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

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Tokyo's "Anti-Anime" Bill Sparks Convention Wars

A child safety bill recently passed in Tokyo might not only irrevocably change the manga/anime industry - it could cripple the largest anime convention in the world.

Earlier this month, the Tokyo government passed a bill into law that was ostensibly aimed at curbing sexualized depictions of minors in anime and manga. However, the language involved was vague enough to essentially give the government power to classify anything remotely sexual that it didn't like as pornography, except for actual pornography, as long as it was animated.

This means that even works that were not sexual in nature could be potentially relegated to the back room with the actual porn, as long as they had some material that could be argued as "harmful to the development of minors." Berserk's sex scenes and traumatic rape of one of the female leads by a turncoat villain; Evangelion's creepy-and-probably-symbolic nudity or that one hospital scene; even implied nudity in transformation sequences in shows like Sailor Moon could all potentially put works like these at risk.

Japan's anime & manga publishers - most of whom are located in Tokyo and would be affected by the bill - aren't willing to roll over without a fight, though. Many have urged the creators on their payroll to continue producing the works they want to produce.

Ten of the largest publishing houses - including major names like Kodansha, Shueisha, Shogakukan and Kadokawa - have withdrawn from this March's Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) in protest. TAF chairman Shintaro Ishihara is the very same Tokyo governor who sponsored the bill in question in the first place, so it's understandable that the ten publishers (now allied as the Comic Ten Companies Association) would have a frosty disposition toward the event.

TAF is the largest event of its kind in the world, and last year attracted 132,492 visitors and 244 exhibitors, 59 of whom were foreign companies. 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.

To make matters worse for TAF, the ten publishers have announced that they will now be exhibiting at a rival event taking place the same weekend. If the boycott expands, it will almost certainly cripple the prestigious event, if not kill it outright.

(BleedingCool [http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/12/29/tokyo-starts-comic-con-wars/])

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Crunchy English

Victim of a Savage Neck-bearding
Aug 20, 2008
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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.
 

moretimethansense

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Apr 10, 2008
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I'm glad to see publishers aren't takig this lying down, this bill is the worst thing to happen to Tokyo since Godzilla.
 

Casual Shinji

Should've gone before we left.
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Jul 18, 2009
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Good for them.

It's nice to see some fiery protest from the otherwise calm and composed Japanese. The last thing we need is another Comics Code.
 

delet

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Nov 2, 2008
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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.

Cuy said:
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?
 

Amnestic

High Priest of Haruhi
Aug 22, 2008
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Good. It's an incredibly stupid law and I'm glad the companies are protesting it.
 

AboveUp

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May 21, 2008
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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.
 

nin_ninja

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Nov 12, 2009
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It's almost impossible to tell the ages of most characters in manga or anime, unless its specifically stated, so most characters look like young teens or younger. This just is Tokyo saying, "Ya know, after 50 years of this, maybe we should be a little stricter", and will eventually end up having them the first place destroyed when the anime loving aliens from Mars come down to destroy the world.
 

[.redacted]

Senior Member
Jan 24, 2010
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If people are twisted enough to like really oversexualised minors in sed sexual way, that's not good.

If the laws to prohibit this also end up constricting production of anime for those who are not like this, that's not good either.

I suppose we'll just have to wait and see how this turns out.
 

Jordan_17

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May 19, 2009
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black-magic said:
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".
 

knuckles2812

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Jun 6, 2009
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Crunchy English said:
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.
While I do agree with the first part of your statement here, the second part is actually just a little more dire than you may think. If this anime convention is as big as they say, then this could be a BIG blow for the tokyo community. 132,000 people can create a lot of revenue for Tokyo and if the event doesn't happen, that's losing a lot of money for a lot of local businesses. You are right in the fact that one hall of like-minded hobbyists is the same as the next, but WHERE that hall is makes all the difference and that's where things end up getting messy for Tokyo... especially if the convention no longer takes place in Tokyo.
 

SinisterGehe

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May 19, 2009
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I just hope they make the sensors to have some sense it their head, so they don't start sensoring the classic "Girl gets kidnapped and tied up front of beaten young hero , who then starts to hunt the baddies to save the girl " scenes... Like I know some countries have gone once or twice to the line of "Everything that has anything to do with this even remotely, must be censored...

But this doesn't really touch my heart much, not really interested about anime or manga, but I am getting sick of those pictures of 13 or 16 years old girls with breast 3 times the their waist, or the usual "fan service" stuff...

And agreed, Japan should start to look at their international image bit more.
 

Armored Prayer

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Mar 10, 2009
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Those 10 publishers have just earned my respect.

As for the convention, this could be bad for some. I'm not an expert on this stuff, but I have a hunch this might have a domino effect for the industry and I'm not sure if its good or bad.
 

Jonci

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Sep 15, 2009
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I'm with the anime/manga creators. They shouldn't have to answer to the whims of their government about what they can and can't make, especially if its some shotty bill that lets them set unfair classifications. Next thing you know you'll need an ID to purchase Lova Hina and Negima. And Dance at the Vampire Bund would just get ripped apart.