A
Acquariana
Guest
"More importantly, the bill is directed at video games, anime and manga, but does not encompass novels, films, TV and photographs. Mediums that use real-life images are exempt."
Uhhh, what? If they're gonna put pressure on video games, anime and manga, why not on novels, films, tv and photos? Unless those are already regulated in the way that they're trying to regulate the three from the first list, I think that it's unfair of them to do so. While, yeah, some anime is simply insane, there are quite a few that are actually not that bad or mature. Heck, the worst thing I've seen in a shojo manga is cartoon/fantasy violence and melodramit does not however add any legal obligation to consider these, or establish any clear or indepdently enforced criteria for judging whether a work can be declared “harmful” or not.
a, and those aren't even that bad.
"it does not however add any legal obligation to consider these, or establish any clear or indepdently enforced criteria for judging whether a work can be declared “harmful” or not."
"It is very difficult to objectively assess the scope of the law – along with vague and subjective terms like “interfere with the healthy development of youth,” the law also includes “etc.” on the end of most of its examples, leaving it quite unclear, for example, whether the “improper glorification of illegal sexual activity, etc.” applies to only virtual sex crimes, or all crimes in general – presumably the interpretation adopted will be whichever is convenient to censors."
Me encantan los fallos~ :D.
"Then, just as now, a vaguely worded law allowed authorities to intimidate into silence all those they did not lock up directly – a fate which seems likely to befall all publishers of anime, manga and games in Japan."
This is one of those issues that seems to pop up in hard times. The balancing-act between safety and personal freedom. My opinion is that even though infringing upon personal freedom is sometimes necessary to achieve safety, there are times when taking away personal freedoms is bad for everyone involved because safety is not necessarily improved, but the rights are definately taken away. While the anime, video games, and manga that people consume does affect how they think to an extent, they probably had to be already in some sort of dark mental state before they began watching the more disturbing anime and actually letting it affect how they think of things. How about directing more money towards, I'unno, school counseling programs, mental health awareness, stuff like that? There are preventative measures that could take away less people's rights.
I mention school counseling and health awareness because there is a lot of pressure in Japanese society that simply does not exist in America. If a country's going to push its youth so hard, does it expect them all to just come out perfectly fine? It's inevitable that some will crack under societal expectations, especially so in such a rocky time for the economy as this one. Of course some are going to resort to something to escape from a society that's so harsh. This is why we see crazy otaku and hikikomori who don't come out of their house. Clearly it's not just the anime, manga, and videogames that are the problem when all they do is provide a mere escape from the mainstream media and society.
Ugh, also, about the whole not wanting homosexuals on TV thing, that's just, kind of laughable to me, actually. If you're secure in your sexuality, you shouldn't make a large deal out of homosexuals on TV.
P.S.: Just a crazy liberal teenager rantin' :P. Also, most of this is in my opinion, so I'm probably wrong and don't have enough insight into Japan to rant so much, but this is just what I've deduced. By the way, I've also read about a ban on the exporting of eroge anime from awhile ago on another site. I'll try to find the link if anybody wants it.
--End Rant--
Uhhh, what? If they're gonna put pressure on video games, anime and manga, why not on novels, films, tv and photos? Unless those are already regulated in the way that they're trying to regulate the three from the first list, I think that it's unfair of them to do so. While, yeah, some anime is simply insane, there are quite a few that are actually not that bad or mature. Heck, the worst thing I've seen in a shojo manga is cartoon/fantasy violence and melodramit does not however add any legal obligation to consider these, or establish any clear or indepdently enforced criteria for judging whether a work can be declared “harmful” or not.
a, and those aren't even that bad.
"it does not however add any legal obligation to consider these, or establish any clear or indepdently enforced criteria for judging whether a work can be declared “harmful” or not."
"It is very difficult to objectively assess the scope of the law – along with vague and subjective terms like “interfere with the healthy development of youth,” the law also includes “etc.” on the end of most of its examples, leaving it quite unclear, for example, whether the “improper glorification of illegal sexual activity, etc.” applies to only virtual sex crimes, or all crimes in general – presumably the interpretation adopted will be whichever is convenient to censors."
Me encantan los fallos~ :D.
"Then, just as now, a vaguely worded law allowed authorities to intimidate into silence all those they did not lock up directly – a fate which seems likely to befall all publishers of anime, manga and games in Japan."
This is one of those issues that seems to pop up in hard times. The balancing-act between safety and personal freedom. My opinion is that even though infringing upon personal freedom is sometimes necessary to achieve safety, there are times when taking away personal freedoms is bad for everyone involved because safety is not necessarily improved, but the rights are definately taken away. While the anime, video games, and manga that people consume does affect how they think to an extent, they probably had to be already in some sort of dark mental state before they began watching the more disturbing anime and actually letting it affect how they think of things. How about directing more money towards, I'unno, school counseling programs, mental health awareness, stuff like that? There are preventative measures that could take away less people's rights.
I mention school counseling and health awareness because there is a lot of pressure in Japanese society that simply does not exist in America. If a country's going to push its youth so hard, does it expect them all to just come out perfectly fine? It's inevitable that some will crack under societal expectations, especially so in such a rocky time for the economy as this one. Of course some are going to resort to something to escape from a society that's so harsh. This is why we see crazy otaku and hikikomori who don't come out of their house. Clearly it's not just the anime, manga, and videogames that are the problem when all they do is provide a mere escape from the mainstream media and society.
Ugh, also, about the whole not wanting homosexuals on TV thing, that's just, kind of laughable to me, actually. If you're secure in your sexuality, you shouldn't make a large deal out of homosexuals on TV.
P.S.: Just a crazy liberal teenager rantin' :P. Also, most of this is in my opinion, so I'm probably wrong and don't have enough insight into Japan to rant so much, but this is just what I've deduced. By the way, I've also read about a ban on the exporting of eroge anime from awhile ago on another site. I'll try to find the link if anybody wants it.
--End Rant--
