Persona 4 “A Symbol of Immorality”

Persona 4 has been branded a “symbol of immorality” by Japan’s top TV watchdog, after daring to show a scene in which minors are present at an establishment “resembling a nightclub or love hotel.”

The complaint was published by the BPO (although in the post-Ishihara world of anime, almost all the complaints they publish are now about TV drama and variety shows):

In one anime, despite the fact they are going on a field trip there is a scene where minors enter an establishment resembling a night club or love hotel.

Even for a late night broadcast, just what kind of expression is this?

Common sense suggests it would not even be possible for minors to enter such an establishment legally.

Is this a symbol of the moral deficiency of the producers and stations?

This was swiftly pinpointed as being a less than oblique reference to episode 15 of Persona 4:

“They mean episode 15 of Persona 4 then!?”

“I can’t believe we have people complaining even about P4A…”

“Didn’t they have this stuff in from episode 1?”

“I can see a strip service scene getting complaints, but not something like this?”

“Surely there are lot more dodgy anime for them to get worked up about and complain against?”

“Shin Megami Tensei had a nuclear missile striking Tokyo and even tsunami for good measure – no way could they ever make an anime out of that now!”

“Atlus always has Tokyo being destroyed and the world ending in its games. I wonder which is the harshest…”

“Persona 3 had love hotel encounters and some of the games had the protagonist turning into a demon and eating human flesh…”

“There was a woman being eaten alive in one:”

“Come on, there are all kinds of saucy ero-anime about and they pick on Persona? Somebody must have a grudge against it or something.”