Tokyo Manga/Anime Ban Passes, TAF2011/Comiket in Jeopardy

[guy]

Sankaku reports that the proposed bill to ban manga/anime deemed indecent/harmful -- recently backed by the DPJ and of which Tokyo governer Ishihara is a major proponent -- has passed.

The wording in the bill is so vague and subjective as to target works deemed to "interfere with the healthy development of youth". While such works are not necessarily banned altogether, they will largely be relegated to the 18+/adult sections. Since these changes will impact the effective sales of titles, publishers will be forced to discourage mangaka from using themes that could be considered affected within the scope of the bill. Already, mangaka have been asked to stop using depictions of schools or seifuku in their works.

The bill has been a long time in the making, initially targeting just loli-themed hentai works. The passing version has omitted any specific references to loli-related themes, but there is no doubt they will still be targeted, since application of the bill will be up to the interpretation of the censors. More damning, governer Ishihara has had no reservations in making snide comments about homosexuality, no doubt spelling doom for any artists specializing in themes that governer Ishihara disapproves (though his own novels which depict the gang-r*** of a schoolgirl will likely be exempt from the new bill).

Though the bill will go into effect in July 2011, many people have already predicted the demise of Japan's manga and anime industry. As Sankaku suggests, publications for many popular manga series face cancelation, and late night anime risk being scrapped. Even though the bill only applies to the Tokyo metropolitan area, all other areas will most likely be affected as well.

Ten major publishers, including Kadokawa, Shogakukan, Shueisha, and Kodansha (publishers of popular manga such as One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, Fairy Tail, etc), have decided to boycott the 2011 Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF2011), in response to the bill -- a major blow to anyone looking forward to the event, even though many of those manga have no hentai content. Comiket may also be severely affected.

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/13/tokyo-anime-manga-ban-passes/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/13/dpj-backs-manga-ban/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/08/ishihara-gays-are-genetically-defective-theyre-pitiful/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/07/tokyo-manga-fans-lead-deadend-lives-find-a-real-girl/

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/09/kadokawa-to-boycott-tokyo-anime-fair-over-ishihara/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/10/10-publishers-boycott-taf-ishihara-just-keeps-lying/
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/12/tokyo-anime-fair-before-after/

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/13/mangaka-my-publisher-has-banned-school-uniforms/

 

[Freedom Kira]

Bad news for anime/manga lovers?

Sankaku reports a new anime/manga ban in Japan.

I feel inclined to swear/rant but will refrain from doing so.

 

[EnterTheVoid]

Keep in mind, it only passed the committee vote, the full vote isn't until the 15th. Although things don't look good for freedom in that vote either.

Hopefully someone in the industry will realize they have to seriously fight back to survive.

 

[Rollyco]

This is truly sickening. One can only hope that otaku leave their apartments and hit the streets to protest. Unlikely? Yes.

 

[Freedom Kira]

Heh, I beat you to it by about 20 min.

Edit: Threads have been merged, link doesn't work anymore.

 

[elgringo14]

First, this concerns a certain part of mangas/animes, only some of the adult stuff. There is no "anime/manga ban" on a broad scale.

Second, I always found the status of adult material with underaged participants (call this loli if you want) to be a "cultural exception", and wondered how long it could stand in our internet world.

Third, Sankaku is always going on high heels about anything that relates to the subject, I'd like to have a more objective view on the topic.

 

[Rollyco]

See http://dankanemitsu.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/bill-156s-total-scope/ for a better idea of what's in the bill:

• Previously, “Any material that may be detrimental toward the healthy development of youth because of their capacity to be sexually stimulating, encourages cruelty, and/or may compel suicide or criminal behavior.” was the criteria.
• Now the criteria will be expanded to include: “Any manga, animation, or pictures (but not including real life pictures or footage) that features either sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real life, or sexual or pseudo sexual acts between close relatives whose marriage would be illegal*, where such depictions and / or presentations unjustifiably glorify or exaggerate the activity.”

On another note, the provision against sexually provocative posing of minors could be a bad thing for the junior idols (and their fans):

• Japanese child pornography law current has the notorious “Subsection 3″ clause that states “Any pose of a child [ages 0-17] wholly or partially naked, which arouses or stimulates the viewer’s sexual desire.” which is a very subjective standard that could even make family photos albums and National Geographic pages deemed to be “child pornography.”
  
• This bill adds the following: “Any sexually arousing posing on the behalf of children under the age of 13 wholly or partially naked, or wearing swimwear or only underwear, published in books or featured in film, must take into account of how the child’s mind and body may be harmed by becoming the object of sexual desire, and therefore parental guardians must exercise parental responsibilities to prevent and educate minors from becoming featured in such work or child pornography.”

It all seems rather vague, I suppose the devil will be in the details (of how these regulations are enforced.)

 

[redrooster]

this law atm only effects the Tokyo District. We can name it the Rapelay Law and it effects only criminal activities in Mangas/Animes just like r***, violence or underage sex. Reviewing the international rumor about the special kind of r*** games and the Loli culture this was to be expected, at least they even caused discussions at the United Nations.

But this even may effect the Comiket as such in it´s general existence, as much as I already wrote about this law today, perhaps they will or have to emigrate with this convention into another japanese district, although the other possible locations inside Japan are too small for such a big event.

The japanese Manga / Anime / game industry (yeah: it is one) is far too powerful though to be eliminated in parts or generally to be in danger of it´s existence. They will adapt the situation very soon and quickly and they will use their political influence as well. Perhaps there will be more flower sex than usual now...

What mostly is effected by this law is the big amount of independent circles active in the 3D scene and by this a big amount of material provided by DLsite and similar sites or dealers.

The decision what can be sold openly as usual or has to be sold in the 18+/adult corners of anime shops is there where it has been before too, at the members and officials of the censorship board. In the end this law just is a tool to be used at that institution.

We will see what the future will show, yet it is too early to see everything in black...

Perhaps we will see less releases now, or the genres will change, but we even have to expect that existing titles will just vanish from the market. Just take a look at all those re-releases KSS / Pink Pineapple is going to publish in the Christmas week, as there are the complete Blackmail, Isaku, Shusaku and the Darkness series. More series by many companies will follow at the begin of next year before the new law will be set into operation in the middle of next year. After that these titles / series will be taken off from the market (perhaps for ever).

 

[spikier]

so, will this stupid piece of shi*-bill also ban school uniforms in idol videos as well?.

(i am not in a good mood)

(AMERICA IS BEHIND THIS!!!!! :cry

 

[guy]

Heh, I beat you to it by about 20 min.

I knew I shouldn't have spent 30 minutes writing a condensed overview of the situation. :dunno:

 

[Ceewan]

What this sounds and looks like to me is political posturing, nothing more and nothing less. Let me know if any actual arrests are made in light of this bill, then we will see if it has any actual substance or is just another paper tiger.

 

[Rollyco]

Threads merged.

 

[EnterTheVoid]

What this sounds and looks like to me is political posturing, nothing more and nothing less. Let me know if any actual arrests are made in light of this bill, then we will see if it has any actual substance or is just another paper tiger.

Unfortunately, they won't even have to make arrests for us to see changes.

Some of the manga/anime publishers will get spooked and censor their works by the mere presence of this law.

Hopefully, some of them will fight back and resist where they can. They really can't afford to take this lying down. Not in the current state of the anime/manga industry.

I love how the law 'encourages' publishers to act responsibly. Thinly veiled threat there.

And from what I've read, the law doesn't even explicitly make adult manga/anime featuring young characters illegal. It instead targets older teen titles that may 'corrupt children'. Of course, the law is so vague it's only a matter of time before they start applying it to more and more of stuff they don't like.

Of course, the fact that they singled out manga/anime and left novels and live action film/shows alone is the ultimate hypocrisy.

Dark times are upon us, let us all hope creativity isn't fully squashed as a result.

Considering how badly the American entertainment industry was gutted of creativity by similar 'think of the children' mentality, I can only hope that the Japanese entertainment resists as much as possible.

And lets not forget that Hitler was a big proponent of 'think of the children' when advancing his own agenda.

 

[guy]

What this sounds and looks like to me is political posturing, nothing more and nothing less. Let me know if any actual arrests are made in light of this bill, then we will see if it has any actual substance or is just another paper tiger.

It probably is political posturing, but it is not without its victims.

The bill does not criminalize production, sale, or possession of hentai anime/manga. But it does allow a 3rd party organization (likely picked by the government and not independently monitored) to arbitrarily decide what works are inappropriate. Works deemed as such will be forced to be taken out of mainstream circulation (eg: only bookstores that have 18+/adult sections, subscription/pay-per-view channels, etc). Because readership/viewership will decrease, publishers will be forced to cancel a variety of titles that were originally expected to have a large general audience.

Furthermore, even if future works are to be created to carefully conform to the bill, the bill does not state specifically what types of elements render a work "inappropriate". As a result, publishers will (and have already) require artists to pre-emptively censor themselves (eg: "please do not use seifuku or school setting in your manga, because someone might think it's inappropriate, and we will be forced to cancel your publication").

It's just like the Apple App Store debacle, where developers were given no guidelines in terms of what specifically was required for approval, and received no helpful information when their apps were rejected.

We don't need to sit around and wait for someone to get arrested. I think it's already telling that 10 major publishers have decided to boycott TAF2011, and that some mangaka have already received instructions to stop using certain themes in their manga.



Interestingly enough, Prime Minister Kan has spoken out in opposition of the bill. Sadly, because his cabinet's approval rating has dropped to an abysmal 20% due to their sheer ineptitude in handling the Senkaku incident, his support will probably have no effect; and he will probably be unable to rally any support among Tokyo residents who still despise him for the Senkaku issue. He probably won't even last until July, when the bill is set to go into effect.

 

[elgringo14]

And lets not forget that Hitler was a big proponent of 'think of the children' when advancing his own agenda.

As usual, this kind of argument is completely irrelevant to the discussion.

 

[Ceewan]

As usual, this kind of argument is completely irrelevant to the discussion.

I can't say I completely agree with you there. One of the historically amazing facts of Hitlers rise was the willingness of the majority of his country to allow and support his censorship and suppression of freedom policies. Although there is no "Hitler" here the lesson remains: Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

However, I still see this as a paper tiger law. Although perhaps it does contain more claw and fang than I thought. I admittedly am somewhat unfamilar with Japanese politics and after reading the links that were generously provided on this subject I was a bit surprised, by most everything, in general. How any legislative body could pass such a broad and vague bill is completely incomprehensible to me. It literally allows, (and promotes), legal contradictions and inconsistencies. This is why I assume this is just a means to placate foreign or domestic concerns without any intention of enforcement, as enforcement would seem to cause all sorts of confusion and internal turmoil.

 

[thelolibear]

You know, im collection Lolicon Mangas, if Amazon.co.jp really removes all the Lolicon Mangas they have next year it will be absolutly horrible for me, i know who cares about me, but i just feel so angry and hopeless at the moment.

And if a company only can release 6 mangas every year with Loli content i cant believe it, its just to cruel... im going to die here

And what about this??
“Any manga, animation, or pictures (but not including real life pictures or footage) that features either sexual or pseudo sexual acts that would be illegal in real life, or sexual or pseudo sexual acts between close relatives whose marriage would be illegal, where such depictions and / or presentations unjustifiably glorify or exaggerate the activity.”

Does this mean, no Brother Sister relationship anymore :giveup: ? This cant be... onegai, cant someone do something against it, this is so cruel! think about "Yosuga no Sora" when you watch Episode 11 for example, this is one of the beautifulst Brother-Sister Love Storys they completly remove this? come on (( Please someone wake me from this nightmare !_!

And for Jr. Idol DVDs, or U-15 Models... does this affect them?
“Any sexually arousing posing on the behalf of children under the age of 13 wholly or partially naked, or wearing swimwear or only underwear, published in books or featured in film, must take into account of how the child’s mind and body may be harmed by becoming the object of sexual desire, and therefore parental guardians must exercise parental responsibilities to prevent and educate minors from becoming featured in such work or child pornography.”

I dont know what to say anymore, im really feeling this is the end Can someone tell me some good things, something to make me a little bit more happy (sorry my english), i cant even tell someone about this crisis, everyone would think im an idiot lolicon, i feel so alone thers only darkness here...

Is there still hope? Anyone hwo has something positiv to say pls PM me here, we are all a community, i feel like crying all night !_!

Everyone interested in the topic should give this blog a try, very interesting:
Source: http://dankanemitsu.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/bill-156s-total-scope/
Blog about Bill: http://dankanemitsu.wordpress.com/

 

[Freedom Kira]

I knew I shouldn't have spent 30 minutes writing a condensed overview of the situation. :dunno:

Well, I didn't do that, I just linked the article, so nothing was lost. =P

 

[guy]

As EnterTheVoid said earlier, the bill only passed the committee vote, and had not actually been passed into law (with the vote due on the 15th).

Sadly, the 15th has come (and gone), and Sankaku and Japan Probe report that the bill has indeed been signed into law, taking effect initially in April 2011.

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/12/15/tokyo-manga-ban-signed-into-law/
http://www.japanprobe.com/2010/12/16/tokyo-assembly-passes-bill-restricting-sale-of-harmful-manga-anime/

Sad day, indeed.

Amazon.co.jp

Amazon JP, being an online e-tailer, will not (initially) be affected by the bill, which only applies to retailers in the Tokyo area. While I expect Amazon JP to continue offering their titles for online ordering, I expect there to be a good possibility that several publications will be moved into the 18+/adult section -- and as you may be aware, Amazon JP does not ship 18+/adult goods outside of Japan.

Even if Amazon JP continues to ship products internationally, it does not solve the problem of publishers cancelling works because they are no longer financially sustainable (due to the loss of customers because of the new law).

 

[Freedom Kira]

I'm almost wishing for Japan to hurry up and plunge into depression already so that whoever made the bill will realize its stupidity.

Oh well, at least you guys will have cheap stuff for a while. The good part of economic recession is that everything becomes far cheaper. Our gas prices went down by about $0.40 when the recession hit, and has been steadily going back up.

Anyone know where one can hire a hitman? If it's possible, this whole thing could be over a lot sooner.