This week’s episode of popular anime Psycho-Pass New Edit Version won’t be broadcasted in Japan. In light of a recent murder, the show’s creators deemed the episode “inappropriate”.
Note: This article contains content some readers might find objectionable. It also contains what some readers might view as spoilers.
As reported by our colleagues at Jezebel, a 16-year-old girl from Nagasaki prefecture has been arrested for allegedly killing, dismembering, and decapitating a classmate with a saw. According to The Japan Times, the suspect is quoted as saying she “wanted to dissect” someone and allegedly used to cut up animals.
The unaired episode apparently features a schoolgirl who is dismembered and decapitated by a classmate — and then displayed as some sort of gruesome sculpture. The upcoming episode seems unnervingly timely in a most unsettling way. As many readers have pointed out, this is a re-edited version of a previously aired anime. Still, talk about an unfortunate coincidence!
“There are no plans to air the episode,” says Psycho-Pass’s official site. The next episode that will be aired is the fifth one. On the official Psycho-Pass Twitter account, however, it was announced that the episode will be available via on-demand services on August 1.
Seeing how the Japanese mass media already tried to draw a tenuous link between the brutal murder and anime, not airing the episode is smart — and then, for fans who want to see it, making it available via on-demand is even smarter.
Psycho-Pass New Edit Version airs weekly on Fuji TV in Japan at around 1am.
「PSYCHO-PASS サイコパス 新編集版」 第4話の放送について [Official Site]
Pictures: J-Anime Tube, 2ch/Jin
Comments
4 responses to “Anime Episode Resembles Real-Life Murder, Won’t Be Broadcast”
What is different in the new edit version? I thought the original series was pretty great, and I distinctly remember this murder being in that and just as gruesome. So really, she copied…. Never mind.
Incidentally, Hannibal is a great series.
I was thinking the same thing. About Hannibal. Do you think it would be taken off air if someone killed someone in a vaguely similar manner?
Still, it’s sad and gross what happened to that poor girl.
Actually, Hannibal’s fourth or fifth episode of the first season had brainwashed children killing their parents in it and it was around the time a kindergarten was involved in a school shooting, leaving 20 children dead. They didn’t air that episode that week, they only aired some important plot parts revolving around important characters of the show because it would be delicate around that time to air that episode. They later aired the whole episode on Internet though, it looks like this is the same thing all over again and I believe they are doing the right thing – you cannot push people /just/ after something this horrifying happens. The shows that they are making already have some disturbing material, better not air it for a week after this happens.
The main difference is that the show’s been re-cut from 22 half hour episodes into 11 one hour episodes. Apparently there’s some new footage here and there too.
Ah, interesting.
I always thought that it would feel better if it used the cop show format of hour long episodes.
Its a great story and police drama, I think it gets a bit silly that the perfectly safe non-lethal weapon, has such a ridiculous safety mechanism. Its a non-lethal weapon, you get to shoot first and ask questions later. *facepalm*