Capcom's Ace Attorney is a Japanese series, full of larger than life characters, and,
like many Japanese games brought to the West, the games have seen various changes during
the localisation process.
This video though, will be just focusing on the changes seen as censorship i.e the removal
of offensive, objectionable content.
For example, it may be unsurprising to some that the localisation of homosexual restaurant
owner, Jean Armstrong, hasn't always been completely faithful to the original.
However, what may be surprising is exactly what got altered.
You see, the extremely camp Jean did "not" have their sexuality toned down.
Instead, there was a rather peculiar change made to the French version, to something else.
Whilst in the rest of the world, they like to take the role of a sort of "French maiden",
the French translators apparently didn't like this very much.
Not only did they change the nationality of this persona of his to Italian, but also changed
his name to "Luigi Labocca".
Even the restaurant was renamed, from the French "Trés Bien" to "Bellissima", Italian
for "very beautiful".
Another notable name change was made to Juan Corrida, one of the victims from the second
game.
Whilst their surname was chosen due to it being a Spanish term for bullfighting, it
also has another, less formal, meaning.
In the Spanish version, and only the Spanish version, their surname was changed, due to
it also meaning, wait for it, "ejaculation" in Spanish slang.
Ever notice some of the 'suspicious' placements of food within the series?
Well, the localisers sure did for one of these strangely phallic-like structures.
If you pay close attention to the meals on the table, you'll see that the food standing
erect in the centre could possibly be seen as resembling something very, very different.
Due to this, you can actually only find the naughty graphical innuendo in the 3DS' Trilogy
release, with it being removed, like so, in all other versions of Justice for All.
Over in Japan though, the original art is left intact, for every single version of the
game.
Warning, the next case of censorship may corrupt your opinion of the series forever.
Don't say we didn't warn you.
Revolving around the second game's lecherous Director Hotti, in all releases of the game,
you can show the perverted man a picture of 8 year old Pearl.
Here's what happens in the English release.
Other than the "cute nurse" remark, all was fairly innocent right?
Now, in the Japanese version, things played out much differently.
This chart not only shows a direct translation of the Japanese script, but also multiple
English rewrites, before finally ending with the finished, localised version.
Why would they want to alter it though?
Well, let's take a look at the original lines shall we?
You can see that, when you first show them the picture, he responds with "...Oh what's
this?
Very good...
Hmm, yes..."
What exactly would he be complimenting though, when looking at the young girl and performing
that grabby animation of his?
He then repeatable tells Phoenix to bring her to him if she hurts herself, to which
Phoenix replies with "As if I would EVER bring her to you".
The localisers tried to rewrite the dialogue, adding in comparisons to dolls and the term
"adorable", but ultimately decided to remove all traces of their perverted attitude towards
Pearl.
One of the team members have explained this decision over on their blog, which you'll
be able to find a link for in the description.
They talk about how Japanese culture is different than in the West, and that, whilst this scene
would likely be found extremely disturbing outside of Japan, it was supposed to humorous.
They also mention that leaving it in could have meant running into issues with first-party
requirements and the ESRB/PEGI rating boards.
But to finish up with, in fact, "not" a case of censorship, but to dispel something that
is often thought to have been censored, when it actually hasn't.
During the course of the series, you'll be able to find many references to grape juice.
Yes, "grape juice" and it's a common misconception that this was originally wine over in Japan.
But no, it's grape juice, even in Japan, this being an inside joke among the developers
and grape juice actually being series creator, Shu Takumi's, favourite drink.
So whilst perhaps seeming doubtful, there is absolutely no 4Kids style censorship going
on.
Thank you for watching.