Forum - View topicNEWS: Japanese Parliament Hosts Rival Adult Anime Petitions
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angel_lover
 Posts: 645 Location: UK |
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No, actually, it says nothing. In these pedophobic days, very few people are willing to stand up against the brownshirts. In any case, representative democracies are exactly that, they elect governments to make decisions. To legislate on the basis of petitions and plebiscites is to abrogate responsibility in favour of mob rule. In other words, just because most people agree on something it doesn't make it right. |
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Panon
Posts: 242 |
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It's not illegal at all. There's a lot more doujin than just ones that contain copyrighted characters. |
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KannaLilly
Posts: 14 |
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Wow, this is not what I expeted to be the first thing on the new Prime Minister's mind. What happened to Mr. Happy-Elvis-Man? I miss him already...
So before I get serious, I say that I might not feel so bad as long is Yaoi is untouched, but I think this is a serious topic dealing with freedom of expression. This is a reasonable idea, but it isn't really thought through well. For one, Japan make a buttload of money off it's Anime overseas (AKA, here), a small handful of which is, yeah, adult. So, even if minimaly, their hurting their own economy. Then, inside Japan, there are even more H-game lovers. So... um... well... aren't they just hurting themselves? Not to MENTION that Comiket and the likes would absolutely fall apart if hentai was banned. God forbid we let HENTAI into COMIKET. 
using the whole 'lolicon' debate doesn't work anymore, either. Child porn laws are in place to prevent child exploitation, not to stop people from being attracted to children (even though that's really wrong too, but in a different sense). You really can't exploit an image on a screen, or ink on paper, can you? And it hasn't been said yet, I think, that even if it is, essentially, porn, it's art. Someone put a bunch of work into it, and it can be enjoyed for it's art and story, as well. For instance, Air. The anime movie: I cried! And I have a friend who is older than be, and is also male, and he once said my screen name reminded him of and H-game called Kana Imouto. I asked him about the game (I don't play those game, obviously  ) and he explained a bit of the story, then told how, even in the perverted moments, it was really emotional, and sad. So it's not mindless fansevice!
Anyway, I hope in that massive post I have said something that makes sense. |
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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Just keep in mind that even though Aso the prime minister is a dedicated manga fan, that doesn't mean he will take drastic measures to prevent legislation from passing.
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poonk
 Posts: 1490 Location: In the Library with Philip |
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Last edited by poonk on Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:51 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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nargun
Posts: 930 |
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I'm sorry, but until six million people get gassed for reading Kodomo no Jikan, you might want to tone down your language. Just a little. |
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e-imi
 Posts: 65 |
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Come on, Taro Aso! Back us disgusting people up on this.
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pparker
 Posts: 1185 Location: Florida |
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I am continually amazed by History Repeating Itself and We Never Learn tropes. Anyone recall the Comics Code in the U.S. forced into creation in 1954? Purely a reactionary move in response to the threat of government regulation, and initiated by the publication of one book called "Seduction of the Innocent" by Fredric Wertham that warned of the "dangers" of comic books. We followed the same scenario as created the 1930 Hollywood Production Code that robbed U.S. films of anything deemed "objectionable" according to conservative religious morality for the next 40 years.
The Comics Code is far more strict than the Hollywood code, since children were deemed the primary demographic for comics. That code effectively killed the comics industry except for shiny, pure super-heroes until the 1970's, when artists finally began to simply ignore the code. How far will reactionary censorship go, even in a country with the First Amendment, and for an entire media type intended for not just children, but adults? ...the CCA prohibited the presentation of "policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions ... in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority." (Wikipedia) There is no excuse for wholesale censorship of artistic expression. First, it's impossible to draw clear lines between violating and non-violating material, so fair enforcement won't be possible, and most artists will end up avoiding even getting close to the line, thus curtailing their artistic expression (Are you willing to lose Lucky Star because you don't like lolis in anime, or at best force the artists to make all anime characters "look their age"?). Second, laws already exist in Japan covering exploitation of minors, as they do in the U.S. It is not within the power of the artist to prevent aberrant behavior by never depicting it. It is true that some crimes have taken the form shown in art that was seen by the perpetrator. But to say that the art (or in fact anything other than the will of the individual criminal) is responsible for the crime is illogical, and worse, is dangerous to a free society, as the above quote from the Comics Code shows. It should send shivers up any American spine. |
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Azaghal_
Posts: 1 |
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grgspunk
Posts: 136 |
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Tell that to the 100,000+ 2ch members, as well as the countless Comiket customers and doujin circles in Japan. I'm pretty sure a lot of them would be dying to sign that exemption petition. Besides, the exemption petition just started, whereas that banning petition has been here for 2 or 3 weeks now, hasn't it? The Japanese otaku, though small in numbers, have a LOT of spending power. I wouldn't be suprised if further content bans would alienate a lot of otaku and the otaku population as a whole wouldn't have as many titles to buy, so they won't spend as much as they would without such bans. I wonder if the Diet would really be willing to pass such a ban if there is a risk of eliminating a significant amount of money going into the Japanese economy? Although they are viewed as outcasts with no lives, it's undeniable that the otaku population pours in a lot of money to various businesses that release products related to anime/manga/games, which in turn contribute to the creation of jobs, income, business opportunities and tax revenues in Japan. If they did start restricting content now, I'm pretty sure the anime, manga, game, doujin and other related markets will take a major hit and make an impact on the economy. I mean, sex sells, doesn't it? Think of it this way: *Most eroge titles have on average 5 female characters with different personalities and appearances, and most tend to have at least one loli character. Considering this, I wouldn't be suprised if at least 20% of the otaku population has an affinity for loli-style characters. *Many games have different girls in them to appeal to many types of fans, so obviously they put loli characters on their games because there are fans of loli-characters. *If a loli ban were to be put in place, then that means future/current games would either have any loli paths excluded or not be released at all. *Otakus in Japan don't just buy the eroge: They buy doujins, anime, manga, figurines, toys, drama CDs and other merchandise related to that eroge. With these facts in mind, let's assume this ban comes into law and affects an eroge title that went into development before the ban. Assume it was planned to have five girls, including one loli: If they take out the loli out of the character roster, then that means they are going to alienate at least 20% of the otaku fanbase, the group that likes loli characters. This means that at least 20% of their fans are not as willing to buy the game because the game cannot include a character that caters to their tastes. This means that the company faces the possiblity of having their profits go down by at least 20%. If there are many other games that are in similar scenarios, then that means that a huge portion of the eroge market may face having at least 20% less in profits. Considering the fact that lots of adult anime/manga/doujins also happen to be based on eroge titles, that means those markets may suffer from receiving at least 20% less than revenue since they never include the loli character. It's possible that they could reimplement the loli character in a non-adult title that was based off the eroge, but I wouldn't be suprised if many of these companies would also become afraid that such a ban would cover fanservicy situations invoving loli-style characters, so there's a possiblity that they would keep the loli out of even non-adult titles. That's a 20% decrease in profits for a good amount of non-adult anime/manga/games/doujins because they couldn't include a character that catered to a specific portion of the fanbase. This means that a significant portion of the anime market takes in less money and has less to put back into the Japanese economy. 20% is a huge number in the business world. That's 20% less money that the industry can put into investments, jobs, expansion and taxes. Considering the fact that the loli-moe trend is currently dominating the realm of Japanese pop culture, I wouldn't be suprised if the loli fans comprised more than 20% of the otaku population (that's why I say at least), so the percentage may be higher. I suppose politicians are more than capable of getting outraged by objectionable content, but I wonder how long such feelings will last if there's lots of business and tax revenue at stake, especially when they're in a faltering economy? |
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daxomni
 Posts: 2650 Location: Somewhere else. |
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Any country that can't break out of monopoly or duopoly rule over the course of a generation has some serious problems. Which, naturally, includes more than just Japan.
I'm no fan of the guy you were responding to, but you might want to tone it down yourself. Just a little.
Great, a petition with "anonymous" written 100,000 times, what good would that do? |
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BellosTheMighty
 Posts: 767 |
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False logic. For all we know, the lolicons could account for as little as 1%, but it could be a 1% that falls all over anything lolicon. Or, they could just be spreading things around. They do that in eroge- toss in as many fetishes and bizarre kinks as they can knowing that a certain portion of the populace will buy it just for their favorite kink. This is one of the major reasons I'm not into it as much as I used to be- I just want to seduce the busty swimsuit model, I don't need to put up with the girl who has a weirdo S&M harness in her closet or the other girl who you have to molest with an enema. |
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reanimator
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This whole legislation is likely-to-happen sign when Otaku subculture became mainstream in Japan, and Japanese pop-culture get wide attention from Western countries. If whole doujin hentai stuffs are still underground, no self-respecting politician would waste his or her time writing legislation.
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teh*darkness
 Posts: 901 |
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I would venture a guess that the number of older women molesting young buys in Japan isn't that big a problem... hell, you'd think it wouldn't be a problem in the US, but hey, it's happened... |
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angel_lover
Posts: 645 Location: UK |
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"Brownshirts" was easier to type than "ultra-nationalist extreme right-wing bully boys". |
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