In an eleven o'clock time slot, on a controlled access channel (IE not broadcast over the open air) they already had annoyed me with there muting "bad words" and applying a smudge tool to anything that might be deemed "offensive" in a post "Jackson tit at the superbowl" world...

However this last AniMonday they put on there absurd censorship in a perfectly concise manner so as to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this country is, in fact, psychotic as a whole....

For those who have not seen it, or who haven't seen it in awhile, I'll recap the scenes in question.

Motoko Kusinagi is crouched on top of a building where a secret meeting is being held. She has orders to execute a defector at the meeting.

She readies herself by standing and removing her coat, leaving her standing is a skintight flesh toned outfit (you can see the ends of the collar and sleeves, she is not nude) she turns and falls backwards tethered to the roof by a rope.

At the right point the rope goes taunt and she proceeds to blast her target's head off. While the spine may have been metallic, it never the less looks like a spine, and we see it and assorted gore protruding from the victims neck as well as the actual explosion of his head.

She then free falls from the window ledge vanishing as her themoptic camoflage renders her invisible to the naked eye.

In addition, there are also the open credits, where the viewer is treated to a "tour" of a prosthetic body being assembled - almost like a "How it's Made" video. During this there are points where you are seeing a naked female body.

Here's where the "we're psycho" comes in.

During those credits, the cyborgs butt and nipples were burred out - and it wasn't even done well. During the assassination scene, the bust line was blurred (admittedly you could nipple outlines through the suit).

Now I have my qualms about this sort of vandalism, but setting that aside, here's my great big WTF

All of the gore of the guys head being blown into chunky salsa, and all over everyone else in the room, was left perfectly intact.

So we have a clear indication of "Blood and guts and gore = OK", "Female body = Bad"

I feel like Louis Black.... "What the F**K!!??!"

Personally, I don't think it should have been touched - air it right or leave it alone, bearing in mind as I mentioned earlier, Controlled Access Cable Channel at 11pm... But at the end of the day, what does this say about "us" as a culture? I'mnot the first to bring it up, but I am appalled that it goes on, and not many folks seem to see it as I do.

I mean, suppose you had to choose which scene your 10 year old would see (and yes I do have kids, grown now, more or less)

#1 - Mans head being blown into a mixture of blood, brains, and bone being scattered all around the room

#2 - A woman of an athletic build naked - no sexual acts, just nude.

If you had to pick one, which one? If the "censors" are reflecting the desires of the general public (like they SHOULD do) then the majority answer MUST be #1....

Far more disturbing then any nipple I've ever seen...

I blame religious fundamentalists (note, not religion itself). They make a big fuss about swears and nudity, but violence? "Ah, it's a necessary part of life, at least it was in the bible!" is their mentality. They can get pretty crazy, banning/burning books and forcing their views on people. Again, i'm not knocking religion, but some people (like the fundamentalists) need to start living in the real world. As for censorship, I feel that violence should be treated on the same level as nudity, not in a seperate category.

I blame parnoid idiots....HBO broadcast Rome; not so pc and very nude, gory, cuss words, so forth. Great show, btw! But still shown.

I think alot of Americans are of the mindset that animation=children. That's why movies such as Wizards, Fritz the Cat, and Heavy Metal were never really mainstream. Magazines like Heavy Metal and the ill fated Epic never found a wide audience....and the religious zealots have nothing to do with it.....but stupidity ignorance does. Even with the skin-o-max soft-core porn on paid channels .....they are acceptable....but even a pg-13 anime is not because all animation is for children in the eyes of tv executives, and indeed, most Americans.

....not that I believe this.....just saynin'....(don't get me started on the messed up ratings Americans try to but on anime dvds....no nudity, just giggling boods rates tv MA while the most discusting gory violence + nudity gets tv 14 or tv16.....WTF?)

ann

yeh thats a fukin joke dude.
i would be really pissed off too.
luckily i own the movie so i dont have worry about such ridiculous
censorship.

its also stupid that in the fact that the opening credit scene isnt the least bit erotic
or sexual.

i agree with prime, at what point in time did violence and gore become more acceptable
than the natural form of the human body.

As do I (isn't the english Major AWEFUL) - it's just the principal of the matter, as you said in your closing... Society is F****d up....

This reminds of the time I was watching a movie on USA network at about 2 in the afternoon and they let the word sh*t through but censored out Jesus Christ.

lol why would you sensor out Jesus' name :S