So, why was the Blue Sheep Reverie 2 sex scene edited?

[keksimonsteri]

As a long time fan of June, I've been very disappointed to hear about the edited sex scene(s). I have complained about delays and translation mistakes on these forums before, but they're something that are easy to forgive (even after years of waiting the books have found their way to the release schedule eventually, and there's always hope that the translations will improve) and I've happily continued to support June and enjoy new and old releases both. But editing is unforgivable, when there's the alternative of publishing explicit titles under an imprint that's already well known for publishing explicit works - 801 Media.

I admit I haven't read Blue Sheep Reverie (the news about the editing doesn't exactly encourage me to pick it up either), and I apologize about possibly derailing the thread, but what I'm wondering is, why are graphic titles such as Maiden Rose and Tyrant Falls in Love licensed under the June imprint instead of 801 Media? (Kizuna as well, though that was already covered in another thread, and the June release can only be better than the overall awful one by BeBeautiful.)

I don't want to panic about edits that haven't happened yet, but these titles are considerably more explicit than most that have been published under the June imprint, and even some titles published under 801 Media (I haven't read all 801 releases, but out of the ones I own and love, the two Touko Kawai titles are fairly tame compared to volume 1 of Maiden Rose IMO). As a fan of the series, I'd like them to find new readers and sell as well as possible, but more than that, I'd like to see them published as close to the original versions as possible.

Tyrant is a long awaited fan favorite, that many of us have been waiting to buy in English ever since DramaQueen licensed it and failed to deliver years ago. Maiden Rose has a recent anime adaptation. And as amazing as the manga is, it's hardly a mainstream title that's suitable for everyone. Both series have an established fanbase, that would be very upset at any editing and censorship.

I prefer June releases over 801 Media personally, but being able to buy and read my translated manga unedited and uncensored is so much more important to me than the imprint.

For instance, my long-time favorites are Little Butterfly, Sweet Revolution, and Desire, and to a lesser degree Manic Love / Fake Fur, Hybrid Child, Hard Rock, Author's Pet, I'll be Your Slave, Il Gatto Sul G, Vampire Portrait, Clan of the Nakagamis, The Way to Heaven. Do those have 100% unaltered intimate scenes? Do I have to buy the original books just to make sure I have what the manga-kas there intended? I always just assumed that I have the original artwork for those books, but now I have my doubts.

I have a friend who mentioned noticing that either Fake Fur or Manic Love was similarly edited (bodily fluids removed from a sex scene), but I only have the June releases myself and can't actually confirm this. It'd be nice if a June representative could confirm or deny, or better yet, give us a list of all of the titles that have been edited.

I'd personally like to avoid buying any edited releases in the future.

[sun22]

Keksimonsteri - thank you very much for the information on Fake Fur and Manic Love. Quite sadly, while I was blissfully unaware of these potential edits (trusting June to not edit anything), both titles (as well as their sequel, never published by June) went out of print, and what am I supposed to do now? I really want to own and see original artwork for these titles, and I don't even want to think how much I would have to pay now for my blissful ignorance (as discussed on Kizuna thread, importing out-of-print titles ain't cheap at all, plus not a very good option for US buyers for a number of other reasons).

Your thoughts on Maiden Rose and Tyrant Falls in Love are my thoughts on these titles exactly. Luckily, I actually own these series already. so I will be able to tell you guys if June edits anything there if I still choose to buy them and if I'm still on this thread (whether it's still worth buying or not - it's quite a question for me now). (I doubt June will tell us about this, until we ourselves notice...)

Re: the edit in question - to be frank, it is likely to be something that quite a few readers would not care about. It's nothing as daring as BeBeautiful, YaoiGen or some other US publishers did. A relatively minor edit, not like they deleted the whole panel or anything like that. But those who care about the original artwork and like the series, are likely to dislike it, just as I did. However, the edit in question does twist the meaning (to me, at least), and the whole "taboo" status of bodily fluids is still beyond me. Well, maybe president of Borders hates bodily fluids but is OK with male almost-fully-visible frontal nudity? Who knows? I presume DMP knows better than I do. I'm not blaming them for anything, homo- and "nudity"-phobia are social problems, and nothing that DMP has control over. I really appreciate their concern over this issue, and their attempt to keep things as unedited as they can. But, yes, any information on what DMP plans on edit and what they already edited would be very helpful. Something tells me, though, that we won't be getting it.

[Delena666]

But, yes, any information on what DMP plans on edit and what they already edited would be very helpful. Something tells me, though, that we won't be getting it.

Well, we can always compile a list ourselves... I'm already thinking of openning a new thread for that whole purpose. I can already add some titles to the list that have not been mentioned before on this forum(s).

[machigai]

sorry to resurrect this old thread but can anyone tell me if volumes 1 and 3 were edited? I don't know if I should order them or not...

[starlightmuse]

As far as I can tell from the files on my end, no, volumes 1, 3 and 4 have not been edited. But again, this is what I can tell from here.

[sun22]

Volume 1 and 3 are indeed unedited; thank you very much for your reply, starlightmuse, and your note about volume 4 (which hasn't been published yet) also being unedited. Much appreciated.

Volume 2's artwork was edited in at least 3 places that I can spot:
1) p.83 - "bodily fluids" removed
2) p. 98 - partial frontal nudity removed
3) p. 164 - "bodily fluids" removed.

Given that volume 3 is at least as explicit as volume 2 (or even more so), in my opinion, the fact that DMP hasn't censored it this time, is great news, and I will be buying volume 4 from DMP as well, especially considering starlightmuse's disclosure. Thank you!

[machigai]

This is great news... I will order those volumes. Thank you for the quick reply!

[nycmango]

I wonder if this company makes more money selling their censored books to "big stores" or "mom and pop stores" because bottomline is all "big stores," for example amazon, Barnes and Noble, borders and other major online book distributor, sell BOTH June and 801 media books.

So as we can see regardless of how explicit the title is the big bookstores with WIDE DISTRIBUTION are selling your books. So why the censorship in June titles and not 801 media titles?

You said you censor because you want a wider distribution but that just doesn't make sense to me still. If both censored and uncensored books are being sold by these major bookstores than what exactly are you talking about when you mention you only have a small distribution for 801 media books?

I can understand if you say that not a lot of people are buying explicit mangas hence you end up censoring so younger people can buy and read it ... but than I would say 'WHY! if they are meant for people who can and want to see the sex scenes (explicit contents)"? The book clearly is meant for adults who like to read porn between two men so a person who doesn't want to see that shouldn't be buying yaoi in the first place if they can't handle it ... I just hate when people say they rather a book be censored because they don't want to see two man having sex in art ... these people should learn to read written novels instead of mangas!

If you say you can't get a wide distribution for 801 media in bookstores I just find that weird. Like mentioned above many big bookstores sell 801 media books and they get sold out so quickly because you don't print enough.

I can understand maybe you don't get mom and pop stores to load in on the explicit titles ... but who cares? Unless you make more money selling your books to these smaller stores rather that huge online giants like amazon? I mean everyone has access to amazon as long as they have a credit card and they even offer low prices and free shipping like any other bookstore that carries your books ... do you know who can't get access to buying books online? Obviously you are expecting all your buyers to buy online otherwise you wouldn't come up with your digital manga idea where people have to use a credit card to buy your digital manga.

So you are pretty much doing an unnecessary evil in my point of view by exposing those who shouldn't be able to get the book since it wasn't meant for them. And you ruin my chance to get a perfect english copy of a book and I just end up buying the Japanese version as it is uncensored.

I mean common, us real fans who buy full uncensored titles, because we are sophisticated adults, really want some downtown reading our porno! Like how men go and buy playboy is like how women go buy hard yaoi.

HAHA. I'm not really looking for an answer just wanted to point out how ridiculous all this talk about distribution problems is just not adding up.

[Kashonna]

I understand that they edit/censor the books so that they can be in stores like Borders and Barnes and Noble, but I'm still confused because these books come wrapped up so people can't just pick them up and read them right there. So I still don't see a need to censor them when they have that wrapping around them to protect it from getting read by underaged kids.

[lore]

Really? Kids over the age of three don't know how to tear the plastic off a book?

In all seriousness, the plastic wrap isn't a guarantee that teens won't see the adults-only material. Also, it's not just protecting under-age people from reading the material - the books have to appeal to the people ordering them for the shelves as well. And many are made uncomfortable by the little splashes and full-frontal nudity in some titles, especially if that title isn't well-known.

Books like the "Finder" series and "Maiden Rose" are well known, so they're more likely to get a "pass" from stock managers because the managers know they will sell, even if the hardcore scenes make the managers uncomfortable. If the person in charge of stocking a store isn't familiar with manga, he or she can question the staff and find someone with enough manga knowledge to either be able to say, "yes, this title will sell," or could do a little internet search to discover if a title is well known, too. Then again, I'm sure there's a percentage of stock mangers that won't stock certain BL books (or none at all), based purely on their belief systems - at least, until someone higher up orders that the books be stocked (and how often does that happen??).

The point is, plastic wrap isn't Teflon and there's so many different reasons a manager won't stock a book that it seems like some publishers tend to err on the side of caution unless the title is very popular.