manga and anime are one of Japanese charm mmm...
if they want to kill it, it's just too idiot to be called improvement mmm...
even the most popular mangas like dragon ball, which already known world wide, had their own ecchi chapter mmm...

Sending letters is too much of a hassle.
Somebody should just put on an 'Akumetsu' mask and kill that senile old fart Ishihara.
And all the parliement members who supported him LOL.

Japan is amongst the countries with the lowest crime rate! That stupid law is unreasonable!
Do they tell us to live like vegetable? With no fantasy?

I was recently pointed to this blog (http://dankanemitsu.wordpress.com/) for reliable info. It does SEEMS to only affect non-adult stuff....but who knows what is going to happen in the future...

YES

Does "Any anime, manga, or game that depicts..." mean that at least light novels are not affected by this... law?

This is becoming over-exaggerated just a bit.

The bill has good intentions but it's ridiculous!! This censorship is going too far.

It's just adding an 'adult material' tag.

Besides, with this trash the govt is creating, I guess they'll crack down less hard on the 'war on scanlation'. Who knows? Every cloud has a silver lining.

This whole post is kind of sensationalist-sounding. The law is a Tokyo law affecting Tokyo only. While it's still bad news in a number of ways, it's not the end of the manga world as we know it, and it's also possible it could be repealed/overturned before it comes into effect. It's not like there's anything we foreigners can really do about it anyways, so there's not much use getting all huffy over it.

Why the hell are you taking news from this TROLL BLOG?!
That law is only a Tokyo Law that force people to label 18+ mangas that has such content on them!
Seriously, quit falling for this crappy troll.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shintar%C5%8D_Ishihara
He's out of national politics so how could he mastermind this? o.o

How about we make one ? Though its gonna be meaningless against the law. Just to show em' how we people serious about some stuff.

WTF with this all censorship things?
after the threat to freedom in internet by censoring internet by upcoming law, now my only one reason for me to life; Manga and Anime, there will be a censorship in it, too?!
good. 2010 really a dark year for otaku internet user

The news you gave are partial. It doesn't remove violence, rape, homosexuality etc.
It just bans the spectacularization of them. Also, series won't have to be banned: each series will be given at most 6 recalls per year, after which the company will get an official request of self-regulation.
That means companies will have to give an appropriate rating to their series, and won't have to remove them.

Here are some links to get more indepth and unbiased information:
http://dankanemitsu.wordpress.com/2010/11/24/bill-156s -total-scope/
http://dankanemitsu.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/tokyo-a ssembly-passes-bill-156-anti-anime-and-manga-bill-is-now-la w/
http://foolrulez.org/blog/2010/12/the-loliban-approved-in-j apan/

Please, stop spreading misinformation. Even though this bill has a negative impact, doing this is just provoking mass hysteria.

I would expect this type of fallacious scaremongering and exaggeration from sankaku complex, but not from mangaupdates.
Perhaps you should educate yourself on the reality, maybe by reading a real news source, before urging others to act.

After reading all this, it seems to me that the gist of the new law is that in Tokyo the anime, manga, etc. that are addressed to minors will be evaluated by a committee and that there will be more strict criteria in order for them to be classified 'suitable for under 18'. This does not mean that those series that portray sex, homosexuality, violence etc. will be banned, just that their publishers will be obliged to rate them R18. Of course that might have a negative impact on the publishers' target groups under 18, but come on, it's not like it's impossible for minors to buy R18 manga or DVDs. Here in Greece buying porn magazines and DVDs is prohibited for minors too, but there's not one of my friends who didn't get his hands on them before 18. What I mean is, all the publisher has to do is rate the series in the gray area as 'adult', and there ends his responsibility. Besides, the bill is kind of vague and I believe it's still rather subjective which series are 'sexually stimulating' or whatever, and anyway it really is up to the classification committee to decide that. I do hope they will be less conservative. And finally, laws can change, or never be actually enforced even after they are passed, if the political costs are considered too high (that happens a lot in Greece too). If enough pressure is put by the industry, there is a high chance of this law never being actually enforced, especially since the governor who pressed for it is leaving soon (hopefully he won't get reelected). If it does get enforced though, its effect will probably be that the publishers will have to rate more series as R18 than before, and promote more 'innocent' series for publication, especially those publishers whose target groups are mainly minors. But really, defining what is 'healthy for the young' is not as clear-cut as it might seem at first. For example, in a country like Japan with its long tradition in martial arts, what constitutes depiction of 'excessive violence'? And isn't there in so many stories a villain character who commits sexually-related crimes? The bill says that it's prohibited to depict those acts in a 'glorifying' way, not that they can't be mentioned at all. And will a manga or anime be judged as a whole, or by separate scenes? There are many questions like that, and it seems to me that this classification committee will have their work cut out for them, that is if they take their job seriously and not just condemn manga or anime indiscriminately.

I hope the good stuff will still continue outside the Tokyo area, I will die without Deadman Wonderland.

Maybe it's like some of you are saying, that this is all an exaggerated alarmism but some editors, to be on the safe side, are starting to request to their mangaka to not use certain theme, like it's happened to the yaoi mangaka Takaku Shouko that was requested to not use school boys or the fact that aready published manga will not be reprinted because they contain explicit sexual scene O.O

..the next step is to ban innovative and creative movies and stapling metal shields to your mouth due to potential obscene language and fantastic ideas. After that, binding arms and cuffing fingers will ensure that no profanity or monsters are created. And last but not least, cementing feet to the floor---we wouldn't want anyone else enabling a potential molester or murderer with their ideas and free speech.

So in effect, what we'll lose is: Violence, Sex, Crime, Homosexuality, Ecchi manga, any student/teacher, incest, age gap, and most shoujo series? I can live with that. In fact I want to live with that. Where do I sign up to support this law?

I think that this is just a way to try and see the public resonance on this provocation. Like, if they want to try and add the censorship, they will do it gradually. What would happen after a hundred of similar laws? Or ~3-5 and then BAM! the huge one will cripple the industry?

are you serious? this doesn't seem possible.. also, i didn't see anything about it on Kadokawa's site...

this is the birthday present i am getting in my birthday which is today from my favorite country next to us, japan which i thought contained all the joys of the world for all the male and female otakus in this world. so are they canceling all the anime channels and currently publishing manga and anime which is thought to be containing any kind offensive material?

Hello, i read in the last days mostly every news about this bill, but something is not clear to me, maybe someone can help.

So if a publisher has more then 6 unhealthy mangas per year they can get in trouble right? And its forbidden to have incest, loli stuff right?

So my question: Does this only affect "non Adult" Mangas? I mean Loli Mangas for example by Akane Shinsha = Tenma Comic LO Mangas are always labelt 18+, so this will not affect them?

Thats the only thing that im not clear, cose if it really only affects non Adult stuff then the law dosent even do much for me, even when its sad for normal Mangas.

Can someone make this clear for me? thanks

I like how people think Japan is not a conservative country, and have been lead astray by believing the things they see in Anime and Manga.

Well Otakus can form a political party, get publishers and community as their support, take majority during next election and reverse the damn thing...

nNt sure what we can do to support the anti-ban, but my friend just formed a group in facebook(Anti-Manga Ban), hopefully it will have enough members, then we'll send the group's link to the link you've posted in support to Kadokawa... >_<

yeah there is no need for such a law like that. if they want a boundary betwen right or wrong, there are one within our self. lol

Goodbye yaoi. I never liked you anyway.

"The mastermind behind this is Tokyo Governor Shintarō Ishihara, who blatantly shows no care for the illustrated entertainment industry. He claims that the law is to protect the youth of japan, yet he himself is the author of a series of schoolgirl gang rape novels."
...Lol. Gotta love irony.

The law only pertains to manga aimed at under 18s. All that will happen is that titles that fall foul of this law will get an 18+ certificate and the world will keep on spinning.

If anything this will mean that those of us who really do read manga for the plot, will not have to suffer the excessively gratuitous violence and thinly veiled pseudo porn that blights and stereotypes modern manga and those who do read the above mentioned, will not have to try and justify it as legitimate reading material since it will have a mature rating anyway.

Stop panicking, stop bitching and stop spreading misinformation; this is a good thing for western readers.

I don't know if it's come up here, I don't have time right now to read through the comments.

As I understand it they want to censor it because they are a bad influence on children. Wouldn't that mean that the law is aimed at anime and manga for children? The adult series are for adults, maybe the goal of this is to keep the adult manga and anime away from children.
In that case there shouldn't be any major problem for publishers.
That's how it looks like to me atleast.

so basically anything isn't 18+ but has inappropriate content for young readers will be labelled again right?
or will they be banned?
sorry but I can't clearly understand this new bill with my English

Please, tell me it is only abt Tokyo! So that not mean exactly end of mature manga but its (possible) end in Tokyo! I feel so terrible! My poor yaoifangirl heart!
Ishihara doesn't worth to be caled a politician. He offends GLTB ppl in public but from another side he writes abt gang rapes. No more comments are needed.:/

Not much will change, though I won't ask anyone to stop worrying. It's your privilege, and I envy the passion some show in their reactions.

I encourage everyone (truly worried) to research more about the actual ban law before jumping to conclusions.

Manga exist since the beginning of the last century. Yaoi exists since 40 years. And japans criminality wasn´t effected at all by this. They don´t forbid comics in the US, so why should they stop one of the most profitable things japan creates? Did he ever get to know how much money manga & anime make in japan and international?
This is madness!

I understand why would some people be so worried about this, because it WILL affect m&a industry somehow. And probably not in any good way, but i'm sure it won't be as tragic as many of You think.
No other choice but to wait and see.

P.S.: I still think japanese are weirdest beings this world has to offer tho. ^^

Wtf? Why don't thy just say they'll ban manga and anime all together? ._. Most manga and anime consin violence, etc.

so fckin stupid! D: wth?!

Yes, the law proved he was thinking with his ass. And he's Tokyo's Governor??
I'm sure he just want to get more money (illegal) or to raise his reputation. Politics, just the way it is..

Just a moment ago, we hate publisher because of scanlator issues, and now we support them for the sake of manga?
Life really is unpredictable.

Is this just applicable to Tokyo or all over Japan?

now he stated that people who produce materials like this and the people who read it have wrapped DNA! Someone call a doctor to check his head, i think this guy has gone insane.
Anyways, when will the nect primeminister of japan be voted? I hope the next one cancels this law as his first act as pimeminister

Just read this statement of Ishihara:

“old women who live after
they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a
sin.”

It is a sin to live And he's still a governor of Tokyo? This racist, sexist and homophobe?

Taken from here:
http://leejaywalker.wordpress.com/2009/10/02/racist-ish ihara-fails-to-get-2016-olympic-games/
http://leejaywalker.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/2016-oly mpic-bid-and-racist-governor-of-tokyo/

~~~
Japanese Prime Minister Kan Naoto mentioned the boycott of Tokyo International Anime Fair (TAF) by manga publishers in the official blog and said "It's important to promote Japanese anime to the world as well as to maintain the education of children. I want the people involved to work together to avoid cancellation of TAF."
~~~

But what does this mean - he is againts the bill or he is against the boycott?

As long as the PM is a Democrate and Ishihara is Conservative I deeply hope he means the first.

how about crossdressing? did they ban that too?

Does anyone know if they accept foreign donations?

and thus blooms a new underground market.

If people want or want to do something, they will legal or not.

=I