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INTEREST: Kadokawa President Apologizes for "Pro-Censorship" Remarks




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NiPah
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Joined: 11 Feb 2011
Posts: 205
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 12:57 pm Reply with quote
A quick search of the word "taboo" in the kindle and apple book stores, then knowing that Amazon removed the book series "I should survive using potions" should be enough to show why trying to censor for either google or apple is a fool's errand. A quick search for taboo in the google play store shows they're pretty open too.
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Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3565
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 1:03 pm Reply with quote
Good for him to backtrack and apologize.

With some content removed from places like Amazon and Kobo, Bookwalker, under Kadokawa, is emerging a quite a lone bastion in not removing anything, and I say that despite disliking their drm practices. And if his apology here is anything to go by it will hopefully stay that way.
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RockSplash



Joined: 28 Oct 2019
Posts: 502
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:14 pm Reply with quote
Ok, so is this just for the pinup girls? Or the actual content, because if it is....

The boys, Sex Criminals, and other comics are allowed on google. Sex criminals involves very adult moments and nudity I am not sure I can describe here. The boys has rape, pedophilia, and other sexual violence. These are both allowed. How would manga be any different?
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Ming Yi



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 216
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 2:57 pm Reply with quote
RockSplash wrote:
Ok, so is this just for the pinup girls? Or the actual content, because if it is....


Basically there was a discussion on whether gravure idols (pin-up photoshoots of girls in bikinis -- the discussion involved concerns that the models were underage and some were pressured into doing it) should be in manga magazines for boys and the CEO basically went, "There's way worse content than that; have you seen the manga?" and went on a tangent talking about it.
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RockSplash



Joined: 28 Oct 2019
Posts: 502
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 3:04 pm Reply with quote
Ming Yi wrote:
RockSplash wrote:
Ok, so is this just for the pinup girls? Or the actual content, because if it is....


Basically there was a discussion on whether gravure idols (pin-up photoshoots of girls in bikinis -- the discussion involved concerns that the models were underage and some were pressured into doing it) should be in manga magazines for boys and the CEO basically went, "There's way worse content than that; have you seen the manga?" and went on a tangent talking about it.


Ok, that's a lot more understandable. Still, by that logic, every romance novel with a woman in a bikini or fantasy cover should be censored.
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 3:34 pm Reply with quote
Good thing Natsuno also returned 20% of his salary as well, if you know you are the president of a conglomerate that owns Dengeki, a publication well known and filled with loli and fanservice since forever, maybe you should not try to censor the cash cow for western interests, especially Apple and Scroogle. I still think he needs to step down, I don't trust the man at all with running Kadokawa after this debacle, there's a good chance that he's compromised by bad actors from the West.
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mangamuscle



Joined: 23 Apr 2006
Posts: 2658
Location: Mexico
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 4:19 pm Reply with quote
This reminds me when Jack Tramiel (then CEO of Atari) bad mouthed videogames in an interview, calling them unethical and hopping to make his new computer lineup the new Macintosh. We all know all that ended badly for Atari (which nowadays is nothing but a name in the videogame or computer industry).

IMO it is no exaggeration to ask for Takeshi Natsuno to be ransacked, with that copycat mentality he will drive sooner or longer a profitable company into the ground.
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ballinamon



Joined: 19 Oct 2018
Posts: 389
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 4:44 pm Reply with quote
This is somewhat of an example of bite the hand that feed you.
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Touma55



Joined: 22 May 2021
Posts: 242
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 6:53 pm Reply with quote
Hoppy800 wrote:
Good thing Natsuno also returned 20% of his salary as well, if you know you are the president of a conglomerate that owns Dengeki, a publication well known and filled with loli and fanservice since forever, maybe you should not try to censor the cash cow for western interests, especially Apple and Scroogle. I still think he needs to step down, I don't trust the man at all with running Kadokawa after this debacle, there's a good chance that he's compromised by bad actors from the West.


While I don't think he is compromised I do agree that he should step down. The guy has proven himself to be a moron who will say and possibly attempt to do whatever he thinks he needs to to save his own ass. I guarantee he said this because he was already in a controversy and he thought this would make him look good. Couldn't be happier to see that it backfired big time.
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DavetheUsher



Joined: 19 May 2014
Posts: 505
PostPosted: Wed Jul 28, 2021 7:21 pm Reply with quote
Hoppy800 wrote:
Good thing Natsuno also returned 20% of his salary as well, if you know you are the president of a conglomerate that owns Dengeki, a publication well known and filled with loli and fanservice since forever, maybe you should not try to censor the cash cow for western interests, especially Apple and Scroogle. I still think he needs to step down, I don't trust the man at all with running Kadokawa after this debacle, there's a good chance that he's compromised by bad actors from the West.


Yeah, given the sheer amount of works Kadokawa manages and puts out that involves this kind of content, he basically would be killing a good chunk of their profits. Not really a good CEO move there Razz
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animefan57892





PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 1:01 am Reply with quote
RockSplash wrote:
Ok, so is this just for the pinup girls? Or the actual content, because if it is....

The boys, Sex Criminals, and other comics are allowed on google. Sex criminals involves very adult moments and nudity I am not sure I can describe here. The boys has rape, pedophilia, and other sexual violence. These are both allowed. How would manga be any different?


The logic is simply flawed.

Some comics are allowed on google, which doesn't mean that the "rules"/"standard"/"ever-changing community guideline" are applied universally.

If you think big tech/big corporations fairly justly enforce their rules, you don't pay any attention to what they have done.
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-ninja-



Joined: 16 May 2018
Posts: 19
PostPosted: Thu Jul 29, 2021 12:42 pm Reply with quote
animefan57892 wrote:

Some comics are allowed on google, which doesn't mean that the "rules"/"standard"/"ever-changing community guideline" are applied universally.

If you think big tech/big corporations fairly justly enforce their rules, you don't pay any attention to what they have done.


Right. Sony allows violence and sex in The Last of Us but censors other things. Can't btrust these people with being impattial.
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Lynx Raven Raide



Joined: 01 Nov 2017
Posts: 412
Location: Central Coast, AU
PostPosted: Fri Jul 30, 2021 6:43 pm Reply with quote
Blanchimont wrote:
Good for him to backtrack and apologize.

With some content removed from places like Amazon and Kobo, Bookwalker, under Kadokawa, is emerging a quite a lone bastion in not removing anything, and I say that despite disliking their drm practices. And if his apology here is anything to go by it will hopefully stay that way.

Actually, he didn't need to backtrack, and the second part of your comment is key to that.

When he made the comments, he was commenting from a corporate point of view. The line of Google and Apple app stores blocking things is proof of that. If anything, the backlash shouldn't be directed at him and his observation, rather than those two and their actual practice.

It isnt just the Japanese industry that this irks either. Different countries have different standards, and if it is an American company in charge they will use theirs even if its going into a country with less restrictions. Google and Apple are one example here, another is how when switching from Australian AnimeLab to American Funimation, the age ratings on some shows have jumped to the point of age restriction, with at least 1 removed altogether.
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