TV Edits of the Viewtiful Joe Anime: Episode 11

In this episode, Joe and Junior come across a town with no color that has been long since abandoned after the color was completely sucked out by a pair of Jadow villains, with only one lone painter voiced by Mona Marshall still there doing what she loves, color or no.

Not exactly a premise that would require a lot of censorship, but let's see.

For whatever reason the English version opens in medias res with Joe and Junior sidling along a clifftop before fading to the actual start of the episode.

In that actual start, some lingering establishing shots of Digicolor Town are cut out for time in English.  That wide shot of Joe and Junior walking into frame is enough.

For whatever reason, the words "Coco" on the big sign above Coco's art store is edited out in English except for the last O.  Coco is a word used for a lot of things and this was well over a decade before Pixar's movie of that name.  Besides that they, didn't edit out of the window covers.  Huh?

Coco explaining Digicolor Town's situation before she gets to the Monochromataloids is a little bit shorter in English, for time, and then after that about 20 seconds is cut in which Coco says that she is not giving up and she will continue to paint from the heart whether there's color or not, to which Joe thinks she's super cute.  That Coco continues to paint even without color and Joe thinks she's cute are both demonstrated later so the English editors might've thought this part was unnecessary.  I think it helps because by having Coco not say this, it makes the scene later showing her painting a case of show don't tell.

When Joe tells Coco he's Viewtiful Joe, the English version adds a bunch of clips of Joe's heroics from previous episodes as he delivers a silly speech about who he is.  This sets up the punchline that Coco hasn't heard of him.  In the Japanese version he just says he's Viewtiful Joe and she doesn't know who he is.  I like the English version adding another one of Joe's monologues, but I thought they needed to be editing things out for time, not adding things in.

After Joe and Junior leave the art studio, the English version cuts to the part from after they're sidling on a clifftop because that was already used at the beginning of the episode.

The names of the Monochromataloids (which I don't think is a name in the Japanese version) in Japanese are Blacky and Whitey.  Setting aside that those are names used for racial insensitivity, they're also boring names, which might be the point.  After all, the whole premise is that no color makes things boring and passionless.  In English they go with the better names Black Out and White Out, because those are terms meaning to take away light and color, which is what they do.  The English version also gives them some funny banter.  In Japanese they're pretty straightforward villains, which again, them being boring might've been the point, but I don't think the Japanese version goes through with that idea enough to make them a counterpoint to passion.  The English version's dialogue makes them fun.

When Joe is in bed at Coco's place, a bit from the Japanese version where Joe moves his hand around to show he's regaining his energy is cut from the English version.

When Joe is knocked down, the Monochromataloids kick him while he's down in the Japanese version as the camera zooms out to show Alastor watching.  In the English version, a still of the image of them kicking Joe is used for a shorter zoom out to instead show the two standing over Joe asking if he's still alive.  Too much violence perhaps?  Other scenes of Joe getting beat up are kept, albeit with a few hit flashes.

There were a few edits in this one, only one (maybe 2) were because of censorship.  I'm not sure what the thought process behind starting the episode with a later scene is, but I like some of the English version's other choices.  Sprocket's back in the next episode so I'm expecting some more changes than this.