Those who fear slippery slopes may find a brief opportunity for relief, as the legislative tsunami triggered by the rape game controversy seems to have subsided somewhat in the wake of greater politics.

A bill proposed to expand current child pornography bans and criminalize "simple possession" of "apparently underage" material had been slowed as the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) were pushing revisions to cover just "repeated" and "for profit"distribution, as opposed to the original "total" bans put forward by the Koumeito.

However, the bill itself among others, is in danger of being scrapped entirely, given Prime Minister Taro Aso's orders to dissolve the current session of parliament, calling for general elections by August 30th. 

Japan's vast porn industry has dodged a legislative bullet ("apparent" is such a dangerous word when used in law), but the battle isn't over. Eroge makers are still in some danger, with the threat now coming from themselves. 

Though upcoming H-games don't seem to be in immediate danger of restriction, the future of fetish properties is still in question. Eroge developers and publishers should take a hard look at their own advocacy groups, whose supine reaction to the political pressure helped set off the storm in the first place. After all, what good is a lobbying group that won't lobby?

[Via Canned Dogs, Yahoo News and others]