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My Hero Academia is arguably one of the most popular modern Shonen anime and manga series. Unlike other shows, this particular title has seen a shift in the themes that were being explored. The atmosphere of the show has also drastically changed over the course of the past few story arcs.
The once-happy children of U.A High School who aimed to become heroes are now forced into a situation where the world’s fate rests on their shoulders. Naturally, a seismic shift like this is often accompanied by the exploration of darker themes, and death is a constant.
Violence and gore are the norm, as shown in the My Hero Academia manga. However, Studio Bones, the animation studio responsible for the anime adaptation, fails to capture this. It censors a substantial amount of the source material, and fans don’t seem very happy about it.
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Disclaimer: This article contains examples of gore. Reader discretion is advised.
My Hero Academia: Why censoring content is hurting the series
There are plenty of instances where Studio Bones censored important panels drawn by Horikoshi to specifically evoke certain emotions from the readers. When Dr. Ujiko was experimenting on Tomura Shigaraki, we could see multiple sharp objects that pierced through Tomura’s flesh, and blood spurted all over the room. The anime adaptation of the same panel created electrical particle effects to replace the blood from the manga.
Another example in the My Hero Academia series is when Twice’s clones killed each other. In this manga panel, one clone took a knife and quite literally split open the other clan’s skull. However, Studio Bones didn’t even show a wound and resorted to showing just the clone attacking the target with a knife.
In another panel, we saw Toga kill Curious after delivering a monologue on her feelings about the ones she loves. She used the Float quirk and killed Curious. The blood was censored once again in the anime.
Kohei Horikoshi showed such explicit detail in the My Hero Academia manga because showing such violence despite the heroes’ age creates massive shock value. It evokes strong emotions within the readers. While the emotions are largely negative, it is a way to keep the readers engaged with the material. Censoring this will drastically impact the viewer’s engagement with the content.
Another reason censoring isn’t a good thing is that it strays away from the creator’s vision. Fans love it when a studio does a faithful adaptation of the source material.
As a sign of respect to the series' creator, it is important to ensure every detail is as close to the manga as possible. While some might believe that anime can elevate the impact of manga by adding extra elements, Studio Bones is certainly doing the opposite by censoring the violence shown in the anime.
The idea of having such graphic detail in My Hero Academia, despite it being animated, is to replicate the suspension of disbelief. This is when the audience, for a brief period, believes in something that isn’t actually true. However, the smallest of details, or in this case, the lack of it, can impede the process.
This, in turn, hurts the engagement that fans have with anime. These are some reasons why Studio Bones’ choice to censor the anime is not being received well by those who have read the manga.
Stay tuned for more anime and manga news as 2024 progresses.
