News

BBFC Reports On Age Ratings For Anime

The British Board of Film Classification has published a press release on its website with the headline, "Nearly nine in ten say anime poses a child protection risk if not age-rated appropriately."

The BBFC is the non-governmental body responsible for the classification of films and video works in the United Kingdom. Among its judgments on anime, in 2021 the BBFC reclassified High School DxD BorN (pictured) from a 15 to an 18 certificate, obliging the label Manga Entertainment to do a product recall of its release of that title. At that time, the BBFC commented to Anime UK News that "attitudes towards sexual threat and sexual violence have moved on."

The new press release concerns research commissioned by the BBFC, described as a mixed-methods study which combined ten online focus groups with a national survey of 2,001 participants. "Both strands included anime fans, non-fans, teenagers, and parents," the BBFC said.

According to the report's findings, in "nine out of ten cases," audiences agreed with the BBFC's age ratings. 91% of respondents believed age ratings for anime "should follow a consistent standard across all platforms," which is not always the case at present.

The report mentions that the the BBFC is classifying more anime than ever before for physical media release in the UK. "In 2025 so far, anime has accounted for nearly a quarter (24%) of content classified by the BBFC for release on DVD and Blu-ray – a proportion that has more than doubled in recent years."

81% of respondents said that sexual scenes in anime were just as impactful as those in live-action media, which was described as "in line with the BBFC's current approach."

Nearly 80% of respondents said fan service in anime should push content into higher classification categories. 69% of respondents said sexualised nudity in anime - reflected in lingering shots, close-ups and particular camera angles - should be rated more restrictively than natural nudity.

47% of people felt that comedic or fantastical elements reduced the impact of sexual material, and possibly the appropriate age rating. 40% of respondents said brief and infrequent sexual content may warrant a lower classification.

Beyond fan service, other factors that might push up an anime's age rating included the misuse of authority within power-imbalanced situations, and the involvement of characters "who appear to be children or behave in a childlike way."

Among the report's conclusions, "Fan service divides UK audiences but is generally viewed as an aggravating factor." The BBFC will continue to consider gratuitous sexualisation of characters "as indicative of higher age ratings when classifying content on the borderline between two categories." The BBFC acknowledged factors such as lingering shots and anatomical detail, and the concerns raised by ambiguously-aged or childlike characters in anime.

Between January and November 2025, two-thirds of anime was rated between U and 12, and the remaining third was rated 15 or 18.

The report quoted some individual comments from respondents, including the following. (There is no indication that these comments refer to the same anime title.)

“They weren't fully nude, and you didn't see any of the things that you would describe as nudity, like nipples or genitals or something like that. So I suppose I'd be happy to go down to (a '12' rating).” - 25 to 31-year-old fan

“There was quite a few lingering shots on her breasts and buttocks, which wouldn't have been appropriate for a younger audience.” - Parent non-fan

David Austin, Chief Executive at the BBFC commented that anime's popularity "shows just how deeply it has captured the British imagination. But not all anime is appropriate for children. Eighty-eight per cent of audiences told us there is a potential child-protection risk if anime content is not age-rated appropriately and consistently... As Ofcom shapes the future Video-on-Demand Code, we're committed to ensuring every anime film and series released in the UK is classified appropriately, giving families and fans clear guidance they can rely on. And as streaming services bring anime to wider audiences than ever before, we will continue to work on a voluntary best-practice basis to ensure consistent, recognisable BBFC ratings are available wherever UK audiences choose to watch.”

Of the BBFC's recent ratings for anime releases in British cinemas, Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc was rated "15" for "strong bloody violence, gore"; Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle was rated "15" for "strong violence, bloody images, language"; and Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution was rated "15" for "strong violence, bloody images."

Source: BBFC press release.