoujo Tsubaki (Banned Everywhere)
A little girl’s life is turned upside down with the departure of her father and the death of her mother in the 1992 anime film Shoujo Tsubaki. Its dark, gloomy, and emotional plot made it one of the most divisive anime films of its time.
The film featured graphic depictions of child sex abuse and gory violence. Many viewers said they were traumatized by the show’s unsettling content. Many individuals disposed of their copies of the film once it become such a nightmare.
Eventually, the film was banned in nearly every country, including Japan.