A video that has become a trend on Reddit is shedding light on the strict censorship controls that anime faces in Indonesiahighlighting the practices of the “Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (Komisi Penyiaran Indonesia)”, the entity in charge of regulating television content in the country. This body had previously been the subject of criticism for its excessive censorship not only in anime, but also in cartoons in general, live events and even beauty pageants.
The video in question features scenes from the anime “Cheer Yell!” that have been subjected to various forms of censorship, including complete cuts of sequences, close-ups to avoid showing girls in swimsuits or with plunging necklines, among other techniques. This revelation highlights the level of intervention that anime content faces before being broadcast in Indonesia.
It is important to note that Indonesia has implemented restrictions not only in the field of anime, but also in other forms of entertainment. The banning of video game companies and the censorship of pornography are examples of the measures implemented. However, another video highlights the apparent disparity in priorities, as the country has failed to take meaningful legal action against problems such as corruption scandals, bad governance or even illegal prostitution.
This revelation has sparked an online debate about freedom of expression and the Indonesian authorities’ perception of entertainment.. Reddit users express concern over the apparent lack of proportionality in censorship actions, questioning the country’s priorities amid restrictions affecting the enjoyment of anime and other entertainment media:
- «This makes South Korea’s censorship look like child’s play».
- «Westerners are lucky to be able to see these things without too much censorship. We Asians know how difficult it is to watch anime. That’s why Muse Asia and Ani-One are a true gift from God to us. Imagine watching ReZero and Devil is a Part-timer on YT without censorship».
- «Indonesia has anime in reupload quality on YouTube».
- «I absolutely hate all of this. The blank shots, the strange panoramas, the constant movement of the screens for the advertisements. The show is almost impossible to watch. I feel sorry for those who have this».
- «They really screwed up, you can still see some legs at minute 01:30 and now my penis doesn’t stop dispensing semen, what do I do?».
- «The one above is from the Indonesian national terrestrial television channel RTV, in which they cut out many parts of the bikini. This method of censorship is also used in Western cartoons, such as SpongeBob SquarePants and even Tom and Jerry. They also cut some scenes, either because it’s too difficult to censor them or because they want a little more time for a longer commercial break. However, the regulation of cable television is more lax. Anima Yell is also broadcast on Animax, and there is no censorship on that channel. Animax broadcasts the Japanese dub with Indonesian subtitles, while RTV broadcasts the Indonesian dub».
- «Oh right, the most vile thing in the world has to be censored: women».
- «Indonesian here, in a nutshell watching anime on TV here sucks. I used to watch anime on my TV when I was in elementary school, the episode keeps on repeating it literally never ends. Not to mention that the dubbing is bad most of the time in my opinion. Also, there isn’t much anime that airs here if I remember correctly, only Doraemon and Naruto which air on national TV most of the time».
- «Ah, the damn commercials every minute. That alone is disgusting to see.».
- «I stopped watching everything that was not broadcast on the local channel that was not news. They literally censor everything. A few days ago, they aired John Wick and I can’t really watch it because they cut out all the blood/shooting scenes, deleted the smoking scenes, and deleted even the slightest cleavage. Coupled with the hype, it’s downright unwatchable. Action movie with all the action scenes destroyed, what were they thinking? Get cable, and watch HBO/Animax instead».
- «Laughter in India, which doesn’t even have anime apart from children’s shows like Doraemon and Shinchan».
- «The Indonesian censorship commission is disgusting. We even censor things like cigarettes, knives, and even Sandy’s bikini in SpongeBob SquarePants. In addition, our television programs are also riddled with advertisements, a one-hour program is 30 minutes of programs and 30 minutes of advertisements. It’s not even worth watching anything at all on TVs (especially anime) these days other than the news».
- «Indonesian here. On Animax (one of the anime channels here), they censored Re:Zero in the most hilarious way possible. Naturally, they censored most of the gory stuff, but they even censored the damn season two announcement. Do you know that in the opening of the second season Subaru runs towards the camera while dying over and over again during the chorus of the song? Well, to censor it, they edited it by slowing down the opening. So while the chorus of realize played, Subaru ran in super slow motion until he cuts to the part showing Emillia’s photos. When I saw it, I started laughing».
- «I’ve always wondered why close-ups of their faces are so frequent in anime and they don’t have any developed expressions, usually just a long ehhh or a breathing sound. It seemed like a waste of time to me and I didn’t know that in Korea anime lasted five minutes without it».
- «At this point, why the hell do they show anime on television?».
Fountain: reddit
