Osaka, not to be outdone by rival Tokyo, is considering an original ban of its own – on “yaoi” manga, or “Boys Love” (BL) as the market is generally known in Japan.
The prefectural government has published a lengthy list of all the things they are considering banning; along with the items relating to their version of the Tokyo loli ban, they also quietly add “Boys Love” to the list of topics to ban:
The BL part:
Restriction of comics marketed to women, consideration of a ban on “boys love” comics.
The proposed ban also explicitly makes no distinction between fiction and reality, seemingly a distinction politicians have great difficulty grasping – possibly not surprising considering the state of the average election manifesto.
An example of the sort of material the ban targets:
The perceived issue with such works is that they are available to a general audience, rather than sold as age-restricted ero-manga. In general the depictions involved are of adult males engaged in consensual homosexual sex (“shota” is a different market entirely).
These works are generally much more explicit than a non-restricted manga marketed to males could get away with – censors, moralists and feminists are seemingly too preoccupied with depictions of females to bother with scenes of men having sex. This has not stopped occasional calls for restrictions however.
As with the earlier loli ban efforts, the tactic appears to be one of forcing all such material into “adult-only” age restricted distribution, which generally has the effect of massively curtailing the outlets through which the works will be sold (and so eliminating the market for the magazines in question), as well as causing non-age restricted titles to become shy of any depictions which might cause them to be forced into over-18 sales channels.
Such a ban on distribution could effectively throttle the nation’s second-largest BL market without having to take the form of a much more difficult to accomplish outright ban on publication – a “stealth-ban” in effect, some of which have been seen before.
Banning BL comics in fact seems an example of moral outrage for its own sake – the comics are marketed exclusively to females, so they clearly do not promote homosexuality amongst young men (and no mainstream politician would dare to call homosexuals undesirable deviants in any case).
It is hard to see how they could be construed as encouraging girls into pregnancy or prostitution. Even the most addled of ban-supporters would have trouble claiming they turn women into rapists or deviant man-fanciers.
Just in what way they are “unhealthy” is in fact something nobody seems to bother mentioning.
The amount of effort Japan’s politicians have recently been putting into destroying their creative industries, and freedom of expression along with it, is astonishing considering it is one of the few remaining sources of economic vitality the nation has left.
Just how they expect to pay off their huge pension deficit and enormous national debt is apparently of secondary importance when compared to the pressing issue of expunging sex from the lives of the children.
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Thank God I live in Western Europe.
GloBL-artists must improve.
Hush! Don't you tell that's whatshername Korean CNN sicko about it. She's gonna raise another shitstorm over what's not a business of hers, gay shitstorm this time.
Would it be a real ban of this gay shit, I'd have been up in arms over it already. However, they're smart enough not to ban it completely (suppressing free speech indeed), they're just going not to sell this shit to underages. No matter how market share killing this is (and I doubt that underages are sooo profitable), this isn't about free speech. I mean, we don't sell cigarettes and alcohol to underages as well and nobody bitches about human rights.
Ban yaoi - good riddance
Ban yuri/loli - ITS ON NOW!
of course, hypocrite
>In general the depictions involved are of adult males engaged in consensual homosexual sex (“shota” is a different market entirely).
>Adult males
>Shota BL as an example
Nice work, Artefact.
I appreciate the rest of the article text, however, particularly the bit about exactly why it is unhealthy.
Wait... they want to anger Fujoshi.
Holy... they are ether incredibly brave or stupid.
I vote that they are stupid... or maybe masochists? -_-
Wow, the sheer stupidity of these bans are astonishing! Basically this government is just proposing bans; it doesn't seem to be doung anything else! With this kind of economy, to destroy one of the few sectors that work is beyond retarded. Without taking into consideration the complete disrespect for freedom of expression!
Not to mention taking into account how many jobs will be lost and the overall impact on the anime media industry which in turn will affect their already failing economy...
Japan should tell foreign moralfags to STFU and mind their own skeleton in the closet for once...
I love mangas like this.
Glad to see someone targeting yaoi, maybe those lazy fucking fangirls will help protest when the loli ban comes around again. I can easily imagine lots of them going DISGUSTING about loli, but later enjoying shota.
Wake up! they're hand and hand not opposites.
Excuse me but when the loli ban was threatening our fellow male otakus a lot of fujoshi raised their voices for freedom of expressions and slippery slopes; we just didn't debate HERE. Maybe the lazy one here is the one who didn't bother to check anything else but sancom.
Besides some rather eloquent ladies did raise their voice here as well.
Alma? Think that was her name, uses an avatar of Kallen from Code Geass.
Lesbian iirc.
Were others as well, but I'm lousy at names. :(
also a lot of fujoshi, like loli, or at least I do...
So...do any one honestly think that a lot of girls are going to protest on the streets about this? Me think not.
GO! osaka Go!
To those short-sighted idiots that actually supports this, here's a modified poem of the famous anti-Nazi poem "First they came" as some food for thought:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came...
First they came for the yaoi and BL, but I did not speak up, as I wasn't into yaoi and BL.
Next they came for the yuri, but I did not speak up, as I wasn't into yuri.
Then they came for the bestiality and guro, but I did not speak up, as I wasn't into bestiality and guro.
Then they came for the tentacle rape, but I did not speak up, as I wasn't into tentacle rape.
Then they came for (regular) rape, but I did not speak up, as I wasn't into rape.
Then they came for pure-love ecchi, but I did not speak up, as I wasn't into ecchi.
And when they came for manga and anime in general, there was no one left to speak up for my interests.
To all yaoi fangirls, all hentai-loving straight guys are with you on this. :)
wait , what now you defending guru !!! ? fuck i read some of that shit and couldnt sleep at night
I love how they used a Hetalia pic for this entry after all the commotion it had caused. Its Greece and Japan.
Lol disgusting gay shit good riddance.
fap harder?
Banning Yaoi is a counter attack on Women Activist in banning Eroge Games & Loli.
The irony of "an eye for an eye"
It's times like these when I think that us Sankaku users could make better politicians than these idiots. -_-
More censorship bullshit?
Seriously...
::facepalm:: Just...::facepalm::
In the words of the Nostalgia Critic:
"It's like they're TRYING to piss us off."
as long as yuri isnt effected its fine Yaoi=fail
it's the same thing dipshit
watch as none of the feminist groups gives a shit cause its only guys (and they masturbate to it themselves). i have nothing against boys love in general, you can have your boys and shota as long as you don't take my girls and loli, its as easy as that^~^
Why do you assume people that girls that read yaoi are feminists? I don't understand your leap in logic.
If anything fujoshi are more likely to be aligned closely with otaku thinking in general.
I love both...I'm greedy that way...
Why can they not understand the joys of 2D hentai!?!
Those Osaka's politicians are homophobes!
this would only be ... 'acceptable' from a legal standpoint if they banned yuri as well.
for certain values of 'acceptable'.
They have awakened a sleeping dragon.
Yaoi? BL? Ban? Please! Go for it! Totally! Forever!
If anything of that sort passes, our lolis will be next.. oh wait... You don't care, do you?
no, i don't care. I don't think they'll get their hands on doujins.
they sure will
sure, dork... what do you think they could ban next ?
Yea...You may as well ban every pornographic sh*t ever made by man and all things that make a country's culture...
Ugh...Only insecure and ignorant people make bans since they can't get it up...
First loli and now shota..?This is bloody stupid now...
I am disappointed in you, Osaka...Shouldn't you be f*cking Chiyo-chan or something..?
Just keep Yuri legal and I'm fine.
heck ya "swings ban hammer" get rid of it all now
What's the title of that Yaoi manga given as an example? 8D
Only one good thing about this. More manga fans will be against anti-free expression laws like this.
--
Another thing. UK bans possession, etc of U18 hentai/manga/anime/drawings/whatever from 6th April. So watch out UK-ers. Jail awaits offenders.
Will they ban use of pencils too? Fucking pathetic, isn't it?! I know what I'd like to do with a VERY sharp pencil, but I'll leave that to YOUR imagination, as imagining naughty things is criminal now in UK.
Another good reason to fuck off from the place .....
freeXpression
What's the chance of a Japanese Prefectural Governor being fired by the Prime Minister of Japan?
hahaha oh lord their just getting more stupid, now they'll have a massive gay/girl riot on their hands.
Not to mention these idiots don't even know that an adult is 21 in Japan, hahaha
Only in Japan.
up the butt! :D
any of the fucktard otakus saying it needs to be banned just show how stupid you all really are.
it's all the same fan shit. and if one thing similar is banned it'll spread.
especially you lolicon, damn. hypocrites are shit
I think you meant atma
Anyone ideas why I feel like going to Osaka and chop some politicians heads with a rusty saw? ^^
I hope the Osakan fujoshi community is going to rage and scare the hell out of these moralfags...!!
SCREW THEM, BL RULEZ 4EVER!!
BL make me puke
oh cool but the child rape doesn't?
... Seriously. lolicon, yuri, hell ecchi in general makes other people puke. Does that mean its okay to ban them all?
Humanity makes me puke, lets nuke ourselves to hell. =P
How long do you think it'll be before someone proposes a ban on manga in general?
The only manga allowed will be made by the government.
They are going the ban yaoi? japs are finally willing to do something right eh?
to*
Crawl up your own ass and Die
I don't like Yaoi n' BL but if your taking away an artist right to do what they love then what in this god forsaken world I Ask of you do they have left?
Oi, this isn't a left vs right thing.
This is a hypocritical moralist vs everybody else situation.
I consider myself left-wing and think this decision to be complete and utter bullocks.
And like Niwa, neither Yaoi or BL gets the old blood pressure pumping for me. I'm just mature enough to realize different strokes for different folks.
Indeed...
If the leftist, ignorant moralfags hicks of the world are miserable, then they should not drag others with them to the depths of their misery and impotency in bed~
fuck yeah
The shit just got Real...
uho, iiii otoko
yaranaika?
Osaka, which is home to an excess of host clubs, and most likely, many fujoshi, is thinking about banning yaoi manga?
This should get pretty interesting.
Not only will the Fujoshi go insane but some Nekos will as well...and I am not liking this. -_-;
Title of manga?
Title of manga, Mr.Artefact?
Thank the lord I live in Canada.
its about time to ban those ghey manga...
banned..!!!!
imokaywiththis.jpg
Please ban yuri next, homosexual just ain't right
troll = fail
Wheres equality now when you need them?
Off saving fictional little girls of course!
Parece que Japón esta recapacitando sobre el anime/manga
Que?
El dice que Japon esta recapacitando sobre lo que ha creado.
Es entendible lo que el dice, por que hasta los politicos de Japon se averguenzan de su cultura, especificamente el manga y el anime. Lo que es triste.
Atleast isn't yuri...
Honestly, this is one of the things I love about SanCom...
Hey, there might be a BL ban in the works. In case you didn't know, this is what BL looks like:
*Lurid pics*
There's something for everyone. XD
That'll shut Equality Now up.
Female reader here. I don't think any of these bans are right, although this one'd affect me more.
(p.s. why no sauce on images used from manga? it happens oftentimes that my interest is piqued as to an unknown page shown in an article, only to be unable to find it. maybe I'm just looking in the wrong place, though?)
dude, this kind of thing available to general audience?
I can somehow support the act of making this into 18+ ones.
Not my cup of tea....
And it certainly ain't mine too. I can't stand fags and I can't stand yaoi. But I can't support this ban because I know it will just spread to other themes.
Libertarian detected.
Ah, now I finally know what I am.
They came first for the lolis,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a lolicon.
Then they came for the shotas,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a shotacon.
Then they came for the junior idols,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a junior idolists.
Then they came for the guro,
and I didn’t speak up because I was a guro-ist.
Then they came for my 2D waifu, and by that time no one was left to speak up.
Bravo! Nice to see a high brow reference on here.
Seriously... Even if it did come from a theologian.
Oh god, I lol'd hard. You're awesome.
This is a good thing. God don't allows this.
Please people, read the bible. If you are a westerner like me, you are a christian too. Dont forget this.
Hopefully more and more japanese will start to read it. It has all the answers the peoples need.
In Poland we are strong against this.
I'm a European Christian too, and I wholeheartedly tell you to fuck off. Japan's business (aka internal affairs) is Japan's business, not ours. Sad but true.
Just because I'm a Westerner doesn't mean I'm a Christian..
But anyway.. Poland huh..
Then you should be against this ban as well, better that your Roman Catholic priests keep themselves busy with this type of material, than actual kiddies.
Give Poland back to Russia.
So you want me to read a three thousand year old book written by desert tribes of ignorant and bigoted men? No thanks. I can find better morality elsewhere.
Are you an idiot or do you not know what this kind of thing means. When someone starts banning things that they don't like and not based on any facts that means they can ban anything they don't like. If you accept them banning this would you accept that they will keep banning things because they get away with it? If you do then one day they will ban something you care about and you won't be able to do anything about it since you let them do what they want.
Don't feed the troll.
It's interesting how otaku culture is frequently under attack. Makes you wonder if Trekkies face this kind of thing.^^;
Trekkies are an endangered species compared to otaku. They are under the radar now
you people are gay who even read this
I can understand putting an 18+ restriction on it but an outright ban is ridiculous.