Kinopoisk made up an HIV diagnosis for an anime character to hide hints about LGBT people

Because of this, some scenes began to look unnatural

A censored version of the anime “Stein’s Gate” was released on Kinopoisk, in which, due to the ban on “LGBT propaganda,” the storyline of one of the characters was changed, “Vorstka” drew attention.

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In the original series, the character Ruka Urushibara is a young man of androgynous appearance who finds it difficult to accept himself in the body of a man. He wears women's clothes and dreams of becoming a girl. In the eighth episode, he has the opportunity to interfere with the past by sending a message to his mother to be born a girl.

Nothing is said about the girl with HIV in the original version of the anime.

In the version on Kinopoisk, which was released at the end of 2025, Ruka was presented as a girl with HIV, which was not mentioned in the original. The storyline and dialogues were reworked - in this version, the Hand is trying to change the past in order to be born healthy.

“I’m sorry, but all this time I’ve been hiding one secret from you: I was born HIV-infected and lived with it all my life... Dad once told me: when my mother was pregnant, she went to a nail salon and got infected there. Now, if only it were possible to warn her...” says Ruka in the censored version.

At the same time, in the version on Kinopoisk the video sequence was preserved, which is why some moments began to look unnatural. So, in the original, one of the heroines, after confessing Ruki, touches him in the chest area to make sure that he is a guy. After this, a male symbol appears in the frame, explaining to the viewer what is happening. In the version on Kinopoisk, at this moment the characters discuss HIV.

The studio that performed the translation explained that the censorship was introduced due to the ban on “LGBT propaganda”

The censored translation was carried out by the Amber studio, commissioned by the Deep company. In response to the indignation of viewers, Amber replied that censorship had to be introduced due to the law banning “LGBT propaganda.”

“Do you propose to leave the original idea and everyone agree to comply with the law, or completely cut out the character?” — wrote the Amber telegram channel, responding to a comment from one of the users.

Stein's Gate is an anime with science fiction elements released in 2011. It is included in the top 50 best anime series in the IMDB rating , based on user ratings.

As Vorstka previously calculated, out of 71 multi-part films that touched on LGBT themes in one way or another, only 25 can now be viewed on the Kinopoisk online cinema website. Often this will not be the series that viewers wanted to see at all - almost all the films have been censored , and some have completely lost their meaning due to norms limiting the “propaganda” of LGBT people or childfree people.

Despite this, cases of “LGBT propaganda” were opened against the top managers of Kinopoisk, Ivy, Amediateka and Beeline, with a total of seven protocols drawn up.

Photo: Still from the anime “Stein's Gate”

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