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“Sailor moon”, “Naruto”, “The Neon Genesis Evangelion”, “Dragon ball”, “Draemon”, “Sgt. Frog” and “Bleach”……There are infant characters in those comics but there is a possibility that such comics will be banned in Tokyo.
The Tokyo metropolitan government announced that they will regulate comics, anime, radio plays and games which contain “sexual portrayals of unreal infancies” in their amendment for healthy youth development. The dubious expression is criticized by many manga artists and commentators.
FUJIMOTO Yukari, who is a famous comic critic, claimed that the code has a risk of arbitrary administration. The Tokyo metropolitan government says that “unreal infancies” means the characters which look like infants. In addition, the meaning of “sexual portrayals” is not clear at all. It could contain sane expressions such as kiss, hug, or taking a bath.
KURATA Jun, the chief of this matter said that the regulation apply only to porno, though it is doubtful.
The regulation does not carry a penalty at the moment, though the books which will be regulated in Tokyo are difficult to sell in other areas due to the mechanism of book distribution in Japan. As a result, the regulation by Tokyo may become only a virtual banning.
On 15th March, 300 manga artists, critics and journalists are going to hold a meeting to oppose the regulation which is expected to go into effect on 1st July. If you love Japanese manga or anime, you should pay attention to the regulation. Please tell me your opinion on this blog or Twitter; @ginkgraph.
The list of major opposition manga artists
- ABIKO Yoshikazu
- ADACHI Mitsuru
- CHIBA Tetsuya
- FUJIKO A Fujio
- KAWAGUCHI Kaiji
- NAGAI Go
- SAITO Takao
- TAKAHASHI Rumiko
- TAKEMIYA Keiko
- YAGAMI Hiroki
