BBFC Passed Anime Updates
- Thread starter Bryan Admiraal
- Start date
Magical Senshi
Magical Girl
Some countries are required to do this by law. It's not just European countries that do this. This is also done in Australia and New Zealand too, although they're not required to put the age rating on the discs. In some cases, companies in some countries are allowed to just put a sticker of the age rating on either the shrinkwrap or the packaging (certain releases in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and (if I'm correct) Germany do this).
EDIT: In terms of UK releases, they were once required to put the age rating on the spine. However, that is no longer required, but most UK companies still do this despite that.
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Titan
Idolm@ster
Magical Senshi
Magical Girl
Combatants Will Be Dispatched! - Uncut
No overall description, but the reason for the 18 rating was for the final episode alone (the other episodes were given 15 ratings), and the description for that one is "sexual threat, references to child sexual abuse".
Conrad
Completely Average High School Student
For some reason it's rated TV-14 in the US (equivalent to 12 or soft 15)
Conrad
Completely Average High School Student
I wonder if it has something to due with the fact that Australia has an X-18+ (used strictly for porn). In the US we have something similar but it's more of a disclaimer and not always used for porn it Interspecies Reviewers has that on it's blu-ray. In Germany funny enough it's rated 16 (with one 18 episode). Which makes me wonder what it'd be rated in the UK?
Redo of Healer (Ep 2) and Shobitch (Ep 3) were refused by German classifications. The first however was released as unrated. However several months later some copies with an 18 rating on packaging came into circulation - but the FSK claimed that they never issued a classification for that...
Valkyrie Drive Mermaid got a FSK 16 in Germany, but was refused by BBFC.
Fate/Kaleid 2wei and 2wei Herz got a FSK 12 in Germany, uncut and even including those mini episodes that Sentai ommitted and the Onsen OVA. Sentai issued (despite removing some content) a TV MA VS...
Valkyrie Drive Mermaid got a FSK 16 in Germany, but was refused by BBFC.
Fate/Kaleid 2wei and 2wei Herz got a FSK 12 in Germany, uncut and even including those mini episodes that Sentai ommitted and the Onsen OVA. Sentai issued (despite removing some content) a TV MA VS...
Conrad
Completely Average High School Student
Well here the US the streaming version of Redo of Healer is TV-MA however the blu-ray rating is not rated (suggested 18+)-DSV but seeing how Redo of Healer was rated FSK 18 in Germany I was wondering if the not rated (suggested 18+) would be equivalent to FSK 18 clearly not since the "suggested 18+" is exclusive to home video meanwhile you can find FSK 18 on streaming. For example Elfen Lied is on Amazon Prime in Germany with an FSK 18. In the US it's rated the normal TV-MA in fact it's 15 in the UK.
Also it's funny you mentioned Valkyrie Drive Mermaid I remember someone saying it's like an R rated Soul Eater but in the UK it's already 15. In fact in Germany they are both rated 16. I do find it funny how parts of Soul Eater are 12 and 16 in Germany and in the US it's TV-14 (how convenient that it's right in the middle). But even in the US the manga is 16+
Most common German Ratings:
FSK 0
FSK 6
Infoprogramm / Lernprogramm (Documentaries / educational programm)
FSK 12
FSK 16
FSK 18
The uncut version of Redo of Healer Ep 2 is still unrated in Germany - the FSK 18 could have been applied if they included a censored version of Ep 2. However packaging claimed it was uncensored. The version was never announced and seemed to be pulled from retail shelves shortly after it appeared.
Animoon claimed that the unrated version of Redo of Healer was their best selling title ever...
However there are two lesser known additional ratings for titles that fail the FSK 18:
SPIO/JK "keine schwere Jugendgefährdung" ("not harmful")
SPIO/JK "strafrechtlich unbedenklich" ("no violation of laws")
It's unconfirmed if Redo of Healer was ever submitted to any of these SPIO/JK ratings and failed, or of it was never submitted.
Unrated shows or those with a "keine schwere Jugendgefährdung" might face a ban afterwards and, according to laws, should be automatically treated as banned if they contain porn or glorification of violence. Otherwise unrated shows should be treated like FSK 18 - even for obviously unharmfull imports*.
Shows that receive a "strafrechtlich unbedenklich" are also treated as banned. Note: Banned doesn't mean seized / confiscated. It's more like the BBFC R18 rating for porn.
Regarding other titles:
Elfen Lied was resubmitted last year and got a FSK 16. The runtime matches the uncut version and it's unknown if any visual censorship was applied or the new Blu-rays were labelled FSK 18 by accident.
Black Lagoon S2 was also recently rerated FSK 16 instead of 18.
The first two eps of Soul Eater got a FSK 16, the rest FSK 12.
Valkyrie Drive Mermaid is banned in the UK for home video.
Kite got an FSK 18 rating in 2010, after released unrated in 2000
Paranoia Agent didn't pass FSK in first attempt, but was rated FSK 16 just weeks later
The censored UK-version of Wicked City got a ban in 1995, whilest the uncut version passed with a FSK 16 in 2007. It took until 2020 til the ban of the UK-censored version was lifted.
Ranma 1/2 got a FSK 12 uncut, with a PG-like rating for TV (still uncut)
Aside from several dozen of obviuos Hentai, the only anime still banned in Germany is Fist of the North Star (Movie).
And for curiosity:
Even all existing copies of "Pikachu’s Rescue Adventure", the short movie that screened along the 2nd Pokémon Movie, should be, paperwise, treated like FSK 18 as the rating is missing on the DVDs itself. Just a packaging error that could be fixed if it ever got a reprint...
FSK 0
FSK 6
Infoprogramm / Lernprogramm (Documentaries / educational programm)
FSK 12
FSK 16
FSK 18
The uncut version of Redo of Healer Ep 2 is still unrated in Germany - the FSK 18 could have been applied if they included a censored version of Ep 2. However packaging claimed it was uncensored. The version was never announced and seemed to be pulled from retail shelves shortly after it appeared.
Animoon claimed that the unrated version of Redo of Healer was their best selling title ever...
However there are two lesser known additional ratings for titles that fail the FSK 18:
SPIO/JK "keine schwere Jugendgefährdung" ("not harmful")
SPIO/JK "strafrechtlich unbedenklich" ("no violation of laws")
It's unconfirmed if Redo of Healer was ever submitted to any of these SPIO/JK ratings and failed, or of it was never submitted.
Unrated shows or those with a "keine schwere Jugendgefährdung" might face a ban afterwards and, according to laws, should be automatically treated as banned if they contain porn or glorification of violence. Otherwise unrated shows should be treated like FSK 18 - even for obviously unharmfull imports*.
Shows that receive a "strafrechtlich unbedenklich" are also treated as banned. Note: Banned doesn't mean seized / confiscated. It's more like the BBFC R18 rating for porn.
Regarding other titles:
Elfen Lied was resubmitted last year and got a FSK 16. The runtime matches the uncut version and it's unknown if any visual censorship was applied or the new Blu-rays were labelled FSK 18 by accident.
Black Lagoon S2 was also recently rerated FSK 16 instead of 18.
The first two eps of Soul Eater got a FSK 16, the rest FSK 12.
Valkyrie Drive Mermaid is banned in the UK for home video.
Kite got an FSK 18 rating in 2010, after released unrated in 2000
Paranoia Agent didn't pass FSK in first attempt, but was rated FSK 16 just weeks later
The censored UK-version of Wicked City got a ban in 1995, whilest the uncut version passed with a FSK 16 in 2007. It took until 2020 til the ban of the UK-censored version was lifted.
Ranma 1/2 got a FSK 12 uncut, with a PG-like rating for TV (still uncut)
Aside from several dozen of obviuos Hentai, the only anime still banned in Germany is Fist of the North Star (Movie).
And for curiosity:
Even all existing copies of "Pikachu’s Rescue Adventure", the short movie that screened along the 2nd Pokémon Movie, should be, paperwise, treated like FSK 18 as the rating is missing on the DVDs itself. Just a packaging error that could be fixed if it ever got a reprint...
Conrad
Completely Average High School Student
Wait Kite was FSK 18? Wasn't that a hentai? FSK 18 covers porn too?(Since I don't think NC-17 in the US does)
With Elfen Lied I can see that they have multiple ratings listed for the same episodes (that must be what they were re-rated to). The re-release has disc 1 being FSK 18 and the rest being 16 (kind of like Interspecies Reviewers).
Funny enough I remember telling someone the first 3 episodes of Interspecies Reviewers were rated 17+ (TV-MA) in the US even though the blu-ray was supposed to be 18+ and she ask if they'd rate each episode. I said "It's going to be on a blu-ray" and she said "So it's all going to have the same rating". Well the version Funimation streaming was censored anyway.
About Soul Eater it does look like it was the first 13 episodes rated FSK 16 and the rest were FSK 12 (Kind of like how in the UK it was 15 with a few 12 episodes)
What's odd is from the looks on the FSK website Redo of Healer pops up as 16 but all the copies I found all say 18.
I wasn't sure how the German ratings would compare to the US but from what I can tell Between the US and UK it's
U=TV-Y, TV-G
PG=TV-Y7, TV-PG (obviously)
12=TV-14(low end)
15=TV-14(high end)/TV-MA (low end)
18=TV-MA(high end)
or for movies
U=G
PG=once again PG
12=PG-13
15=R?
18=NC-17
R-18=no equivalent, though not rated (suggested 18+) would be the closest thing.
I'm sure they aren't going to be 1:1 but that's the rough estimate
Regarding Kite:
When released in 2000, the distributor didn't even submit it to the FSK as they believed it would be rejected anyway. When it aired in 2002 on TV, it was cut by 4:40 and self-rated "18+" by the TV station. A new distributor picked Kite up in 2011 and created a new dub, which had 2 or 3 small dialogue-alterations to suggest Sawa was older, and surprisingly it passed uncut with a FSK 18 rating.
Whilest FSK 18 does not allow porn, there are a few Hentai that passed without cuts: Pure Mail, Wife Eater and Welcome to Pia Carrot (first & 2nd series), Magical Twilight. Class Reunion (sold as Hentai in the US) passed uncut with FSK16, however it was R15+ in Japan. You might notice that all of them are quite old and afaik only feature few and not very explict sex scenes.
Most Hentai that is sold in Germany with FSK ratings, no matter if 16 or 18, is usually cut by a substantional amount. Uncut versions are sold in specialised shops, but the quality is usually very low - wrong colors, bad NTSC-PAL-Conversion, often missing subs and include only a low quality dub. There are some recent Blu-rays, but they feature hard subs and a burned in logo of the distributors shop (displayed the whole time, not just in the credits)
Kizuna, a yaoi title released by Kitty Media in the US, passed uncut with a FSK 12. Guess the US rating was wrong
In the early days of DVD "OVA Films" also submitted censored FSK16 / 18 releases for some titles, but included the uncensored versions as hidden tracks on their DVDs. I guess that was illegal...
For Pure Mail it also happened, that while it passed FSK 18 uncut, it's also on the list of banned titles - despite under a different name. Well: Different agencies...
Okane ga Nai! was submitted for a FSK16 rating, but was even rejected a FSK18. However it never appeared on the "banned" list.
And I wondered how Urutsukidoji got removed from the "banned" list...
Regarding Soul Eater:
Ep 1 & 11 were rated 16, Ep 9, 14 & 17 were rated 6, all others got rated 12.
(runtime includes 4% PAL speedup)
Regarding Redo of Healer:
Ep 1, 8, 9, 10 got rated FSK 16, Ep 2 got a FSK 16 after censorship - however the Blu-ray and DVD included the unrated versions.
I was told that all others Eps passed with a FSK 18 rating uncut, but are currently not listed on FSK for another reason.
A major difference between German or UK and US ratings is:
USA allows self rating if there is no cinematic release.
Regarding the German "banned" list:
Usually only very few new titles get added to the list, and as far as I know no Anime or Hentai was added on the "banned" list since 2012. In 2013 two Hentai Manga got banned, in 2009 the first Manga Volume of Finder (and 2010 again after censoring).
It's becoming comon that for titles that got banned for violence long ago, that a distributor request to get the ban lifted - and more often than not, the ban get's lifted.
Also the BPJM decides after 25 years for each title, weather the ban is should be lifted or extended.
When released in 2000, the distributor didn't even submit it to the FSK as they believed it would be rejected anyway. When it aired in 2002 on TV, it was cut by 4:40 and self-rated "18+" by the TV station. A new distributor picked Kite up in 2011 and created a new dub, which had 2 or 3 small dialogue-alterations to suggest Sawa was older, and surprisingly it passed uncut with a FSK 18 rating.
Whilest FSK 18 does not allow porn, there are a few Hentai that passed without cuts: Pure Mail, Wife Eater and Welcome to Pia Carrot (first & 2nd series), Magical Twilight. Class Reunion (sold as Hentai in the US) passed uncut with FSK16, however it was R15+ in Japan. You might notice that all of them are quite old and afaik only feature few and not very explict sex scenes.
Most Hentai that is sold in Germany with FSK ratings, no matter if 16 or 18, is usually cut by a substantional amount. Uncut versions are sold in specialised shops, but the quality is usually very low - wrong colors, bad NTSC-PAL-Conversion, often missing subs and include only a low quality dub. There are some recent Blu-rays, but they feature hard subs and a burned in logo of the distributors shop (displayed the whole time, not just in the credits)
Kizuna, a yaoi title released by Kitty Media in the US, passed uncut with a FSK 12. Guess the US rating was wrong
In the early days of DVD "OVA Films" also submitted censored FSK16 / 18 releases for some titles, but included the uncensored versions as hidden tracks on their DVDs. I guess that was illegal...
For Pure Mail it also happened, that while it passed FSK 18 uncut, it's also on the list of banned titles - despite under a different name. Well: Different agencies...
Okane ga Nai! was submitted for a FSK16 rating, but was even rejected a FSK18. However it never appeared on the "banned" list.
And I wondered how Urutsukidoji got removed from the "banned" list...
Regarding Soul Eater:
Ep 1 & 11 were rated 16, Ep 9, 14 & 17 were rated 6, all others got rated 12.
(runtime includes 4% PAL speedup)
Regarding Redo of Healer:
Ep 1, 8, 9, 10 got rated FSK 16, Ep 2 got a FSK 16 after censorship - however the Blu-ray and DVD included the unrated versions.
I was told that all others Eps passed with a FSK 18 rating uncut, but are currently not listed on FSK for another reason.
A major difference between German or UK and US ratings is:
USA allows self rating if there is no cinematic release.
Regarding the German "banned" list:
Usually only very few new titles get added to the list, and as far as I know no Anime or Hentai was added on the "banned" list since 2012. In 2013 two Hentai Manga got banned, in 2009 the first Manga Volume of Finder (and 2010 again after censoring).
It's becoming comon that for titles that got banned for violence long ago, that a distributor request to get the ban lifted - and more often than not, the ban get's lifted.
Also the BPJM decides after 25 years for each title, weather the ban is should be lifted or extended.
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Conrad
Completely Average High School Student
Okay I guess that clears some things up. I remember someone saying the BBFC's R-18 is exclusive to porn. I told him about the 18+ warning in the US and he said "Your talking about the US. Here in the UK you will only ever see an R-18 on a porn DVD". And I see Interspecies Reviewers was (mostly) FSK 16 in Germany. So I guess that proves that it's not hentai!Regarding Kite:
When released in 2000, the distributor didn't even submit it to the FSK as they believed it would be rejected anyway. When it aired in 2002 on TV, it was cut by 4:40 and self-rated "18+" by the TV station. A new distributor picked Kite up in 2011 and created a new dub, which had 2 or 3 small dialogue-alterations to suggest Sawa was older, and surprisingly it passed uncut with a FSK 18 rating.
Whilest FSK 18 does not allow porn, there are a few Hentai that passed without cuts: Pure Mail, Wife Eater and Welcome to Pia Carrot (first & 2nd series), Magical Twilight. Class Reunion (sold as Hentai in the US) passed uncut with FSK16, however it was R15+ in Japan. You might notice that all of them are quite old and afaik only feature few and not very explict sex scenes.
Most Hentai that is sold in Germany with FSK ratings, no matter if 16 or 18, is usually cut by a substantional amount. Uncut versions are sold in specialised shops, but the quality is usually very low - wrong colors, bad NTSC-PAL-Conversion, often missing subs and include only a low quality dub. There are some recent Blu-rays, but they feature hard subs and a burned in logo of the distributors shop (displayed the whole time, not just in the credits)
Kizuna, a yaoi title released by Kitty Media in the US, passed uncut with a FSK 12. Guess the US rating was wrong
In the early days of DVD "OVA Films" also submitted censored FSK16 / 18 releases for some titles, but included the uncensored versions as hidden tracks on their DVDs. I guess that was illegal...
For Pure Mail it also happened, that while it passed FSK 18 uncut, it's also on the list of banned titles - despite under a different name. Well: Different agencies...
Okane ga Nai! was submitted for a FSK16 rating, but was even rejected a FSK18. However it never appeared on the "banned" list.
And I wondered how Urutsukidoji got removed from the "banned" list...
Regarding Soul Eater:
Ep 1 & 11 were rated 16, Ep 9, 14 & 17 were rated 6, all were got rated 12.
(runtime includes 4% PAL speedup)
Regarding Redo of Healer:
Ep 1, 8, 9, 10 got rated FSK 16, Ep 2 got a FSK 16 after censorship - however the Blu-ray and DVD included the unrated versions.
I was told that all others Eps passed with a FSK 18 rating uncut, but are currently not listed on FSK for another reason.
A major difference between German or UK and US ratings is:
USA allows self rating if there is no cinematic release.
Regarding the German "banned" list:
Usually only very few new titles get added to the list, and as far as I know no Anime or Hentai was added on the "banned" list since 2012. In 2013 two Hentai Manga got banned, in 2009 the first Manga Volume of Finder (and 2010 again after censoring).
It's becoming comon that for titles that got banned for violence long ago, that a distributor request to get the ban lifted - and more often than not, the ban get's lifted.
Also the BPJM decides after 25 years for each title, weather the ban is should be lifted or extended.
As far as I know, Interspecies Reviewers Ep 3 only passed after an appeal of the distributor - so it took some time until it was clear that no cuts would be required. Similar issues happened with Twittering Birds Never Fly (Yaoi Movie) that took forever to get a rating - as the scheduled cinematic release came closer Kazé than submitted a cut version to the FSK, and shortly after both versions got FSK 18. It was thus released uncut.
For Redo of Healer I've heard rumors that at least one voice actor cancelled his or her work on the project. In the US they just released it sub-only, like they did with Interspecies Reviewers.
German laws on FSK 18 and unrated stuff are quite strict.
So e.g. for mail order an actual age check on delivery is usually required, with ID check. Only some smaller shops allow special agreements for their regular customers under certain circumstances.
But unlike the UK, Ecchi of all kind usually passes with FSK 16. For Hybrid x Heart sadly Kazé ommitted the Mini-OVAs (as 3 of them got FSK 18) - in the US it's still unreleased...
For Redo of Healer I've heard rumors that at least one voice actor cancelled his or her work on the project. In the US they just released it sub-only, like they did with Interspecies Reviewers.
German laws on FSK 18 and unrated stuff are quite strict.
So e.g. for mail order an actual age check on delivery is usually required, with ID check. Only some smaller shops allow special agreements for their regular customers under certain circumstances.
But unlike the UK, Ecchi of all kind usually passes with FSK 16. For Hybrid x Heart sadly Kazé ommitted the Mini-OVAs (as 3 of them got FSK 18) - in the US it's still unreleased...
Conrad
Completely Average High School Student
Well Hybrid X Heart I hear was the only series besides Interspecies Reviewers that Funimation. It's still on Crunchyroll. On there it's tagged as "mature".
Also with Interspecies Reviewers the German dubbing studio replied to me in the comment of this video.
Now what I found funny is how the Interspecies Reviewers manga is still on Rightstuf after they got rid of "erotica products" yet the blu-ray was gone. The manga is said to be tamer which honestly makes sense. It's rated M (equivalent to the BBFC's "normal" 18 or in the US NC-17/strong TV-MA) however the anime was released under a porn label (Critical Mass). Now another time where the manga was tamer would be with Carole and Tuesday. It was rated TV-MA in the US or 15 in the UK (yes I know the rest of the show was PG/12) for This (that never happened in the manga) it was rated T (equivalent to 12 in the UK or PG-13/light TV-14 in the US)
Peppermint anime is the German publisher - not the dubbing studio. Unlike the US-Branches of Funimation / Crunchyroll or Sentai the German publisher don't own any dubbing studios themselves.
Regarding Manga:
Every Manga or Novel is self-rated, and those ratings might be wrong.
In Germany these ratings are also considered guidelines only, so while it's prohibited to sell a FSK18 DVD/BD to a minor, there is no law that prohibits this for books that are not on the "banned" list.
("banned" books may be sold on special request after age check, but not displayed on shelves)
In Germany, a volume of the Sailor Moon Anime comic, aimed to 10 year olds, was added to this "banned" listin 2000. Most believe it was an error - but the publisher didn't make an appeal, as at the time of banning the specific volume was already out of print with no reprints scheduled (and thus not worth the paperwork related)...
The self rating system however seems to cause some self-censorship for Manga in Germany. Whilest for anime the company can just submit to the FSK who says "everything fine", there is no similar system for books.
Regarding Manga:
Every Manga or Novel is self-rated, and those ratings might be wrong.
In Germany these ratings are also considered guidelines only, so while it's prohibited to sell a FSK18 DVD/BD to a minor, there is no law that prohibits this for books that are not on the "banned" list.
("banned" books may be sold on special request after age check, but not displayed on shelves)
In Germany, a volume of the Sailor Moon Anime comic, aimed to 10 year olds, was added to this "banned" listin 2000. Most believe it was an error - but the publisher didn't make an appeal, as at the time of banning the specific volume was already out of print with no reprints scheduled (and thus not worth the paperwork related)...
The self rating system however seems to cause some self-censorship for Manga in Germany. Whilest for anime the company can just submit to the FSK who says "everything fine", there is no similar system for books.
Conrad
Completely Average High School Student
It's similar to how TV shows are rated in the US (they are all self rated just like the manga). Which is why Redo of Healer was 18+ on blu-ray instead of a TV rating like what Sentai normally uses for home video releases.
I remember someone once said "When I hear the word ecchi my mind goes Highschool of the Dead, Highschool DXD, K-on and Monster Musume" someone said "Bro you did not put K-on and Highschool DXD in the same category." Funny enough the Highschool DXD anime is rated TV-MA in the US and the K-on manga is rated the hard TV-14/soft TV-MA equivalent (older teen) (that'd be 15 in the UK). However the Highschool DXD manga and light novels still rated the hard TV-MA or 18 in the UK equivalent (mature or "ages 18 & up" for the LN) funny that it has almost the same name as both of those. The K-on anime was rated from U to 12 in the UK, however it's rated TV-14 in the US (TV-PG on some streaming sites) (not sure why maybe it was this). Also I know Highschool DXD season one was 15 while the rest was 18 in the UK.
Also I'm a bit confused as to why Elfen Lied was supposedly re-rated to FSK 16 meanwhile the new releases still say FSK 18 (some of the previous ones had disc 2 being FSK 16).
Conrad
Completely Average High School Student
That episode was a lot more explicit than the rest (there was a dildo going inside a girl) I remember telling that to someone and how it got pulled off Funimation and they said "I'm surprised that Netflix original film didn't get pulled it had similar things in there!" I was all like "what what?!"
Otomo
Thousand Master
I don't remember that bit. Must be time for a rewatch.
My main recollection is Ginny and Milky.
I was thinking that the committee was all men and them squirming in their chairs.
Conrad
Completely Average High School Student
maybe you were watchin' the censored version. I got the blu-ray just so I could watch it uncensored. (I watch the first couple episodes censored since I googled it and that was the first result).