Anime is loved by all parts of the world for multiple reasons, such as its wonderful storyline, excellent characters, valuable life lessons, jaw-dropping action sequences, hilarious moments, and so on. However, sometimes they unintentionally break the rules and regulations of some countries and get banned by them.
In this article, we will provide you with a list of the top 15 anime that are banned, along with the reasons behind them.
Most anime are banned due to extreme violence, gore, nudity, and disturbing content, while sometimes it only takes one character or a small scene for a show to be banned.
Note: We rank each anime on the list according to their IMDB ratings in 2023.
Table of Contents
Top 15 Anime That Are Banned With Reasons
15. Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya
IMDB Ratings | 6.0 |
Genre (s) | Magical Girl |
Number of Episodes | 42 |
Countries Where it is Banned | Russia |
Reasons for Banned | Violation of the Child P*rnographic Law |
Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya is a well-known anime from the Fate franchise. The series depicts the story of an ordinary teen girl who unintentionally gains magical power.
Even though it had a highly captivating visual and good storyline, the series is banned by Russia only for Illya, the main character.
Despite being a teen girl, Illya shares some intimate and sexual scenarios with other characters, which is very against Russia’s child p*rnography laws.
14. Record of Ragnarok
IMDB Ratings | 6.4 |
Genre (s) | Adventure, Dark-Fantasy, Martial Arts |
Number of Episodes | 27 |
Countries Where it is Banned | India |
Reasons for Banned | Depicting Gods in a wrong way |
Record of Ragnarok is one of the best martial arts anime, in which the strongest god fights against the strongest human in the world. In order to protect the earth from being annihilated by gods, the human side has to win as many one-on-one fights against gods as possible.
The problem of the series is depicting the story & appearance of gods in a wrong way. The Indian government is very offensive about the way it depicts Shiva and other gods and can’t afford the disrespect.
13. Kinnikuman
IMDB Ratings | 7.0 |
Genre (s) | Action, Comedy, Sports |
Number of Episodes | 137 |
Countries Where it is Banned | France |
Reasons for Banned | Broken Jr. Outfit’s As Nazi style |
Kinnikuman is one of the most popular comedy anime franchises that first debuted in 1983. The series follows the story of a superhero who needs to win a wrestling tournament to be regarded as the hero of the planet.
Even though the series is filled with plenty of humour that makes you laugh out loud, it is banned in France. The only reason for its banning is Broken Jr., one of the series’ characters who wears a Nazi uniform. By doing that, they broke some strict French rules and got banned by their government.
12. How not to Summon a Demon Lord
IMDB Ratings | 7.0 |
Genre (s) | Isekai, Fantasy, Harem, Comedy |
Number of Episodes | 22 |
Countries Where it is Banned | Australia |
Reasons for Banned | Nudity |
Despite being the fans favorite harem anime, How Not to Summon a Demon Lord is banned in Australia. They have very absolute reasons, such as showing nudity and having too many sexual scenarios.
It happens with every borderline hentai anime: either they are entirely banned or get censored by most of the countries. Even though the series was banned, it features a very interesting isekai storyline and a wide range of hottest anime girls, or some of the best waifu in the anime medium.
11. Hetalia: Axis Powers
IMDB Ratings | 7.3 |
Genre (s) | Historical, Comedy |
Number of Episodes | 95 |
Countries Where it is Banned | South Korea |
Reasons for Banned | Removing Korean War Heroes and False Contents |
Hetalia: Axis Powers is one of the well-known anime that are banned. This series is set at the time of World War II, when Korea and Japan split into two different countries. However, Korean viewers find this series very offensive to the image of South Korea and also regard it as a national crime.
Furthermore, the series also received allegations of removing some Korean war heroes from the series, which is why South Korea banned this anime.
10. Pokemon
IMDB Ratings | 7.5 |
Genre (s) | Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy |
Number of Episodes | 1238 |
Countries Where it is Banned | Saudi Arabia |
Reasons for Banned | Gambling and Misleading moments |
Who believes that Pokemon, one of the greatest anime franchises consisting of more than 1200 episodes, will be banned by any country? This series just depicts the adventurous journey of a boy who catches Pokemon and battles against opponents with them.
The series has nothing that was banned by any country, but due to its card games, it was banned by Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia hates the gambling concept of franchises, doesn’t want their people to be involved in these bad (haram) activities, and is misled by them.
9. Highschool DXD
IMDB Ratings | 7.6 |
Genre (s) | Harem, Comedy, Supernatural |
Number of Episodes | 48 |
Countries Where it is Banned | New Zealand |
Reasons for Banned | Nudity |
We are all definitely familiar with the most popular harem anime of all time, High School DXD. Even though it is not a hentai anime, it still features plenty of sexual scenarios that are very uncomfortable for young viewers.
Furthermore, the characters of the series, especially its sexiest anime girls, are too involved with sexual activities. As a result, Highschool DXD became one of the most popular anime that were banned, and the series is entirely banned in New Zealand.
8. Black Butler
IMDB Ratings | 7.7 |
Genre (s) | Dark-Comedy, Dark-Fantasy, Supernatural |
Number of Episodes | 46 |
Countries Where it is Banned | China |
Reasons for Banned | Dark scenes and Rebellious plot |
Black Butler is one of the dark anime as well as one of the popular anime that are banned. In this series, the protagonist makes contact with an evil soul and goes against Queen Victoria to get revenge for his family’s murder.
The series is banned in China along with its manga counterparts for several reasons, such as dark themes, violence, gore, and disturbing scenes.
However, their main reason is its political connection with England’s politics and the rebel plot that was completely against the Chinese government’s policy.
7. Tokyo Ghoul
IMDB Ratings | 7.7 |
Genre (s) | Dark-Fantasy, Supernatural, Thriller |
Number of Episodes | 48 |
Countries Where it is Banned | China and Russia |
Reasons for Banned | Disturbing Plot, Cannibalism, Gore |
Now comes Tokyo Ghoul, whose manga broke several records, including being one of the most-sold manga of all time. However, all these records and appreciation do not matter to China and Russia, which banned this anime.
Both countries gave multiple reasons to ban this anime, such as disturbing stories, cruelty, murder, violence, and gore that can greatly impact teens in their countries. Furthermore, the ghoul in the series feeds on human flesh, which is quite dark and disturbing for teens.
6. Elfen Lied
IMDB Ratings | 7.9 |
Genre (s) | Dark-Fantasy, Science-Fiction |
Number of Episodes | 13 |
Countries Where it is Banned | China |
Reasons for Banned | Violence, gore, and a rebellious plot |
Elfen Lied is also a great anime with a good storyline and excellent characters. However, it is still banned in China for several reasons, such as extreme violence, gore, and so on. However, their main reason is the series’ rebellion plot, which might influence people in China.
Furthermore, China wants to create an ideal citizen and can’t take the risk that any series, especially those with a rebellion plot, influences its people through any means.
5. Paranoia Agent
IMDB Ratings | 8.0 |
Genre (s) | Mystery, Psychological, Thriller, Supernatural |
Number of Episodes | 13 |
Countries Where it is Banned | Japan |
Reasons for Banned | Dark theme and Terrible situations |
Paranoia Agent was created by one of the finest creators in Japan, Satoshi Kon, and is one of the well-known anime that are banned. The series excellently depicts the transition between reality and the imaginary lives of people.
It features a very impactful storyline along with some terrible situations in which people create their own imaginary world. As the series is quite dark and has the potential to leave a great impact on viewers, Japan partially banned the series and never broadcast it on TV.
4. Kite
IMDB Ratings | 8.0 |
Genre (s) | Crime, Hentai, Girls with Guns |
Number of Episodes | 2 |
Countries Where it is Banned | Most of the European Countries |
Reasons for Banned | Violations of Child P*rnographic Laws |
Kite is one of the most successful short anime that are banned and only consists of two episodes. In this series, our female protagonist may look very innocent, but she can’t hold back from killing evil people.
By seeing its high ratings on IMDb, you will get an idea of how amazing this series is. However, it has only one fault: the sexual relationship between the patient and her guardian. As a result, the anime is banned in most European countries for violating child p*rnographic laws.
3. Serial Experiments Lain
IMDB Ratings | 8.1 |
Genre (s) | Cyberpunk, Psychological, Horror |
Number of Episodes | 13 |
Countries Where it is Banned | China |
Reasons for Banned | Featuring depressing moments |
Serial Experiments Lain is the one of the best psychological anime and excellently depicts several aspects of society, human lifestyle, and the dark side of the internet. Due to its very impactful plot, this series raised numerous questions in the viewer’s mind.
Moreover, the series is also capable of changing anyone’s perspective on society. As a result, several countries, including China, banned this anime because they couldn’t see their people being influenced and depressed by it.
2. Death Note
IMDB Ratings | 9.0 |
Genre (s) | Mystery, Psychological, Thriller, Supernatural |
Number of Episodes | 37 |
Countries Where it is Banned | China, Mexico and Russia |
Reasons for Banned | Bad influence on children |
There is no doubt that Death Note is one of the greatest anime of all time and has received an enormous amount of love and appreciation from all parts of the world.
Even though it features a highly engaging and interesting storyline, this masterpiece is banned in three major countries in the world: China, Mexico, and Russia.
The only reason for its ban is the students of these countries, who brought Death Note label notebooks to their school and wrote the names of people they did not like. As a result, this series has a bad influence on students and might take them in the wrong way.
1. Attack On Titan
IMDB Ratings | 9.1 |
Genre (s) | Action, Dark Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic |
Number of Episodes | 88 |
Countries Where it is Banned | China |
Reasons for Banned | Rebelling plots against the government |
Despite being the modern masterpiece of the anime medium, Attack on Titan is still banned in China. After all, the series is about going against the government and might have the chance to influence Chinese people to do the same, which is why China banned this masterpiece.
In this series, the protagonist just wants to free his people from Titans, but later he has another goal. Now he is ready to sacrifice the entire world to protect his own people.
Conclusion
We’ll wrap up this article by going over each of the anime that are banned in different countries. Despite being banned in some countries, they have an immense fan-following around the world. We hope you found our list to be more useful and know the reasons why they are banned in some countries.
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I am Sahil Khan and I was born in Dhanbad and raised in New Delhi, India. I am currently pursuing my graduation while also pursuing my passion for writing about anime. This is because I have been an otaku since I was 7 and writing about anime helps me overcome my stress while also honing my writing skills. Aside from writing, I am a filmmaker and an actor.