The manga publishing industry in the United States has been dogged by censorship issues for a long time, with even major franchises like Dragon Ball not immune to it.
Speaking on the Anime Business Podcast, Dallas Middaugh, the former director of Sales and Marketing at Viz Media, as well as former Director of Sales and Marketing for Dragon Ball,revealed that every copy of the manga across Toys “R” Us stores nationwide was removed and destroyed in 1999 following a single parental complaint.
Middaugh, who is currently the CEO of BluPetal, recounted that the incident occurred shortly before he joined Viz Media, during an era when the traditional trade paperback format had not yet achieved widespread popularity in the United States. At that time, Toys “R” Us packaged the individual comic issues of Dragon Ball in three-packs priced between US$6 and US$8.
Dragon Ball Manga Copies From Toys R Us Were Destroyed Following Parent Complaint
According to Middaugh, a parent opened one such three-pack and complained about the depiction of Goku’s nudity in the forest during the first chapters of the story. This forced the retailer to return the entire stock of books to be destroyed.
“Again, it’s not even played for laughs, other than this kid is just walking around naked because he’s never heard of clothes. It’s funny. One parent complained, and every single book was destroyed. Every single book was returned and pulped,” he said. Following this incident, Viz Media started censoring Dragon Ball manga content deemed sexually explicit, although this move was later reversed.
Middaugh also pointed out the irony of how the complaints surrounding the manga were only about nudity and never about the violence also depicted in it. “It literally had a scene where one character reaches into another character’s chest and rips out his still-beating heart. Not one complaint. We do not care about violence in this country, only nudity.”
More than 25 years after this Dragon Ball incident, the domestic manga industry continues to experience censorship and local bans across institutions. School districts and libraries in multiple states have removed several titles following complaints from parents and other groups.
This included titles like Sasaki and Miyano, which a Florida school board banned due to its depiction of a same-sex romance, and Assassination Classroom, which faced removal in states including Florida, Texas and South Carolina over its depictions of weapons and violence.
On top of that, the enactment of Texas Senate Bill 20 has presented new challenges for retailers and publishers alike, as it prompted them to engage in self-censorship to avoid potential legal liability. Dragon Ball once again fell victim to regulatory fears, with multiple retail locations in Texas preemptively pulling the manga from shelves due to its early depictions of nudity.
The manga, however, is available on Viz Media’s digital vault in the original uncensored version for fans to read in the country.
- Author
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Akira Toriyama
- Artist
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Akira Toriyama
- Release Date
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November 20, 1984
- Chapters
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519
- Volumes
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42
