Though Netflix fumbled the bag with its advertising and marketing of JoJo’s Weird Journey: Stone Ocean, it managed to keep away from a hefty copyright strike from Disney by eradicating some of the 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. Up to now, we’ve seen alterations like Vanilla Ice to Cool Ice and Infamous B.I.G. to Infamous Chase and Stone Ocean isn’t any exception. Whereas many followers anticipated stands like Limp Bizkit to be referred to with names like “Flaccid Pancake” as they had been in Stone Ocean’s unique manga translation, Netflix as an alternative opted to simply flip a couple of letters as an alternative. 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 mess 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 known as Climate Forecast) are pitted towards a stand consumer named Ungalo. Ungalo’s stand, Bohemian Rhapsody, has the ability to carry 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 had been on their method 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 might have landed Netflix in scorching water.
For example simply how shortly this episode would’ve resulted in a swift cease-and-desist, here’s a record of the entire copyright strike-worthy references from the manga and the corresponding anime alterations, if any:
- Astro Boy (seen and talked about, no modifications)
- Aladdin (seen and talked about, no modifications)
- Huge Unhealthy Wolf (seen and talked about, no modifications)
- Disney World (unseen, referenced as “a well-known theme park”)
- Chewbacca (unseen, however identify talked about)
- E.T. (minimize from anime solely)
- Fist of the North Star’s Kenshiro and Raoh (unseen, however identify talked about)
- Big Robo (seen and talked about, no modifications)
- Gigantor (seen and talked about, no modifications)
- Little Purple Driving Hood (seen and talked about, no modifications)
- Leo the lion from the MGM Studios brand (minimize from anime solely)
- Mazinger’s Mazinger Z (seen and talked about, no modifications)
- Mickey Mouse (unseen, referenced as “a extremely well-known character”)
- Mona Lisa (unseen on this half at the very least, however identify talked about)
- Peter Pan (minimize from anime solely)
- Pinocchio (seen and talked about, no modifications)
- Prince Charming (unseen, however identify talked about)
- Spider-Man (bought changed into Batman: unseen, however identify talked about)
- Terminator T-1000 (unseen, however identify talked about)
- Three Little Pigs (minimize from anime solely)
- Tinker Bell (minimize from anime solely)
- Tweety Hen (unseen, however identify talked about)
- Snoopy (minimize from anime solely)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarves (seen and talked about, no modifications)
- Vincent van Gogh (seen and talked about, no modifications)
As you possibly can see, David Manufacturing had rather a lot to cope with when it got here to delineating which characters to adapt into this explicit arc and which had been higher left alone. Why David Manufacturing determined to vary Spider-Man to Batman is anybody’s guess. Fortuitously, its modifications didn’t cut back the silliness of this two-part episode. Personally, I’d take these modifications over the earlier batch of episodes’ ditching of the scene during which Jolyne Cujoh spoils The Sixth Sense’s well-known plot twist. Let my lady be a menace, dammit.