Censorship of Dragonball Z

	The censoring of Dragonball Z is a very important issue to me 
but is not apparent to many people. A Japanese anime, DBZ (Dragonball Z) 
contains a lot of violence and profanity. However, I'm completely against 
the editing of DBZ and would do anything to stop it if I could.
	Dragonball Z was not written for kids. In its original Japanese 
format, DBZ is extremely gruesome and violent and contains lots of adult 
language. Even though young Japanese are watching violent shows, Japan's 
crime rate is lower than the US's by hundreds of cases. Obviously, the graphic 
dynamics of these shows aren't affecting the world's youth. However true that 
fact may be, Funimation, the copyright holder of DBZ, has disregarded the fact 
that the series was intended for the older audiences of teens and adults. 
Funimation is marketing DBZ for very young children, as young as three and 
four years old. This conflict shows the disagreement of different cultures. As 
Americans, we generally categorize anything animated as being a "cartoon" 
and only suitable for kids. In Japan, however, animation is a highly revered 
form of entertainment. These animes are the equivalent of an American live 
action drama. The same intensity of emotions, actions, issues, and ideas are 
shown with animation in Japan, rather than with human actors.
	Censoring is costing both sides more money. In order to filter out 
blood and other gory scenes, Funimation has to go in and alter the actual 
animation cells. They have to color scenes in and cover up missing limbs, 
pools of blood, et cetera. For particularly gruesome episodes, entire scenes 
are eliminated, usually confusing the audience of the plot. I've even seen where 
clothing has been "drawn" on characters. Apparently, Americans don't mind 
real naked babies on diaper commercials, but a naked animated baby is 
unacceptable. The point is, Funimation is spending lots of money to prevent 
their targeted audience form seeing certain things that are culturally 
unacceptable. To overcome the obstacle of profanity, not as much money has 
to be spent. Editors go in and translate the original dialogue so that when the 
English version is spoken, it fits with the characters' lip movements. All foul 
words are replaced with usually irrelevant remarks. Funimation does offer the 
viewers either an edited or unedited version, but you're given this choice only 
when you actually purchase a video, not for the televised showing of DBZ. 
The pricing is backwards, though. With uncut DBZ, Funimation has very little 
alterations, yet these videos cost far more than censored Dragonball Z, which 
has been altered, cut, and covered up. The uncut tapes don't even have cussing. 
Consumers buy the more expensive tapes, feeling that they are getting DBZ in 
its most intense form. I have watched the same episodes in both Japanese and 
English, and the plot and dialogue for both of these are different. It's obvious 
that these dubbing companies do not want America's youth exposed to this kind 
of content, but want to cash in on the Japanese success of the series.
	Because of the way Dragonball Z is presented to the public, it is 
highly ridiculed by many Americans. Creating a series that has 291 episodes 
is no small task, and censoring DBZ undoes a lot of Akira Toriyama's hard 
work. Akira Toriyama is the mastermind behind DBZ and two additional series 
related to DBZ as well as another popular anime. Alterations to the animation 
cells give the show a blatant loss of quality. Facial features and scenery, as 
well as others, become distorted, lessening the dramatic effect. The English 
version dialogue does not always follow the correct plot line, and lowers 
Americans' opinion of Japanese culture. By censoring DBZ but still calling it 
Japanese is misleading to the public. The audience is not educated about what 
exactly goes on when a show is taken from its original format and altered for 
English-speaking viewers. The childish dialogue leads Americans to believe 
that is how Japanese typically talk. It is strengthening an already biased 
American view, for the cultures have yet to understand one another's society.
	Dragonball Z is spreading more harm than good from its excessive 
censoring. A wonderful series is being made into a national mockery simply 
because Americans are afraid of what their children may see on TV. If a 
broadcasting company that targeted older viewers could acquire the DBZ 
series, there would be no need for concern about the show's content.