It is SO on.

After this is long over, the world will be a better place.

@Aries You mean the ban? Remember, Gurren Lagann, Doraemon, pretty much all of Studio Ghibli's stuff and what seems like half of Japan's works would be banned under this law. It's not targeting just things of a blatantly perverse nature, it's everything.

This will not bode well for the anime manga and many other markets. I am glad to see so many people against this stuff the last thing japan or any other nation need is more draconian laws against freedom of speech.

I am 100% against the law, so I hope they get laughed out. The fact that a drawing can be judged as if it were a human is ridiculous in my opinion.

While I could care less for the material it concerns (pornographic or otherwise), animation studios or artists would become restricted and particular works will suffer. With manga as child friendly as Doraemon involved, would they have to dispose of existing tankobon? They could hold mass burnings...wait, that's been done before.

Hurf.

ROW ROW FIGHT DA POWA

@Brad: You sure about that? The previous article Josh wrote about this said they weren't sure if it would or wouldn't only target adult material. Has there been some update in the specifics of this legislation that we weren't informed of via Japanator?

Oh, that's not to say that I agree with the law being passed at all. As EuricaeriS said, it's just stupid to treat drawings like breathing humans.

@gwjunkie That's what I understand from everything I've heard. More to come on that this week, though!

@gwjunkie:
Gently down the stream?

If this targets adult material exclusively which it is my guess it does, there is no way they would pass a bill that would cripple a major industry, then it is a good thing. It's not art to draw preverse sexual exploitation of children, it's fucked up and so are you if you believe otherwise. To say it's not hurting one isn't a good reason, to allow people to play out sick and depraved sexual fantasy's because "it's not hurting anyone", is wrong. But this is just a symptom of a larger problem, as it's the people who "want" this material that are the cause eliminate the demand and the supply will dry up.

I'm sorry but I love the title picture.

At this point, I would have to reserve comments on the actual law until I read it. That said, usually, once I read laws and statues, it doesn't help matters and makes me angrier (usually). I've got mixed feelings on this one...

@thatguyukno

It is NOT about only adult material it's about EVERYTHING. Anime, Manga, Games, Visual novels, Art books, Doujin you name it.

This is why people who are NOT involved in stuff like Hentai are getting angry and making themselves heard. It will affect them as well.

Just looking at my shelves and what anime I own the amount of it taht would be banned under this new law blows my mind. I mean their could be episodes of Lucky Star banned because they have Konata in a swim suit playing to a fetish regardless that it's played only for laughs.

@ Brad: Your point is VERYimportant.
SATURDAY MORNING CARTOONS. GONE. This I mean this seriously. The japanese econonomy couldn't take it. Think about it...

This means no more Yotsuba.

No. More. Yotsuba.

Someone will SUFFER if this happens.

I agree with HoodedMiracle. I will make a sad face if Hentai is banned. But if you fuck with Yotsuba, that will fuel a rage that no power can stop.
Well, at least an internet rage. FEAR THE ANGRY TYPING!

Maybe instead of censoring artists' expression, they should censor the voices of people that come up with and support laws like this.

@thatguyukno:
I don't know what your deal is, but every time I've seen you post, it's always been some inane, uninformed garbage. I once commented on how your stock “newb” avatar suited you. So you changed it, to a blank white box.

Super.

And now this. So, just for fun, I'm going to dismantle your shitty argument, piece by piece.

{If this targets adult material exclusively which it is my guess it does, there is no way they would pass a bill that would cripple a major industry, then it is a good thing.}

Right, because governments would never pass a law that wasn't beneficial to their people./sarcasm First of all, there is a big possibility that it will not JUST be adult stuff. But let's step back: who said it was a good idea to get rid of adult stuff? Japan already censors genitals. Now no loli hentai. Then what, a ban on all adult material? A slippery slope.

{It's not art to draw preverse(lol) sexual exploitation of children, it's fucked up and so are you if you believe otherwise.}

*Perverse* sexual exploitation of children? What's the other kind?
Art can be fucked up. Art can be way worse than loli. What about guro? What about the extremely violent anime that is often produced? Why is violence not as “bad” as sex? What if an anime series, at some point, involves an adult woman getting raped? Is it still art? What if she's not an adult? Then what? Who are you to say what is art and what is not, anyway? Are you some kind of curator? Don't think so.

What about Elfen Lied? That's violent. AND, it had a scene (or two) where a young child was sexually abused and ran away from home. It was a good anime, but no, the banhammer would come down on it with this law. In fact, most of the girls in Elfen Lied were over 18, but they looked pretty young to me. Even if they just look young, banned. Plus, they appeared naked a few times, for story reasons. This show would have been laughed out of town were this law in place at the time. So will many, many others if this passes.

{To say it's not hurting (any?)one isn't a good reason, to allow people to play out sick and depraved sexual fantasy's because "it's not hurting anyone", is wrong.}

So now you want to control people's bedroom activities? What about people who enjoy bondage fantasies? It's not like they've actually got someone tied up in their basement and are taking advantage of them. Should the government ban it? They're not hurting anyone. OMFG NOT GOOD ENOUGH DURR HURR. Your argument falls flat on its face. Someone who plays a violent video game didn't really just shoot that guy in the face, buddy. Are you Jack Thompson in disguise?

{But this is just a symptom of a larger problem, as it's the people who "want" this material that are the cause eliminate the demand and the supply will dry up.}

Um? I suppose if there had never been any demand for/production of loli material, this law would have never been suggested. Great thinking! Let's just get that parallel reality generator running, and get this squared away!

@ Mr Ymmit

I

@ Mr Ymmit

I

@thatguyukno

You are aware that my avatar has my name on it, right? This is just delicious!

Two Gordon Freemans!? Which one's the evil one? I guess we'll just have to shoot them both for being flamers. XP

I wouldn't have such a big problem with anybody's arguments if they were presented calmly and without all the cussing and insults. But it's the Internet, what should I expect?

Anyway: Don't censor stuff. The end.

@Nihon Freak
Ahh...Maybe I went overboard. Usually I don't get riled up like that, but this particular user tends to piss me off. Maybe not without cause: he DID sort of just steal my avatar, and start posting...I's.

I'm against this f'ed-up law 100%! I loved Anime, Manga and Japanese stuff since I was a kid! If this ban does pass (God forbid), I pray for the Otaku to burn Tokyo down!!

Dear god, if this passes Akihabara will shut down. Also, would this mean past productions that depicted children no longer be reproduced? and finally what age are they determining lolis to be? Because if its under 18 then we all be screwed

I always felt frustrated because this is, right now, happening in Japan, and as much as we raise our voices we're still gaijin in their eyes. But now, we have all these prominent people getting fed up of this bullshit politics are trying to pass on people and cripple their rights, now the motherfucking fight is ON.

I've been thinking about this a lot more. You guys bring up some points that I haven't thought about as deeply as I should have, and I scares me. And I'm not just thinking of anime or manga, or even porn. This type of this could spread to books, television. What if this spread to America? Educational literature? And when I mentioned saturday morning cartoons, I wasn't joking or trying to be ironic. those have violence or "offensive content". Who knows how vaguely and encompassing the law-writers can make these statutes? Just apply it to sexually appealing images/animations or anything that contains...where does it end, because as I learned in my Sex Offenses class, arousal and deviance are only as limitless as the imagination...
What I said before was from a standpoint of wanting to be a good CJ student and not get ahead of things but now that I've thought it through...I am against this legislation as much as I am for every other legislation to protect living breathing children from any and every harm, because there has to be a line between protecting civil liberties and the law.

Power to them, I hope their voices are heard. After reviewing the points of the laws and looking at some different viewpoints, I have to say, I don't like the implications of a law like this. I mean, how far can one go with banning "offensive" material in the name of "protecting" the populace? I mean sure, it starts with something like this, but then what happens after that? Who knows how many things could be banned in the wave of a law like this.

Anyways, I guess all we dirty gaijin can do is hope for the best. I honestly hope a law this ridiculous gets treated the way it deserves to be.

@Mr Ymmit
You did not over react you were right on the whole way through.

I am glad to see people taking a stand against this ridiculous law. If you support this law you may as well support Michele Bachmann for the next USA president.
http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Michele_Bachmann

@ShaggyTheOnly

Thanks for seeing it like it is, man.

@Brad Rice: So true. This is why I hate grand-sweeping, Draconian laws stuffed w/ self-righteous pseudo-moralism blatantly built in. I support them in their defense of their respective industries.

ROW ROW FIGHT DA POWA!!

@The-Excel: I see what you did there.

This is one area where Japan's lack of legal culture, of lawyers and lawsuits is a serious problem. In Japan, there are more artists than lawyers, but when one needs to defends one's right, what to do you when there are no lawyers?

(There are, but in the 19 years I've been here I haven't seen a single change made by a court that affected society in any way, unlike the U.S.)

When the father of Super Robots (Go Nagai) and the richest woman in Japan (Rumiko Takahashi) says something is wrong, then something REALLY IS WRONG.

lol @ The header image.

I'm 100% against the law, honestly speaking if this passes the world will become a slightly more robotic place with less free thinking and less freedom of expression. Loli as a whole covers a very large share of anime and manga, even in non-sexual situations. Its almost impossible to create a harem or romantic style anime without at least one token loli character present.

They might as well ban anime, thatd be fun wouldnt it. Im looking forward to the destruction of the world lol.