Though Netflix fumbled the bag with its advertising of JoJo’s Weird Journey: Stone Ocean, it managed to keep away from a hefty copyright strike from Disney by eradicating one of the vital beloved scenes within the manga.
It’s no secret to JoJo enjoyers that anime variations alter the names of their song-lyric-reference villains and stands. Prior to now, we’ve seen alterations like Vanilla Ice to Cool Ice and Infamous B.I.G. to Infamous Chase and Stone Ocean is not any exception. Whereas many followers anticipated stands like Limp Bizkit to be referred to with names like “Flaccid Pancake” as they have been in Stone Ocean’s unique manga translation, Netflix as a substitute opted to simply flip a couple of letters as a substitute. Thus Flaccid Pancake, for instance, is now “Limp Vizkit.” Whereas barely altering character names is barely disappointing to manga readers, it’s come as no shock that David Manufacturing’s opted to outright exclude Mickey Mouse and a large number of the manga’s minefield of references to well-known cartoon characters from the anime.
Within the two-part episode “Bohemian Ecstatic” (a intelligent obfuscation of the manga title, “Bohemian Rhapsody”), Narciso Anasui and Climate Report (now referred to as Climate Forecast) are pitted towards a stand person named Ungalo. Ungalo’s stand, Bohemian Rhapsody, has the ability to deliver fictional characters to life to do his bidding. Mentioned fictional characters then horrifically body-snatch human beings they’re in shut proximity to. Scary stuff, that.
Within the manga chapter the anime episode’s based mostly on, Anasui and Climate Report have been on their solution to Disney World after escaping Inexperienced Dolphin Road Jail, and Anasui (the voice of the viewers) petulantly yelled, “If there’s no Mickey, this shit ain’t Disney!” Apparently, JJBA creator Hirohiko Araki wished to attract Mickey Mouse on this chapter, however his editors rightly suggested him towards it. In fact, Araki compromised by sneaking in a drawing of the rat’s tail. The Netflix adaptation wasn’t so daring, and has eliminated any and all references to Mickey and Disney.
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Although most of those characters have landed within the public area, had Stone Ocean boldly included the remainder of Bohemian Rhapsody’s minions, it will have landed Netflix in scorching water.
For instance simply how rapidly this episode would’ve resulted in a swift cease-and-desist, here’s a listing of the entire copyright strike-worthy references from the manga and the corresponding anime alterations, if any:
- Astro Boy (seen and talked about, no adjustments)
- Aladdin (seen and talked about, no adjustments)
- Massive Dangerous Wolf (seen and talked about, no adjustments)
- Disney World (unseen, referenced as “a well-known theme park”)
- Chewbacca (unseen, however title talked about)
- E.T. (minimize from anime solely)
- Fist of the North Star’s Kenshiro and Raoh (unseen, however title talked about)
- Large Robo (seen and talked about, no adjustments)
- Gigantor (seen and talked about, no adjustments)
- Little Pink Driving Hood (seen and talked about, no adjustments)
- Leo the lion from the MGM Studios brand (minimize from anime solely)
- Mazinger’s Mazinger Z (seen and talked about, no adjustments)
- Mickey Mouse (unseen, referenced as “a extremely well-known character”)
- Mona Lisa (unseen on this half at the least, however title talked about)
- Peter Pan (minimize from anime solely)
- Pinocchio (seen and talked about, no adjustments)
- Prince Charming (unseen, however title talked about)
- Spider-Man (bought became Batman: unseen, however title talked about)
- Terminator T-1000 (unseen, however title talked about)
- Three Little Pigs (minimize from anime solely)
- Tinker Bell (minimize from anime solely)
- Tweety Chicken (unseen, however title talked about)
- Snoopy (minimize from anime solely)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (seen and talked about, no adjustments)
- Vincent van Gogh (seen and talked about, no adjustments)
As you’ll be able to see, David Manufacturing had so much to deal with when it got here to delineating which characters to adapt into this explicit arc and which have been higher left alone. Why David Manufacturing determined to alter Spider-Man to Batman is anybody’s guess. Thankfully, its adjustments didn’t scale back the silliness of this two-part episode. Personally, I’d take these adjustments over the earlier batch of episodes’ ditching of the scene by which Jolyne Cujoh spoils The Sixth Sense’s well-known plot twist. Let my lady be a menace, dammit.