History Main / AdaptationalModesty

* The ''SoulEater'' manga gives main character Maka Albarn many, many panty shots, all of which were removed for the anime.
* The anime version of ''{{Bleach}}'' removed Harribel's {{Underboobs}} and made Nelliel's torn-up rags a little bit less torn up so that her breasts and undersides weren't as exposed as they are in the manga. Likewise, Yoruichi and Soi-Fon's Shunko outfits are given an undershirt so they don't show off sideboob, and a couple of scenes featuring a character naked are redesigned so that we see slightly less of them than was shown in the manga.

Crafting a quality adaptation can be a tricky process, one that often brings with it many things to consider. Between mediums, there are not only different techniques, but also different standards about what is acceptable for certain audiences, especially when it comes to nudity or otherwise sexual content.

This Trope often comes into play with film or television adaptations of literature or comic books, since ideas about what is generally acceptable tends to differ between these mediums. This usually overlaps with PragmaticAdaptation, seeing as the human body [[BigBraToFill cannot usually replicate the impossibly perfect shapes of a drawing]] and physically wearing some outfits are [[ImpossiblyCoolClothes either wildly impractical or would look silly if replicated exactly]].

Also expect this Trope to be invoked when working with child actors, seeing as there are laws in place when working with minors and producers will want to take extra care to avoid landing in a sea of (legal) trouble.

* Zigzagged on the Three Graces, on how they were portrayed over time. For instance, they were initially nude during the Classical Era, then they were covered with sheets in TheMiddleAges, then Botticelli's Primavera portrayed them with transparent underwear, and finally nude again by the 17th century.
* Poked at with the mock SaturdayMorningCartoon of ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', where Dr. Manhattan (typically nude in the novel and movie) is given some briefs to wear. It's all part of the absurdity of trying to make a famously dark story LighterAndSofter.

* Starfire's outfit in WesternAnimation/TeenTitans [[BareYourMidriff shows her midriff]] as well as some ZettaiRyouiki, which is fairly tame compared to the {{Stripperific}} outfits of her comic book counterpart. Raven, ironically, wears less than the comic version; a LeotardOfPower.

* In ''ComicBook/SinCity'', exotic dancer Nancy Callahan does not dance topless as she does in the graphic novel.

** Due to laws about child nudity, a scene where Sansa Stark is stripped naked is changed to just having her dress ripped.

This is where Adaptational Modesty comes into play. It can involve things like making the revealing outfits of the resident MsFanservice slightly less revealing, or reducing what was a lenghty and detailed sex scene in the original work to a SexyDiscretionShot. Other times, it can be something as simple as putting clothes on a character in scenes where the character was actually naked in the original material.

* In the ''{{Film/X-Men}}'' films the main team wear black leather costumes that, while maybe tight, are generally covering the entire body. Other mutants tend to wear either casual street clothes or punk attire. This is all in comparison to the spandex, leotards and/or stripperiffic outfits that many characters use. The exception is Mystique, who is actually less modest as they made her technically nude (naughty bits covered by her mutation) under the concept that she couldn't shapeshift her clothes, while her comic/cartoon counterparts typically wear something skimpy. (Interestingly, in the comics, her clothes even in her true form are shapeshifted.)

* In ''[[Film/ThreeHundred 300]]'' plenty of people found something to joke about with the Spartans wearing leather speedos, but that was a step up from the original graphic novel where often they were completely nude (reflecting Greek art in depicting warfare).

[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* GameOfThrones is no stranger to nudity; however, scenes in Qarth do not depict the custom of women wearing gowns that expose one breast, as described in the [[ASongOfIceAndFire books]], mainly because this would have been way too distracting.

* In ''Franchise/PowerRangers,'' though they're PeopleInRubberSuits and not very sexy to begin with, characters like Jellica from ''Series/PowerRangersJungleFury'' often have more boob-coverage. Necrolai from ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'' almost always has her arm in front of her chest. However, ''human'' villain Nadira from ''Series/PowerRangersTimeForce'' has a ''more'' revealing outfit; midriff bared.

* Zigzagged on the The Three Graces on how they were portrayed over time. For instance, they were initially nude during the Classical Era, then they were covered with sheets in TheMiddleAges, then Botticelli's Primavera portayed them with transparent underwear, and finally nude again by the 17th century.
* Poked at with the mock SaturdayMorningCartoon of ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}, where Dr. Manhattan (typically nude in the novel and movie) is given some briefs to wear. It's all part of the absurdity of trying to make a famously dark story LighterAndSofter.
* It's commonly believed among Biblical scholars that [[Literature/TheBible Jesus]] was naked on the cross. But just try to find a picture that depicts him that way, even from the permissive Renaissance period that gave us Michaelangelo's ''David''.

* [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Poison Ivy]] in the comics is entirely nude with leaves or other types of plants covering her private parts while any cartoon adaptation will usually have her wearing a one piece.

* In the JohnCarterOfMars novels, Mars has a nice climate and the inhabitants don't bother with clothes much; visual adaptations (including ''Film/JohnCarter'' and {{The Asylum}}'s Princess of Mars) always give them at least enough clothing to avoid trouble with the censors.

* Amongst the changes to the {{Gor}} series for the films, the {{Beautiful Slave Girl}}s go from naked (or ''very'' revealing clothes) to wearing bikinis.
* In the {{Film/X-Men}} films the main team wear black leather costumes that, while maybe tight, are generally covering the entire body. Other mutants tend to wear either casual street clothes or punk attire. This is all in comparison to the spandex, leotards and/or stripperiffic outfits that many characters use. The exception is Mystique, who is actually less modest as they made her technically nude (naughty bits covered by her mutation) under the concept that she couldn't shapeshift her clothes, while her comic/cartoon counterparts typically wear something skimpy. (Interestingly, in the comics, her clothes even in her true form are shapeshifted.)
* In SinCity, exotic dancer Nancy Callahan does not dance topless as she does in the graphic novel.
* In the JohnCarterOfMars novels, Mars has a nice climate and the inhabitants don't bother with clothes much; visual adaptations (including Film/JohnCarter and {{The Asylum}}'s Princess of Mars) always give them at least enough clothing to avoid trouble with the censors.

[[AC:Other]]
* It's commonly believed among Biblical scholars that [[Literature/TheBible Jesus]] was naked on the cross. But just try to find a picture that depicts him that way, even from the permissive Renaissance period that gave us Michaelangelo's ''David''.

* It's commonly believed among Biblical scholars that [[TheBible Jesus]] was naked on the cross. But just try to find a picture that depicts him that way, even from the permissive Renaissance period that gave us Michaelangelo's ''David''.

* In ''PowerRangers,'' though they're PeopleInRubberSuits and not very sexy to begin with, characters like Jellica from Jungle Fury often have more boob-coverage. Necrolai from Mystic Force almost always has her arm in front of her chest. However, ''human'' villain Nadira from Time Force has a ''more'' revealing outfit; midriff bared.

* In ''Manga/SgtFrog'' manga, the platoon invents a gun to zap Natsumi with that leads to her wearing a skimpy outfit (it was some kind of thunder goddess outfit). In the anime, the outfit is still skimpy but the underpants part of the outfit is changed to shorts.

* The anime version of ''{{Bleach}}'' removed Harribel's {{Underboobs}} and made Nelliel's torn-up rags a little bit less torn up so that her breasts and undersides weren't as exposed as they are in the manga.

* In the X Men films the main team wear black leather costumes that, while maybe tight, are generally covering the entire body. Other mutants tend to wear either casual street clothes or punk attire. This is all in comparison to the spandex, leotards and/or stripperiffic outfits that many characters use. The exception is Mystique, who is actually less modest as they made her technically nude (naughty bits covered by her mutation) under the concept that she couldn't shapeshift her clothes, while her comic/cartoon counterparts typically wear something skimpy.

* Starfire's outfit in WesternAnimation/TeenTitans [[BareYourMidriff shows her midriff]] as well as some ZettaiRyouiki, which is fairly tame compared to the {{Stripperific}} outfits of her comic book counterpart.

* The cinema adaptation of Ian Fleming's JamesBond story, ''Film/DrNo'', had this problem in filming the iconic scene where Honey Ryder comes up out of the sea and walks up the beach. As generations of short-changed Bond fans have pointed out, in the novel she is stark buff naked. In the film, Ursula Andress has to wear a bikini to meet the social conventions of early 1960's movies.

* The anime adaptation of ''{{Basilisk}}'' censors some of the scenes where the manga which it was based on featured bare breasts. The most prominent example being a scene in which female ninja Akeginu covers her breasts with a scarf whereas she was topless in the manga. Strangely, a later scene that featured one exposed breast was kept as it was in the anime adaptation.

* Poked at with the mock SaturdayMorningCartoon of {{Watchmen}}, where Dr. Manhattan (typically nude in the novel and movie) is given some briefs to wear. It's all part of the absurdity of trying to make a famously dark story LighterAndSofter.

* The sex scenes in the VisualNovel ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' were replaced with abstract animal scenes in both anime series and the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' movie.

* When the novel ''{{Lolita}}'' came out in 1955, a film adaptation of the book seemed impossible, considering that the book is about an adult man who has a paedophilic relationship with his stepdaughter. However, Creator/StanleyKubrick managed to adapt the book to a movie, which came out in 1962. Due to MPAA's regulations of the time, many of the more explicit scenes in the novel were omitted from the movie, or left to the viewers' imagination, though the movie still makes it clear that Humbert Humbert, the protagonist, has an incestuous relationship with Lolita. One rather unfortunate result of the MPAA restrictions was that Kubrick had to get an actress who had already reached puberty to play Lolita. The movie Lolita is thus older than Lolita of the novel, where she is explicitly described as prepubescent, making the movie Humbert more of an ephebophile than a paedophile.
* The cinema adaptation of Ian Fleming's JamesBond story, Dr No, had this problem in filming the iconic scene where Honey Ryder comes up out of the sea and walks up the beach. As generations of short-changed Bond fans have pointed out, in the novel she is stark buff naked. In the film, Ursula Andress has to wear a bikini to meet the social conventions of early 1960's movies.

[[AC:Live Action TV]]
* Series/GameOfThrones has instances of this trope. One of the most prominent examples being the scene in which Bran catches Jaime and Cersei while climbing. In the novel, he catches them in the middle of fornication, in the TV series he climbs in on them in the middle of a passionate kissing session, while both of them are nonetheless still wearing clothes.

** An episode of the anime from season 1 shows Koyuki hanging upside-down, where the skirt part of her ninja uniform flips over and we see her wearing a black pair of shorts. Had this happened in the manga we would have had a view of her panties.

This Trope often comes into play with film or television adaptations of literature or comic books, since ideas about what is generally acceptable tends to differ between these mediums. This usually overlaps with PragmaticAdaptation, seeing as the human body cannot usually replicate the impossibly perfect shapes of a drawing and physically wearing some outfits are either wildly impractical or would look silly if replicated exactly.

Compare Bowdlerization, which is usually applied to the same product in a different market, and BleachedUnderpants. Related to LighterAndSofter. Contrast HotterAndSexier.

* The sex scenes in the VisualNovel VisualNovel/FateStayNight were replaced with abstract animal scenes in both anime series and the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' movie.
* The anime adaptation of {{Basilisk}} censors some of the scenes where the manga which it was based on featured bare breasts. The most prominent example being a scene in which female ninja Akeginu covers her breasts with a scarf whereas she was topless in the manga. Strangely, a later scene that featured one exposed breast was kept as it was in the anime adaptation.
* The SoulEater manga gives main character Maka Albarn many, many panty shots, all of which were removed for the anime.
* The anime version of {{Bleach}} removed Harribel's {{Underboobs}} and made Nelliel's torn-up rags a little bit less torn up so that her breasts and undersides weren't as exposed as they are in the manga.
* In Sgt Frog, the platoon invents a gun to zap Natsumi with that leads to her wearing a skimpy outfit (it was some kind of thunder goddess outfit). In the anime, the outfit is still skimpy but the underpants part of the outfit is changed to shorts.

* [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Poison Ivy]] in the comics is entirely nude with leaves or other types of plants covering her private parts while any cartoon adaptation will usually have her wearing a one piece.