A day 1 update for Koei Tecmo Games’ Fairy Tail JRPG has censored panty shots on all of the female characters on all platforms.
Users on GameFAQs had discovered a difference in the game’s costumes- including the Digital Deluxe Edition costumes– from the Japanese version.
In both the Japanese and English versions of the DDX Costume trailer, we can see a panty shot (0:10 in the Japanese trailer, 0:14 in the English one). This is hardly surprising, considering the large amount of fan-service in the original Fairy Tail manga.
However, fans recreating that same scene in the western version (the same character, performing the same attack, in the same costume) found a dark shadowy void where the panties were. One user in the GameFAQs thread claimed “So I played the game right as I came out digital. Then I updated to 1.01 and the skirt thing was censored. Kinda weird.”
That same user elaborated in another thread.
“I played the game from the moment it downloaded. At first there were in fact pantsu shots of lucy. Then the game updates to 1.01 and now it’s a fading to black area under the skirt. It doesn’t look bad but still weird they choose to do it at all when they said they wouldn’t censor it”
Others expressed their confusion, considering some of the game’s costumes included two-piece swimsuits that could expose the very top or bottom of the buttocks.
Sankaku Complex (Editor’s Note: Preceding link is to a website that can have NSFW content on other pages) reported other gameplay footage on YouTube showing censorship of that costume [1, 2]. They also discovered Japanese gameplay of the game where another character was censored. The latter appears to be a pre-release livestream.
Looking at other gameplay footage, it seems all female characters have this dark void on costumes with dresses and skirts (16:01, 22:27, 33:06, 41:48, 42:39). Please note most of these scenes occur for mere frames, and can be hard to notice.
Some instances may show black panties or be other parts of the costume, as they lack the feathered gradient to darkness (33:26, 39:21). The censorship also appears inconsistent with one character’s dress-like costumes (being heavily armored). Some characters also have thighs so thick that despite wearing a skirt, no panty shot appears possible (49:01).
This censorship is in spite of most of the female character’s costumes featuring deep cleavage on large breasts, the aforementioned swimsuits, or clothes that expose the hips to imply no underwear is being worn. It also appears to be applicable to the PC version (even to Steam users in Japan), and DLC costumes [1, 2].
The censorship appears to be be applied to all platforms the game is on- Windows PC, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation 4. We are attempting to confirm if the game is censored on consoles in Japan as well.
While the game’s launch trailer features no scenes where panty shots can be seen, the English DDX Costume premiered July 2nd- almost one month prior to the game’s July 30th and 31st launch (depending on platform and region).
The Japanese livestream gameplay where we saw the censorship (though uploaded by a third party) could have been broadcast no later than July 27th. Could there have been a change ordered between the English costume trailer, and the game’s launch?
According to the Fairy Tail Fandom wiki, only three of the female characters shown are aged 18 or over [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Nonetheless, this does not explain the change being applied to all characters, or why the panty shots were not censored earlier in development (if the publisher and developer knew it would need to be censored later)?
We will keep you informed as we learn more.
Image: Imgur