Anime censorship/regulation bill passes in Japan
- Thread starter Whofan
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True enough, prostitution is under the guise of a massage parlors. You can get away with things under another name.
They're fond of their "assisted showers" there too.
I think some of us in this thread have got different ideas about what this bill means. Some are assuming it's outlawing adult material altogether, but others are saying it's simply a bill to regulate its sale so that it's only available to adults who give proof of age. Perhaps we should all try to clear up just what this bill would actually do before we start speculating about the consequences.
From a more conservative source: http://www.japantoday.com/category/...ars-bill-to-regulate-sexual-content-in-comics
Pretty much self-explanatory.
^Okay, thanks. So it's not going to ban the material or drive it underground, just impose restrictions on its sale to minors.
But the question is, what exactly constitutes "other penal offenses?" The article specifies rape, incest, and underage sex (see the last paragraph), but that isn't necessarily comprehensive. It also says "[t]he bill will designate those that the metropolitan government determines as particularly malicious as ‘‘unhealthy books’’ and ban the publishers from selling them to young people." So it sounds like an "I know it when I see it" judgment on the part of the metropolitan government -- which means it could become rather restrictive depending on who's in that government at a given time.
But the question is, what exactly constitutes "other penal offenses?" The article specifies rape, incest, and underage sex (see the last paragraph), but that isn't necessarily comprehensive. It also says "[t]he bill will designate those that the metropolitan government determines as particularly malicious as ‘‘unhealthy books’’ and ban the publishers from selling them to young people." So it sounds like an "I know it when I see it" judgment on the part of the metropolitan government -- which means it could become rather restrictive depending on who's in that government at a given time.
Restrictions which no doubt the existence of the internet will annul completely unless this bill makes them crack down harder on uploaders. I guess it just basically means we'll all just have to wait longer for the particular material to come to be released on video instead of watching TV rips of the shows. Basically you have to do that anyway if you want to see what the TV networks have censored out of it.
As long as I can still get my "unduly lauding or exaggerating incestuous affairs" it's all good
Hell, isn't that how tenticle Hentai got started? The law said: "You can't depict two Human Beings in a sex act..."
So, the anime industry (when doing this) said:
"No, these AREN'T two Human Beings; one (or both) is (are) a Demon(s)..."
So wait. Does this outlaw tentacle porn or not?
Not. As explained above, it simply requires vendors to restrict the sale of explicit material to minors. The material can still be published and sold to adults.
Ironically, there is still plenty of hentai with humans in it. I guess the law might been dialed back later, but considering that most of it is still censored for no apparent reason, I doubt that.
Hell, isn't that how tenticle Hentai got started? The law said: "You can't depict two Human Beings in a sex act..."
So, the anime industry (when doing this) said:
"No, these AREN'T two Human Beings; one (or both) is (are) a Demon(s)..."
BTW, what is it with the Japanese and sex? They're even more schizophrenic than the US is, allowing nudity to go uncensored but not sex. Is it a family values thing? Because if it is, then they might want to reconsider it in light of their demographic issues, which have gotten to the pint that they offer incentives for people to have kids.
The law doesn't say that you can't show humans in a sex act. It just prohibits explicit depictions of the genitalia, particularly the male kind. You can show people screwing all you want as long as their genitals are blurred or covered -- or so long as you substitute tentacles for male organs.
Not every culture automatically equates nudity with sex the way Westerners (and particularly Americans) do. From Wikipedia:
Although it is odd that some hentai is able to show images of graphic violence, rape, torture, etc. but nonetheless has to blur the genitals, as if that were somehow the most objectionable part of the image. If anything, it's the opposite of what you're saying -- the sex (and worse) isn't censored but the nudity (i.e. depiction of genitalia) is.
Pretty much how I feel. That being said, it seems like nothing but crap has been coming out of Japan these last couple of years, and most of this crap is the fan-service stuff that the bill targets. All in all, I hate censorship but I don't see this hurting my viewing habits.
I often wonder how American viewers would react to the scene in My Neighbor Totoro where the father and his two young daughters are bathing together. By Japanese standards, it's a perfectly innocuous domestic scene, but Americans today are so paranoid about pedophilia that I'm surprised there haven't been public outcries by conservative groups decrying the "obscene" content hidden in an innocuous-seeming children's film.
Well, I have to say I'd love it if this bill was actually a discouragement to make all those types of fanservice series and instead an encouragement to make more sophisticated works like another season of Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. Unfortunately, with the recent announcement of another season of Seikon no Qwasar it looks like business as usual.
Although, the bill doesn't take effect for a few months maybe they're just trying to squeeze that in beforehand.