What anime on Cartoon Network Toonami pushed the envelope?

[themistermanguy]

Cartoon Network's Toonami block featured edgy anime and targeted kids ages 10-17. However, because the target demographic was as young as 10, the differing standards between Japan and America, and because Cartoon Network sold itself as a family oriented channel, many of its shows had to be edited for content. Some faired worse than others (Evangellion) but the people at Willams Street always tried to push the boundaries, and get away with as much as they could given the restrictions.

But what anime that has aired on CNs Toonami did you think, REALLY pushed the boundaries of a TV-Y7 rating? As a reminder, DBZ and Sailor Moon don't count as those shows weren't edited by Cartoon Network, but rather their distributors. Plus, they were geared more towards the younger end of Toonami's target demographic (preteens).

 

[madwarper]

I don't know what kind of envelope you think would be pushed...
As I recall, they never showed nudity (except maybe for Gren's man-boobs), no cursing and only moderate amounts of violence.

Besides, when did CN air NGE? I know they aired the 2.0 as part of a movie month, but I only remember seeing NGE on Sci-Fi.

 

[themistermanguy]

I don't know what kind of envelope you think would be pushed...
As I recall, they never showed nudity (except maybe for Gren's man-boobs), no cursing and only moderate amounts of violence.

Besides, when did CN air NGE? I know they aired the 2.0 as part of a movie month, but I only remember seeing NGE on Sci-Fi.

1. ADULT SWIM aired 2.0, not Cartoon Network (yes, Adult Swim is a separate entity, despite being under the CN umbrella).

2. The first 2 episodes of Evangellion aired as part of Giant Robot Week in heavily edited form, which removed and/or altered important plot points. It was a very hard show to edit to a Y7, so much so, they had to air a Parental Advisory Warning.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Well, if we're only going with Toonami anime and not Adult Swim (which I see above), then the only show that I can think of is Outlaw Star.

Edited a character's death to be completely different from what really happened.

Melfina was always wearing a swimsuit.

"No way. I'd rather eat cow." Well, that doesn't sound too bad. In fact, I'd prefer to eat cow over fighting space pirates. Hamburgers are good. Or maybe it was crow? Can't remember.

Completely cutting out an entire episode and reworking another one to explain why Gene is suddenly carrying four deadly caster shells.

 

[Fox12]

To be fair, DBZ was pretty gruesome for a children's show. I still remember being around five and watching tien get his arm punched off. You're not likely to see that on most cartoons. Heck, most cartoons today aren't allowed to show guns. I was a little surprised to see rurouni kenshin keep the whole opium plot line, and I distinctly remember several shows mentioning prostitution/brothels by name. Toonami was pretty edgy by cartoon standards generally, though not by anime standards. I did here they attempted to show elfin lied on adult swim, but apparently it would have to be so heavily edited as to "leave the story incomprehensible." I like to think it made the censors cry.

 

[LittleBumble]

I'm actually going to say DBZ, which I know you said was edited more by the distributors... But I still feel like it pushed things a little.

I'm saying that partially because it was when it was on Toonami that DBZ traumatized me. DX

Spoiler

When Android 18 is sucked up Cell's tail. That TERRIFIED me when I was a little kid. For the longest time I even felt uncomfortable seeing the art of the Dragonball franchise in general.

So... Yes, I do feel DBZ pushed the envelope the most.

 

[xmbts]

Well I distinctly remember something getting by in Outlaw Star at least once. It was about 5 in the afternoon and had the main character call someone a Bastard and at the very least point a gun at the person. I think the show was moved to adult swim not too long after that.

 

[themistermanguy]

Well I distinctly remember something getting by in Outlaw Star at least once. It was about 5 in the afternoon and had the main character call someone a Bastard and at the very least point a gun at the person. I think the show was moved to adult swim not too long after that.

I know the occasional damn or hell slipped past the censors before, but how did they get THAT word past the radar?

 

[FPLOON]

Something tells me that when Toonami showed the original Tenchi Muyo series, they erased any showing of nipples on Ryoko as well as the other girls during any major nudity scenes... *shrugs*

Other than that... uh... Outlaw Star? Gundam?

 

[balladbird]

"No way. I'd rather eat cow." Well, that doesn't sound too bad. In fact, I'd prefer to eat cow over fighting space pirates. Hamburgers are good. Or maybe it was crow? Can't remember.

It was "eat crow". "Eating crow" is an expression, albeit a seldom used one, that means to do something that embarrasses one's self or damages one's pride, so it was an edit that made sense, though it did make Melfina's embarrassed reaction to gene's teasing seem strange.

As to the question... eh, it's kind of in the eye of the beholder. If you mean just in the sheer quantity of edits, probably tenchi muyo. They did everything from minimize swearing and blood to adding bathing suits to girls who were already completely covered by towels... just because they didn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable about the thought of girls talking wearing towels.

if you mean which one seemed to give them the most trouble, then Rorouni Kenshin gets a shout out. The series didn't have a ton of anything objectionable, maybe a few bloody scenes and cigarettes, but that was all, but Cartoon Network couldn't make up their mind about what they were cutting out, or whether they wanted to edit down to TV-PG or TV-Y7 FV. As a result, you'd catch the occasional cussword slip through dialogue, but have other, seemingly less offensive dialogue edited later on. Also, one hilarious scene following Sanosuke's big fight in the Shishio arc, where blood that was dripping down his forehead disappeared completely between shots... in the same episode.

 

[themistermanguy]

"No way. I'd rather eat cow." Well, that doesn't sound too bad. In fact, I'd prefer to eat cow over fighting space pirates. Hamburgers are good. Or maybe it was crow? Can't remember.

It was "eat crow". "Eating crow" is an expression, albeit a seldom used one, that means to do something that embarrasses one's self or damages one's pride, so it was an edit that made sense, though it did make Melfina's embarrassed reaction to gene's teasing seem strange.

As to the question... eh, it's kind of in the eye of the beholder. If you mean just in the sheer quantity of edits, probably tenchi muyo. They did everything from minimize swearing and blood to adding bathing suits to girls who were already completely covered by towels... just because they didn't want anyone to feel uncomfortable about the thought of girls talking wearing towels.

I'm talking about which show had the loosest standards, and pushed the TV-Y7 rating to its limits, similar to what some western cartoons like Young Justice, Transformers Prime, and Batman: TAS & Batman Beyond did.

if you mean which one seemed to give them the most trouble, then Rorouni Kenshin gets a shout out. The series didn't have a ton of anything objectionable, maybe a few bloody scenes and cigarettes, but that was all, but Cartoon Network couldn't make up their mind about what they were cutting out, or whether they wanted to edit down to TV-PG or TV-Y7 FV. As a result, you'd catch the occasional cussword slip through dialogue, but have other, seemingly less offensive dialogue edited later on. Also, one hilarious scene following Sanosuke's big fight in the Shishio arc, where blood that was dripping down his forehead disappeared completely between shots... in the same episode.

I heard Kenshin was a pretty hard show to edit as well, I looked at the edit list for some episodes and some of them had around a whopping 40 edits, big and small.

 

[xmbts]

Well I distinctly remember something getting by in Outlaw Star at least once. It was about 5 in the afternoon and had the main character call someone a Bastard and at the very least point a gun at the person. I think the show was moved to adult swim not too long after that.

I know the occasional damn or hell slipped past the censors before, but how did they get THAT word past the radar?

I have no idea but it probably wasnt a coincidence that the show got moved to the late night slots. XD