incredible combat game “Dragon Ball: Sparking Zero,” which encountered significant censorship due to its highly violent scenes, sexually intricate themes, and explicit nudity. Additionally, “Death Note” (both the initial manga and the adapted TV series) has faced substantial censorship and even prohibition in nations such as China and Russia. Thus, it’s not surprising that Katsuhiro Otomo’s intense 1988 cyberpunk masterpiece, “Akira,” underwent similar censorship in Russia in 2021.
As reported by Vice, a St. Petersburg court in Russia prohibited Otomo’s classic (alongside the widely popular anime, “Attack on Titan”) based on a declaration that asserted the film’s content could “put children’s health and mental development at risk.” According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, as translated by Vice, several experts testified that the films might incite “‘violent’ behavior in children” and could potentially result in self-harm.
The Oktyabrsky District Court in St. Petersburg indicated in a statement that graphic content, like that presented in “Akira” and similar works, “undoubtedly jeopardizes young children’s spiritual and moral education and growth, contradicting the humanistic principles of upbringing characteristic of Russia.” It is not surprising that the nation also prohibited other Japanese anime such as “Inuyashiki” and “Tokyo Ghoul” earlier that same year.