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Forum - View topicNEWS: Germany Restricts Yamane's Finder Manga as "Harmful"
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GATSU
Posts: 15558 |
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But that cannibal movie's fun for the whole family!
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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Yeah, I'm not opposed to ratings systems or age restrictions, but sometimes these decisions make no sense. (Roger Ebert recently has said that he's sick of how you can shove as much hideous graphic violence into a movie as you want and it'll never get a NC-17, and he's right) |
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Expias
Posts: 176 |
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I think legal age is just fine but I do think that they also need to label other things.
... But I don't know about the "harmful" statement. |
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Pinkwings
 Posts: 234 |
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I dont agree that its harmful. Not really. I mean I certainly wouldnt let any kids read it. But I dont really care.
Sorta unrelated but: I kept hearing lots of yaoi fans praise this as if it was the holy grail of yaoi and I read it and was rewarded to pages of nothing but bondage and rape and the guy walking away like it was nothing. I dont like wimps. But come on man. You get raped by two different guys and you dont even seem to care? What the hell is this? I see no relationship here. Just lots of bam wham thank you sam. I'll stick with my Yoshinaga Fumi and Miyamoto Kano. At least I get some stories with my manlove that dont make me cringe with embarrassment for how terrible they are. Its good if you can ignore the characters and story. Just sorta skip to the..main point if you know what I mean. Unfortunately that not enough for me. |
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Mr Fingers
 Posts: 42 |
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I don't know (and I don't really care) how the different labels like "harmful" are defined by the beloved Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Medien, but I assume that anything that is not deemed appropriate for children gets the "harmful" label. Just for laughs here's a translation of the fifth paragraph of that Spiegel-article, a dialogue between the vice-chairwoman of the aforementioned institution, Mrs Meier, and the representative of Tokyopop Germany:
Really harmful to youths? I don't know. Appropriate for people under the age of 18? Probably not. Funny? Most definitely. (Forgive me for the crappy literal translation. Gonna complain anyway? Mail me at [email protected].) |
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Moomintroll
 Posts: 1600 Location: Nottingham (UK) |
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Eh? The absolute ban on the cannibal movie has been overturned but that doesn't mean it isn't going to have the highest possible age rating when released. If I didn't know better, I'd think you'd read the words in that article without absorbing their meaning...
It tends to work the opposite way in most of Europe (especially Germany) - graphic violence is far more likely to result in a high age rating than nudity, swearing or sexual themes. |
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Mohawk52
 Posts: 8202 Location: England, UK |
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tebalith
Posts: 134 |
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Except these two decisions have absolutely nothing in common. A court ruled that Meiwes complaint of the movie violating his right to privacy was no reason not to release the movie. This has nothing whatsoever to do with the BPjM, nor does it say anything about the eventual rating that the movie will get. The BPjM might still weight in on that matter, if a complaint gets sent in. I see on mangablog, a commenter has already compared this to book banning in the Third Reich, and believes that murdering homosexuals will be the next logical step for "the government". God, people, educate yourself before venting your selfrightous anger about a country or an institution that you know nothing about. It's annoying as hell. |
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Daemonblue
 Posts: 701 |
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I agree that it should be restricted as well, though the reason given might be debateable (saying it's jst "harmful" makes it too broad a statement imo). Also, you gotta remember this is Germany we're talking about, where violent video games are pretty much banned, yet at the same time if a small dog runs into the road it's actually illegal to stop so you don't hit said dog since its size doesn't warrant a stop. Also...they have scheduled laughing classes....
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mufurc
 Posts: 612 |
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Uh, it's a book depicting rape, torture and whatnot in loving detail. Why is it surprising that it gets "restricted to people of legal age only"? It's not like they banned it or anything.
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sunflower
 Posts: 1080 |
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The Finder series is not a book about rape and torture. It's not even sexually graphic compared to hentai, though it's harder core than soft BL. But anyone who reads past the first volume will be rewarded with a story with a depth of character not often seen in yaoi, if they bother to look at what's actually being shown on the page.
The first chapter was written as a oneshot for a bondage issue of Be-Boy Gold, and the story was so popular that two other related oneshots were written and stuck into volume one. But the mangaka has publicly said that she primarily enjoys writing light pieces, and was uncomfortable with the tone of the first chapter, so she set about gradually reforming the main characters and their relationship to make it one of love. By the end of the story she succeeds. The characters are all mafia members btw, with the exception of Takaba, the normal one through whose POV we can relate to the rest. It's not like they're going to be nice guys. The indexing is primarily because, according to German fans I've spoken with, Takaba is seen thinking about sex he had with Asami and at one point saying something to the effect (I have no idea what the German translation really says) that it hurt, so why did he enjoy it. And they relate this back to the bondage in the first chapter, though there's nothing to support that. It's definitely not for children though, so since indexing is the only way to enforce an adult rating over there, it's not surprising that it happened. The volume is still being sold openly in other German-speaking countries like Austria and Switzerland. |
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Cait
 Posts: 503 |
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That's interesting, because I'd heard that it had actually been banned in Germany outright, not just "restricted." I don't knwo why this is "news" in the first place, all 18+ titles are rated as such, and this title was going to be 18+ no matter what this ruling was.
But I do have to wonder about the future possibility of a license rescue of ViewFinder in the US now, given the Handley case, et al. A lot of BL/yaoi has rape-fantasy and, er, "insertion," but ViewFInder is one of the few with actual BDSM in it. Still, it is one of the better written "stories" with more consistent artwork than most, which is why it is so celebrated (and, yeah, the humor factor in that volume 1 scene). |
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Labbes
 Posts: 890 |
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Actually, I don't think many books are banned over here. I can only think of one, which is Mein Kampf. I am not sure if you are allowed to import it, though, but I think so. It's just illegal to sell it. The restriction "just" means that it's sold "under the counter", meaning you have to ask for it. The BPjM usually (as in: not always) has good reasoning.
It probably won't be much use, but I'm going to explain a little here. Video games are not banned here. The situation is not very good, but they are only sold for people at the age of 18+, but they can still be promoted and stuff. There are very few "restricted" games, most of them involve (playing) Nazis. CoD, for instance, had to remove the swasticas, but is sold for 18+. I believe that it is also legal to import them. If you think about the dog argument, it makes sense. Because if you brake, the car behind you won't react fast enough and drive into you. Worse, you could try to drive around the dog, which almost always will lead to an accident. I haven't heard of scheduled laughing classes, either. It's like saying "Americans don't learn evolution theory in school". Well, some don't, but most still do. So please, inform yourself before spouting nonsense. Thanks. |
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MysteryGreenTea
Posts: 19 |
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I can understand it being restricted because of the content and all, but I read that even German bloggers aren't allowed to mention it! I just thought that was a little extreme... well I think so anyway!
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gynocrat_rex
 Posts: 57 Location: Texas |
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She's right, what it basically means is that 'Finder' wont be on the shelf with all the other Tokyo Pop manga, it's be restricted to an area more suitable [or even behind the counter]. They're not banning it. As for 'Finder' being a meaningful plot-intensive BL title - well, that's a matter of opinion. 
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