“Censorship level: Thailand” is no joke! Check out just how tough the country’s censorship is.
For years now, anime viewers in Thailand have been dealing with ironclad regulations for broadcast dubs — something that fans outside the country have also noticed.
But it’s not just anime. On Thai television broadcasts, the government censors alcohol consumption, weapons pointed at people, cigarettes, blood, and swimwear. You can read more in this Thai censorship wiki entry.
Recently, Japanese site Thailog posted a clip from a dubbed Sailor Moon episode that appeared on Thai TV. While the episode originally appeared on Japanese television in 1992, it was broadcasted in Thailand in early last year. Thailog introduced it again this past Friday.
So, for that Sailor Moon Thai broadcast, the above image…
…was censored into this.
Even the image of bathing suits from behind was censored — which, perhaps, makes one of the swimsuits look even worse.
Here are more examples of how Japanese anime is altered for broadcast in Thailand:
As with the Sailor Moon example above, here censorship makes things look worse.
And it’s not just swimwear.
And it’s not just female characters, either. Little kid underpants get blurred, too.
Tough shirtless guys, too.
Sometimes faces are censored. Here, as the One Piece Wiki points out, this image was edited because it apparently showed blood.
The bottom of shoes, it seems, are blurred as well. In Thailand, it is rude to show the soles of your feet to other people.
Characters drinking booze is a no-no.
This image might sum up how select anime fans in Thailand feel about some of this censorship:
As strict as Thailand is, other countries often censor Japanese anime for broadcast, the U.S. included.
All is not lost, though. Anime blog Cardcaptor’s Blog has a good rundown for how those living in Thailand can enjoy manga and anime.
タイで放送される日本のアニメに過激すぎる規制【タイ人の反応】[Thailog]
Photos: Sailor Civilian, PostJung, Ohozaa, Dek-D, BKKWeb
To contact the author of this post, write to bashcraftATkotaku.com or find him on Twitter @Brian_Ashcraft.
Kotaku East is your slice of Asian internet culture, bringing you the latest talking points from Japan, Korea, China and beyond. Tune in every morning from 4am to 8am.
Comments
11 responses to “Thailand’s Anime Censorship Sure Is Strict”
Dang it Thailand. Stop trying to out censor us! Without our precious nanny state title, we’re nothing! >:[
No truer words spoken. I didn’t know the Greens were running Thailand. All jokes aside I knew they had strict laws on the Royal Family, but they all love them. This just makes us look tame. But if you shoot around the next the yanks change anime as well. One would think the Japanese are very laid back with the world censoring their shows.
$20 says that the ACB are looking at a way to just blurr all animated and live action images for all TV shows
+1 for snark, -0.5 for veracity/likelihood (Rounding up the total), overall ‘heh, meh’. 🙂
Thailand’s the last country in the world I’d expect to be so sanctimonious. I’ve seen and done things on Patong Beach and Koh Phagnan that blackened my soul.
I’m sorry for your soul, but this is my favourite response to anything on Kotaku.
You sir have convinced me to buy tickets to Thailand. Oh yeah gonorrhea here I come
Why do they even bother showing anime then? It’s like half the picture is always blurrd at any given point :\
You shouldn’t have pointed this out, it’ll give the Australian Classification Board new ideas on how to censor more stuff
For a place that is arguably considered the sex capital of the world…this is rather amusing.
Its a big country of near 70Mill people and has a few red-light districts for tourists,hardly a sex capital.Fun fact until the 1920-30’s it was standard summer dress for women to go around topless untill Christian missionaries spoilt the fun.
Oh there are more than a ‘few’ and Pattaya is arguably a ‘red light city.’ No, the whole country isn’t like that but there’s a reason why Thailand is considered the sex tourism capital of the world.