The Dance in the Vampire Bund Brouhaha
Reported by Charles Webb 03-11-2010

Recently, there's been a bit of gnashing of teeth and rending of garments about the U.S. streaming and forthcoming hard copy release of anime Dance in the Vampire Bund. Specifically, U.S. distributor Funimation announced prior to streaming the first episodes that the series would be edited for content due to "controversial elements which, when taken out of context, could be objectionable to some audiences."

Not to beat around the bush but these "controversial elements" were the ample nudity of the show's lead Mina - a vampire who happens to look like a child. Having not seen any version of the series yet (edited or otherwise) I can't weigh in on the prurient nature of the content and I don't feel qualified at this point to dip my toes in the water of what kind of weird need this content is apparently filling (and how misguided getting up in arms about its editing can be*).

But it seems the complaints have to a certain extent yielded results with recent blog post on the Funimation site assuring fans that the distributors are considering an uncut release when the series makes its bow on DVD.

What will be interesting is how sales channels will handle the release (i.e. will big box retailers like Best Buy shy away from it) and how long before there's a slow news day and it reaches the attention of outlets like Fox News? In a post-Chris Handley conviction environment this has the potential to be a battle for the distributor.

It's an interesting spot Funimation finds itself in - one we'll be watching attentively as it develops.