News
Okayama Marks Young Animal Arashi Issue as 'Harmful'
posted on by Egan Loo
The government in the southwestern Japanese prefecture of Okayama has added this year's third issue of Haukusensha's Young Animal Arashi magazine to its most recent monthly list of "harmful publications" on Friday. According to the local laws, the prefecture's youth welfare office is required to regularly identify and list harmful publications — specifically, titles that should not be accessible to minors, due to sexual content and other reasons.
Unlike many of the other magazines that have been listed as "harmful" by the prefecture, the Young Animal Arashi magazine for young men carries a manga series that has been released in mass-market bookstores in North America. The magazine is the home of Aki Katsu's Futari Ecchi, the self-described "user's manual" for lovers which Tokyopop publishes in North America under the name Manga Sutra. The magazine also serializes Ryuta Amazume's Nana to Kaoru (Nana and Kaoru) and Linda's Seki-Hara Kanojo (Sexual Harrassment Girlfriend).
The same prefecture listed what it described as an "unusually" high number of ladies' comic magazine issues — six — in its October 7 list last year. Since then, however, it has added five to seven ladies' comic magazine issues almost every month along with a smaller number of magazine issues that are aimed at other audiences. Osaka's government identified 81 magazines as harmful publications from April 2006 to June 2007, the month in which police conducted a sweep of 26 bookstores and 44 convenience stores. The Kyoto prefectural government identified 13 manga titles as harmful publications during preparations for its June 15, 2007 meeting.
Thank you to dormcat for the news tip.
Source: newAkiba.com (NewAkiba.com contains significant content that many may find offensive, and it is not safe for workplace viewing)
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