Censor Steam: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

The use of strategically placed steam or smoke to censor the "naughty bits". Used most often in [[Anime]], but also in [[Western Animation]]. Its use in [[Live Action TV|Live Action]] is rarer, as real smoke is hard to control, and is often transparent. Most recently, [[Censor Steam]] can also be seen in the form of glimmering rays of light, or black shadows.

A [[Baker's Dozen]] meets the two ideas in the middle.

 

 

The comedic version is usually [[Relax-O-Vision]].

* Pick any anime based on manga by Ken Akamatsu; ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'' has this in ''spades''. In his mangas there is often no steam, and the outlines of breasts and buttocks will be plainly displayed, but the characters will be drawn without [[Barbie Doll Anatomy|"naughty"]] details.

* In ''[[Fruits Basket]]'', when the Juuninshi turn back from animals into (completely naked) humans, the transformation is accompanied by clouds of magical glittery stuff that handily obscures almost everything but the character's face.

* In the ''[[Blue Drop]]'' anime, the scene between Mari and Hagino in the pool gets obscured by immense air bubbles right at the moment {{spoiler|when the girls declare their love and kiss}}, in a degree of prudishness that is quite removed from the [[Hentai|straightforward nature]] of the original manga.

* ''[[Digimon Savers]]'': When [[Big Bad|Kurata]] is upgrading the [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]], they're in [[People Jars|tubes]] half-full of [[Censor Steam]]. The two males are sufficiently covered, while the lone female is sitting down for some reason.

* Oddly present during Subaru and Teana's [[Shower Scene]] in the ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' [[Comic Book Adaptation|supplementary manga set before the third season]]. Oddly, because the manga isn't shy about displaying the characters in all their [[Barbie Doll Anatomy|undetailed glory]].

{{quote| '''Eiichiro Oda:''' If it didn't just so happen to obscure the view, you'd see his weenie.}}

* While both the ''[[Black Lagoon]]'' manga and anime show Revy's nipples during a [[Shower Scene]], steam conveniently covers her crotch.

* ''[[The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya]]'' uses this ''in-universe'' for the [[Non-Indicative First Episode|video they made for the school festival]].

** Wasn't it Lampshaded?

* Kaito from ''[[Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch]]''.

* ''[[Strike Witches]]'' takes liberal use of this in the bath scenes, and the steam is then removed for the DVD releases. Becomes a bit too obvious as the steam follows the more naked characters around while ignoring others

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' regularly uses steam when the female characters are bathing. How much it covers actually varies much.

 

 

== Card Games ==

 

 

* [http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5bcfpMCxb6I/SgbNV8-fMTI/AAAAAAAAFOg/siYBDHIV5lI/s1600-h/Spider-Man+%23593+003.jpg The Censor Steam] looks good on Peter Parker, too.

** Gwen Stacy's "return" in the ''Smoke and Mirrors'' arc has an overt case of this.

* Cloud from ''[[The Defenders]]'' had a 'costume' that consisted of swirls of cloud covering her privates.

 

 

== Films -- Live Action ==

* The "Arnie" cameo in ''[[The Terminator|Terminator Salvation]]'', as spoofed in [http://cartoons.sev.com.au/Sev-Space/Terminator/s965 this Sev Trek cartoon].

* Done to great comedic effect in ''[[My Fair Lady]]'', when Professor Higgins's servants give Eliza Doolittle her first bath. The entire frame fills with steam as they close in on her, so that all we see are billows of white and an occasional towel (all while she loudly protests, "I'm a good girl, I am!").

* An (interrupted) almost-sex scene in the B-picture [[Hell Comes To Frogtown]] uses the shadow of the the female character's own leg as her [[Censor Steam]].

 

== Literature ==

 

 

* The end of the first season of the 2000s ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' has a mob of identical Cylon women nude save for unexplained black censor steam.

** Yes, I believe that's known as a shadow.

* ''[[Highlander the Series]]''' first episode, Tessa's shower scene. Interestingly, the amount of censor steam had to be upped for the US version-the amount in the original wasn't enough to get past US censors.

 

 

== Video Games ==

* When ''[[Bayonetta]]'' summons a demon, it is formed from her clothes, but a trail of [[Censor Steam]] still remains to preserve her modesty.

* Used to obscure some showering co-eds in the second installment of ''[[The Spellcasting Series]]''.

* In [[Turgor]] when interacting with the Sisters to give them Color, they're completely naked save for binding chains that, for the most part, obscure all of their "fiddly bits".

 

== Web Comics ==

* In ''[[Magellan]]'' the invulnerable Charisma Epoch has her dress completely burned off by a ball of fire... lucky for her the [http://magellanverse.com/?p=635 smoke lingers] long enough to barely shield her modesty.

* Subverted in [http://intragalacticcomic.com/2010/02/05/135-closet-fight/ this] ''[[Intragalactic]]'', where the smoke covers the man's nipples, but not the woman's.

 

 

* The heroine "Fire" in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', while using her power, is essentially naked, except for strategically placed wisps of green flame.

** The artists had to go through several different designs [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|to get it past the censors]].

* ''[[Invisible Network of Kids]]'': One episode featured a shot of three boys showering naked; conveniently placed steam was the only thing covering their crotches.