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NEWS: Tokyo Reps: 'Nonexistent Youth' Bill May Still Pass in June


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stararnold



Joined: 22 Sep 2007
Posts: 227
Location: LaSalle, Quebec, Canada
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:05 pm Reply with quote
Although the "nonexistent Youth" Bill will come, at least it's nice to know that the Japanese law is willing to leave some classic Anime like "Dragon Ball" and "Evangelion" as they were originally presented. As some historinas would say, "It's best to leave animation's past for what it is".

As for the list of Anime titles not to be restricted by this upcoming bill, I'm hoping "Gurren Lagann" makes the list as nothing in it is meant to be sexualized, although Yoko often wears a bikini top in public, one of the aspects that the show itself is most remebered for. I'm also hoping "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" makes the list because the romantic moment between Kira and Flay that happened between eps. 15 and 16 of it was never depicted onscreen, just implied by dialogue.
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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3495
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:07 pm Reply with quote
So in other words, "Shows we personally approve of get free pass, even if they technically might count under our law!"

Come on, these standards are ridiculously vague! You'll catch up so much quality material in implementing it, not to mention creating a mess just trying to determine what qualifies to be banned.

This whole fiasco has made me greatly appreciate the "artistic merit" aspect of American law.
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Zilan



Joined: 20 Jan 2005
Posts: 167
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:09 pm Reply with quote
i think they're okay with fanservice manga, to love ru, omamori himari etc, they just want to ban actual porn, more than likely lolicon. doesn't mean there won't be lolicon fanservice, just not hardcore porn.

And it's not gonna be completely outlawed, just minors won't be able to buy it. honestly I don't see why people are throwing a fit over this. Unless I'm missing something this doesn't seem like a bad idea.


Last edited by Zilan on Sun May 02, 2010 1:11 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Jaymie



Joined: 18 Jun 2009
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:09 pm Reply with quote
Everyone's being so paranoid, seriously.

Unless you enjoy watching outright-shotacon/lolicon that blatantly portrays children in explicit sexual manners, nothing you watch will be retrospectively censored. Nudity is not sexual. Sex is sexual.

In the future, I'm sure that paranoid Anime producers will refrain from nudity period, but that's their fault, and not the Youth Bill's.
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Nemo_N



Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 272
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:13 pm Reply with quote
vashfanatic wrote:
So in other words, "Shows we personally approve of get free pass, even if they technically might count under our law!"

Exactly. Just look at these:

Quote:
Cutey Honey: Scenes of Honey Kisaragi's transformation
Dragon Ball: Scene of Bulma undressing


I don't think these were added in their respective manga to make an "artistic" or "profound" point. Double standard ahoy!
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:17 pm Reply with quote
This whole outrage is a storm in a tea cup. The bill is only about which shelf it sells from, not banning it out right. Rolling Eyes
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Olivine



Joined: 01 May 2010
Posts: 197
Location: Sol 3
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:27 pm Reply with quote
Wait...wait...wait...

So this isn't a ban, its just a restriction that prevents minors from buying it. How is that any different from the restrictions already in place for the prons stuff with adult looking/adult sounding characters in them? Minors already aren't allowed to buy that kind of stuff if i remember correctly.

I thought it was a full ban. Was I just completely out of the loop, and everyone else already knew this?

Either way, party at my house! lol
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Nemo_N



Joined: 12 Dec 2006
Posts: 272
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:34 pm Reply with quote
Mohawk52 wrote:
This whole outrage is a storm in a tea cup. The bill is only about which shelf it sells from, not banning it out right. Rolling Eyes

Again, for those who haven't read Dan Kanemistu's articles:

Quote:
Is this a ban on (loli/shota/BL)?
-No, it is not a total ban, since this bill is more about zoning fiction into "general versus adult" catagories. What is scary, however, is that this could very well beginning of bans on fiction based on subject matter, since the bill basically states that "minors, even if they don't exist, should not be sexualized."

If they set this as law, they can (and don't fool yourself, they will) use it as the legal basis to outright ban sexual depictions of "nonexistent youths".

"Why, if we already assume fictional characters are real people in that other law!" <---that would be the argument.
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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:36 pm Reply with quote
Olivine wrote:
Wait...wait...wait...

So this isn't a ban, its just a restriction that prevents minors from buying it. How is that any different from the restrictions already in place for the prons stuff with adult looking/adult sounding characters in them? Minors already aren't allowed to buy that kind of stuff if i remember correctly.

I thought it was a full ban. Was I just completely out of the loop, and everyone else already knew this?

Either way, party at my house! lol


Dan pointed it out in the last update. It is indeed just about keeping minors from reading this stuff, and extending the existing pornographic content rules to other material it hadn't previously covered, like how Osaku's government extended theirs to include some pornographic Yaoi magazines. Non-pornographic/sexual stuff isn't being included as the article points out.
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Daemonblue



Joined: 05 Jul 2006
Posts: 701
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:46 pm Reply with quote
The bill and how they're putting it leaves somewhat of a Catch-22 for Evangelion as posted on Sankaku a while back, http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2010/04/27/tokyo-loli-ban-will-include-evangelion/

On one hand they say that the nudes scenes will be fine, but on the other hand the scene with Shinji and Asuka when she's in I believe a coma (been a long time since I've watched it) wouldn't be fine under the law.
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vashfanatic



Joined: 16 Jun 2005
Posts: 3495
Location: Back stateside
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:48 pm Reply with quote
Jaymie wrote:
Unless you enjoy watching outright-shotacon/lolicon that blatantly portrays children in explicit sexual manners, nothing you watch will be retrospectively censored. Nudity is not sexual. Sex is sexual.

Berserk. And I'm not even talking about Guts' rape as a child. I'm talking about how Princess Charlotte is 16. Yeah.

Look: if it's just an issue of restricting who buys sexually explicit content, fine. My problem is twofold: first, how do you enforce the "reading" part of the ban? and second:
Quote:
It would also designate material that deal with "anti-social acts" of sexual nature, such as rape and incest, as "harmful publications," from which minors are also prohibited from buying or reading.

So wait, now teenagers can no longer read material that deals with real-life issues like rape? Oh nos, how dare they be exposed to something that they probably ought to know about! I mean, what, are we talking about actual depictions? Or just "rape can never ever be mentioned, nope, it doesn't exist!"? That is preposterous.

What's more, the phrase "anti-social acts" has a lot of similarities to the kind of censorship from the 1930s, where anything that went against the health of the polity was banned or restricted, including books that dealt with sexual issues. This whole law bugs me no end. I understand what they're trying to do, but it's worded so poorly.
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Monster in a box



Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 671
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 1:59 pm Reply with quote
Won't happen.
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NDenizen



Joined: 05 Sep 2008
Posts: 70
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 2:01 pm Reply with quote
I fail to see the reasoning behind barring fictional pornographic material of an age group to the very same age group - the age group most interested in porn in the first place.

Then again, I thought a legal thing like this would already be in place, so eh, crazy Japan. I assume "minors" means people from 12-18, not pre-pubescent kids - surely they're already not allowed to buy that stuff..
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Mohawk52



Joined: 16 Oct 2003
Posts: 8202
Location: England, UK
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 2:34 pm Reply with quote
Nemo_N wrote:
Mohawk52 wrote:
This whole outrage is a storm in a tea cup. The bill is only about which shelf it sells from, not banning it out right. Rolling Eyes

Again, for those who haven't read Dan Kanemistu's articles:

Quote:
Is this a ban on (loli/shota/BL)?
-No, it is not a total ban, since this bill is more about zoning fiction into "general versus adult" catagories. What is scary, however, is that this could very well beginning of bans on fiction based on subject matter, since the bill basically states that "minors, even if they don't exist, should not be sexualized."

If they set this as law, they can (and don't fool yourself, they will) use it as the legal basis to outright ban sexual depictions of "nonexistent youths".

"Why, if we already assume fictional characters are real people in that other law!" <---that would be the argument.
He's just speculating and causing unproven scare mongering by reading too much between the lines of it. Allegedly a sales restriction never existed for manga porn of any kind in Japan. It was left up to self regulation by the shop owners, which didn't work very well, hense this bill. Rolling Eyes
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Daemonblue



Joined: 05 Jul 2006
Posts: 701
PostPosted: Sun May 02, 2010 2:50 pm Reply with quote
NDenizen wrote:
I fail to see the reasoning behind barring fictional pornographic material of an age group to the very same age group - the age group most interested in porn in the first place.

Then again, I thought a legal thing like this would already be in place, so eh, crazy Japan. I assume "minors" means people from 12-18, not pre-pubescent kids - surely they're already not allowed to buy that stuff..


Exactly, they AREN'T allowed to buy porn as is, this will just limit stuff even more and cover stuff such as KissxSis and similar. The way it's worded can make it extend to stuff like Bitter Virgin as well (since it deals with a girl who was raped by her stepfather and became pregnant twice because of it). The scary part of it is that it targets a somewhat major theme in the shoujo/josei genre as well as the smut (for the record, I'm a guy and as long as the story is good I don't care what genre it is, except yaoi).

People must remember, the law is not a pinpoint accurate tool, it's a huge wooden stick, and while it might hit your target, it's also gonna hit the stuff around it as well.
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