There probably isn't something as prominent as the odd-color haired characters as there is fan service in anime. No doubt you have had experience with ecchi content in at least one anime. It seems that as anime fandom has grown, so too has ecchi anime evolved with the times. Ecchi has advanced forward a lot in the recent years to the point where there are massive amounts of ecchi and censors! Oh, censors...they're everyone's best friend.

There are a handful of ecchi anime out now that are very close to hentai so of course the amount of censors in this type of contents are increasing. Although this may not be new for viewers who are familiar with hentai anime.

Article 175 of the Criminal Code of Japan is a very popular code to cite when it comes down to censorship laws in anime because of the way it is currently interpreted, which essentially bans the depiction of genitalia. Due to this particular article, genitalia is pixelated in hentai anime and scenes deemed particularly ecchi are censored when aired. Even in video games, in particular eroges, genitalia will not be shown or will be pixelated. Though the strictness of the interpretation of Article 175 has vastly changed over the years, there is still a lot of content that is censored. When eroges are released overseas, however, the pixelation may be taken out.

Still, with the way Article 175 of the Criminal Code is interpreted, it has spawned a new era in hentai because it gave birth to things like tentacle porn that Japan is notorious for even in individuals who are not as knowledgeable of Japan.

In Japan, the legal age in which people are deemed as "adults" is at the age of 20. This is the age when individuals can either drink alcohol or smoke. Most anime seem to revolve around high school or middle school students who are not yet adults. While in reality, there are people who defy that law no matter what country they're in, in anime, students are not depicted doing anything that they should not be doing because they're minors.

Usually, to bypass these restrictions, you will often see characters in anime getting "drunk" off of common things like carbonated drinks or water (non human) to add the comedic effect of drunk characters without promoting drinking alcohol because that would be inappropriate and irresponsible!

Often times, though not usually noticeable, content like gore or excessive amounts of blood are censored when making the switch from manga to anime. Your favorite shounen series may seem awesome and you wonder how some of them survive the brutal beatings they get in the fight scenes, but do not be fooled, they're not bleeding because it's been censored out of the anime! In the manga versions, you will be surprised by the vast amounts of blood that didn't show in the anime. You just cannot show that much blood on TV!

If you have ever watched dubbed anime, censorship is not something new to you. While western broadcasting is generally more liberal than it is in Japan, there is still a good amount of censorship.

When it comes down to sexual content, oversexualization of students is not really condoned in the West. While the age of consent in Japan is 13, it is a little if not more so, higher in the West. What is deemed as fan service in anime, may be excessive sexualization in western societies so often, the anime will be altered so you cannot see cleavage or the shape of a bathing woman. This is quite evident in anime such as Sailor Moon, which experienced so much censoring when it was brought over to the West. The magical girl transformations were changed to hide the feminine lines of the bodies of the Sailor Scouts.

Sailor Moon is also notable for censoring out homosexuality when it was dubbed. The relationship between Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune was changed into a familial one that often left viewers confused due to the romantic nature of the scenes in contrast to what was being said. Even the last season of Sailor Moon was omitted from the American release due to the transexual nature of the Sailor Starlights.

The censoring of anime in the west is not limited to sexual content, however. There are many cultural differences and in the west, when anime are dubbed, content may be changed so that they are not viewed in a negative light. If content may seem to be related to black magic, it will be edited or renamed to detract from the negativity of black magic. The Black Magician in Yu-Gi-Oh! was renamed as the Dark Magician so that he would not seem to be related to black magic.

In the west, even under aged smoking, drinking, and doing drugs can be changed as well to abstain from promoting these acts much the way Japan does. However, sometimes Japanese culture may be edited out of anime that is shown in the west to be more relatable to western audiences. Pokemon is a good example; foods have been renamed or even changed completely in the anime. Even something as small as an onigiri has been given different names like "donut" or taken out completely so that western audiences will recognize the food, though how hard is it to recognize a ball of rice.