About

Chinese Anime Censorship refers to a series of parody edits to anime screenshots in which blood is recolored from red to white, making the blood appear to look like semen. The edits are accompanied by text incorrectly claiming the recolored blood is due to Chinese censorship, causing some to believe the screenshots are genuine.

Origin

On May 22nd, 2022, Twitter^[1] user @bilgoooone tweeted "BRO WTF IS UP WITH CHINA'S CENSORSHIP BRO THIS GENUINELY LOOKS WORSE THAN BLOOD" with a screenshot from 清少纳言Official^[2] (@karudeavtuber) on Bilibili^[3] comparing an image of a young Yor from Spy x Family covered in blood, with an edit in which the blood is recolored white. The tweet received 4,976 likes and retweets 832 retweets in 12 days (shown below).

It's possible the joke may be a reference to other edits to anime made for Chinese audiences, which are usually done to have characters wear less-revealing clothing or give characters smaller breasts.^[6]

Spread

Later on May 22nd, @lortomo1^[4] tweeted "China tried to censor the blood in spy x family and ended up making it worse…" with an image comparing the same screenshot and edit (shown below, left). Over 12 days, the tweet received 148,200 likes and 13,300 retweets. On June 1st, @A_GustyGal^[5] tweeted "Chinese censorship gettin' quite odd…" with an edit of a still from When They Cry and received 7,610 likes and 1,019 retweets. (shown below, right)

Some online were unaware that the edits were parodies and not real evidence of Chinese censorship of anime. For example, user @sanjistars^[7] tweeted, China gotta stop censoring stuff in anime 😭 it literally looks like CUM," gaining over 30 retweets and 600 likes (shown below, left). User @batsugeemu^[8] tweeted their frustration with the misunderstanding, writing, "god if i have to see one of those "omg china censored blood in anime into white so it looks like cum" posts i'll lose my mind. you people will believe ANYTHING about china."

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable

External References