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

[CJ1145]

What will this mean for Gurren Lagann and its 14-year old Yoko?

 

[Busdriver580]

I don't even like anime, and this is still ridiculous. Censoring things by genre is a slippery slope, maybe next we can put a quota on sex scenes in horror movies.
Also, maybe it's just me, but it is pretty damn hard to tell an animated character's age unless its outright given to you, which really shouldn't be done.

 

[Kakashi on crack]

Well done Japan, while I think there's a few anime series that need to tone it down just a tiny bit, but its their right to depict such, and this bill seems ridiculous. Good for the producers to say "not only no, but HELL NO!"

Course, now we gotta worry about Anime/Manga production becoming an oligopoly

 

[Casual Shinji]

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?

Who gives a crap? That bastard Miura is too busy doing nothing to release Berserk on a good schedule anyways. He'll have died of age before they reach the elf island.

Spoken like a true fan.

Why do you think Berserk has only 34 released volumes in 20 years? Because Miura takes his time with the story and the art, which is why it's as good as it is(or was). And I hate to break this to you, but Berserk is never going to end, ever. And it'll never be as good as it used to be.

 

[Delusibeta]

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

I would imagine that this law would extend the moe trend to become the norm, in my (uninformed) opinion.

 

[delet]

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."

As if this bill will even touch child porn. It's just out to put everything that doesn't sit well with the ultraconservatives into the adult section.

What will this mean for Gurren Lagann and its 14-year old Yoko?

She grew up, remember? Not 14 anymore.

 

[JayDeth]

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 huge difference between erotic depictions of minors and the transformation sequences in Sailor Moon, sir.

 

[mcnally86]

Wait so you want minors to watch traumatic rape scenes? Look I like Berserk a whole lot but I still know rape scenes are not for minors to watch. I think I learned about rape watching Rob Roy in class. That was an awkward year for everyone in 4th grade.

 

[The Lunatic]

I think people are unaware of the difference between censorship and putting things in an appropriate place.

If an anime is deemed too sexual for children, then, it's going to get moved to an adults only section.

If the makers choose to lower these content because of the rating, it's them that's censoring, not the government.

They're not outlawing anime, and it's a big enough market to be able to handle the shift.

 

[Terramax]

Get rid of that crap and try to focus on improving and modernizing an art form that is undeniably linked to your national culture.

Problem is, as this video illustrates, it's tentacle porn this is keeping the industry alive.

 

[Rigs83]

TAF chairman Shintaro Ishihara is the very same Tokyo governor who sponsored the bill in question in the first place

Talk about shooting yourself in the foot
​

 

[cWg | Konka]

good work japan, its about time you start sorting out all this weirdness

 

[Caverat]

I always find things like this really funny, in a sad kind of way.

Government censorship in anyway is wrong, period. If you don't like something, fine, don't go restricting it for everyone else just because you've got a grain of sand in your vagina.

People who oppose freedom(which encompasses expressing oneself without being shoved into a backroom) deserve to be shot in the face, with tequila. Mellow the hell out.

 

[Milkman Dan]

I think I learned about rape watching Rob Roy in class. That was an awkward year for everyone in 4th grade.

A teacher showed an R rated movie to an audience of 4th graders?

 

[ZtH]

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."

Unfortunatel, child porn doesn't fall under the scope of this bill and won't be limited in the slightest. Those are already in the AO section and so can't be targetted by this bill. This bill is targetting "fan service" of all kinds.

While I agree that seeing far less of this in anime and manga would be desirable it's not a governments job to do that. If you want to see those things go away don't buy them and they'll diminish into a niche market.

I for one think even the intent behind this law is silly. Underage nudity isn't sexually arousing so why is there an issue? The inability to see nudity as anything but sexual speaks more about the sexual repression of modern society than anything else.

 

[Terramax]

Good for them. Art is art, regardless how dubious such a claim is.

exactly, though I still think its weird that people like looking at drawings of 16 year olds with size double F boobs.

Now I know you're smarter than that and you know it goes much deeper.

Anime/ cartoons shown to children are capable of giving the wrong messages, especially in high quantity.

As an example, I've recently been watching the 'Oh! My Goddess' series on youtube and it's simply stupid what some of the messages of the story are. How women like Belledandy are expected to enjoy being a slave to Keiichi and lick his arse in order to be the subject of men's desires and attention.

The show constantly sexualises the women, many times clearly for fan service, and gives the impression to younger kids that women ought be the ones doing all the hard work for the men.

I've watched plenty of anime with my younger sister, including violent and sexual ones like Berserk, El Hazard and Ninja Scroll, but I refuse to watch this with her because I don't want her getting the impression women like Belledandy are what she ought to be like.

 

[Stamaris]

Come on people, we've been over this already. Everything that is overtly sexual is already in the AO section. This bill just allows the government of Tokyo to put ANYTHING they want in there with the pornography. Homosexual relationship? - AO. Suggestive dialouge / attire? - AO. There is really no limit to how far they could take this. If they decide that depictions of violence or weapons are "harmful to the development of minors," then that gets the AO stamp too. How is any of that a good thing?

 

[Gigano]

Good that they're taking a stand against such unclear legislation.

While of course it's highly unlikely to be interpreted the same way a similar law would in the US, and sexual content should of course not be marketed to children, it's far to broad and vague, leaving far too much uncertainty (at least until the courts settle on an interpretation) of what's permissible to market and what's not, like all these de facto obscenity laws tend to do.

If merely depicting gender-neutral marriage is potentially relegated to be pornography, then this law shows it true colours of being a potential puritanical anti-plurality law to outlaw what is harmless, but which the majority find inappropriate. Whether it'll take that shape remains to be seen though.

 

[BioHazardMan]

As a libertarian this bill disgusts me, and I'm glad there is opposition. It will most likely, however, all be in vain.