Adult Swim Exec Says Toonami Isn't Altering Fire Force Episodes

Fire Force has made its way to Toonami, and the late-night block is happy to have the shonen on air. The anime was brought to the Adult Swim program thanks to a partnership with Crunchyroll, but fans have noticed a couple pieces of Toonami's broadcast have been censored. Now, one executive has commented on the issue to assure fans Toonami is not the one making any edits.

Taking to Twitter, Jason DeMarco answered a fan's question about the latest instance of Fire Force censorship. The Toonami co-creator said, "I dunno why ppl keep asking this, but we are not editing the Fire Force episodes."

When later asked again, DeMarco doubled down on his explanation. A fan said it seems unlikely another U.S. licensor of Fire Force like Funimation would censor the show, and DeMarco replied by writing, "It's not us. Believe it or don't."

For those unaware of the controversy surrounding Fire Force, fans questioned why a scene from Toonami's latest episode went live. Episode three introduced a character named Tamaki Kotatsu who revels in fan-service. When she meets the lead Shinra, Tamaki's Lucky Lecher Lure technique is activated, and it leads Shinra to unwittingly touch her inappropriately. These more explicit scenes were not shown in the Toonami broadcast, but others streams online did keep the footage intact.

For now, there is no word on who is behind the censorship, but fans are curious as to what grounds Toonami might censor anime for. Earlier this summer, parts of Fire Force were censored in Japan following a deadly fire which broke out at Kyoto Animation killing 35 people. With sensitivity at the front of everyone's mind, only time will tell if and how Fire Force will be altered as the rest of season one plays out.

Are you enjoying the Toonami broadcast of Fire Force? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!

Fire Force was first created by Atsushi Okubo for Kodansha's Weekly Shonen Magazine in 2015 and is officially described as such: "Terror has paralyzed the clockwork metropolis of Tokyo! Possessed by demons, people have begun to burst into flame, leading to the establishment of a special firefighting team: the Fire Force, ready to roll on a moment's notice to fight spontaneous combustion anywhere it might break out. The team is about to get a very unique addition: Shinra, a boy who possesses the unique power to run at the speed of a rocket, leaving behind the famous "devil's footprints" (and destroying his shoes in the process). Can the Fire Force discover the source of this strange phenomenon and put a stop to it? Or will the city burn to ashes first?"