Possible Edit Alert: Dr. Slump #3

[Ribby]

I don't have any way of checking my new purchase against an original Japanese work, because I don't HAVE most of the original Japanese work. In fact, the original language stuff I own only covers the first story of #3. (I own two bunkobans, #1 and #3 and I haven't been able to find them for sale anywhere.)

Just to let you know, the CYA mentions underage smoking. Surprisingly, on page 120, the picture of the gang 10 years ago has five-year-old Taro with a cigarette in his mouth--unlit.
Page 125 has Senbei dropping a porno magazine with nipple-less models. (Ironically, on page 193, Arale sports nipples!)
Also, page 139 has another reference to "super punch" (which is actually alcohol in the original.)

[ZeframMann]

So long I'd been waiting for Akira Toriyama's original hit, and this is how Viz rewards my patience?

I've washed my hands of you, Viz. You and your "super-punch". You and Saban can both go to HFIL.

[Gonfreaks]

The series is already edited, but I'm still disappointed. I wanted to buy Dr. Slump /images/graemlins/cry00000.gif If it wasn't for titles like Monster and Full Moon, I would hate Viz forever for this, putting gum out on go boards, and Poppa Rocks. But, as I love many UNEDITED titles they put out, I'll have to deal with some great series getting edited (and me not buying them /images/graemlins/depresse.gif )

[Inkthinker]

You know, from vol. 2 I think it was pretty obvious that "super-punch" is alcoholic.

[YUAchip]

You know, I buy Dr. Slump, I read it for a few laughs and then I pass it on so that it makes it's way through my herd of nieces and nephews. It's obvious that , here at least, the title is aimed pretty squarely at a younger market and if VIZ has to make a few changes to conform with the U.S. norms for children's entertainment so be it. In this age of hysterical self-rightousness and ranting moral mania they'd be stupid not to cover their asses. I know people who would look at a silly slapstick comedy that featured one crudely drawn naked baby bit and scream child pornography. I mean, these people tried to rally their church against Star Wars because the markings on Darth Maul's face formed an inverted cross. (And, yes, I'm sorry to say that these are close family.)

Back in the day we all laughed when Barney the Dinosaur was denounced as the "purple Satan" and the Teletubbies were attacked as homosexual propoganda but that mindset is on the rise now and it's no longer funny. When a man gets arrested for writing down his personal fantasies in his own notebook or when a comic store is busted for selling clearly marked adult material from a clearly marked adult section to a ID verified adult you can't expect major companies to just ignore the trend. If some loony soccer mom driven to a paranoid frenzy by the steady media-fueled drumbeat of warnings that 99.9 percent of the population are perverted deviants out to GET YOUR CHILDREN!!! happens to see a kids book with a kid getting wasted on dad's booze, she isn't going to be sueing me or you. She's going to be sueing VIZ. And as we've seen with the GTA game mess, it dosen't take much to create a full scale blow up.

I don't like the idea of editing and find the thought of editing something as innocently silly as Dr. Slump to be just plain stupid but I'm a reasonable guy and at this particular point in time reasonable is not a virtue. I don't believe VIZ or any of the other companies (4Kids being the exception of course) are editing because they think they can make things better. They're editing because their legal departments have nightmares of being the lead story on Fox News. To buy these products or not is entirely up to you, and when dealing with stuff that is obviously aimed at older audiences I refuse to support edited releases, but it seems pretty pointless to go off on companies as if they went to the trouble and expense of editing product for the sole purpose of pissing off fans.

Chip

[Inkthinker]

I agree.

Look, I got extremely pissed at what CMX did to Tenjho Tenge. But the difference between that and the stuff you guys are reporting about Dr. Slump is night and day.

TJTG was a mature title aimed at adults, specifically adult males over the age of 17, that was butchered in an attempt to remarket it towards a younger audience for which it was NEVER intended.

Dr. Slump is aimed squarely at a younger audience, ideally under the age of 12, and while it may be enjoyed by older readers they are NOT the market for which it was intended.

Dr. Slump is being edited in order to conform to social standards in our admittedly prude society, so that it can be safely marketed to its intended demographic. While I may not like it, I don't disagree with their decision to do so. If the worst they've done is erase a couple prepubescent penises or the nipples from what is still obviously a girlie-mag, and sidestep the question of whether or not Arale is drinking alchohol (and I reiterate that any adult with half a brain is still going to get that joke), then nothing is being lost in the translation.