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Card Game Featured Writers Releases + Spoilers Anime Video Games Other
Magic
This Space |
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Baneful's Column The card arts in the United States and other
international countries can often be different than the ones
in Japan. Konami alters and censors these cards to cover up
nudity, remove sexually suggestive implications, avoid
gruesome violent imagery and to avoid conveying any
religious themes. The card name "Trial of Hell" became "Trial of
Nightmare". Monster Reborn was changed from an ankh
(religious symbol) to a sword. Ultimate Offering was changed
from drops of blood to a pair of ghoulish monsters. The Harpie Lady monsters had their breasts covered. Parasite
Paracide was violent and Fiend Comedian was disturbing. I'm
not even going to comment on the Japanese version of the
card Ego Boost. Lots of players (including me) have collect
these unedited cards. To be fair, anything out of the usual
was collected, like a Goblin Attack Force with a level-star
instead of the EARTH attribute. We've had this debate long ago on whether censorship is
cool or not, but I might as well re-open it due to the fact
that I've matured on this issue a bit. Is removing or
altering content necessary for something that might offend
some people or is it catering to people and only reinforcing
a bad mentality of being offended? Years ago, I viewed it as
just a bunch of thin-skinned old-fashioned people getting
upset over nothing. I don't relate to that viewpoint that
much anymore. Now, I'm starting to see the good side of it. Regarding religion, there's a cultural difference between
Japan and the United States (that's all I'll say on that).
As for the violence part, there's no need for violent
imagery. Not that I would have ever protested in favor of
disturbing-looking demons and guns being depicted on cards,
but I'm not in a hurry to remove it either. In the end, even
if it means appeasing people who may get a misconception of
what the game is about at first, it's been good for the kids
who did not get their cards taken away from their parents
because of the explicit content. With just looking at one
card, a parent's perception of the company could easily be
in free-fall as they wonder what else the company could be
promoting. Nudity is an issue though. Initially, I defended it as
free speech and free expression (it technically was). But it
went a step beyond just revealing what truly exists out
there and angry people trying to censor it. It's not that
nudity is inherently wrong. It's that Konami's take on it is
often sexist and sometimes it feels like there's an
undertone of misogyny beneath their art direction. There are
some naked masculine monsters, but men overall are rarely
depicted as vulnerably nude. Yet, the stereotypically
feminine women depicted in the cards are often given
exaggerated breasts and have specific parts of their body
revealed for pure sex appeal. Armor is used to protect the
male monsters, while used to sexualize female monsters. When
breastplates become literal breast plates, that's where I
personally draw the line. Much like how this excessive nudity and an immature take
on sexuality (directed to an audience of horny young males)
gives a bad image to anime or some video games, these images
would've only exacerbated negative stereotypes or
assumptions that are often associated with hobbies and media
targeted toward adolescents in the United States. Crude
content has it's place (TV shows like South Park for
example), but not in a game meant to appeal to widespread
audience, including children. The content Konami has been
displaying is not just a display behind a clear glass window
that has to be covered in blinds because of sensitive
Americans. It's not a clear window. It's a glass tainted
with a filter which, once you notice, is hard to un-notice. There's nothing wrong with violence and nudity when they
are used to express a meaningful message in an artistic
manner, but nothing of that sort was done here. In
Yu-Gi-Oh!, it is often forced instead of honest. It's often
slanted and catering toward a low-common denominator
audience rather than actually being grounds for artistic
expression. For that reason, even if the original art still
unfortunately exists (and still is made) in Japan. Ideally,
the creators would be more prudent and aware in the design
of their cards, but censoring them for the rest of us
definitely averts promoting bad stereotypes and gives us
less room to revel in boobs-and-guns. Contact:
banefulscolumn@gmail.com
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