Tokyo passes law that limits Anime, Video Games

[bunny: spider bitten]

Tokyo's ban on anime, manga and games featuring "virtual crimes" or which are "likely to interfere with the healthy development of youth" has passed after the DPJ agreed to support it. The DPJ's only addition to the critical portion of the law was a short rider which requests "prudent application of the law in light of any artistic, social, scientific or satirical merits the work might express" – it does not however add any legal obligation to consider these, or establish any clear or indepdently enforced criteria for judging whether a work can be declared "harmful" or not.

Even more bizarrely, the final draft actually removed a passage that imposed "a duty not to possess [photographic] child pornography" on Tokyo residents, whilst leaving the section banning erotic manga and anime (and explicitly excluding photographic materials) all but unchanged – that the bill is intended exclusively as an "anti-otaku" law seems to be beyond doubt.

It is very difficult to objectively assess the scope of the law – along with vague and subjective terms like "interfere with the healthy development of youth," the law also includes "etc." on the end of most of its examples, leaving it quite unclear, for example, whether the "improper glorification of illegal sexual activity, etc." applies to only virtual sex crimes, or all crimes in general – presumably the interpretation adopted will be whichever is convenient to censors.

Similarly, the ban's mention of "rape and other sexual acts which violate societal norms" seems inevitably to point to a ban on depictions of homosexuality, considering who was behind the law.

The generally expected form the law will take is that of a "amakudari" (a pervasive system of sinecures for retired bureaucrats) body which will inspect all anime, manga and games, with only those titles receiving approval as "healthy" able to be sold regularly in Tokyo shops – the rest will be relegated to the "adult corner."

The most immediate and direct effect of the law will almost certainly be to see ecchi manga such as To Love-Ru, bishoujo titles such as Champion Red and most BL manga, as well as any seinen manga with especially mature themes, banned from general sales – presumably most will then be cancelled due to a lack of suitable magazine or tankobon distribution channels, with a few perhaps being resurrected as 18+ ero-manga.

As has already been seen, publishers will also likely be purging future anime, manga and games of any content liable to fall foul of the law, and removing older titles from distribution.

The law probably also spells the end of most late night anime in Tokyo (and by extension, everywhere else), which it would appear to ban under its distribution clause; given the vague wording of the current season alone it seems Ore no Imouto, Panty & Stocking, Yosuga, Sora no Otoshimono, Milky Holmes and others would all fall foul of its various stipulations.

There is also some doubt as to whether Comiket will be able to be held under the new regulations – if not, its cancellation or removal to another prefecture seems likely, although a lack of sufficiently large spaces may severely complicate this.

The law is expected to be signed into law on the 15th after an additional vote and then come into effect in July of 2011, so with magazine, tankobon, anime and game release schedules being what they are, it seems likely its effects will be felt much sooner; in a genuinely democratic state there might be scope to overturn it before then, but from what has been seen so far it seems unlikely publishers have the guts or savvy to do anything about it.

Keep in mind that this refers to video games as well.

The most immediate item is the banning(displacement, technically, but what can you do), essentially, of all manga in school settings(Evangelion and Bleach, to name a few). Lolis, of course, are out. Homosexuality could go under fire as well. Keep in mind, though, this law is vague and once it goes into effect, could even attack things like breast size and and clothing.

One of the worlds greatest cities now faces death, as all of it's publishers are liable to move to other major Japanese cities. Hell, video game companies, to avoid the ban, may leave the country.

Edited December 15, 2010 by Sirius
Inappropriate content in source

[Darros]

Well that just means a lot of video game companies will move to America, making everything convieniently closer.

Also I'm not a huge manga fan, so it won't affect me much.

However, I find it stupid, as it is a worthless censor. Hopefully the rest of the world doesn't follow suit.

[deleted35362]

LOL@ Lolis are out.

[Zanarkin]

I find it odd that this is in Tokyo...

[Ike-Mike]

However, I find it stupid, as it is a worthless censor. Hopefully the rest of the world doesn't follow suit.

America actually did once, half a century ago.

[Hero]

I'm not supporting censorship, but it seems like this development will do something toward busting the misperception a lot of Westerners have of Japanese as a privately countercultural nation. Though I've never been to the country myself, my understanding from the stories of those who have is that this sort of product appeals to almost as narrow a niche there as it does anywhere else--the only difference is that the Japanese scene developed earlier and has been more influential.

I think the scene will ultimately survive with small losses, too, although the opportunity for mainstream products to blend into softcore anime porn will certainly be curtailed if this new regulation is enforced at all. But is that necessarily a bad thing? Personally, I heard too much of homely fourteen-year-old virgin girls cooing over the cuteness of little boys sucking each others cocks when I was in high school and held an interest in anime to be much enamored of that sort of thing.

[Galenforcer]

I bet every otaku and weeaboo is freaking out about this.

I only wonder why this has to happen now, and in Japan of all places?

[lolDeath]

Because, as everyone knows, the Japanese are crazy.

[Inui]

Ugh. This sucks. They better not fuck with Panty and Stocking...

[Esau of Isaac]

I'm not supporting censorship, but it seems like this development will do something toward busting the misperception a lot of Westerners have of Japanese as a privately countercultural nation. Though I've never been to the country myself, my understanding from the stories of those who have is that this sort of product appeals to almost as narrow a niche there as it does anywhere else--the only difference is that the Japanese scene developed earlier and has been more influential.

I think the scene will ultimately survive with small losses, too, although the opportunity for mainstream products to blend into softcore anime porn will certainly be curtailed if this new regulation is enforced at all. But is that necessarily a bad thing? Personally, I heard too much of homely fourteen-year-old virgin girls cooing over the cuteness of little boys sucking each others cocks when I was in high school and held an interest in anime to be much enamored of that sort of thing.

I'd say the effects it will have on the Japanese economy, to say nothing of publisher and artists' creativity, is going to face more than a small loss. What of Comiket, and Akihabara? Both profit hugely off content that is almost certainly the target in this legislation.

What's the point of this law anyways, truly? In objective terms, what will it cover that has not already been covered by other more particular legislation, which itself is not to my knowledge nearly as easy to abuse as this seems to be.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Esau of Isaac

[eclipse]

Source? I'd like to know whether this was translated or not.

[Le Communard]

I'm not supporting censorship, but it seems like this development will do something toward busting the misperception a lot of Westerners have of Japanese as a privately countercultural nation. Though I've never been to the country myself, my understanding from the stories of those who have is that this sort of product appeals to almost as narrow a niche there as it does anywhere else--the only difference is that the Japanese scene developed earlier and has been more influential.

I think the scene will ultimately survive with small losses, too, although the opportunity for mainstream products to blend into softcore anime porn will certainly be curtailed if this new regulation is enforced at all. But is that necessarily a bad thing? Personally, I heard too much of homely fourteen-year-old virgin girls cooing over the cuteness of little boys sucking each others cocks when I was in high school and held an interest in anime to be much enamored of that sort of thing.

Frankly, I don't disagree on principle either--at least in terms of the 18+ nature of certain deviant sexual acts, but from what I understand, the law basically has no limits both in terms of sexualized and criminality, and basically covered anything that isn't strictly G rated. It doesn't just potentially mean the end of primetime lolicon (stuff already 18+ isn't affected) but things like EVA, and even something like Baccono. And not only would that be no fun, but it would basically mean the end of the industry as anything but a producer of children's cartoons and hardcore henti. Of course, I don't really understand all the specifics, no even what exactly all of the prohibitions entail, so basically my opinion on this is wait and see. For all we know now it could even turn out to be a blessing in disguise, forcing the industry to end the cycle of Otkau pandering and produce some quality shit again.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Le Communard

[Balcerzak]

Source? I'd like to know whether this was translated or not.

Sankaku Complex. NSFW, so I won't be linking it.

[Deliriyum]

Sounds reasonable to me...This basically says that broadcasted or published anime can't be inappropriate?

[lolDeath]

Can't be what they call inappropriate.

[eclipse]

No, I don't want the editorial crap by Sankaku Complex, but it was a start. Thanks.

I was looking for something like this.

[Balcerzak]

No, I don't want the editorial crap by Sankaku Complex, but it was a start. Thanks.

I was looking for something like this.

Oh, I thought you were asking for the direct source of the quotation in the OP. My apologies.

[eclipse]

Oh, I thought you were asking for the direct source of the quotation in the OP. My apologies.

I was more interested in the actual article, because the direct quotation has more spin than this planet. Thanks for the source, though. It'll take me a while to figure out precisely what it says, but at least it doesn't have the Sankaku bias.

[Le Communard]

Actually, I can't find an official source for the banning of depictions of Criminal activity, so for now I'm going to assume its just rumor. But the point about broad overreaching stands.

EDIT: And the truth comes out. As I thought, most of the brohaha is exaggeration, but without a strict definition this can only be bad.

Edited December 16, 2010 by Le Communard

[Ken Zomg]

Ugh. This sucks. They better not fuck with Panty and Stocking...

They sure as hell better not

[Kanami]

Ugh. This sucks. They better not fuck with Panty and Stocking...

It'll fuck with Pico.... wait that came out wrong (More to the point it's already in the 18+ section I think)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The concept isn't bad, I haven't seen this seasons anime to see how bad it is, but that's taking a mighty big chunk of anime this season with it :/ I'm more concerned about how much it'll cover, "inappropriate acts" isn't restricted to sexual scenes. And while I've agreed with prohibiting some games in the past (for their extreme content) an overall ban legislation seems to not only be discouraging but non-profitable.

I'm not willing to go to Sankaku or dig around for the source, but who's the person behind this bill? It mentions something about the legislator in the first homosexuality part.

Idea overall seems stupid, There were complaints at Higurashi (relatively understandably) and Death Note years ago, which were the better animes these past few years.

As for videogames..... the policy won't last if it only affects Tokyo, and hopefully the other prefectures aren't stupid enough to follow suit. The bill means nothing, it's the guidelines the inspection'ers will be using that interests me.

[Defeatist Elitist]

blah blah censorship is for medieval fucks, etc etc

People do stupid things I guess.

[eclipse]

It'll fuck with Pico.... wait that came out wrong (More to the point it's already in the 18+ section I think)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The concept isn't bad, I haven't seen this seasons anime to see how bad it is, but that's taking a mighty big chunk of anime this season with it :/ I'm more concerned about how much it'll cover, "inappropriate acts" isn't restricted to sexual scenes. And while I've agreed with prohibiting some games in the past (for their extreme content) an overall ban legislation seems to not only be discouraging but non-profitable.

I'm not willing to go to Sankaku or dig around for the source, but who's the person behind this bill? It mentions something about the legislator in the first homosexuality part.

Idea overall seems stupid, There were complaints at Higurashi (relatively understandably) and Death Note years ago, which were the better animes these past few years.

As for videogames..... the policy won't last if it only affects Tokyo, and hopefully the other prefectures aren't stupid enough to follow suit. The bill means nothing, it's the guidelines the inspection'ers will be using that interests me.

Ah-hah, YOU were the one I was waiting for! Thank you!

I posted a slightly better source somewhere down the page, but haven't gotten around to doing much with it.

[Kanami]

Ah-hah, YOU were the one I was waiting for! Thank you!

I posted a slightly better source somewhere down the page, but haven't gotten around to doing much with it.

I feel like I'm been recruited or scammed into something.... XD

Interesting difference in the articles though, the Eclipse source, points out the focus as things such as prostitution, incest and "other illegal activities" to not be sold to children under the age of 18. The article Eclipse posted doesn't really mention too much about prohibiting "inappropriateness in general" so I'm somewhat assured. I mean I wouldn't mind prostitution, incest or drug dealing to be removed. But it would detract from some serious stories. (Eg Dad raped girl, so girl is mentally scarred). Though that doesn't actually promote it... wonder if something like that will be covered :/

Seems like a dumbed down version of the story though. Apparently it was suggested in June this year and got knocked back though (the idea).

This'll lead to a more distinct line between the 18+ genre and the kiddy programs, so I suppose for more serious anime/manga you'd have to risk taking a peek in the 18+ section :/ doesn't mean it'll be all porn and violence though, just means it'll be relocated to another section.

[eclipse]

I wanted the opinion of the board member that actually lives in Japan, and would thus know the difference between something that's for show and something to worry about. Seems like this law is the former.