Child Safety Bill Could Cripple Anime Industry

[Soviet Heavy]

So... they're trying to kill one of the biggest cultural exports?

I'm not a fan of anime or manga but even I think this is downright absurd if it can "cripple" an industry.

Their largest exports are cars and electronics. This won't phase their economy in the slightest.

 

[Delusibeta]

So... they're trying to kill one of the biggest cultural exports?

I'm not a fan of anime or manga but even I think this is downright absurd if it can "cripple" an industry.

Their largest exports are cars and electronics. This won't phase their economy in the slightest.

I would suggest you re-read that post and try again. the Anime industry is definitely one of Japan's largest cultural exports.

 

[Jim555]

So... they're trying to kill one of the biggest cultural exports?

I'm not a fan of anime or manga but even I think this is downright absurd if it can "cripple" an industry.

Their largest exports are cars and electronics. This won't phase their economy in the slightest.

Do note a small, ignored problem will become a worse one and if found out, it will be at the stage that it doesn't be solved anymore

Whats the worse case scenario if this bill has passed aside from those mention in the article?

 

[TheRealCJ]

Wow, I'm seeing a lot of ignorant outrage over this.

"OH NOES, NOW how will I get my fix of ultraviolent Manga and weird fetish Anime?! Nanny state think of the childrens personal freedoms rargh"

You don't like how the government is running things? Protest!Oh wait, you probably don't live in japan and so protesting their government to change a law is both stupid and pointless.

 

[Stabby Joe]

So... they're trying to kill one of the biggest cultural exports?

I'm not a fan of anime or manga but even I think this is downright absurd if it can "cripple" an industry.

Their largest exports are cars and electronics. This won't phase their economy in the slightest.

CULTURAL export. Their cars and electronics look and function like other nations'. This however is distinctly Japanese, it's an image.

 

[Ruffs]

Yaay! Thank god!

 

[FredTheUndead]

Wow, I'm seeing a lot of ignorant outrage over this.

"OH NOES, NOW how will I get my fix of ultraviolent Manga and weird fetish Anime?! Nanny state think of the childrens personal freedoms rargh"

You don't like how the government is running things? Protest!Oh wait, you probably don't live in japan and so protesting their government to change a law is both stupid and pointless.

Actually it's more you that's the ignorant one here, since again this is outlawing the depiction of illegal things in series that are NOT LABELED ADULT ONLY. In effect this means that every series is either Pokemon, Black Lagoon, or outright porn. The series that will be hit the hardest are shows like Dragonball, not fetish shows or gorefests.

 

[Addendum_Forthcoming]

So... they're trying to kill one of the biggest cultural exports?

I'm not a fan of anime or manga but even I think this is downright absurd if it can "cripple" an industry.

Their largest exports are cars and electronics. This won't phase their economy in the slightest.

I would have also said their currency given how likely they are to continue to float it despite their own economic woes.

I wish I jumped on that bandwagon harder than I had two years ago <.< Could have made a mint.

Of course the argument remains whether they can devalue at all now or whether it will just have to naturally crash the next market cycle shakeup as gross output continues to diminish and social problems such as the age crisis and reduced worker capacity problems continue to raise it's ugly head.

On topic: Meh ... I doubt this will hurt anime and manga in the longrun, I can see positioves and negatives about it.

As a fan, I will say of Anime and Manga I will say that the disappearance of prevalent lolicon material from [easy] circulation is kinda a step forward in allowing people to have a higher acknowledgement of the artform ... rather than accidentally stumbling on lolicon when they wanht to get their feet wet in the genre and find it instantly repulsive that any association of it is negative in nature.

But of course i'm anti-nationalism in all forms and shapes and so naturally I'm inclined to agree that regulation on trade and goods is inherently wrong.

That being said I also draw the line when it comes to certain goods (much the same way as I hate the circulation of weapons in the world).

 

[Jim555]

Wow, I'm seeing a lot of ignorant outrage over this.

"OH NOES, NOW how will I get my fix of ultraviolent Manga and weird fetish Anime?! Nanny state think of the childrens personal freedoms rargh"

You don't like how the government is running things? Protest!Oh wait, you probably don't live in japan and so protesting their government to change a law is both stupid and pointless.

Actually it's more you that's the ignorant one here, since again this is outlawing the depiction of illegal things in series that are NOT LABELED ADULT ONLY. In effect this means that every series is either Pokemon, Black Lagoon, or outright porn. The series that will be hit the hardest are shows like Dragonball, not fetish shows or gorefests.

Although they will be hit eventually

 

[Soviet Heavy]

So... they're trying to kill one of the biggest cultural exports?

I'm not a fan of anime or manga but even I think this is downright absurd if it can "cripple" an industry.

Their largest exports are cars and electronics. This won't phase their economy in the slightest.

CULTURAL export. Their cars and electronics look and function like other nations'. This however is distinctly Japanese, it's an image.

Okay, so cultural exports. A cultural export which includes animated child pornography. I don't see anything wrong with eliminating lolicon, but its their fault for being so vague with their description of harmful.

 

[ThrobbingEgo]

Didn't Neil Gaiman write an essay on more or less this exact subject matter?

http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/12/why-defend-freedom-of-icky-speech.html

Oh, right. He did.

 

[TheRealCJ]

Wow, I'm seeing a lot of ignorant outrage over this.

"OH NOES, NOW how will I get my fix of ultraviolent Manga and weird fetish Anime?! Nanny state think of the childrens personal freedoms rargh"

You don't like how the government is running things? Protest!Oh wait, you probably don't live in japan and so protesting their government to change a law is both stupid and pointless.

Actually it's more you that's the ignorant one here, since again this is outlawing the depiction of illegal things in series that are NOT LABELED ADULT ONLY. In effect this means that every series is either Pokemon, Black Lagoon, or outright porn. The series that will be hit the hardest are shows like Dragonball, not fetish shows or gorefests.

So? Okay, so maybe the Japanese government is being a BIT overzealous, but are the reactions from most of the posts here any less ridiculous?

 

[Stabby Joe]

So... they're trying to kill one of the biggest cultural exports?

I'm not a fan of anime or manga but even I think this is downright absurd if it can "cripple" an industry.

Their largest exports are cars and electronics. This won't phase their economy in the slightest.

CULTURAL export. Their cars and electronics look and function like other nations'. This however is distinctly Japanese, it's an image.

Okay, so cultural exports. A cultural export which includes animated child pornography. I don't see anything wrong with eliminating lolicon, but its their fault for being so vague with their description of harmful.

That's what I said to begin with. If it can "cripple" it due to being too vague and/or broad then it's a poor bill. If the law was narrow towards the creepy sick stuff, it would be a fine bill, no problem.

It's the legitimate anime and manga that people are concerned about, not the messed up ****.

 

[FredTheUndead]

Wow, I'm seeing a lot of ignorant outrage over this.

"OH NOES, NOW how will I get my fix of ultraviolent Manga and weird fetish Anime?! Nanny state think of the childrens personal freedoms rargh"

You don't like how the government is running things? Protest!Oh wait, you probably don't live in japan and so protesting their government to change a law is both stupid and pointless.

Actually it's more you that's the ignorant one here, since again this is outlawing the depiction of illegal things in series that are NOT LABELED ADULT ONLY. In effect this means that every series is either Pokemon, Black Lagoon, or outright porn. The series that will be hit the hardest are shows like Dragonball, not fetish shows or gorefests.

So? Okay, so maybe the Japanese government is being a BIT overzealous, but are the reactions from most of the posts here any less ridiculous?

Everyone here has either been fairly reasonable on one side or the other or OH GOD YES FINALLY SOMEONE STOPS THE ABUSE OF CARTOON CHILDREN. And furthermore it's not really the government at large. It's the crazy governor of Tokyo (who, as I mentioned earlier, also says post menopausal women are sinful wastes of resources, denies the Rape of the Nanking, and wants to conquer Korea), who has been dismissed and denounced by tons of sources both in the private sector and political sphere.

So yes. This thread is considerably less ridiculous for the most part.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

Actually, a person named GrilledEelHamatsu, over at the Anime News Network forums, made an interesting point about this bill:

This bill reminds so much of the PMRC parental music regulation act of 1985. Yes folks it was exactly 25 years ago today on Saturday December 14,1985 that the Reagan admin passed a bill labeling albums with profanity and sexually explict lyrics with a warning label and restricted certain albums to be sold to minors. The bill passed after congressinal hearings in September.

The law went into affect on July 1,1986. The Parent Music Regulation Council hoped this would keep retailers from selling racy music to children and guess what?It backfired!Because the bill was written so vaguely, most albums weren't labled, and record artists discovered dozens of loopholes around the bill. Plus kids were still able to have access to labed albums and were still able to buy them.

Thats whats happening in Japan. History is repeating itself, because of the vague nature of the bill, manga artists,anime companies and freelance doujin artists will be able to find plenty of loopholes and cut corners around these regulations.

Like I said, I don't see anyone really bothering to enforce these regulations since theres virtually little public support for it. Most Tokyo residents don't care about the bill and won't both to enforce it.

There was one instance in when the PMRC's bill was enforced: Broward county Florida in the summer of 1989. A no talent hack hip hop band "2 Live Crew" drops a really shitty LP "As Nasty as they wanna be" the album so poorly at first but after a federal judge in Orlando ruled the album obsene banning sales of the album, the crappy sex-fested LP went platnium. Nice going Florida.j

Source: AnimeNewsNetwork [http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=142871&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60]

Anyway, it remains to be seen whether or not this bill will actually have any effect. If it will, though, then the consequences could be far-reaching.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

It is still a lot of fun watching people get riled up. But what makes it even funnier is that this is probably the internet wide chaos coming from this bill.

 

[TheRealCJ]

Wow, I'm seeing a lot of ignorant outrage over this.

"OH NOES, NOW how will I get my fix of ultraviolent Manga and weird fetish Anime?! Nanny state think of the childrens personal freedoms rargh"

You don't like how the government is running things? Protest!Oh wait, you probably don't live in japan and so protesting their government to change a law is both stupid and pointless.

Actually it's more you that's the ignorant one here, since again this is outlawing the depiction of illegal things in series that are NOT LABELED ADULT ONLY. In effect this means that every series is either Pokemon, Black Lagoon, or outright porn. The series that will be hit the hardest are shows like Dragonball, not fetish shows or gorefests.

So? Okay, so maybe the Japanese government is being a BIT overzealous, but are the reactions from most of the posts here any less ridiculous?

Everyone here has either been fairly reasonable on one side or the other or OH GOD YES FINALLY SOMEONE STOPS THE ABUSE OF CARTOON CHILDREN. And furthermore it's not really the government at large. It's the crazy governor of Tokyo (who, as I mentioned earlier, also says post menopausal women are sinful wastes of resources, denies the Rape of the Nanking, and wants to conquer Korea), who has been dismissed and denounced by tons of sources both in the private sector and political sphere.

So yes. This thread is considerably less ridiculous for the most part.

Really? Honestly, I agree that Tokyo has gone slightly too far in regards to the censorship of it's media with this law, but allow me to quote the very first reply to this article:

Fuck child safety. The last thing this world should be concerned with is the safety of its children. Especially in regards towards what they see in the media. That's the parents problem.

That sounds like a well thought-out argument if I ever heard one.

Edit: Reading through, I'm also aware of the number of people who read the first post, quoted it, and said something along the lines of "I totally agree with this sentiment".

 

[FredTheUndead]

Wow, I'm seeing a lot of ignorant outrage over this.

"OH NOES, NOW how will I get my fix of ultraviolent Manga and weird fetish Anime?! Nanny state think of the childrens personal freedoms rargh"

You don't like how the government is running things? Protest!Oh wait, you probably don't live in japan and so protesting their government to change a law is both stupid and pointless.

Actually it's more you that's the ignorant one here, since again this is outlawing the depiction of illegal things in series that are NOT LABELED ADULT ONLY. In effect this means that every series is either Pokemon, Black Lagoon, or outright porn. The series that will be hit the hardest are shows like Dragonball, not fetish shows or gorefests.

So? Okay, so maybe the Japanese government is being a BIT overzealous, but are the reactions from most of the posts here any less ridiculous?

Everyone here has either been fairly reasonable on one side or the other or OH GOD YES FINALLY SOMEONE STOPS THE ABUSE OF CARTOON CHILDREN. And furthermore it's not really the government at large. It's the crazy governor of Tokyo (who, as I mentioned earlier, also says post menopausal women are sinful wastes of resources, denies the Rape of the Nanking, and wants to conquer Korea), who has been dismissed and denounced by tons of sources both in the private sector and political sphere.

So yes. This thread is considerably less ridiculous for the most part.

Really? Honestly, I agree that Tokyo has gone slightly too far in regards to the censorship of it's media with this law, but allow me to quote the very first reply to this article:

Fuck child safety. The last thing this world should be concerned with is the safety of its children. Especially in regards towards what they see in the media. That's the parents problem.

That sounds like a well thought-out argument if I ever heard one.

Again, mostly sane. Nobody ever seems to bother to actually read the damn information.

I would like to reemphasize the world "MOSTLY."

 

[Hashime]

Well, I could support this law if it was better worded. The spirit of the law, not depicting child pornography, cleaning up what passes as children's media, is good. The application is not.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

Edit: Reading through, I'm also aware of the number of people who read the first post, quoted it, and said something along the lines of "I totally agree with this sentiment".

The reason for that? It gives people a reason to flip off the weeaboos. If anime and manga are getting their image changed, start by dumping those bastards.