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by John Gosling
Bounty Dog
© Manga Entertainment
When looking for a common thread to link this article, I was struck by how
often anime had ran foul of censorship in Europe, a problem that is certainly
something of a sore point with fans here in Britain due to the many cuts
imposed on videos by the British Board Of Film Classification (BBFC). To
briefly explain the role of the BBFC, its examiners view and then assign
certificates to all the films and videos shown in Britain. These certificates
place legal age limits on who can watch a film, and range from a "U"
for Universal to an "18" for anything of a strictly adult nature.
I should point out that an "18" does not equate to the American
"X" rating, which is often synonymous with pornography. The BBFC
is also able to demand cuts and modifications to bring a film into the realms
of public decency and can refuse a certificate completely if deemed necessary.
Naturally the board has long been at the center of controversy regarding
issues of personal freedom, and in recent years anime has come very much
to the forefront of that debate; but before we delve deeper into the situation
in Britain, let us begin with a brief overview of anime in mainland Europe,
from where it began, to where it stands at present.
Spain & France
There are a number of European countries where anime enjoys a much broader
exposure than in Britain; however, things got off to a difficult start when
early imports of television shows came up against local opposition to their
content, which, even if made for children, often took a far more relaxed
attitude to mature themes than broadcasters and parents were used to. A
case in point was the giant robot show Mazinger Z (TranZor Z
in America), which in 1980 was picked up for broadcast in Spain by Television
Española (TVE), but was discontinued after only 26 episodes because
the broadcasters judged it was too violent. The problem is a familiar dichotomy
to anime fans wishing to see the genre expand it's appeal. Broadcasters
are thrust into a state of confusion, equating cartoons with children, but
unable to place anime comfortably in this niche. A similar fate befell Saint
Seiya, a series based on the manga of Masami Kurumada, and which took
inspiration from both Greek and Norse mythology. However, Saint Seiya
got a second chance when the entire series was broadcast by another Spanish
channel, Tele-S, and this time the flame caught and started a fire. Now
it is possible to see an incredibly broad range of anime on Spanish television,
including shows that have almost legendary status with Western fans, such
as Lupin III, Kimagure Orange Road, Touch, City Hunter, Ranma 1/2 and
Maison Ikkoku. As an interesting aside, the degree of tampering appears
to vary with regions in Spain, hence in the Catalan region you can see the
Dragonball series with it's original titles intact, while in the
rest of the country the show goes out in an edited format.
UFO
Robot Grandizer
In France, anime has had a particularly rough ride. The first anime to reach
the country was Ribbon No Kishi (Princess Knight), translated as
Le Prince Saphir, and Jungle Taitei (Jungle Emperor) as Le
Roi Leo, both from the fertile imagination of manga and anime genius
Osamu Tezuka. These appeared in 1974 and I can't imagine caused any great
stir; but things really heated up in more ways than one in the late 70s.
First of all, the series UFO Robot Grandizer was broadcast in 1978
as Goldorak and, like Saint Seiya in Spain, was the catalyst
for a boom in anime imports, as it apparently was the most watched program
on television at the time. However, during this period a French psychologist
also wrote an article which warned of the danger to young children of watching
"violent" Japanese cartoons. This event has real parallels with
the work of Dr. Frederick Wertham, the psychologist who created a considerable
panic in the early 1950s amongst American parents when he proposed a link
between delinquency and the horror comic books popularized by publisher
EC. A similar hysteria was to be whipped up in France, and in much the same
way as America came up with the Comics Code Authority (CCA) to regulate
comics, so France was to have it's CSA, or Comité de Surveillance
Audiovisuel. The CSA set to work cutting the violence from shows such as
Hokuto No Ken (Fist Of The Northstar). Although you can reasonably
argue the merits of such a move, worse was to come when the government enacted
a law banning advertisements during cartoons.
Again, this had a worthy ideal, but the response of broadcasters was to
use the CSA guidelines to savagely cut anime (not just violence and nudity)
to make room for more adverts before and after the programs; this was a
rather blatant way of getting round the new law, but one that apparently
went unchallenged. Another way in which anime is tampered with in France
relates to a further law which stipulates that daily indigenous programming
must outnumber imported shows. As a result, many shows are crudely cut down
to half their normal length, and broadcasters have commissioned new and
poorly animated opening sequences, with new "theme songs," so
that they can qualify as locally made.
Germany & Italy
Germany has an increasingly strong base of fandom, but anime has had to
struggle to overcome the concerns of parents and there has not yet been
a Saint Seiya or UFO Robot Grandizer to create mass appeal.
The first anime show to reach West Germany was Mach Go Go Go (Speed
Racer) in the early 1970s; but this was branded "brutal" by
parents and removed after only a few episodes. One of the more interesting
shows to reach German TV in 1980 was Captain Future, based on the
books of American science-fiction writer Edmond Hamilton, though this too
came in for criticism and was cut. However, many subsequent imports tended
toward safe material aimed at young girls, such as Heidi, though
even this came under attack, when with others of this type, it was labeled
in the German press as a "cheap Far East cartoon." However, things
do seem to have improved lately, with shows such as the renowned shoji
(girls) series Rose Of Versailles making an appearance in the last
12 months, alongside a flurry of sports based anime, such as Ganbare!
Kickers and Attack No. 1.
Italy has perhaps the most relaxed attitude to anime and apparently the
best approach in Europe to dubbing. Since 1973, Italian television has shown
an astounding number of shows, with Go Nagai's UFO Robot Grandizer
once again the forefront. Following on from this has come virtually every
major show and format, from the top rated giant robot saga Gundam,
to Leiji Matsumoto's Galaxy Express 999 and a bevy of "magical
girl" shows, such as Minky Momo and Magical Emy.
Macross Plus
© Manga Entertainment
Back in the UK
In the UK, we have no history of anime on television to speak of, and indeed
British TV has always walked a careful line in regards to children's programming.
For example, the title of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was changed
to Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, because the word Ninja had connotations
which were felt to be unsuitable for children. Nor does Britain have much
in the way of a comic book culture such as in Spain, which I am sure has
worked in parallel to help ease anime into the mainstream on the continent.
In our somewhat repressed climate, the arrival of anime on video took the
BBFC completely by surprise.
What has amounted to a video invasion was launched in 1991 by Manga Video,
a subsidiary of Island World. They had tested the waters with Katsuhiro
Otomo's sensational cyberpunk film Akira, and such was its success that
they formed a new dedicated label called Manga Video. Unfortunately, the
company has had a fairly acrimonious relationship with "anime fans,"
not least because purists objected to the use of "manga" in connection
with an anime label, when everyone knows that it refers to Japanese comic
books. The real problems, though, began when Manga Video started to release
titles in earnest, beginning with some fairly extreme material guaranteed
to kick up a stink. The horror story Urotsukidoji did just this,
earning an 18 certificate and giving the poor examiner nightmares for days
after.
The British press was quick to pick up on the film and several disparaging
articles appeared, notably one in The Independent; but there has
been no great anti-anime crusade in this country, and the only real disappointment
is that the extreme films have overshadowed the true depth and vision of
which anime is capable.
Patlabor
English Language version:
©1995 Tohokushinsha Corporation.
However, along with some rather dubious dubbing practices, these negative
factors combined to create something of a schism between "manga"
fans and "anime" fans; indeed, the mere mention of the company's
name at anime conventions tends to evoke calls of derision. This seems to
be healing a little now, especially as Manga has since released some classics
with wide appeal like Patlabor and Wings Of Honneamise. Meanwhile,
the BBFC continue to tread a careful path, having recently refused for the
first time to issue a certificate to a video, in this case Manga's La
Blue Girl.
Redressing the Balance
Other companies, such as Kiseki, have tried to redress the balance by releasing
softer material, but one unfortunate side effect of the massive spending
power of Manga Video is that most shops are still to this day displaying
their anime titles beneath Manga's point-of-sale displays. Journalists outside
the anime press made (and still) make no distinction between what is on
the shelf, tending to reinforce the idea that anime = sex and violence;
and in my opinion few of those buying Manga titles in the early days were
especially interested in the fact that the films originated in Japan, as
long as there was plenty of the aforementioned sex and violence.
Of course, most continental viewers started out in much the same state of
ignorance. It can't have helped, for instance, that Kei And Yuri of the
Dirty Pair TV series became Kate and Julie in Italy and Maison
Ikkoku's Kyoko became Juliette in France.
I had rather hoped that, as with other European countries, we in Britain
might next see a manga explosion, which in turn would stimulate interest
in a broader range of anime. However, despite the success of one publisher
with a manga project called Iron Fist Chinmi aimed at children (100,000
sold) there is no sign yet that this has opened the floodgates. Meanwhile,
just as happened in Japan during the 1980s, films made directly for video
is going where television fears to tread; rather than pushing the bounds
of storytelling, the trend is somewhat more basic in intent, with Manga
Video launching an "adult" label in Spain and erotic anime are
selling very well in France.
On a more positive note, anime is expanding elsewhere in Europe, with Hayao
Miyazaki's Porco Rosso and My Neighbor Totoro getting television
premieres in Finland and at least 50 titles made available on video. Porco
Rosso, considered a masterpiece by many, has also been dubbed and shown
on Polish TV.
The Winds of Honneamise
© Manga Entertainment
In the last year, the first tentative signs of interest from British television
have appeared, with Channel 4, a broadcaster with a broad alternative mandate,
running several late night anime seasons--though completely dominated by
Manga product. Rather more hopeful for a balanced approach is the news that
the BBC has purchased both Patlabor and Wings Of Honneamise.
Nevertheless, Britain remains rather the odd man out in Europe, as it does
in most things, so no one is expecting to see something like the delightful
love story, Kimagure Orange Road in the BBC children's broadcast
slot for a long time to come.
John Gosling is a freelance writer living in England. His major credits
include numerous anime video reviews for the magazine MangaMania
and an article on the use of factual space concepts in anime for Spaceflight,
the journal of the British Interplanetary Society.
