Stories About Overthrowing the Government Are No Longer Allowed': Anime Censorship Overseas Adding to Broadcast Woes

Anime's global popularity has surged exponentially over the last decade, with franchises like Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia and many others amassing huge international followings. However, some overseas governments are limiting the medium's availability by imposing strict new censorship guidelines on televised works.

It's not that strict.

Per Mantan Web, China has become even more restrictive about what types of anime can be broadcast domestically. According to one of the site's sources, "stories about overthrowing the government and works depicting middle school romance are no longer allowed." This is significant given that many iconic anime works, such as Sailor Moon, Mobile Suit Gundam, Fullmetal Alchemist and Attack on Titan, include one or both of these elements within their narratives. This, in addition to other factors, has had a profound impact on the anime industry in terms of which shows get produced and how they are presented to both global and domestic audiences.

Woes is me, allowing capitalist shows that most likely critique the capitalist system and the capitalist government not air on socialist airwaves because it may influence the viewer to distorted view the People's government as an analogy to the show's bourgeois government? Boo fuckin hoo.

Also big at whining about not letting shows depicting middle schoolers on air from a country that infamously has negative depictions of underage children in their media.

Within Japan itself, many prominent TV stations are dedicating significant amounts of airtime to anime. For April 2025 -- the beginning of the Spring anime season -- TV Asahi and Fuji TV are both adding prime-time slots for upcoming anime programs. At the same time, many other Japanese stations are also removing prime-time anime slots in favor of late-night variety shows or live-action dramas. This is partially due to the growing popularity of on-demand streaming services such as Crunchyroll and Netflix. Asia has also introduced streaming and VOD (video-on-demand) services such as ABEMA and Bilibili, which both offer a wide variety of anime to audiences in Japan and China, respectively. However, anime-exclusives on streaming sites are still less common than network-exclusives.

Overall, Japan's current broadcast scene appears to be in a state of flux, with some stations opting to take a chance on late-night anime slots while others opt for safer, more cost-efficient alternatives. The costliness of producing anime has always been significant, with many series costing over 30-50 million yen (~US$199,916-$333,194) per episode. Increased censorship standards overseas are also a major factor, as networks will naturally want to sponsor works that have the greatest chance of succeeding in international markets. In spite of these drawbacks, many TV stations in Japan are still driven to make the investment -- especially with the additional profits that are often reaped from anime merchandise like collectible figures, plush toys and apparel items. "Merchandising hasn't changed that much, but with the recent depreciation of the yen, revenue from overseas sales has exploded," reported one of Mantan Web's sources.

So a kernel of interesting info here is the internationalization of Japanese animation is driving the investors and producers towards ensuring their shows contain marketability for an increasingly diverse audience.

China's tendency towards overt -- and occasionally even humorous -- censorship has not escaped notice. One of the most prominent examples last year was Bilibili's edit of the hit Shonen Jump-based anime Dandadan (2024). Not long after the show's international debut, social media threads flooded with comments about Seiko Ayase, who had several of her cleavage shots removed. Another series of scenes replaced her lit cigarette with a lollipop. Notably, the Chinese government has also banned many anime works outright, including well-known titles such as Elfen Lied, Tokyo Ghoul, Deadman Wonderland and Death Note

good on the CPC.