FUNi Waffling on Vampire Bund

In response to tremendous outrage from the American anime fan community, FUNimation has revised its stance on plans to distribute only a censored version of the Dance in the Vampire Bund anime series. FUNimation now states that an uncensored American DVD release is under consideration pending the content of the series’ remaining 4 yet to air episodes.

FUNimation’s statement reads:

In the days since we announced the acquisition of the anime “Dance in the Vampire Bund,” we have been following the varied responses from within the anime community to our decision to edit specific scenes from its streaming and later home entertainment release.
First, out of concern for our distribution partners and advertisers, we will continue to make minor edits to the episodes which are available via free streaming and television broadcast due to the readily accessible nature of these platforms. We will be careful to keep such edits to a minimum.

However, FUNimation is — as always — committed to bringing the best anime content to the United States in its unedited form on home video. Therefore, we are evaluating the release of the series in unedited and uncensored form for home video. Since only 7 episodes have broadcast in Japan, final determination must be reserved until all episodes can be reviewed to ensure compliance with current U.S. law.

We would like to thank everyone in the anime community for the feedback provided to us on this matter — your opinions count.

This statement does seemingly confirm speculation that FUNimation’s censoring is a direct response to the prosecution of Mr. Christopher Handley for accusations of possessing child pornography in the form of manga and anime.