Senkou no Night Raid Ep. 7 Too Sensitive For TV

You would think that the only reasons for censoring an anime episode - or not airing it on TV altogether - could be extreme violence and/or extreme hawtness. Not so, apparently. As it turns out today, an extremely sensitive political issue (of which Japan certainly has plenty) also qualifies as a good enough reason for removing a whole anime episode from TV, and replacing it with some generic recap crap.



The anime in question is the ongoing spy action series Senkou no Night Raid, which has been airing in Japan for little over a month. A news update posted today on the official website (via ANN) warns fans that next week's Episode 7 will not be shown on TV. It will, however, be streamed freely between May 18 and May 30; presumably on the same official website, and hopefully without country restrictions.

So what's so special about this Episode 7? Well, said episode will deal with the controversial Mukden Incident, which took place on September 18, 1931 and was used by Japan as a pretext to invade Manchuria the very next day. Not unlike the allowed attack on Peark Harbor was used by the US as a pretext to enter World War II, or the September 11 controlled demolitions incidents as a pretext for the whole "war on terror" fiasco.

In the 1931 Mukden Incident, a section of railroad owned by Japan's South Manchuria Railway was dynamited, and Japan conveniently accused Chinese dissidents of the act. By now, however, it's commonly believed that Japanese militarists staged the explosion in order to provide a pretext for war. That said, a consensus on who was responsible for it has yet to be reached, so the controversy continues.

Which brings us back to Episode 7 of Senkou no Night Raid. The producers from studio A-1 Pictures say that it will "depict the point of view of the Japanese in Manchuria during the events leading up to the 1931 Mukden Incident". Should be an interesting watch, as is the anime's entire setting.

As for the repacement episode planned for TV airing on May 18, it will be a special episode called "Yogen" (Prediction). In it, "a key person of the story will discuss the story thus far and predict what will come for Japan's Sakura Kikan spy organization in China". Boring, indeed.