Differences in each Viz edition

[Bussani]

This is the oddest of them all.

I'll say. My volume has that same edit, removing the tiny nipples in that tiny thought bubble, but then has Bulma's left in just a couple of chapters later--in the same book. I wouldn't even have noticed if rereboy hadn't pointed it out in a previous thread.

[Amigo Ten]

Well, my early volumes seem to be completely uncensored. The only notable piece of censorship that I know of in my DB volumes is Bulma's bra during the invisible man fight. Everything else seems to be left as is, up to a point. I know that my later DBZ volumes are having Gotenks's middle finger censored and the guns are censored.

My uncensored DB volumes are the red tonkoubon style releases, printed in 2005. Interestingly the DB volumes are rated T for Teen while the DBZ volumes are rated A for All Ages. The DB volumes are all the Gollancz Manga Editions too, with the Gollancz logo on the spines. The DBZ volumes are noted as the Shonen Jump Graphic Novel Editions, with the Viz logo on the spines. Apart from my DBZ volume 2, which is strangely the Gollancz Manga edition.

[Amigo Ten]

Also, flicking through I notice that the nipples from Oolong's puff-puff fantasy are gone in my copy. Nothing else that's been mentioned is censored though. Gohan's penis from DBZ volume 2 is gone as well. Not covered up even, just gone, which is odd.

[rereboy]

Yeah, I forgot about Gohan`s nudity. They censored it because DBZ has a All Ages rating while DB has a Teen rating.

As for the most uncensored version of the Viz`s Dragon Ball manga, from the stuff I pointed out, that version keeps censored the nipples from Oolong`s fantasy and Mr. Popo`s lips (I`m talking about the first 16 volumes of the manga).

[TripleRach]

Mr. Popo design is strangely and shockingly similar to the famous old racist designs of black people of the start of the 20th century. For those who would notice that, the removal of the "big lips" actually makes a big difference, preventing racist associating.

This has always confused the hell out of me. Has there ever been ANY substantial backlash to Popo's lips in any way? The anime has always had those lips, even in the crazy Saban era, and I can't recall there being any backlash from mainstream media about Dragon Ball promoting racial stereotypes. But for that matter, Adjutant Black, an actual black man, was drawn with the same kind of lips, and those weren't censored in Viz. Granted, he didn't have the same potential blackface design as Popo, but some people consider just the big lips themselves to be offensive.

About ten years ago, there was an article that floated around where a woman claimed that Popo and Jynx the Pokemon were both racist. Jynx's skin color was eventually changed to purple in all future Pokemon media (even in Japan, that is) as a result of all the controversy, and the US stopped airing episodes with black-skinned Jynx.

Viz seems to be the only Dragon Ball company that was worried about the Popo side of it, though.

[Herms]

But for that matter, Adjutant Black, an actual black man, was drawn with the same kind of lips, and those weren't censored in Viz.

They kinda were, actually. Originally his lips were white, but Viz filled in his lips with toner to match his skin, I guess to make them less noticeable. They did the same thing with a few other black characters who pop up, like some of the random RR soldiers Goku fights.

[SHINOBI-03]

But for that matter, Adjutant Black, an actual black man, was drawn with the same kind of lips, and those weren't censored in Viz.

They kinda were, actually. Originally his lips were white, but Viz filled in his lips with toner to match his skin, I guess to make them less noticeable. They did the same thing with a few other black characters who pop up, like some of the random RR soldiers Goku fights.

I wish they used the same technique from the beginning. In the Pilaf arc and the 21st Tenkaichi Budokai arc, the lip editing was bad.

But FUNimation didn't seem to bother about the Black Face when they aired it on Toonami years ago, right?

At least they didn't go this far!



*Shudder*... a white Popo... *shudder*

[Herms]

Anyway, speaking of Popo as racist caricature, sometimes I wish Toriyama had just gone with the chicken man character design he originally toyed around with.

[Gaffer Tape]

But for that matter, Adjutant Black, an actual black man, was drawn with the same kind of lips, and those weren't censored in Viz.

They kinda were, actually. Originally his lips were white, but Viz filled in his lips with toner to match his skin, I guess to make them less noticeable. They did the same thing with a few other black characters who pop up, like some of the random RR soldiers Goku fights.

Oh, wow, I never noticed that. Thanks for pointing that out. Sigh. I wish there was a way to get an uncensored/unedited version of the manga. Eh, maybe I'll just import the tankobon... although I'd prefer the older printings. The new covers look like ass. Or maybe I'll get the kanzenban. Okay, now I'm rambling.

[Rocketman]

Anyway, speaking of Popo as racist caricature, sometimes I wish Toriyama had just gone with the chicken man character design he originally toyed around with.

Cause we all know how much them darkies love the fried chicken, right?

You racist.

[Dayspring]

Anyway, speaking of Popo as racist caricature, sometimes I wish Toriyama had just gone with the chicken man character design he originally toyed around with.

Personally I wish he were either an angel or an ogre, since he's God's attendant.

[BobZ]

What's so bad about a black person with big red lips? The actual alteration to a lighter shade is offensive and racist in my opinion. Man, I'm growing to hate censorship more and more lately as it is proving to be utterly pointless and ridiculous.

[TenshinFan]

What's so bad about a black person with big red lips? The actual alteration to a lighter shade is offensive and racist in my opinion. Man, I'm growing to hate censorship more and more lately as it is proving to be utterly pointless and ridiculous.

Yep. 99% of censorship is pointless and ridiculous. I never saw the Popo = racist connection until I read about it online a few years ago. As a kid, I just thought he was a genie!

[KillerCory]

It's kinda weird that they are going back and releasing volumes uncensored (at least for DB).

I have volume 1 of DB completely uncensored. (well expect the Oolong puff-puff part but I believe they may have missed that)

Every thing else is left alone.

Its the 11th printing Dec. 2008.

[rereboy]

I don`t think that the censorship that Viz gave to DB (namely the Vizbigs and the other editions with the same level of censorship or even less of it) is actually a problem.
The lack of censorship would be the least appreciated feature of another release, namely a kanzenban one.

[Gaffer Tape]

Really? Because that would be the most appreciated feature to me. Certainly more so than some retconned new ending...

[SilverPlaqueVII]

Anyway, speaking of Popo as racist caricature, sometimes I wish Toriyama had just gone with the chicken man character design he originally toyed around with.

It was fixed back in 2000 when Carole Boston Weatherford received complaints about the issue on Popo's face.

[jjgp1112]

Anyway, speaking of Popo as racist caricature, sometimes I wish Toriyama had just gone with the chicken man character design he originally toyed around with.

It was fixed back in 2000 when Carole Boston Weatherford received complaints about the issue on Popo's face.

Huh?

[rereboy]

Really? Because that would be the most appreciated feature to me. Certainly more so than some retconned new ending...

What? The censorship is minor, minimal in quantity and it doesn`t interfere with the story at all.

I agree it would be better if it was non existing, but compared to having all the color pages (which anyone who owns a Vizbig can say that they look amazing) and therefore not having any pages in greyscale (which are the worse looking pages of the manga), that advantage takes a backseat.

I mean, even if you don`t specially like to see in color, which of these would you prefer? The left one or the right one?



You see, since the original page was in color, in the Tankōbon volumes, since they don`t have colors, they end up looking worse than simple black and white panels. So the question of wanting all the original color panels in color is not only about wanting the color in them, but also replacing the greyscale pages that look worse than the normal black and white pages.
It becomes a question of actually improving the look of the art and not just a question of color preference (black and white or fully colored).

Compared to that, the removal of the minimal censorship that the Vizbigs and other similar editions have, is not that important.

[Gaffer Tape]

Yeah, but, as Kanzentai's manga guide will attest, no one version is perfect... Well, I guess if you had a true compilation of all the original Jump printings, I would consider that perfect. But the tankobon is missing the color pages, the kanzenban is edited and has a new ending, and Viz is censored. Believe me, I would LOVE all the color pages, but, to me, censoring is a bigger problem to me than color pages in a mostly black and white manga.