“Sailor moon”, “Naruto” and “Bleach” will be banned ?! Manga and anime are going to be regulated in Tokyo.
“Sailor moon”, “Naruto”, “The Neon Genesis Evangelion”, “Dragon ball”, “Draemon”, “Sgt. Frog” and “Bleach”……There are infant characters in those comics but there is a possibility that such comics will be banned in Tokyo.
The Tokyo metropolitan government announced that they will regulate comics, anime, radio plays and games which contain “sexual portrayals of unreal infancies” in their amendment for healthy youth development. The dubious expression is criticized by many manga artists and commentators.
FUJIMOTO Yukari, who is a famous comic critic, claimed that the code has a risk of arbitrary administration. The Tokyo metropolitan government says that “unreal infancies” means the characters which look like infants. In addition, the meaning of “sexual portrayals” is not clear at all. It could contain sane expressions such as kiss, hug, or taking a bath.
KURATA Jun, the chief of this matter said that the regulation apply only to porno, though it is doubtful.
The regulation does not carry a penalty at the moment, though the books which will be regulated in Tokyo are difficult to sell in other areas due to the mechanism of book distribution in Japan. As a result, the regulation by Tokyo may become only a virtual banning.
On 15th March, 300 manga artists, critics and journalists are going to hold a meeting to oppose the regulation which is expected to go into effect on 1st July. If you love Japanese manga or anime, you should pay attention to the regulation. Please tell me your opinion on this blog or Twitter; @ginkgraph.
The list of major opposition manga artists
- ABIKO Yoshikazu
- ADACHI Mitsuru
- CHIBA Tetsuya
- FUJIKO A Fujio
- KAWAGUCHI Kaiji
- NAGAI Go
- SAITO Takao
- TAKAHASHI Rumiko
- TAKEMIYA Keiko
- YAGAMI Hiroki
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Hrm… I think they’re only using such vague language because it’s so hard to define what is pornography and what isn’t. I image if they enforce this rule at all, it will be to limit who can buy those horrible porno mangas they have at every conbini!
Yes, I believe that they are only saying that. Though sometimes Ishihara does the unthinkable in real…
I agree to zone porno. It is not good that porno are sold in conbini. Is it only in Japan?
This won’t touch Naruto, Sailor moon or dragon ball… They want to prevent child porn or things that are tagged «shota»…. The series in the article’s title have nothing to do with this law X D. I think that this is indeed a really good things to get this kind of comic banned. If they refers to the series mentionned above, they were probably cibling doujinshi and not the original series.
@Lisa : Child porn is illegal is most country, so I don’t think you’ll find shota in a bookstore near you X D.
It is good that the regulation have been too strict so far. Though I am still worried about it is arbitrary. There have been already a regulation on porn comics for years. Why they need more? The regulation must be defined more clearly.
Of course I agree kids be kept away from any porn, but banning is overkill.
I’m pretty sure that loli and shota are legal in most countries. UK, Australia, and Canada did outright ban it, but since it isn’t real people in the manga/anime there’s no victims (only simulated victims, but you have tons of that in the GTA games anyway with murder etc). The word victim really only applies to real people as only real people can truly feel pain, even though a drawing can be made to LOOK like it’s feeling pain. And you need a victim for a crime to have occcured. So yeah most countries including the US and Japan say (at least currently) are sane enough to realize that loli and shota are legal and should be kept that way.
As for applying this law to ordinary manga and anime, I believe the architect of the law was telling the truth (not lying) when he said it was meant to apply only to pornos. And since it’s in Tokyo only, that means any other store in any other city with distribution rights for the manga or anime will have the right to keep distributing said pornographic material.
I have a lot of favorite manga shows. But what about Blood+ it is gory but there is hardly bad words all there is is blood i think evryone should watch it on Netflix it have watched it 250 times. No i am not mental there isjust 50 episodes it is a good anime. Sgt. Frog is a good show i don’t think it should be banned. I mean, these are where all animes are bieng made? Japan. so i need more BLOOD+! it is my number won fav anime. But still i think no anime should be banned the place where they are bieng made. Japan.