Why are guns edited out of the American versions of anime and other entertainment?

[anthony87]

I am asking why it is more acceptable to show guns in cultures that guns aren't easily obtained in, while not acceptable in one that made it is?

Because we Americans are smart enough to realize that guns are only for adults, and so cartoons aimed at young children like One Piece and Dragonball Z shouldn't be allowed to show them.

Which is why shows like One Piece and Dragonball Z aren't aimed at young children.

 

[Jonluw]

Because 4kids and similar companies take series aimed at older children and teenagers, localize them, and market them towards young children.
See One piece.
This means they have to remove any content that made the series appropriate for teenagers in the first place.

 

[Daggedawg]

I am asking why it is more acceptable to show guns in cultures that guns aren't easily obtained in, while not acceptable in one that made it is?

Because we Americans are smart enough to realize that guns are only for adults, and so cartoons aimed at young children like One Piece and Dragonball Z shouldn't be allowed to show them.

Which is why shows like One Piece and Dragonball Z aren't aimed at young children.

When Dragonball Kai aired in Japan, it had a little warning text at the top of the screen reading "To the children: When watching TV, make sure to keep the room brightly lit and sit far away from the screen."

Make of that what you will. I think this whole thing is a case of cultural difference, and that the Japanese are simply less strict about depictions of weapons and violence in cartoons and comics than, say, the Americans.

I still think the editing and censorship is ridiculous.

 

[spartan231490]

We do not have the highest civilian gun ownership, there are a few countries with higher. I don't know all of them, but I know that Switzerland is "one of the countries" with higher rates of civilian gun ownership than the US. On a side note, I haven't noticed anything like this, probably because I don't watch any 4kids dubs, so maybe it's just 4kids being psychotic like usual.

You might be thinking of Sweden. Still, we only have a higher rate of gun ownership PER CAPITA. Because, you know, we as a country being 9 million people and you can fit the entire country into New York, and the vast majority of our country is still rural, making hunting-rifles pretty common.
Getting a license for anything else (say, a hand-gun) is very, very demanding. You basically have to not only use it for the sole purpose of sport-shooting, but also prove on a regular basis that you have been to practice and that you are taking your sport seriously. Otherwise, bye-bye gun.

Sweeden might be one of the countries, but so is Switzerland, and ownership of military grade weapons and handguns are both common there, even among the civilian population.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

Probably because kids are dumb and have a tendency to play with guns when they find them. They've been known to either blow their own heads off or shoot their friends. I didn't do either of those things, even though I loved gun violence in my movies/cartoons and I lived in a house full of guns. When I was a little kid, my dad took me aside and said "This is a gun. It can kill you. Don't touch it."

Of course, many people don't take the time to do this. Recently in the US, there has been an epidemic of senseless child deaths from TVs falling on kids. This is because people are getting rid of their giant old tube TVs and poor people who want something for nothing set them up in their houses on the most rickety unstable thing available. This has led to morning news shows having detailed discussions about preventative measures so TVs don't fall on kids. Never mind the thought that the individuals who have let that happen were so lazy, cheap, and neglectful that they wouldn't even pay any attention to such a warning regardless.

Likewise, gun owners who don't tell their kids about gun safety are rolling the dice on their lives. If it's not one neglectful thing that will kill your kid, it will be another. I can't count the number of times I've seen small children run through a parking lot.

But hey, it's gotta be that damned children's media, glamorizing running through parking lots, playing with guns, and encouraging kids to shake the 70 pound television. I mean hey, the anti-drug cartoons really worked great on my generation.

 

[MrFalconfly]

May be wrong but I think it's the fact that Americans allow guns that is the very reason for it.

In the UK guns are illegal (exceptional circumstances aside), so if we see guns, we are not going to be worried that one of our kids is going to grab a handgun and re-enact a scene they just watched.

In the USA, with such a high proportion of fire-arms, it's that much easier for a kid to get hold of a gun and play around with it, some kids would see a programme (like Power Rangers), see them using guns and quite possibly grab daddies pistol to play around as a Power Ranger.

That's what I reckon anyway.

Exactly what I was thinking.

I live in Denmark and here we usually link up guns with either villains, law enforcement or military people, and the chance that Steve McQueen walks down the street in Drag is many times greater than a kid grabbing a gun an reenacting some action scene.

 

[tsb247]

Probably for the same reason this epic TV show got the axe:

Spoiler

Fortunately, it ran for enough seasons to be enjoyable. Too bad it ended with a HORRIBLE cliffhanger.

Some parent probably thought it would turn their kid into a sociopath simply by watching it. The same can probably be said for most anime. Most parents (when I was a kid) generally disliked anime because it had a reputation for being violent. It probably carries that same reputation with parents that have young children.

 

[Terminate421]

Because Columbine "was proof" that if children are exposed to real guns, they'll snap and go on a murder spree.

 

[Terminate421]

This reminds me of them taking off all gun items avatars hold off xbox live. As if people are playing games with candy canes that shoot confetti or something. Seriously what the hell?

Ironically they released toy versions of them. That ACTUALLY shoot pellets. Real guns AND Gears of war weapons.

Speaking of which, I actually managed to snag the Lancer before they took it down.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Cause, ya know, Americans are so peace-lovin' 'n all, not getting pissed off by a country, then invading a completely different country, then invading the country that provoked them in the first place.

Ok, so Americans are dicks, and I have no idea why. In Pokemon, several episodes were excluded because gungs were involved. Oh, not because a massive tentacle monster destroyed an entire city and killed thousands of people, but because someone had a tommy gun.

What the fuck, America? What the fuck?

 

[Veylon]

Because cartoons are for kids and the moral authorities wanted to keep them pure and innocent.

 

[WaysideMaze]

I am asking why it is more acceptable to show guns in cultures that guns aren't easily obtained in, while not acceptable in one that made it is?

Because we Americans are smart enough to realize that guns are only for adults, and so cartoons aimed at young children like One Piece and Dragonball Z shouldn't be allowed to show them.

Do you remember those little green plastic army men?

They are a childs toy, they have guns.

Did you ever play cowboys and indians as a child?
If so, chances are you had a toy pistol

or bow and arrow

I'm not trying to be patronizing here, I'm just saying that children play with weapons from a very early age. What harm is there in showing them on TV?

 

[Twilight_guy]

BSNP and similar groups. They are in charge of making sure that things that air on TV, notable children's cartoon, are decent for kids. Often times they have creator's tone down or change things to make them more decent. It's not just anime. Even American cartoons like G.I. Joe were supposed to have guns but were told to use lasers. The idea was that shooting a gun was imitable but shooting a laser was not. Character also couldn't point guns at the screen. This also extends to displays of imitable violence. In the old batman cartoon, the one based around Adam West, Batman couldn't even punch anyone. Think about how lame that was. In the Cartoon, Reboot, there was a scene where the creators weren't allowed to show a character crash through a glass windows and had to have him teleport around it. This also extends to display of 'sexual' imagery. Women were not allowed to be shown with two distinct breasts and instead had a 'mono-boob'. This also gave rise to the Hartman hips in American animation. Its less about guns and anime so much as general censorship of material on TV, especially for kids.

 

[JediMB]

Ok, the All Dogs is true, but the Scrooge McDuck comic I was talking about was originally from Europe.

Technically the comic was made in the US. Don Rosa (one of the best comic book writers/artists ever) lives in Kentucky, but his Duck comics were produced mostly for Egmont, a Danish publisher, and also for Picsou in France.

 

[Ryujisama]

It's mainly 4kids that does that now, because, as their name suggests, all of their programming is targeted towards a younger audience who they believe shouldn't be exposed to such material as tattoos, blood, guns, other cultures besides white Americans or the British, even death (seriously look at the 4kids version of One Piece.... terrible...). Die hard fans have at least saved one show from their clutches, and most anime on TV have an uncensored version for the home releases (DVD and Bluray). It's gotten better, but it has been a weird ride so far... 0_o

 

[Realitycrash]

We do not have the highest civilian gun ownership, there are a few countries with higher. I don't know all of them, but I know that Switzerland is "one of the countries" with higher rates of civilian gun ownership than the US. On a side note, I haven't noticed anything like this, probably because I don't watch any 4kids dubs, so maybe it's just 4kids being psychotic like usual.

You might be thinking of Sweden. Still, we only have a higher rate of gun ownership PER CAPITA. Because, you know, we as a country being 9 million people and you can fit the entire country into New York, and the vast majority of our country is still rural, making hunting-rifles pretty common.
Getting a license for anything else (say, a hand-gun) is very, very demanding. You basically have to not only use it for the sole purpose of sport-shooting, but also prove on a regular basis that you have been to practice and that you are taking your sport seriously. Otherwise, bye-bye gun.

Sweeden might be one of the countries, but so is Switzerland, and ownership of military grade weapons and handguns are both common there, even among the civilian population.

A quick search on Wikipedia says that it is due to an exception in the Homeguard/militia which allows people that serve in the homeguard/militia to have firearms at home. Othervise, it seems pretty heavy on gun-legislation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_politics_in_Switzerland

(Interestingly, they only had 53 reported Homocides in 2009, while Sweden had 259. Sweden has a 1.5 mil larger pop, though, and there is no data concerning how many were killed by firearms in either case. Just noting.)

 

[malestrithe]

Weird. I'm looking a Cowboy Bebop right now and I'm noticing an abundance of Guns in it. Same with Witch Hunter Robin. Mad Bull 34 does not shy from the gun violence either.

It has everything to do with the market that particular show is being aimed for. If a company is marketing a story for young kids, then they alter things for them.

It is not bad. It's what companies do to appease the people they buy the rights from.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Probably for the same reason this epic TV show got the axe:

Spoiler

Fortunately, it ran for enough seasons to be enjoyable. Too bad it ended with a HORRIBLE cliffhanger.

Some parent probably thought it would turn their kid into a sociopath simply by watching it. The same can probably be said for most anime. Most parents (when I was a kid) generally disliked anime because it had a reputation for being violent. It probably carries that same reputation with parents that have young children.

To be fair, it was a show based off an R rated gorefest of a film. However, censorship was not the reason Roughnecks ended. The show had trouble choosing it's audience. One part wanted to be a sci fi war show, and the other part wanted to be a saturday morning cartoon. It then got screwed over for broadcasting times, making it even harder for the show to get an audience. They eventually just said fuck it and dropped the series because it wasn't making enough money back to justify the cost of episodes.