Although Netflix fumbled with his bag marketing of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Stone Oceanmanaged to avoid a violent Disney copyright strike by removing one of the most popular scenes in the manga.
It is no secret JoJo Enjoy that anime adaptations change the names of their song lyric reference villains and stalls. In the past we’ve seen changes like Vanilla Ice to Cool Ice and Notorious BIG to Notorious Chase Rocky Ocean is no exception. While many fans expected stands like Limp Bizkit to be referred to by names like “Flaccid Pancake” since they were in Rocky Ocean‘s original manga translation, Netflix opted to flip just a few letters instead. For example, Flaccid Pancake is now called Limp Vizkit. While slightly altered character names may come as a bit of a disappointment to manga readers, it’s no surprise that David Productions chose to completely exclude Mickey Mouse and a variety of references to famous cartoon characters from the anime from the manga’s minefield.
In the two-part episode “Bohemian Ecstatic” (a clever disguise of the manga title “Bohemian Rhapsody”), Narciso Anasui and Weather Report (now Weather Forecast) face off against a Stand user named Ungalo. ungalo’s stand, Bohemian Rhapsody, has the power to bring fictional characters to life to carry out his bidding. Said fictional characters then horribly grab people they are in close proximity to. Creepy stuff that.
In the manga chapter the anime episode is based on, Anasui and Weather Report were on their way to Disney World after escaping Green Dolphin Street Prison, and Anasui (the audience’s voice) irritably yelled, “If there’s no Mickey, that shit ain’t Disney!” Apparently, JJBA However, creator Hirohiko Araki wanted to draw Mickey Mouse in this chapter Editors rightly advised him against it. Of course, Araki compromised by sneaking in a drawing of the rat’s tail. The Netflix adaptation wasn’t as bold and removed all references to Mickey and Disney.
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Although most of these characters ended up in the public domain, had Rocky Ocean
To illustrate how quickly this episode would have resulted in a quick omission, here is a list of all copyright-worthy references from the manga and their corresponding anime modifications, if any:
- Astro Boy (seen and mentioned, no changes)
- Aladdin (seen and mentioned, no changes)
- Big Bad Wolf (seen and mentioned, no changes)
- Disney World (unseen, referred to as “a famous theme park”)
- Chewbacca (unseen but name mentioned)
- ET (completely cut from anime)
- Fist of the North Star Kenshiro and Raoh (unseen but named)
- Giant Robo (seen and mentioned, no changes)
- Gigantor (seen and mentioned, no changes)
- Little Red Riding Hood (seen and mentioned, no changes)
- Leo the lion from the MGM Studios logo (cut entirely from anime)
- Mazinger‘s Mazinger Z (seen and mentioned, no changes)
- Mickey Mouse (unseen, referred to as “a really famous character”)
- Mona Lisa (unseen at least in this partbut named)
- Peter Pan (completely cut from anime)
- Pinocchio (seen and mentioned, no changes)
- Prince Charming (unseen but name mentioned)
- Spider-Man (was turned into Batman: invisible but name mentioned)
- Terminator T-1000 (unseen but name mentioned)
- Three Little Pigs (cut entirely from anime)
- Tinker Bell (completely cut from anime)
- Tweety Bird (not seen but name mentioned)
- Snoopy (completely cut from anime)
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (seen and mentioned, no changes)
- Vincent van Gogh (seen and mentioned, no changes)
As you can see, David Production struggled a lot when it came to describing which characters should be adapted into this particular arc and which ones should be left alone. Why David Production decided to adapt Spider-Man into Batman is unclear. Luckily, his changes didn’t lessen the silliness of this two-part episode. Personally, I would adopt these changes from the cancellation of the scene where Jolyne spoils Cujoh in the previous episodes The sixth Sense‘s famous plot twist. Make my girl a threat, damn it.