Shoujo Tsubaki: The Scary Anime Banned in Japan!

Recently, most countries, including Japan, have banned the release of an anime film titled Shoujo Tsubaki. 

They refused to release the film because its content is considered too "terrifying" and could disturb many viewers. 

For geeks who don't know, the film is adapted from a manga of the same name by Suehiro Maruo in 1984. 

Broadly speaking, the film tells the story of a 14-year-old girl named Midori who experiences emotional trauma due to various bad things that happen to her.

When Midori becomes an orphan (due to her mother's terrible death), she then joins a circus team. 

However, there, she begins to be emotionally and physically abused by its members. 

Worse yet, Midori also has to endure harassment from other members, making her life even more tragic. 

And although Midori eventually escapes from the circus, the end of the story is not very happy for her.

Because the film has a disturbing story, its director, Hiroshi Harada, also had difficulty raising funds for its production. 

That's why he had to finance the film using his personal savings. 

Harada also took on several roles due to a lack of additional staff. 

In addition to being the director, Harada also served as the screenwriter, storyboard artist, and main animator. 

And that's why it took at least five years to complete the film.

Harada admitted to making over 5,000 illustrations for the project. 

Before making the film about Midori, Harada also made a film about bullying. 

And Midori herself admitted that she had been a victim of bullying, which eventually led her to make the film. 

In Japan, Shoujo Tsubaki is considered a classic work and has a great influence on the world of horror manga art. 

However, outside Japan, the story of Shoujo Tsubaki is still relatively unknown and rarely discussed widely.

Despite its great influence, in the end, the anime film had to be banned in Japan.