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Saskatchewan Anime Store Forced to Close Due to Ratings Stickers

CBC reports that Tokyo 7, a Regina anime store, was forced to close as a result of being forced to stop carrying unrated anime. The Saskatchewan film classification board told the store owner to stop selling and renting DVDs that did not have the province's rating stickers.

Without the anime on shelves, customers stopped coming in to buy related merchandise and the owner had no choice but to close. He says that obtaining stickers for the 2000 anime titles he had in stock would have been too expensive.

Each Canadian province has different guidelines regarding video classification and stickers. Some provinces require that all videos available for rent and sale must be stickered, while other provinces only require rentals to be stickered. There are numerous wholesalers and distributors that sell classified anime, however when importing the videos themselves it is generally (varies somewhat form province to province) the responsibility of store owners to see that their videos are appropriately labelled before being made available for sale and/or rent.

Thanks to Kaleem for this item.