The Way of the Househusband has made its anime debut, and it has been met with some rather mixed reviews. The show plans to bring out more episodes before long, and it is doing serious work overseas to find more fans. But if you happen to be watching the anime in China, well –you are missing a major part of The Way of the Househusband.
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If you did not know, the show was allowed into China following a review period, but censors did make a solid change to the show. After all, The Way of the Househusband had most of its tattoos scrubbed. The main character Tatsu is known for being tatted up given his Yakazu ties, but Chinese censors chose to take away all the tattoos.
As you can see above, the tattoos in The Way of the Househusband are intricate with lots of colors. Tatsu sports a massive serpent dragon on his back, and there is more dragon imagery on the front of his torso. But when censors got a look at this body art, they chose to cover up these tattoos because of their classic ties to Yakuza activity.
After all, tattoos in Japan have a very specific connotation, and it isn’t the best. Tattoos have long been associated with the Yakuza in Asia, and Japan continues to tie the two together even as tattoos become more modernized. To make things worse, Yakuza tattoos are often tied to dragons and classical imagery, so Tatsu isn’t even trying to hide his affiliation. All of this combined to prompt China’s censorship, and it is pretty hard to miss the swap if you watch The Way of the Househusband overseas.
What do you make of this censorship report? Have you checked out The Way of the Househusband? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
