Here's my take on the "Youth Ordinance Bill":

Many people thinks that this bill is the end of manga and anime "as we know it".

Well, guess what?

it will fail. Seriously.

Why/ Here's some reasons:

1.The Prime Minister is against it, the Government calls it Unconstitutional, the Big 10 Manga Publishers are Against it and the stockholders, investors and businessmen in the anime & manga industry are against it. When you have the PM holding hands with the manga & anime industry, it'd be hard to impose law on them.

2.It will never be enforcable. Seriously, the Tokyo Government would never have the balls to have their police officers come in and fine/arrest mangakas & animes for making "indecent content". Why would they enforce laws against animators & mangakas when they can't even enforce clamp downs against the Yakuza?

3.Speaking of which, these type of laws have 70% chances of failing. Look at the Prohibition, the Comics Code Authority Bill and currently, the War on Drugs. Morality-based laws fail in countries that based themselves in freedom of expression, and regardless of whatever religion you are in, you can never enforce nor impose morality on other people without failing.

4.And this law is against every facet of the Japanese economy. Mangas & animes, ranging from Shonen franchises(One Piece, Naruto, Bleach) to Moeblob ecchis flavour of the month(K-On!, OreImo, to Love Ru) are quite beneficial to the economy. They make up roughly between 0.2% to 35% of the entire Japanese economy. This bill will affect the economy so badly that it could make studios bankrupt and publishing companies to close. It can even close down most businesses in Akihabara and turn it into a Japanese Detroit, and Japan doesn't want its own version of Detroit. And based on the last two Prime Ministers, they are pretty reliant on having mangas & animes pushing the economy forward since the economy of Japan is quite in a dump right now.

And that's why i think this bill will fail. Regardless of what Governor Ishihara says, there's NO WAY this bill could ever succeed. Ever. Even when it comes to effect in July, this bill won't be taken seriously. There will be lots of flaws in the enforcement of it and regardless, freedom of expression will win, and this bill will lose.

For a country that makes videos of 500 people having sex in one hall, they made laws like this? Give me a break.

The contents of what the bill is is located at Dan Kanemitsu's blog:

http:// dankanemitsu.wordpress.co m/2010/12/11/sound-off- overseas-input-on-the- bill-156-wanted-2/

And if you want to fight against this bill, visit the Japanese Civil Liberties Union:

http://jclu.org/
http://jclu.org/ index_e.shtml

They are just like the ACLU, only that it's based in Japan. I've done work with them...

Thanks for clearing the situation a little. Sometimes it is better to calmly examine the situation instead of instantly panicing.

Marzgurl, as for freedom to produce content in America all I have to say is: MPAA, TV censorship, DMCA and political censorship.

I don't think it's failure is nearly so certain. A few problems with the points you made:

1. After his poor handling of the Senkaku Islands incident, the PM's popularity is pretty much rock-bottom right now. So he may not be able to do much.

Though hopefully THIS mess will result in otaku voting en mass and kicking Ishihara out of office next year. Although they'd need to mostly vote for the same opponent. If one of the new candidates promises to repeal this bill, he'll pretty much have the next election in the bag.

2. They know they won't need to enforce it. If it's something this bill might deem illegal, then they won't even risk printing it. The ban doesn't even go into effect until July, and some of the big publishers have ALREADY begun meekly adhering to it.

3. Even Prohibition lasted over a decade (actually, until the 60s in some states), the others even longer. And that's in the USA, a country much more concerned with protecting personal and artistic liberties than Japan.

The only similar law I know of in Japanese history is the "Peace Preservation Law", which lasted from 1925 to 1945 (and was ultimately ended not by the Japanese, but by the American occupation forces). It was another vague law that let de facto "thought police" imprison anyone who they arbitrarily deemed either indecent or a traitor. This was a major tool of those who converted Japan into a totalitarian military state.

While I believe that even Japan would eventually repeal this thing, it could easily wind up crippling manga and anime for years. Perhaps even decades...

4. Here you've hit upon perhaps the most important factor-money. It speaks louder than words, especially in tough economic times like this. The manga and anime industries need to start talking with their money-loudly. NOW.

Well, honestly they needed to do so long before now. They should have nipped this bill in bud as soon as it appeared (or reappeared, rather)...but they didn't. Now it may well be too late...

You, sir, have done your homework...

I don't even like anime, but Japan's economy, like ours, needs to be treated better than this. Plain and simple.

I support the death of this bill.
Also Plain and simple.

Now if someone would do something about Detroit...

Argh... *Can't think of a good thing to write at the moment*

Off subject... MarzGurl are you into the Touhou Project or just used the pic of the Scarlet sisters for your title card?

What is this guy, the Japanese reincarnation of Girolamo Savonarola? That's what it sounds like.

I've heard about this before, but this is the first time I've actually listen to the details surrounding it. It's worrying, but I'm an optimist and think that the situation will either be less severe than we fear or that it'll fear it's ugly head so hard that it gets undone.

Well, anything I was going to say was either covered int he video or Taufiq91's comment, so I'll just agree that this is very stupid and WILL crash and burn next near.

You obviously don't need trolling to survive, so please stop it.

most of japanes encom comes from anime/manga/video games. so with this.. japan might go into an economy stretch. so this might get repealed

For one thing, your title is awesome. Someone knows sum Touhou huh? (or did you just find a random picture or something?)

And, on topic, I have heard of this bill already. If it passes, it will definetly hurt but it's something I doubt will happen.

I hope she response to us about the title card. *Is pushing her hope too far that Marzgurl knows Touhou*

Plus would that mean to ZUN?! We can't have our loli girls anymore?!

I'm kind of curious about what will happen to Touhou thanks to this law. On one hand, the characters themselves are hardly sexualized enough to warrant a ban, but the games do revolve around little girls trying to kill each other.

I would agree that this has a rather slim chance of passing and, if it does pass, people will probably do quite a lot to make sure that it gets repealed. Let's just hope it doesn't come to that.

That old man though, he seems to hate anything even slightly deviant from a social norm. I honestly hope that not many people listen and believe what he says.

Ah well, a good video nonetheless, Marzgurl. I actually hadn't heard of this, so thanks for the information.

Um, it's ALREADY passed. Last week, in fact.

The death of artistic expression. The Japanese government has committed the greatest of immoral crimes. What they've done is equal to burning down a library. Up side is we wont see anymore anime a ikki tousen, or retina burning tentacle porn 0_o

They should do a law like this to ban anamorphic animals from kid cartoons, so that way no kid gets sexual confused, and it gets rid of future generations of furries.

it would literally tear apart most video games, what you think of Bowser when he kidnaps Princess peach, what do you think of Fox, sonic, Pokémon in general, alien series, computers sci-fi series, etc. and destroy other industries, peoples ideas of Notting things often are things you would not think our dirty, your self, people have placed in these positions are often much really messed up people, and will tend to destroy everything that they themselves revel in. Only hypocrites create these types of laws.

[ I respect if you don't like anamorphic animals,but sometimes you have to deal with what you don't like, for example I don't like the fact that health care goes down the drain.]

single-handedly you would remove all kind of kids shows ever made, every cartoon has an animal character, or an anthro character, you need to rationalize

i understand you hating on it, its your business, but taking away an entire part of the media just because you don't like furries?

sexual confused? damn i don't know what kind of cartoons you were watching, but when i watched as a kid all i could think is "wow this show's awesome... what's gonna happen next?!?! oh... so that character did this! oh its so cool"

you sound like the parents form south park suddenly talking to their childrens about sex when they didn't even had the slightlest idea about it, just about that size of ignorance my friend

i guess its only in america "in the land of the free" where you will get freedoms taken away from you in the name of freedom

Think of all the furries Sally from Sonic Satam created.

I hope you realize this guy is a troll and is being sarcastic. Because the fact that you didn't means you're obviously an asspie furfag.

so i'm not allowed to give my opinion regardless of the sarcasm?

sure but you also have to realize that in giving in and screaming at the guy, you gave the troll exactly what he wants.

Wait what? there was not specific data(at least not that specific) about what it is banned, people made up a lot of things in 2ch and some sources took that as a reliable information.
Another thing you failed to see is that this law only affects Tokyo, is not national.

That's exactly the problem. The bill basically gives them the power to ban anything they feel is "indecent"-and does NOT define what that is. At all.

In other words, they just gave themselves the power to ban whatever they damn well please.

I've always understood Japan as a "Shame Culture," in which fear of condemnation kept the balance of perversion in anime and manga in check. I felt it to be the main difference between American and Japanese culture, as Americans lack that sense of shame to keep us in check, which is why the idea of subjects such as lolicon seem to be so disturbing, even to the most hardcore of American anime fans. However, it seems that, with the passing of this law, the balance of this "shame culture" has be upset.

Now, having just watched and reviewed the anime Kodomo no Jikan, I found the images of lolicon within it to be quite disturbing, but that is mainly do to my perception of anime as an American, and is not meant as an attack on Kodomo no Jikan or lolicon in general. I respect Japanese culture regarding anime and manga in all its forms, and just because I don't like something doesn't mean that it should be outright banned.

I feel the main issue with this law is how broad and unclear it truly is, and I feel that, in the weeks to come, we should examine exactly how the Japanese government plans to enforce this law, exactly what they find obscene under its interpretation, and how they plan to go from there. If the law is as broad as the editorial claims it to be, then I imagine that this will be detrimental to the anime and manga community, and will heavily effect the ability of artists and writers to express themselves. Considering the large effect the anime and manga industry has on the Japanese economy, and the issues regarding freedom of speech, which is guaranteed under the Japanese constitution, this law will most likely go under massive revisions or be tossed out sometime in the future.

okay, this is a seriously bad idea here the reason why. but let's take on look of the consolation system, of how bad this is.( for the people are presenting this morality idea) prohibition, is a very good example of this, it's technically drinking is legal, but the church deemed it illegal(the church deemed sexy legal(of any form and we see what that happens)) people left and right broke the law, the mob was created in its greatest motions, and come to their greatest heights of power, mob bosses would be killing certain people by week, streets running red, and we Americans have no honor code of ethics( most of the time). The Japanese code of affects of honor, is a little strange and dangerous.

I see this becoming worse than prohibition, and probably being repealed by the end of the month( if they're smart) but most likely will take a year, for it to really go away. After all, they already have their own types of crime syndicates ready to, control their territories to make money, this will just make art industry illegal,funneling more money into the crime syndicates. I take it these people did not study American history( then again you're not required to study another country's history, even though in this case it would prevent you from repeating the same mistakes, or in this case an even worse mistake)!

Don't worry people. It is terrible, but not as bad as it may seem at a first sight.

This law is terribly vague which means Some People (read: a bunch of old geezers who are desperately struggling to make an appearance of staying relevant, and they do so by banning anything that is not to their taste) may use it against anything they do not like. And Some People dislike a lot of things. But on the other hand, what this law can actually do to a given work is limited as well.

A title cannot be cancelled just because it contains banned material. It will only have to be marked as for adults only. Many series that fall under the ban are aimed at the adult market already. And I doubt teens will stop buying their favorite shonen manga just because it suddenly gets a 18+ stamp. Like if it ever stopped a teenager.

Moreover, material posted on the internet is not affected by any way. Neither are doujinshi, most of which are for adults in the first place. Like some other people pointed out already, the ban affects the Tokyo urban area only - but that is still a major zone, especially since most publishing companies are located there.

Rather than readers, this will mostly affect the authors, forcing them to dance around certain issues to avoid getting an adults-only rating. I am afraid niche or developing creators will be hit hardest, and since I like indie titles I really hate this. Moreover, the ban has a political effect - it shows us that Some People are still in control. Which is why I am happy that manga/anime producers and the government are already against it.

Extra reading for your consideration:
http:// www.animenewsnetwork.com/ brain-diving/2010-12-21
http:// www.animenewsnetwork.com/ news/2010-12-21/tokyo/ mobile-sites-downloads- not-subject-to-youth- bill

Also, nice Touhou picture.

Um, the bill doesn't just give them an 18+ stamp. They have to be removed from normal shelves and sold in special "adult only" sections. Sections most stores don't even have, and will not want to put in, lest they drive away the other 70% of their business.

But the fact that this doesn't affect the internet may have positive side effects. Perhaps mangaka will finally abandon their publishing slave-owners, and embrace digital distribution? We can only hope...

they can ban from the internet you know...

This law makes no sense. So you don't have restrictions on what real people do in fiction (film/television), but you can't draw it? Seriously this is a ridiculous bill.

Oh yes. It makes no sense... unless you assume that rather than striking against rape/violence/etc, mr Ishihara was striking against otaku media.

Also, do note that his own books contained scenes of rape. So apparently he thinks it's okay if it's literature but not if it's an anime.

A doujinshi about this ban and its effects is supposedly already being made as we speak. I only hope it will include mr Ishihara in a yaoi situation.

His books featured not just rape, but LOLI rape. The very thing he's supposedly crusading against. Perhaps this is why the ban doesn't affect novels...

Ah, he doesn't appreciate the competition. He's vying for top-pervert position. :P

My gods. This guy has his head even farther up his own ass than Joe Quesada or Dave Howe!

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MY HENTAI!!!!!!!!!

Probably nothing. This bill doesn't touch stuff that's already *strictly* for adults, like porn.

Note, however, that anime that is written for adults in the sense of having complex themes, mature subject matter, etc., is not generally classed as being *only* for adults. For example, a minor can legally purchase, say, _Ghost in the Shell_. Heck, even stuff that is written for younger demographics is often written well enough to entertain older viewers. _Full Metal Alchemist_ is a good example of this.

ETA: That's not to say that the anime titles that I mentioned are necessarily covered by the new law, but rather that officially "adults only" content and content with mature themes are not the same thing, not even close.

@Jingai:
I wouldn't blame anime or manga on this though. Japan has a history of patriarchy, where women are being subdued and marginalized. I could talk about this for hours, but it's opening an entirely different can of worms.

Let's just be said that I do not like Japan as a country. Its anime, manga and video games, yes. But not Japan.
Oh, sushi is good too.

Anyway, this ban is striking at the effects of this phenomenon, rather than its roots. If mr Ishihara wanted to eliminate a culture of rape and subjugation, he should analyze its causes and make a move against them, rather than pretend to solve it all by eliminating one effect of such a culture and calling it a day.

Lastly, I have to agree with you. Japanese otaku - some of them are really creepy.

EDIT: Hmm, the post seems to be gone. Oh well.

this f*cking sucks for people

Thanks for this Marzgurl, I've been meaning to look this up after reading about major manga publishers protesting but I kept getting distracted.

The fact that the law only applies to anime and manga(and arguably games) shows that its not meant to protect the children of Japan, but to take a shot at the industry. I'm not going to pretend I know anything about economics, nor will I pretend I know about Japan's economy, but as it has been stated previously; such a law can't remotely have any positive effects if it was enforced.

Oh, they can't even PRETEND this is "for the children". This thing doesn't just "conveniently forget" to ban real child porn-it specifically states that "real child porn is NOT illegal".

While I am not an expert on Japan's laws regarding censorship or publication as a whole, I do know the US well. Believe me when I say distributors, not laws, control the US content. The FCC, MPAA, RIAA, etc., are all optional or reliant on consumer input. Shows like South Park break FCC regulations so often it's comedic, for example. So yeah, the US has it rather nice when someone is willing/capable of distributing the material in question.

On a direct note, I am reading nor hearing anything that exempts violent crime from this ban either. I realise it likely directly states sexual law as the focus, but if it is a broad as the statements I come across regarding the criminal code adherence, then bigger problems may appear.

One of the other things vaguely banned under this thing is "violence". So basically, only something as safe as Sesame Street wouldn't have to worry over this.

Evangelion, Nanoha, hell, even Doraemon would all have been affected by this thing. ARE affected now, actually, as this bill also applies to reprints of older series...

Oh My God.... Its the Japanese Jack Thompson of Anime and Manga!!! Come to live amongst us and rule us for seven years! The end is neigh!! Repent! REPENT!!!!!

Funny, I was thinking it was the Alfred Kahn of Japan....Which is worse? Thompson? Kahn? or this guy?

There's no way this would work without some serious modifications. I'd elaborate further, but I might just start ranting.

First, the Frivolous:

"Yaay! New ANE! Though I missed you on cam, is your camera broken?"

Next, the Serious:

Oh boy, another bunch of Pompous old men telling us what we can and can't watch. Here in the UK, We've had the Most Draconian Censorship you can ever imagine, for over half a century. Even now, only a small fraction of movie or Home Entertainment Content gets by the BBFC unharmed. And as for Manga? Well, having as we do a great literary tradition, The UK has no formal book censors. However, it's unlikely that a lot of racier Mangas would get published, most likely because of how the medium is still viewed.

Either way, I don't like the sound of this law, and I hope that Japan puts this sad little man out to pasture as soon as possible.

I think the BBFC's pretty good as far as banning goes.

Sure there was the "video nasties" moral panic a decade or two ago, but these days the only thing that gets banned is product placement (and then only by the BBC, to avoid violating their charter) and a grand total of 2 video games. Oh, and the IRA but that's not as bad as it was when Milk Snatcher was in charge; http://tvtropes.org/ pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ BannedInChina

Every country has it's own version of guys like this though. The Japanese have that guy, the USA had Jack Thompson, we have Keith Vaz, the Australians have their entire Labour party. He'll deal with himself soon enough, they always do.

America went through this as well.

Though on our side it wasn't "perversion" but "violence" that got the people in an uproar.

It passed (here), and COMIC BOOKS had to first go through an ethics panel for a while.

So looking at our history (if they choose to repeat it) there will be a massive decline in any good manga or anime for a couple of years. But afterwards the genres will come out better than ever, with people realizing just how stupid the law was as well.

A good bad bill?

Right on Margurl! we need to defend art and freedom of expression even if we dont like it

@ManWithGoodTaste:
More like a bad bad bill, really.

@sabata2:
Amusingly enough, Japan went through a period of harsh criticism of violence and fanservice in manga.

That was the 70s. Go Nagai was attacked most, for ecchi in Harenchi Gakuen, delinquent main character in Mazinger Z and... well, pretty much everything in Devilman. Good old Go Nagai, whether he writes a children's story or an adult one, he has to put gratitous violence everywhere. But he persisted, and manga/anime were not severely stigmatized ever since.

At least until now. Fortunately this is a Tokyo-only ban, not a nationwide one. The nation of Japan in general seeks to promote manga and anime as part of its cultural heritage.

UNfortunately Tokyo comprises almost 50% of the Japanese market for manga and anime sales, and is home to almost all of the big publishers. So this is still putting a bullet in the industry.

Furthermore, whatever Tokyo does, the rest of the nation usually follows suit. Actually, Osaka already passed a similar law even before Tokyo...just because it seemed LIKELY Tokyo would adopt this.

I saw this on Anime News Network back in April...I thought it was a joke, but THIS is real??!! Someone needs to show this man the light, or at least put a little sense into him. Now, I hate anything that shows gratuitousness as much as the next guy, but there *are* people out there who find entertainment out of it, but I don't think *this* should happen! Eliminating an area of media eliminates sales of said products, this bill will probably reduce whole-sale prices for anime/manga in general and make it were there would not be enough money coming from inside the country, so they would have to boost their exports, reducing their resources, and things would spiral out from there. It's basic global economics!

I actually pity the people trying to pass this.
The proponents obviously don't do any research on their opposition, or they'd realize they're the kind of people who will subject their victims to ENDLESS harassment the likes of which the world has never seen.
I mean, some guy just being a slightly larger prick than everyone else has to have obscene security measures on his door after pissing off these people.
The proponents of this bill are trying to TAKE SOMETHING THESE PEOPLE LOVE AWAY FROM THEM. The Japanese government is attempting to alienate more than 1,000,000 (conservative estimate based on comiket attendance in 2010, factoring in people who couldn't make it, people too ashamed of their hobby, and people who just don't mesh well with hideously huge crowds) of their own citizens alone with this law, included amongst them the people with the most free time on EARTH.
This is like taking a baseball bat to a hornet's nest after slathering yourself in pollen.
This bill will fall, one way or another.
On top of that they'll be receiving a lot of angry letters from international yaoi fangirls that I can guarantee will be an eyesore to read.
Congrats, Japanese Government People, you pissed off the most annoying subculture on Earth that's actually literate.
And no I don't hate all yaoi fangirls...there are just a lot of scary and annoying ones.
And the law does apply to them: ban homosexuality, authors stop inserting Ho Yay into shonen works to pick up the periphery demographic, fangirls revolt.

I like the addition of the "actually literate". Creationists and furfags would fall under the "illiterate" category.