Digimon Fans Revisit the Anime's Weirdest Censorship in the U.S
Digimon has made a big resurgence recently thanks in part to the arrival of the rebooted series [...]
Digimon has made a big resurgence recently thanks in part to the arrival of the rebooted series that once again follows the adventures of the Digi-Destined, and fans of the digital monsters have taken the opportunity to remember one of the strangest examples of censorship for the franchise when it hit North American shores! The Digi-Destined and Digimon Adventure wasn't the only example of this long running franchise, and it seems as if one of the weirdest bits of censorship came about as a result of Digimon Savers and the idiosyncratic character in "Citramon"!
When Digimon Savers arrived on Disney, a few edits and changes had to be made as a result of the family oriented company bringing the anime to US shores. With the character of Bomber Nanimon, Disney decided to replace the explosive hurling villain and his "antics" within an amusement park with a name that relied on oranges rather than explosives. Relabeled as Citramon, the digital monster still hurled explosives around the amusement park that he was threatening, but they were all citrus based, giving the monster a far more jovial appearance when he was brought to North American televisions. Originally appearing on Disney XD's Jetix programming block, Digimon Savers never quite gained the popularity of its sister series in Digimon Adventure!
Twitter User JP_Excelsior shared the brief hilarious moment in the Digimon franchise, wherein Bomber Nanimon was given a big makeover in order to appease the Disney company responsible for bringing this particular anime series to the West via the Jetix programming block:
The USA's version of Digimon Savers, Digimon Data Squad, was licensed by Disney and as a family company, Disney censored some things.
BomberNanimon, who exploded bombs in an amusement park, became the fruity Citramon with its fruit bombs!!#Digimon pic.twitter.com/8HcxVOzTtK
— Digimon Tweets (@JP_Excelsior) September 29, 2020
Censorship is nothing new to anime series that have been brought to North America, with the likes of Dragon Ball Z and One Piece being just two examples of the many franchises that have had to taper back some of their more "adult" characters and scenarios. With the likes of Crunchyroll and Toonami landing on Adult Swim, censorship is few and far between when it comes to some of the biggest anime series, but it still manages to peek its head out from time to time.
What do you think of this hilarious makeover given to Nanimon? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of digital monsters!