Censorship of nudity in Singapore and Indonesia VS Japan

Actually I was wondering if I should remove the nipples in the first panel for fear that Facebook or Instagram might terminate my account. But if I removed it, the comic will not accurately portray the absence of censorship and freedom of artistic expression in Japan. So in order to preserve my message, I decided to upload this comic to my blog and my Patreon page only.


How publisher censored nudity in Indonesia

If you read my post earlier about my visit to Elex Media, my publisher in Indonesia, you would know that I was impressed with their "censorship" department. These guys actually replicate elements from the original drawings to cover up the sensitive areas: such as falling leaves, cans on the floor (to censor magazine covers next to the cans), or speech balloons. As you know, there is A LOT of nudity in Japanese manga, so there is actually quite an amount of work to do.


How publisher censored nudity in Singapore

Maybe because our market here is very small, so our publishers are also very small (actually our one and only manga publisher Chuangyi closed down last year).  Therefore the most efficient way was to simply make the nude wear something by drawing directly on top of the comic. It can be bra, swimsuits or black T-shirt. It is the most economical method because you can simply draw on top of the manuscripts. But of course, it does make you wonder why they are wearing lingerie while showering, or nipples simply gone from the breasts... What about genitals you might ask? If it involves too much explicit sexual activity (aka porn), needless to say, the whole series will not be allowed to be published by local publishers and banned for sale at local bookstores.


Nudity in Japan

Nude men and women (ok mostly women) can be found in many Japanese manga. You can also easily find porn manga and magazines in regular convenient stores! Although they restrict anybody below 20 to browse through them, you can still see the covers in full glory when you pass by or simply standing next to it, looking at regular fashion magazines.


As an artist, I do hope that I can express my idea freely without fear of somebody reporting me or removing my account. And I am wondering now if this comic could make it into my book compilation ... perhaps I have to censor away the nipples, depending on my publisher :/


Update:
And this is how Thailand censor nudes:

...with sound effects! (Image credit to my reader: Pruet Tangtrakul!)