Wait... what do you mean "editing"?

[trunks2k]

Oui, je parlais japonaise.
I am Japanese.

But wait... if the anime is appropriate for a seven year old in Japan, why isn't appropriate for a seven year old in America?

Massive cultural differences. Americans don't necessarily have the same idea of what is and isn't appropriate for young audiences. In the US, we tend to be very protective of what young kids see (for better or worse). A lot of stuff that will fly in Japan, just won't fly in the US.

Otherwise, I know there are genre of anime, just like there are genre of movies and books and such. "Tenchi Muyo" isn't for seven year olds.

Tenchi got quite a bit of censorship in the US when it aired on Cartoon Network, even though it was aimed towards teenagers. All nudity was, IMO understandably, removed as were all references to drinking. For example, instead of drinking sake, they drink tea, the tea somehow makes them act very drunk. On a similar note, when Blue Submarine No. 6 aired in the US, they editted out all cigarettes.

Other shows like Outlaw Star saw the removal of all blood, except for one scene in one episode which was accidental. The next time I saw that episode, the blood had been removed (it wasn't even that much blood).

Pokemon and Yotsubato is for seven year olds. It's for 12 year olds and up. My point is, why would they edit a show for seven year olds? Why don't they just make their target audience 12-year-olds like it was meant to be in Japan?

Haru

Again, cultural differences. What Japanese companies think is a show for 12 year olds, US companies may think that it would be more appealing to 7 year olds. Of course that involves a lot of editing.

But even when they go after the same target audience, you would be surprised at how much is eddited and censored. Sailor Moon in the US was hacked to pieces. I showed an original episode or movie to one of my classes in high school for a report, they were quite shocked at what was in it (i.e. implied or directly shown homosexuality).

Edit to add:

But the US has been making a lot of headway in terms of animation, mostly thanks to the Cartoon Network. CN started showing off a lot of edited anime, but they have improved greatly and really pushed the envelope for the US. They let a lot of stuff slip by that they never would have 4 years ago. And they show a lot more adult-oriented anime with limited censorship (mainly for nudity) like Cowboy Bebop, Wolfs Rain, and FLCL.