Welcome to Part 2 of Censored Gaming's video series taking a look at how Yu-Gi-Oh Duel
Monsters was censored in the US by English localizers, 4Kids Entertainment.
There are many changes between the Japanese and English versions, and whilst it would
be great to be able to go through them all, as there so many, this series will be focusing
on the ones that are censorship in nature - censorship being defined as changes that
were made for moral-related reasons, such as due to wanting to target a younger audience.
But, with that out of the way, let's continue from last time with Episode 4, which is titled
"The Insector Combo" over in Japan.
This episode sees Yugi and the gang arrive at the Duelist Kingdom tournament and features
the first half of Yugi's duel with Weevil Underwood.
This episode is actually notable in that none of its content had to be altered for Western
audiences, owing to it all being kept rather tame even in the Japanese version.
In fact, there's also an interesting fact regarding this and one of the monsters that
Weevil plays titled "Killer Needle".
For some reason, the card had its name changed from its Japanese name of "Killer Bee", however
as you can see, the "Killer" part of its name was left completely intact.
This is the only card with "Killer" in its name that's been left uncensored, making this
a very strange occurrence.
Lots of cards have had the name "Killer" censored since, such as Gimmick Puppet Giant "Grinder"
which was changed from Gimmick Puppet Giant "Killer".
Moving on to Episode 5 though, which didn't fare as well and is titled "Ultimate Perfect
Form: Great Moth" in Japan.
The first change to this episode is the shot that introduces Mai.
As you can see, the 4Kids version on the right removes a scroll up across Mai's body, most
likely feeling that this could be seen as too suggestive.
The next shot then takes this even further and digitally alters her outfit to lengthen
her skirt.
It's important to bring up that this is the only shot of Mai that alters her skirt length
in this episode and, in fact, all other episodes in this video, as well as the episodes shown
in part 1, didn't alter her skirt length either.
It is only in this one scene of only a few seconds of length that this type of change
has been made so far.
For reference, here's what Mai's skirt normally looks like.
Next up though, we have a change to some dialogue from Téa directed towards the voluptuous
Mai.
The Japanese dialogue has Téa throw some criticism at Mai, saying that she is "nothing
but pheromones".
The English version changes this to a much more innocent "So there!"
comment.
Following that we have some other script changes to the monsters' attack names.
Curse Of Dragon's attack in the original Japanese version is called "Hell Flame", with the Japanese
version even saying this in English.
Religious heaven and hell references are commonly toned down in the franchise outside of Japan
and so 4Kids changed this to "Dragon Flame".
Another attack name 4Kids changed was Great Moth's "Moth Burning Death Tornado" attack,
which is, again, said in English.
This was changed to Tornado Of Doom.
And then lastly, Summoned Skull's attack name was altered as well.
You may recall from Part 1 how Summoned Skull had its name changed from Japan's "Summoned
Demon", most likely due to occult demonic references.
However, last time its attack name wasn't given, whereas this time it is.
In Japan, Summoned Skull uses the attack "Demon's Thunderbolt", this time said in Japanese.
4Kids changed this to "Lightening Strike".
Episode 6 is titled "Beautiful Harpie Lady" in Japan and this gives a big hint for what's
in store next.
This episode features Joey's battle with Mai and her Harpie Lady monsters.
The Harpie Ladie archetype is a big source of censorship outside of Japan, due to their
suggestive designs.
This sees all shots showing the Harpies being changed to add more clothing.
4Kids also altered a few lines of dialogue speaking about their physical attractiveness.
In Japan, Mai sets a card face down and says "Harpie Lady will become more charming, beautiful
and stronger" for every turn that passes.
In the English version, she just says that the card will help defeat Joey's next card
in one turn.
The face down card is Cyber Shield and, like discussed in Part 1, this was renamed from
its Japanese name "Cyber Bondage", as well as having the spikes coming out of the breast
plate removed.
However, in this episode we can see the equipment card actually being used and this shows Mai's
Harpie being given new armour.
Like the card's artwork, the armour had the spikes removed outside Japan.
Next up is a change made to Joey's monster Demon Hunter, which is referenced by name
in the Japanese version but not the English version.
Demon Hunter is its Japanese name, whereas in the English real life cards and the video
games, it has been renamed to Kojikocy.
Like Summoned Skull, this was most likely to remove the occult "Demon" reference.
More changes to Mai's Harpies can be seen when she plays the card Elegant Egotist, which
causes Harpie Lady to be multiplied by 3.
This also sees the Harpies being given a slightly different design and, again, the spikes on
the breast plate are removed in the dub.
And then lastly, we have another case of 4Kids altering dialogue speaking about their physical
attractiveness.
In Japan Mai calls the wave of new Harpies being summoned to the field "The Harpie Lady
Beauty Combo".
Like earlier, she also says that "they get more charming and stronger with each passing
turn".
The English version makes no mention of their beauty and charm and instead just says that
she will keep using Elegant Egotist to double the Harpies again and again.
That's all this time though but Part 3 will be coming soon taking a look at the next episode
and more.
If this is something you're interested in then please make sure to subscribe and leave
a comment below and, until next time, thank you for watching.