Forum - View topic

NEWS: Core Magazine's Head Editor, 2 More Arrested for 'Obscene' Manga, Photos

walw6pK4Alo wrote:

Because censorship like that is a gesture, they're "censoring" to get the law off their ass but they don't want to tarnish their own work over a stupid century old law. Again, it depends on the artist and how strict they want to be; Japanese prison is a miserable place.

Pretty much. It'd be annoying if they mosaic'd the entire area.

kazziyan wrote:

walw6pK4Alo wrote: Because censorship like that is a gesture, they're "censoring" to get the law off their ass but they don't want to tarnish their own work over a stupid century old law. Again, it depends on the artist and how strict they want to be; Japanese prison is a miserable place. Pretty much. It'd be annoying if they mosaic'd the entire area.

It could be worse from recent h-manga releases in the states where they just completely white out the area.

I don't necessarily disagree with this in principle, as I agree that it is more than a bit silly. But, if you are going to have this sort of principle in effect, at least there has to be some sort of objective standard of what is and isn't deemed "indecent".

In practice, I suspect it's really about finding the content itself (or those who distribute/publish it) "offensive" and using the "lack of sufficient censorship" as the excuse to perform the arrest.

sex scenes between males and females

Quote:

sex scenes between males and females

Oh the horror

kazziyan wrote:

walw6pK4Alo wrote: Because censorship like that is a gesture, they're "censoring" to get the law off their ass but they don't want to tarnish their own work over a stupid century old law. Again, it depends on the artist and how strict they want to be; Japanese prison is a miserable place. Pretty much. It'd be annoying if they mosaic'd the entire area.

It could be worse from recent h-manga releases in the states where they just completely white out the area.

Quote:

sex scenes between males and females

Oh the horror

kazziyan wrote:

walw6pK4Alo wrote: Because censorship like that is a gesture, they're "censoring" to get the law off their ass but they don't want to tarnish their own work over a stupid century old law. Again, it depends on the artist and how strict they want to be; Japanese prison is a miserable place. Pretty much. It'd be annoying if they mosaic'd the entire area.

It could be worse from recent h-manga releases in the states where they just completely white out the area.

Cecilthedarkknight_234 wrote:

kazziyan wrote: walw6pK4Alo wrote: Because censorship like that is a gesture, they're "censoring" to get the law off their ass but they don't want to tarnish their own work over a stupid century old law. Again, it depends on the artist and how strict they want to be; Japanese prison is a miserable place. Pretty much. It'd be annoying if they mosaic'd the entire area. It could be worse from recent h-manga releases in the states where they just completely white out the area.

Someone more familiar with U.S. releases can answer better, but my understanding from the threads on ANN is that recent "h-manga" releases in the U.S. have included a lot of smutty but non-adult manga, stuff that's the manga equivalent of R-rated rather than X-rated. This is stuff running in magazines such as Men's Young that don't have an "adult's only" label on them in Japan. For those, they're whited out to begin with in the Japanese version, so it's not something that was done for the U.S. release specifically.

Japanese prison is a miserable place.

relentlessflame wrote:

I don't necessarily disagree with this in principle, as I agree that it is more than a bit silly. But, if you are going to have this sort of principle in effect, at least there has to be some sort of objective standard of what is and isn't deemed "indecent". In practice, I suspect it's really about finding the content itself (or those who distribute/publish it) "offensive" and using the "lack of sufficient censorship" as the excuse to perform the arrest.

No, it really is about authoritarians being pricks because this has actually been going on for some time, otherwise, they'd have a TON of material and would have too arrest nearly everyone for offensive material. It just doesn't happen that often and we don't hear about it. I recall Sankakucomplex covering an arrest made a couple years ago for insufficient censoring (aka "obscenity") too. The defendant made it worse for himself by arguing that he shouldn't have to censor at all to begin with on principle. That is, that the law itself was wrong, which I agree with. Of course it does you no good when you don't have enough guns on your side.

Anyways, it makes wonder if they are really different because I know some other ero magazines have thin censoring too (enough to reverse digitally) and likewise many doujinshi, or even artwork on pixiv. It seems almost like they are just picking someone just to make an example out of.

But it should be noted that there are also some inconsistencies:
- like walw6pK4Alo mentioned, prior to Japan trying to emulate the west, there was no censorship and the culture was much more libertine. What about all the erotic artworks? Still uncensored.
- censored genitalia only applies to media, but not ero figures or statues or sex toys, or physical items in general

Oh, Japan, stop it. This whole "no penises or vaginas" thing is getting ridiculous. 18+ should be allowed to view what they want (aside from things like real child porn, snuff films, and rape --- the last one Japan is way too lax on in manga).