The Edit List
Tenchi Muyou OVA Series 2 - ep. 1: Hello, Baby
by Kyle Pope,
This episode revealed another CN taboo besides blood, sex, violence, tobacco and alcohol: Babies. Or more accurately the biological realities of caring for babies. As animated infants go, Tarou is very realistically portrayed. Anyone who's spent any time caring for a baby knows that the bulk of your attention is taken up by putting food into one end and cleaning up the byproducts from the other. This reality was comically yet unflinchingly detailed in this episode.
Tenchi Muyou OVA Series 2: Hello, Baby
1. Long cut. Scene of Tarou peeing on Ryouko and Aeka with Aeka subsequently tossing him across the room into Tenchi cut.
2. Scene of Tarou lying on the couch bottomless and crying while Mihoshi tries to figure out how diapers work cut.
3. Ryouko's "He won't pee so soon" changed to "He won't go so soon".
4. Scene of Mihoshi picking up Tarou and having him pee again cut.
5. Scene of Tarou peeing in Ryouko's face cut.
6. Long cut. Scene of Tenchi in the onsen overhearing Mihoshi giving Tarou a bath cut.
7. Scene of a stressed Mihoshi holding a naked Tarou while an equally stressed Aeka proceeds to drink his formula cut.
8. Tarou's penis digitally removed when Ryouko does her high speed diaper change. (Digital circumcision gone wrong, I guess.)
9. Scene of Tarou relieving himself in the onsen while Washuu bathes him cut.
10. Washuu now wears a green digital one-piece bathing suit.
11. Scene of Tenchi turning to comfort Washuu and confronting her adult bosom cut.
12. Washuu's "I'll be glad to bear a child..." changed to "I'll be glad to go on a date...".
13. Scene of Washuu comforting Ryouko about giving her a little brother and then tossing her into the lake cut.
14. Washuu's "...that I'm lonely come bedtime..." changed to "...that I'm lonely sometime...".
The subject of babysitting was briefly touched upon in an episode of Sailor Moon. While that episode also showed some of the realities of baby care it wasn't to the extent shown in this episode of TM. Far from being portrayed as cute, this episode showed caring for a baby to be messy, draining and endless. Having had to babysit more than a few times in my life I can attest to the truth of this assessment. Babies are a lot of work; not all of it being fun or pleasant. I'm surprised that CN felt it necessary to edit out the messier aspects of baby care as likely as not a lot of their target audience is exposed to this reality already.
Kyle
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