One of the main appeals of anime series and manga among international audiences — especially American fans — is that Japan’s most popular forms of entertainment often don’t need to conform to the stricter ratings and rules of countries that aren’t Japan. However, there are still times when a manga goes too far and Japan’s own censors or even the anime studios themselves bring the hammer down.

For one reason or another, these anime had to edit, rewrite or outright delete certain dark scenes from the manga that they adapted. As frustrating as this may be to perfectionists and purists, it’s not difficult to see why the animators, writers and directors found these manga scenes impossible to adapt. They could be restored in a future adaptation, but this isn’t happening any time soon.

10

Gin Ichimaru Sliced Hiyori Sarugaki in Half

Bleach

The unfortunate thing about Bleach’s original anime series was that, during its prime, it was subjected to a seemingly endless number of cuts and censors. Grievous injuries were either altered or cut out entirely, and references to edgier materials were always sanded down. One of the most infamous changes was the fact that Gin Ichimaru literally cut Hiyori Sarugaki in two.

In the Bleach manga, Sosuke Aizen provoked Hiyori into charging at him, only for Gin to cut her so fast that her upper body literally outran her bottom half. But in the Bleach anime series, Gin fatally stabbed Hiyori from a distance before she crashed to the ground. Thanks to this visually safer injury, Shinji Hirako’s panic and Hiyori’s dying breaths didn’t make sense in animation.

Bleach

Author

Tite Kubo

Artist

Tite Kubo

Release Date

August 7, 2001

9

Chef “Red-Leg” Zeff Cut His Own Leg off & Ate It

One Piece

As much flak as its 4Kids localization gets, One Piece’s uncut anime series was equally guilty of censoring and watering down its own source material. What’s more, this happened as early as Sanji Vinsmoke’s introduction. Specifically, his backstory with Chef “Red-Leg” Zeff and how the pirate captain-turned-chef got his nickname and signature peg leg.

In both the manga and anime series, Zeff lost his leg for Sanji’s sake when they were both marooned on an island. But if he lost his leg while saving Sanji from drowning in the anime series, he cut it off himself in the manga. What’s more, Zeff ate his own leg so that Sanji could get all the decent food. Zeff’s sacrificial intent remained intact, but how he did it in animation was significantly less gruesome.

One Piece

Author

Eiichiro Oda

Artist

Eiichiro Oda

Release Date

July 22, 1997

8

Fuuka Was Killed in a Vehicular Accident

Fuuka (2014 – 2018)

Fuuka is one of the most infamous romance manga ever written not because it was bad in any way, but because it suddenly killed its titular character, Fuuka Akitsuki, so close to the end. Worse, Fuuka died just after she and Yuu Haruna seemed like they were about to make their relationship official. Reportedly, the animators at Diomedea hated this dark ending so much that they spared Fuuka in the anime series.

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In the anime, Fuuka also encountered a speeding truck while crossing the street, but it was just a close call instead. Because Fuuka survived, her namesake anime went down an alternate and much happier path. The anime ended with her and Yuu getting together, their band doing great, and everything else working out.

7

Re-Destro Killed His Own Secretary

My Hero Academia (2014 – 2024)

Although Re-Destro isn’t the most monstrous villain in My Hero Academia, he still has a dark side. In the manga, he established this by killing his secretary, Miyashita, even if he genuinely liked him. Re-Destro did this after Miyashita unknowingly insulted the Meta Liberation Front and its founder, Re-Destro’s father. Even stranger, Re-Destro felt real sorrow and cried.

Anime viewers would not know this because Miyashita was completely erased from the My Hero Academia anime. Instead, Re-Destro makes his villainy known by just declaring war on the League of Villains. Re-Destro’s conflicted personality remained intact for the most part in animation, but Miyashita’s absence robbed him of a more sinister debut.

My Hero Academia

Author

Kōhei Horikoshi

Artist

Kōhei Horikoshi

Release Date

July 7, 2014

6

Enrico Pucci Hired the Ku Klux Klan to Kill Weather Report

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean (1999 – 2003)

As JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Ocean’s main villain and a fanatical devotee of DIO, Enrico Pucci was already pretty evil. That said, one of his worst atrocities sending a lynch mob to kill his estranged twin brother, Weather Report. This inadvertently led to Perla, Enrico’s sister, killing herself after she thought Weather Report died. As bad as this was, the manga version was worse.

In the manga, Enrico unleashed the Ku Klux Klan on his own brother in the manga. The mob lynched Weather Report specifically because he was the son of an interracial couple. By erasing the mob’s hateful identity and motives, Stone Ocean’s anime needlessly sanded down Enrico’s monstrosity and Weather Report’s tragically relevant backstory.

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventures

Author

Hirohiko Araki

Artist

Hirohiko Araki

Release Date

January 1, 1987

5

Everyone Died in Sailor Moon’s Final Battle

Sailor Moon (1991 – 1997)

Sailor Moon’s first American localization is quite possibly one of the most infamous examples of censorship in anime. Due to paternalistic views towards the series’ audience of young girls, DIC heavily edited or cut out entire swathes of Sailor Moon. The worst case of this censorship was the Season 1 finale, “Day of Destiny,” which compressed a two-part finale into one.

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In both the manga and anime series, Sailor Moon’s first major arc ends with all the Sailor Guardians dying. Thankfully, Sailor Moon (Usagi Tsukino) used her last moments to revert everything back to normal. The American version cut out the finale’s darkest moments and implied that the Sailor Guardians were just captured, but it also robbed the finale of any edge and depth it had.

Sailor Moon

Author

Naoko Takeuchi

Artist

Naoko Takeuchi

Release Date

February 17, 1992

4

Taro Makimura Was Beheaded by the Angry Mob

Devilman (1972 – 1973)

Every iteration of Devilman posits that humans are inherently evil and bestial. This theme was rather explicit in the manga’s most recent anime adaptation, Devilman Crybaby, but it changed and omitted a lot to get to this point. To wit, the Devilman Crybaby anime did not adapt the moment when young Taro Makimura was beheaded during the mob’s attack on the Makimura house.

Taro also died in Devilman Crybaby, but he was first transformed into a Devilman before the military gunned him and his distressed father down. Taro’s death isn’t easy to stomach in any retelling of Devilman, but Devilman Crybaby obscured his death so much that it was almost impossible to see. Conversely, the Devilman manga wasn’t coy about showing the boy’s severed head and mutilated corpse.

3

Maximillion Pegasus Made Bandit Keith Kill Himself

Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (1996 – 2004)

It’s easy to forget that Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters’ original manga was quite dark. A good (if grim) example of this is the fate of the antagonistic duelist Bandit Keith. If Bandit was thrown down a comical trap door in the anime series, Maximillion Pegasus made Bandit kill himself by turning his hand into a gun.

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In a dark act of self-defense, Pegasus used his Millennium Eye to inflict a Penalty Game (specifically, Russian Roulette) on Bandit when he threatened Duelist Kingdom’s ruler with a knife. Bandit “played” the game with himself until he shot himself in the head. Naturally, the kid-friendly Yu-Gi-Oh! anime scrapped this and just threw Bandit off the island as a punchline.

2

Anna Bit Her Own Tongue off as She Was Being Violated

Redo of Healer (2017 – Present)

Redo of Healer is already infamous for being one of the most self-indulgent and vindictive isekai anime around, but its manga was actually much worse. The Redo of Healer manga was such a vile revenge fantasy that the anime series had to tone some scenes down. One of the bigger changes was Anna’s death.

Originally, Anna was violated by Renard, who still bore Keyaru’s likeness as a result of the healer’s magic. Anna thought that Keyaru had really turned against her so, in despair, killed herself by choking on her own tongue. In the Redo of Healer anime, however, she dies from her injuries shortly after seeing the real Keyaru futilely rush to her aid. For what it’s worth, the latter gave Anna a more dignified death.

1

Donovan Assaulted Guts When He Was Just a Boy

Berserk (1989 – Present)

Donovan has understandably never appeared in a Berserk adaptation. At most, he was vaguely hinted at in some quick flashbacks in the Golden Age Arc films. Given that Donovan assaulted a very young Guts in the manga’s earliest arcs after he paid Gambino (Guts’ father figure), it’s not surprising that even the infamously dark anime series cut out his subplot. Donovan is, unfortunately, not the only monster in Berserk who sexually assaulted a minor.

It says a lot that even fans think that Berserk crossed a line with Donovan. Interestingly, Donovan’s erasure actually led to some plot holes. Because of the trauma he endured, Guts was incredibly hostile to physical contact — even from Griffith and Casca. This made sense in the manga, but since Donovan was missing in the anime series and films, Guts’ hostility came off like an unexplained overreaction (and deprived his character of essential development).

Berserk

Author

Kentaro Miura (1989–2021), Kouji Mori (2022–present)

Artist

Kentaro Miura (1989–2021), Studio Gaga (2022–present)

Release Date

August 25, 1989

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