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Forum - View topicNEWS: Osaka Lists 8 Boys-Love Mags Designated as 'Harmful'
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Jaymie
Posts: 915 |
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I agree that some of those publications should be restricted, but I hate the double standard with shonen-ai. It's like in America; movies can be Rated G with het kisses, but if there's a gay kiss anywhere in the movie, no matter what context, it's PG-13.
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gorbal
Posts: 114 |
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Actually they are removing a double standard; Boys love mags were originally exempt from these rules.
Interesting that magazines are only considered "Harmful" if 1/10 or ten pages of it's pages depicted adult material. I guess that leaves room for artistically justified sex. |
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vashfanatic
 Posts: 3495 Location: Back stateside |
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"Harmful" is a peculiar choice of word, what's the original Japanese term?
It sounds like this is just a more careful enforcement of prohibitions against selling sexual content to minors. Which, you know, I totally support. I'd much rather they just keep doing this rather than try to pass that idiotically vague bill that was in the Diet recently. I mean, this is very clear and makes sense: if 10% or 10 of your pages (whichever comes first) feature sex acts, we only let you sell it to adults. In fact, that's really generous since you can have some sexuality; in America, if it was any you'd wind up getting age restrictions. |
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mdo7
 Posts: 6377 Location: Katy, Texas, USA |
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Quick question: beside making BL "harmful", has Osaka been doing any bashing or discriminatory act against homosexuality? Because if they do then that city is doing more then labeling BL "harmful". I just want any article (English or Japanese) investigating any allegation on Osaka's homophobia.
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jsyxx
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Yes, because there are great dangers to youths wanting to perform guy/guy sex themselves. For females who read these manga, they may want to have homosexual relations with men their selves by trying to swap their gender through mystical means. In male readers, it can lead to male ass pregnancy.
And can anyone explain to me why only yaoi was targeted? Are there seriously no male oriented magazines that they failed to include before? Or maybe the real danger here is that females *gasp* have sexual feelings that do not involve the men who wrote this getting off before they do. That's a rather dangerous concept in the Japanese world you know. Last edited by jsyxx on Wed Apr 28, 2010 1:56 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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AyumiHamasaki
Posts: 219 |
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I agree with J-Syxx.
If this was only targeted towards BL or female oriented manga, this is seriously messed up. |
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RestLessone
 Posts: 1426 Location: New York |
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The article states: Until now, most boys-love materials were not subject to this ordinance because "not everyone would be stimulated with sexual feelings by them," among other reasons cited. So, it sounds like other manga fall into the category, but until recently pornographic comics with homosexuals weren't included because (apparently) more of a minority read them. If you're talking about bara, there probably are issues with them, though maybe those ones are a) still to come/have already been dealt, b) aren't aimed at minors while BL can be, or c) there are already age restrictions on the magazines because they were never intended for youths. While I'm alright with regulations that state you can't buy a certain comic because of age issues, I'm unsure about making it illegal to read them. Even in the 'States, with NC-17 (or the older X rating) movies where a child isn't allowed in with the parents at the theater, they can still watch it at home. The choice can be questionable, but it's still allowed... |
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Altorrin
 Posts: 321 Location: Florida, United States |
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I always thought almost all yaoi guys look the same. But I'd think, "You're only saying that because you don't read yaoi. Doesn't everyone who doesn't watch anime say that about anime, too?" But I wasn't just biased. Look at the cover of Young Love Comic Aya and the cover of drap (the first and third covers, as of now). THEY'RE THE SAME GUY. Either it's the same artist and they simply do not know the meaning of variation, or (as I thought) that whole tracing-manga thing goes on very often in Japan too.
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TsukasaElkKite
 Posts: 4018 |
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This is stupid.
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Throughout Japan, official marriages are only authorized for opposite sex couples, but I think domestic unions (or whatever they call it) are allowed. So in general, larger prefectures like Osaka are not places where homophobia is rampant and homosexuality is quite accepted (or maybe I should say ignored) by the general public. Just look at how many BL mags are in publication. This action on BL manga does not affect readers of legal age from buying it. So it's not an outright ban, any they probably look at content involving both same-sex love and explicit renderings of underage-looking characters as the primary criteria in which things to regulate. To me it is a biased an unnecessary example of regulation of fictional artwork and I am against these actions. Fortunately it's still not an outright ban that keeps the publications off the shelves completely (and I hope that never happens). |
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sawwie-chan
Posts: 18 |
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Umm you might wish to look a bit closer. They may have a similar pose but Young Love Comic Aya isn't BL, its josei (there's a girl on the cover). The two images are also stylistically different. |
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Mushi-Man
 Posts: 1537 Location: KCMO |
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I agree with RestlessOne, the article made it sound like there are already other manga that had been restricted before these BL magazines were. BL isn't being singled out here, in fact it seems more like they are finally being held to the same standard as other magazines are. So if anything this is making things more fair.
I have mixed thoughts about this topic mainly because I still have allot of questions. First of all, do all of the mentioned BL magazines contain large amount of actual hentai level images? I know the article said...
But this doesn't really explain what is designated as "sexual acts of other restricted content". Also are there still BL mags that aren't included in this law? Maybe with more youth appropriate content? If the answer to these questions is yes then I think this is quite reasonable. It's not outrageous to pass a law that you should be of a certain age to perches material that is considered pornographic. Also if there is still unrestricted magazines then that means younger fans of this genre will still have a way to obtain this. However if the answer to these questions is no then I would say that this law might be going a bit to far. After all if the content isn't truly pornographic then there's no reason that it should be restricted in the first place. Also if there are no alternatives to these magazines that younger fans could obtain then it really sucks for them. |
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Dargonxtc
 Posts: 4463 Location: Nc5xd7+ スターダストの海洋 |
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Before anyone freaks out, this is essentially the same thing as having to show your ID to rent or buy a porno in the US. Or even having to show your ID to buy an R movie or M video game in many places. It's not that big of a deal. Male/Female comics have been restricted for a long time now. With the rise and spread of homosexuality and its related comics it would actually be discriminating not to have this law. For every person claiming that they don't read BL for sexual stimulation you could find just as many saying the same thing about regular "dirty" comics. If this law didn't have the provision of explicit sexual acts (i.e. hardcore) then it might be worth getting upset about. As it is now, they simply are restricting kids from reading, for all intents and purposes, porno.
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poisondusk
 Posts: 67 Location: Brighton, UK |
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I can't really see how this is a big deal, or a move intent on discrimination. You can see an example of the new regulation in effect over at Amazon JP where the latest issue of Chara Selection has been marked as adult, and requires you to click a 'yes, I'm over eighteen' before you can see the product. That's all. I should note that Amazon already does this for most adult manga aimed at straight men. This isn't censorship, this is Osaka looking past the old stereotype that women aren't interested in sex and pornography, and realising that the adult manga for women isn't really any less x-rated than the stuff for men.
I'm familiar with most of the BL publications listed, and they definitely contain 18+ sort of content, not in all of the manga serialized but certainly in many. The issue of Chara Selection features, amongst other things, work by Minami Haruka, Yamane Ayano and Yuzuha Ougi. All of these creators feature explicit sexual content in their works, so unless you're opposed to age-restricting content in general, I don't see anything to complain about. |
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egoist
 Posts: 7762 |
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Well, as stupid as it may be, I doubt it will stop real fans from buying them. While it definitely will affect sales, underage teenagers would be able to simply ask someone older to buy it for them, and perhaps even their parents(depending on how open minded they are, of course). Did any friend of mine ever refuse to buy me a Playboy magazine? Hell no. All I ever had to do was to bribe them by letting them read it later.
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