Akiba Anime Art

All censor, no sense: Recent cover-ups in Jojo anime are laughably bad, kind of pointless

Anime fans are used to all sorts of censorship going on in the foreign releases of their favorite shows, from painting over revealing outfits, to changing characters’ genders and relationships to “mask” themes of homosexuality, to even removing entire scenes or episodes deemed inappropriate.

But the Japanese release of a recent episode of Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure has been censored even before being aired abroad. Not only is the reason for the coverups confusing, but the terrible job they’ve done has viewers wondering what the point of censoring was to begin with.

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Akihabara-based magazine blasts past Kickstarter goal, aims to bring otaku culture to the world

The word “otaku” in the Japanese language is a general term for anyone who is passionate about a hobby. But in English, “otaku” has become a term that refers to people who are obsessed with Japanese culture, particularly anime and manga. But the world of the otaku is sometimes misunderstood. That’s where JH Lab, a group of “otaku of the highest caliber” comes in, hoping to demystify the world of anime and manga fans and bring the culture of Akihabara to people everywhere.

To do this, JH Lab has created Akiba Anime Art (AAA), “a brand new pop-culture magazine from Akihabara, featuring cool OTAKUs, advanced technologies, kawaii-cosplays, Dojins and much more!” They’ve started a Kickstarter campaign to make their dream a reality and have quickly surpassed their initial goal, raising over US$42,000. Supporters of the project will receive special edition illustrations from featured Japanese artist, John Hathway, and have a chance to be drawn into his amazing Akihabara picture jockey cityscape. Let’s take a closer look at this rapidly growing magazine’s “ultra otaku power.”

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