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City Criticizes Junior High for Ordering 'Obscene' Light Novels for Students
posted on by Jennifer Sherman
The city council of Kadoma, Osaka criticized a municipal junior high school on Wednesday for purchasing light novels for its student library collection that "have obscene and lascivious depictions." The city council questioned the decision to purchase the novels with public funds.
After students at the school requested light novels, the female teacher in charge of the library searched online for light novels. She chose popular titles at random, got approval, and ordered the books. In total, the school purchased 17 light novel volumes worth 11,000 yen (about US$99) during the 2015-2016 school year. The titles included Renai Makegumi no Boku ni, H na Maid ga Todokimashita. (A Sexy Maid Arrived for Me, a Loser at Love.; pictured right), Eromanga Sensei, and And you thought there is never a girl online?
A councilman said in front of the city council's standing committee that part of the purchased light novels have "erotic and lascivious front covers." They said, "It isn't good at all for students to put books that depict females as sexual objects in a library." The city's board of education also said that cover illustrations that nearly expose a character's chest "were inappropriate."
The school never offered the light novels in question to students. After inspecting the books when they were delivered, the school had concerns that the books would become a "stimulus of sexual feelings." After investigating the situation, the city's board of education stated that "forethought was needed."
Tsukasa Fushimi's Eromanga Sensei light novels have more than one million copies in print. Crunchyroll, Daisuki, and Amazon's Anime Strike are streaming this year's anime adaptation of the novels online. Author Shibai Kineko and illustrator Hisasi's And you thought there is never a girl online? (Netoge no Yome wa Onna no ko ja Nai to Omotta?) novels also inspired a television anime last year. Funimation streamed the series as it aired and offered a broadcast dub.
Source: Sankei West
