Censorship in Baldur’s Gate 3 becomes a hit among Japanese players

Spike Chunsoft released the Japanese version of Baldur’s Gate 3 by Larian Studios on December 21 for the PS5. Japanese players who’ve already got their hands on a copy seem to be particularly amused with the creative choices involved in censorship of the characters’ most valuable parts, and this has something to do with a certain Japanese meme involving fig leaves and crotches. 

It had already been announced prior to release that the Japanese PS5 version of Baldur’s Gate 3 would include some changes compared to the global version, that is, that explicit content such as displays of gore and genitalia would be censored. While the standard version of the game allows you to choose whether you want to see or hide the nudity in cutscenes etc., these options have been removed from the Japanese version, making it censored by default. However, the censorship of character genitalia using a single carefully placed fig leaf seems to have had a comedic effect more than anything, and has even contributed to people being completely fine with the censorship – why is it so popular though? 

To put things into context, there’s a certain bizarre song and music video that’s very much alive in Japanese users’ collective memory, and the leaf action in Baldur’s Gate 3 seems to have awakened it. “Yatta!” is a 2001 parody song by a fictional Japanese boy band called the “Green Leaves.” As you would expect, the music video consists of the members dancing and flexing their biceps in nothing but their underwear, with signature fig leaves covering their crotches. The song was a chart topper back in the day, and continues to live on as an immortal internet meme. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 has various moments where characters appear completely nude, such as when you undress them while customizing their appearance or in intimate scenes with other characters. But opting not to see genitals in the game (or playing the censored Japanese version) will cause strategically placed leaves to appear that elegantly hide characters’ intimate parts. This has caused a wave of pleased reactions from Japanese users as well as references to the above-mentioned Green Leaves meme.  Inevitably, there have also been comments about the “leaf actually being even more erotic” as well as jabs at the leaf’s size. 

Why is the Japanese version censored, though? Games ported to consoles in Japan are required to censor depictions of genitalia in order to adhere to the CERO guidelines. Thankfully, there are no rules about how you should go about covering up private parts, so there’s been many different approaches up until now. One example is the Nintendo Switch version of Super Real Mahjong PV, where characters had a mysterious white light emanating from their breasts and crotches. 

In any case, the creative decision that went into censoring the privates of characters in Larian Studio’s Baldur’s Gate 3 seems to have struck a very unexpected chord of nostalgia and humor with Japanese players. 

Baldur’s Gate 3 is available for the PC (Steam), PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.