Herrp a derrrp

[Sephiroth]

Yuna telling Tidus she loves him is actually canon. However, that would've been viewed as inappropriate according to Japanese custom, so they had her to say something different in that version.

This scene is no censoring. It is an idea rewritten/replaced as/by something else/another idea. What is censored is still canonical, but this is no censoring. They decided to make this count instead and the reason for this is not relevant. If an author says "I cannot write that for reason x" and does not censor it but replace it with another element or writes the scene in a way it has no longer the unequivocal intention from before it is not the same. Also the theme of love is a normal element of Final Fantasy.

If they decide she says "Arigatou" instead, "I love you" is not canonical but what they found more appropriate to happen and be shown is canonical then. It is that easy. An intention that was never used and replaced with another one is not suddenly canonical. Just as Sephiroth is not related to Aerith or her lover. Using earthquakes in DBZ Battle of Gods was also intended but they were cut out as it would have been inappropriate. That does not mean they suddenly happened. What they decide to be appropriate and has happened is canonical. Just as Cloud did not actually say he just found Tifa's underwear but he actually played with it in the flashback. There is one Square RPGs that really has an intended version in the West that did not seem to be that good in Japan but it is not really "canonical" but they are two different versions and so have their own canonicity and that is Nier Gestalt and Replicant.

That is not relevant however as she loves him anyway and as obvious as Tidus not just hating Jecht with his comment. Her love is canonical, her comment isn't. That she actually means it together with her thanks does not change that she actually does thank him. Just as Tidus loves his father but does not bluntly say it and only says the "I hate you" he wanted to say for so long.

EDIT@chionos: Yes, it does matter and that is canonicity. Sorry, but you are the one who does not know how canonicity works. Canonicity, something that officially counts is defined by the intellectual and legal owner of something and when she is Aerith, then she is Aerith. Your Final Fantasy Tactics argument does not help anything at all because that was still used when translators did not know too much about that mistranslation. Also your comment about what people did is not helpful because that it was a mistranslation has been stated even before the new millenium began. Basically what many people think is completely irrelevant if it does not reflect the official intention and yes in this case those things are necessary. And yes, it is very well possible to talk about just single aspects of one installment when talking about canonicity because one thing except aspect x can still be right as well as does Square Enix very well care about continuity. Nothing you said is based on how canonicity works and intellectual property and law is on Square Enix' side here.