One of the hottest anime premieres of the Spring 2018 season was the much anticipated premiere of High School DxD‘s fourth season. Fans were curious as to why the newest season was censored, and Funimation has officially commented on the matter.
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Like most new series of its ilk, High School DxD Hero’s uncensored broadcasts won’t be available to streaming until the home video release of the series gets closer in Japan.
Funimation’s stance on the current censorship of High School DxD Hero is as such (via moderator SpacemanHardy):
“During the simulcast, FUNimation and Crunchyroll only have access to the censored broadcast TV masters given to them by Japan. Contrary to popular belief, FUNimation and Crunchyroll DO NOT censor the show themselves; they can only use what the Japanese producers offer them in the meantime. They will eventually get the uncensored masters once it gets closer to the home video release, however, and around that time the streaming footage will be updated with the uncensored footage. Note that for free subscribers, ONLY the censored footage is available; you have to upgrade to a paid subscription in order to see the uncensored episodes.”
Although some anime fans were aware of how Funimation and Crunchyroll receive and distribute series outside of Japan, and how the distribution is entirely controlled by what Japan sends over, so the simulcast releases will still censor each girl’s more naughty bits with the logo of the series as seen in the first episode of the fourth season.
But it may be good for these fans to also get confirmation that the uncensored versions of the series will be available to simulcast on a later date, and that those who do not want to find the series through unsavory or illegal means will be able to want the full monty version of the series will be able to do so soon.
If you are not familiar with High School DxD, then you should know the series is one rooted in supernatural adventures and gratuitous fan service. The story follows a boy named Issei Hyodo who is best known for his perverted ways. After being asked on a date, the boy is killed when the girl turns out to be a fallen angel. Issei is revived by a busty classmate of his named Rias who is a devil herself, and she contracts the boy to become her new pet as she reincarnated him into a devil during his resurrection.
Based off a series of light novels by Ichiei Ishibumi with illustrations provided by Miyama-Zero, the series began serialization in 2008 as part of Fujimi Shobo’s Dragon Magazine. The series has since been collected into 22 volumes, and has spawned a manga adaptation as well. The manga has been handled by Hiroji Mishima starting in 2010, and has 22 volumes currently available as of 2006. The series has since spawned three anime series before, and were all licensed for an English language release by Funimation running from 2012 to 2015 in various intervals with the latest iteration of the series premiering later in 2018.
