Tokyo's "Anti-Anime" Bill Sparks Convention Wars

[Naheal]

Wow, Slowking, when did you evolve?

The worst part is that what's-his-face is dismissing this all, saying "Oh, they'll be back next year and everything will be fine." Wonderful idiocy.

But still those silly japs don't give enough of a fuck to complain or protest or whatever. I swear, those guys at 2chan are useless.

Are you trying to correlate 2ch with all of Japan? Really?

Kinda like correlating all of 4chan with all of the US?

This law is moronic, art is art and you can't censor it.

Good on them for fighting back.

I would hardly call "Erotic depictions of minors" art, I prefer to call it "Sick".

There's a difference between "erotic depictions of minors" and what the language of the bill suggests. If they want to control that, then the language needs to be specific about it rather than the joke that it is right now.

 

[black-magic]

This law is moronic, art is art and you can't censor it.

Good on them for fighting back.

I would hardly call "Erotic depictions of minors" art, I prefer to call it "Sick".

It's not about what you would call erotic depiction of minors and others would call anime, it's about a government putting itself into a place of complete and without oversight power.

 

[nathan-dts]

Well done Tokyo government. You've taken the first step towards getting rid of your worldwide image of being pedophiles and freaks.

 

[thisbymaster]

Well it is about time. They need to stop over sexualization of underage children in anime. If you really want porn, the internet has more than you could ever watch in a life time. I hope this brings back content and plot based shows instead of worthless fan service.

 

[John Funk]

One part of me feels this law is stupid and idiotic.

Another part of me hopes this law ends the moe trend and bring back actual content.

That latter part of me is such a naive guy.

You realize that this could potentially relegate things like "Berserk" and "Evangelion" to the back room with all the hardcore porn, right?

 

[thisbymaster]

This law is moronic, art is art and you can't censor it.

Good on them for fighting back.

I would hardly call "Erotic depictions of minors" art, I prefer to call it "Sick".

It's not about what you would call erotic depiction of minors and others would call anime, it's about a government putting itself into a place of complete and without oversight power.

You mean like everything else it gets it's hands into?

 

[delet]

Wow, Slowking, when did you evolve?

The worst part is that what's-his-face is dismissing this all, saying "Oh, they'll be back next year and everything will be fine." Wonderful idiocy.

But still those silly japs don't give enough of a fuck to complain or protest or whatever. I swear, those guys at 2chan are useless.

Are you trying to correlate 2ch with all of Japan? Really?

Kinda like correlating all of 4chan with all of the US?

Yup.

Also, looking at all these comments so far, it's obvious that most people don't even actually know what the bill covers. No wonder I distanced myself when this place had multiple threads up at once.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

One part of me feels this law is stupid and idiotic.

Another part of me hopes this law ends the moe trend and bring back actual content.

That latter part of me is such a naive guy.

You realize that this could potentially relegate things like "Berserk" and "Evangelion" to the back room with all the hardcore porn, right?

Considering how vague the definition is it has further reaching consequences than that, especially when one considers that one of the main reasons this bill was introduced is because they guy at the head of it is apparently a massive Homophobe, and wants homosexuality and references to homosexuality hidden from minors because he considers it "socially disruptive". So pretty much anything that contains "teh gay" is now pornography, even if it isn't... because if the government of Tokyo says so, it's true.

Canada has similar wording in a law regarding Canadian Customs, it essentially allows any item of media imported from another country to be declared obscene (and thus bared from entry into the country) essentially at the discretion of individual customs officials. This means that if there's a homophobic (or lets say racist, though this is highly unlikely) customs officer, he can bar all the LGBQ material from entering Canada he wants without a second thought, these decisions can be appealed buuuutttt it's an exhaustive process and most people just give up on it, in terms of the "racist angle" the official could prevent anything depicting interracial couplings, or discussing race issues as obscene, he's less likely to get away with it, but it doesn't change the fact that according to the word of the law he CAN do it.

However this bill also effects videogames as I recall... so now Persona 4 is considered pornography in Tokyo (Gay character and all that), as are all Grand Theft Auto games (depiction of illegal behavior). This is a creepy morality bill, hopefully it will get overturned at some point as it seems the "public" of Japan the government is trying to protect doesn't really want this.

 

[delet]

But still those silly japs don't give enough of a fuck to complain or protest or whatever. I swear, those guys at 2chan are useless.

Are you trying to correlate 2ch with all of Japan? Really?

No, but I am saying they're a huge part of the people who like anime and manga that also live in Japan. If they all stood up for their cause they would be able to, most likely, change shit. But they're not even trying, they're pussies.

That's idiotic. For one, being an Otaku in Japan is incredibly far from being a good thing. You're pretty much the scum of the earth to most people if like that. For some reason, people in America actually want to be called Otakus. Funny, huh?

Secondly, nothing they do would matter. Everyone who supports this bill is completely ignoring any opposition to it. There have been plenty of petitions, but they're all being ignored.

 

[Jonluw]

Horrible horrible bill.
I figure one of the major companies should make an anime-adaptation of Lolita, just to make a statement.

 

[John Funk]

Well done Japan. I'm not one for censorship, myself, but this bill will go a long way toward helping your international standing. After all, the old "Japan's major export is Tentacle Rape" joke is going from old, to just plain embarassing. Get rid of that crap and try to focus on improving and modernizing an art form that is undeniably linked to your national culture.

As for the event, whatever, conventions come and go. They're fun, they're useful, but I doubt there's such a thing as "event loyalty". One hall of like-minded hobbyists is the same as the next, the one that represents the people should be the one that survives.

The problem is that the bill actually has nothing to do with Japan's porn industry; porn is already relegated and cannot be sold to minors. This bill would give the government power to potentially classify any work as pornographic if it has sexual content that is supposedly armful to the development of a minor. This could be sex scenes in an action manga, it could be nudity - it could even be a fictional homosexual marriage.

In other words, this wouldn't censor RapeLay or actual tentacle porn, but if someone wanted to animate a version of Nabokov's Lolita, that'd be at risk.

Do you see the problem now?

 

[Outright Villainy]

Well done Japan. I'm not one for censorship, myself, but this bill will go a long way toward helping your international standing. After all, the old "Japan's major export is Tentacle Rape" joke is going from old, to just plain embarassing. Get rid of that crap and try to focus on improving and modernizing an art form that is undeniably linked to your national culture.

Ironically enough, it won't stop tentacle rape at all. The bill isn't about regulating pornography, it's about regulating anime in general, and classifying that as pornography, if it's vaguely sexual and they don't like it.

The problem with this bill, like the one going on with video games right now, isn't the intent, it's the legal wrangling behind it. That bill would cripple the games industry if minors playing them becomes a criminal offence, and likewise nobody's going to distribute anime if it's classified as pornography. From the article linked it implied even a homosexual relationship would be something that would come under censorship.

It's fucking bullshit.

 

[DevilWolf47]

That's a bit of a switch. Tokyo jumping on an Australia bandwagon after a similar law was passed there? Odd.

Still, i doubt seriously that the creative minds of Tokyo are going to go down without a fight. I wouldn't be surprise of backlash lead to the bill at least being amended, if not thrown out.

 

[BrownGaijin]

To put it in perspective for a gamer audience, this is like if Activision, EA, Ubisoft, Take-Two, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony all jointly decided they weren't going to show up at E3 anymore.

You mean it would turn into E for All.

Yeah I went there.

Edit: Sorry, I'll add a little more.

OT: While I've grown tired of defending the current state of anime, (i.e. kickers, knockers, boobies, and breasts), I do agree that the bill is like throwing out the baby with the bath water. I really do applaud said companies for boycotting the convention. Hopefully this will make them think a little longer about the nature of the bill.

 

[Jiefu]

Now they'll probably make hentai of 50 year olds that LOOK like they are 5.

Hentai isn't really affected by this law. This law only can categorize certain animated works as pornography if they're deemed unacceptable. Hentai is already relegated to adults only sections, and this law doesn't change that. The danger of the law is that it essentially lets the government decide, using VERY vague language, whether something should be restricted to adults only. To make another video game analogy, this is like California's video game law - the government wants to decide whether or not a certain type of media is acceptable for children, and anything it decides isn't acceptable for children runs a severe risk of being effectively banned (remember, few vendors will even carry an AO-rated game, and this is basically the same thing).

 

[Shihoudani]

This is yet another bill that goes above and beyond what the government should legally be able to do. They have no right to say an anime / manga should be banned for the simple reason that someone may be homosexual, or that the creators don't stamp an age tag directly on the character's forehead. Not to mention the slightest bit of suggestive dialogue or actions will land it straight in the pornography bin.

Sorry folk's but this bill is an utter sham that should be removed as soon as possible.

 

[Marik2]

LOL that was a nice pic you used Funk

 

[PumpItUp]

They need to send the bill back for reevaluation. It's true that its excessive vagueness will be a detriment to the anime industry but there was an important reason the bill was created to tackle: the rampant increase in the depictions of minors in sexual situations a.k.a. child pornography.

You can argue over the difference between physical child porn and drawn child porn but you can't argue that it has become a problem in Japan. The bill was intended to at least limit the excessive amount currently on the market and that is what the bill should do. Yes, the government was too hasty in pushing out the bill and yes, the Big Ten are justified in protesting it, but the bill is still needed.

On a lighter note, that picture of Taiga is the most hilariously appropriate pic for the article. Her expression just screams "You gonna die now."