Comiket Caves To Terrorism: “Rather Ban Than Cancel”
- Categories: Manga, News
- Date: Dec 8, 2012 22:02 JST
- Tags: Censorship, Comiket, Crime, Doujinshi, Events, Mental Illness, Police, Tokyo Big Sight
The Comiket organisers have announced their response to terrorist threats against the event is to ban all works featuring the subject of the threat – Kuroko’s Basketball – and hold Comiket 83 as normal, if absent the hundreds of circles comprised of Kuroko fans, a decision they blame on the police and venue.
The official response runs as follows:
It is exceedingly regrettable, but we must insist on suspending the participation of the below listed “Kuroko’s Basketball” circles [a long list of circles is attached], and ask any circles planning to distribute related goods to refrain from so doing.
This decision was made in order to protect the safety of participants and ensure the continuation of Comiket, and it is most inexcusable and we offer our sincere apologies.
Please also consult the tightened security restrictions for Comiket 83 [this describes baggage searches and forbidden articles].
They also provide their version of the events leading to the decision:
In October we received written threats demanding we not allow the participation of Kuroko’s Basketball related circles at Comiket 83.
As a result we coordinated with police and venue to tighten security as we did for 2008’s Comiket 74, where similar threats were received.
However, with the culprit’s threats having forced the complete cancellation of a Kuroko-only event in November, and with Jump Festa also cancelling its Kuroko-related activities, we were faced with the unprecedented and unyielding demand from the venue that we either postpone Comiket until the culprit was caught, or hold it without any Kuroko circles.
We also received similarly strong demands to not allow any Kuroko content from the police.
The venue and police raised the following objections at our discussions:
1. The threats appear to be escalating and may not end with Comiket and the venue
2. The threats were posted nearby and may actually be acted upon
3. The threats are starting to hinder non-doujin events at the venue
4. If something did happen the chaos would likely disturb nearby residents and businesses, and influence the holding of future events
5. Letting the sale of Kuroko related articles go ahead may further stimulate the culprit
We, the organisers, appreciate the nature of these concerns, but yielding to such wicked and base demands sets an odious precedent and so we would prefer to go ahead as normal with increased security, but the concerns of the police and venue were very strong and the safety of attendees is our highest priority, along with the likelihood of further restrictions on our use of the venue, so tragically we have no recourse but to go along with them.
We have no intention of issuing further restrictions and will endeavour to minimise all such restrictions in future, but there is only so much that is practical.
Obviously the person to blame here is the one making all the threats. It may be that they are only concerned with Kuroko, but this sort of behaviour may not stop at Kuroko, and could extend to anime and manga doujinshi of all kinds, and have a correspondingly negative social impact.
We’d like to express how much we’d like the culprit to stop this sort of behaviour.
Kuroko-related threats of chemical attacks have already been made against a school and have also forced the cancellation of other doujin events, and appear to be judged credible.
Some even feared Comiket itself might be forced to cancel, but it seems the result of them “considering their response” was a Kuroko ban instead, which is presumably judged a safe compromise between risking the threat of a gas attack and shutting down the world’s biggest anime event because of a crazed fan – the option of waiting for Japan’s police to catch the culprit having been overlooked for some reason.
All this has caused consternation amongst Comiket followers online (to say nothing of the poor Kuroko fans who are having their doujinshi systemically hounded out of existence by a maniac):
“Submitting to terrorism, we’ve seen how well that works.”
“So they’ve caved to the criminal? If they were going to do anything they would have done it already.”
“As usual, the police are really getting serious about this.”
“Rather than arresting people whose PCs were infected by viruses, why don’t you clods try arresting this guy?”
“Well, the safety of several hundred thousand people is at stake. Sorry fujoshi, you’ll just have to wait until they catch them.”
“They have cancelled the participation of 900 circles though…”
“It’s a bit damn late. They’ll all be preparing their doujinshi and have booked passage.”
“All this the result of some crazed fujoshi? Delicious.”
“Are they a man or a woman? I’d think a woman…”
“Seems the criminal is a real crazy though, not just the type who revels in the reaction his threats cause.”
“They’ve been making threats to any place related to the author. They are obviously completely out to lunch.”
“Why would anyone hate this manga so much?”
“What happens to Kuroko hardly matters, the real issue here is the precedent they have set. Anyone making similar threats can now expect to get any event they like shut down.”
“They have discovered how to shut down Comiket.”
“How can the police have completely failed to catch this person? They’ve been making threats for months, do they not care at all?”
“Have you seen some of the posts they’ve made? ‘Wait in fear lest I come die at your place’ – I bet the cops and everyone else would rather they did hurry up and die.”
“The culprit must really hate the author to be hounding all these Kuroko events into cancellation like this.”
“Everybody is laughing at the fujoshi now, but this has opened the floodgates to every nut who wants to get a particular title’s events cancelled. It’s not like any of the Kuroko fujoshi are going to have much love for Comiket after this.”
“Pretty amazing of them to single out Kuroko to be cancelled like this. Expect fireworks from the fans.”
“The worst thing you can do in the face of terrorism is give in to their demands. It’ll get a lot worse than this now.”
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Yielding to terrorists is not a good idea, besides I'm sure they don't have the spine to do it. Do you think anyone interested this much in doujin has access to real any chemical weapons?
They are clowns. Proceed as usual.
Probably not heck they probably can't even obtain a fire arm.
Disagree. Chances are that they wouldn't do it, but you don't take chances when people's lives are at stake. Think about it, is dying really worth a bl doujin?
I agree that it seems highly unlikely that they would actually act on these "threats". It's almost certainly just someone trolling this group of fans for their own amusement. If they actually intended to do an attack at one of these events, they would attack first, and explain their actions afterward. Caving in to their baseless threats will just get them to keep trolling, and encourage copycats to do the same.
You speak as if everyday-chemicals can't be turned into weapons if you know what you're doing. People like you is why 911 happened. Now go die in a fire so that other people won't have to die for your complacency.
Actually, 9/11 happened because of discreet terrorist funding by the CIA to Jihadist groups in the late 70s and early 80s. The CIA provided weapons and training to extremist factions to oppose Soviet influence which has correlative effects on their belligerence today.
That is true the CIA funded and trained the people who eventually form Al Qaeda in for the purpose of making the Soviet Union loose the Soviet Afghan war and probably contributed to it's collapse.
But like a Frankenstein monster the CIA's creation eventually turned on them.
They thought they could just train these crazies and forget about them once they achieved their goal.
Also didn't consider that the Soviets taking over Afghanistan probably would have clean up the region.
If not being a meaningful threat means waging a fairly successful guerrilla warfare campaign for nine years until Soviet troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, then yeah.
l2history
Actually 9/11 happened because Osama Bin Laden came from a wealthy family which ran huge businesses and was familiar with international financial mechanisms.
He applied modern management techniques, organization, structure, training, financing, and long range planning (plus computers) to Islamic terrorism. Instead of a bunch of bearded assholes running around shooting rifles in the air and screaming "Admiral Akbar" he created a sophisticated organization capable of projecting force effectively.
Osama Bin Laden, equal parts management genius and bearded fundamentalist religious asshat.
-a steady stream of coffins going home for no tangible reason is a 'credible threat' to any government, dumbass.
Those are some pretty wide sweeping dots you are trying to connect there with the 1970's & 9/11. Might as well go further back in time to find your connections...you see there wewre these crusades in the middle ages...
Bullshit. The likes of Al'Quaeda were never meaningful threat to the USSR. The CIA may not have the brightest leadership in the world, but even they knew better than that.
What do you mean with "weapon"? Something which you can assault 1-2 people with, or a mass-murder weapon? I don't really think a single crazed fan can assemble and take along enough sarin gas to intoxicate people in a 30.000 square meters hall. Hell yes, he/she could create enough panic, which would be much much more dangerous considering people density inside. But still...
And don't compare such ideas with 911. Do you really expect he/she to hijack a plane and fly over TBS?
Oh, please!
A single crazed person with a chemistry degree can do much more than that. Many extremely dangerous chemicals are easier to cook than LSD since the ingredients aren't necessarily controlled.
I think given the high density of the event using chemical stuff would be pretty effective. They couldn't even evacuate quickly if the need arised. And if you use stuff that works really slowly it isn't unthinkable to have all of them poisoned before they even noticed what's going on. Add to that the panic that ensures when they figure out what's what et voilà.
You don't even need a chemical degree. Just wounding a lot of people is enough of a threat. Household cleaning chemicals that you can buy off the shelf have labels of what not to do.
so will japan uncensor all their porn if terrorist make a threat to the goverment that they want all porn uncensored or else.
Where do I send my terrorist mail?!
*slow golf claps for Japan*
Japan has no taste, and now Japan has no SPINE
Now? Japan have not had a spine since Perry landed. 3 measly ships and the vaunted country of the Samurai pisses it's pants.
How about "We will disrupt the government and threaten the social system and its hierarchy unless we are allowed free access to talk to schoolgirls without threat of police intervention!".LOL
They basically do this to prevent the comiket from shutting down, but actually, in doing this they basically open a big door to any people to cancel any title they hate, and every title got haters
Pretty much. The precedent is worrying.
That, and I feel bad for the mangaka of Kuroko. The cancellation of those previous events must already have been a shock. With this the industry is demonstrating a continual reluctance to stand up for him and the series may well be finished.
Well, Japanese police don't usually have guts to stand up to dangerous people, but if it has to do with prostitution, drunk driving (on a bike), or deadly threats (especially with gas, like the subway incident)... it seems they've at least got some of their priorities straight. You won't see a lot of people attempting this without preparing a suicide note, just in case they're caught.
In other words, it's easy to threaten to get others to meet your demands, and it usually works. But the risk in getting caught is severe. You don't want to go to Japanese prison. I don't have personal experience there, but I studied quite a few cases. You can trust me on that.
"You don't want to go to Japanese prison." >> I wouldn`t have so much problem going there. I`m pretty sure that japanese prisons are hundred times better than the prisons in my country...
Depends what country that is.
I heard conflicting stories some saying they are very bad a shame to a first world country and others saying they're not so bad.
It might be like the US where it depends which prison you end up in and how you act while in it.
I heard prisons in Wisconsin are not so bad esp if you obey the rules but prisons in some parts of California and Texas are like being in a special place in hell.
Then there's the fact minimum security is far less horrible then maximum security.
A minimum security prison in the US is sometimes described like a summer camp with strict rules while a maximum security is somewhere you don't ever want to ever drop the soap.
Testicles apparently they have none.
Do you seriously expect us to take the word of a random anonymous on the internet because he says we can trust him?
Terrorists win.
guess the police is to busy to hunt the men that asked for directions than to hunt this guy down ...
Be reasonable. The police already have their hands full keeping on eye on every man who is not a fellow cop, a school teacher, or a rape novelist.
Or criminalizing the NOBLE ACT of sharing goodies on the net!
fuckin' rights~
Nothing, and I'll say again, nothing could stimulate further action from the terrorist more than this.
Not only the supposed terrorist completely defeated the police in a public display of shame, but also made a huge event and other smaller ones subject to his/her will, at the cost of the will, money, dedication and effort of others.
If anything was ever done to pursuit the terrorist, it became totaly useless with this - it means the police has no clue and don't even think they can catch the culprit in any given time.
Worst of all: If this is the sort of action Comiket, following police "counceling", is willing to take in cases like this - there will be more terrorists, more terrorism, and more problems on the next events.
It's simple like this. If threats proves to be this effective, there will be tons of people who will be willing to do similar stuff to change Comiket plans on their will.
giving in to terrorism , fucking cowardly well done you pussy Japanese
darn it! couldn't the person include requests to end those mysterious blinding flash of lights and nipple blocking streams? then i have to wait for the to love ru bluray
The reason you don't give in to the demands of terrorists, is because you don't want more people thinking terrorism is a viable option and becoming copy-cats.
Congratulations, you've screwed up royally. Now, you can expect more people trying to get their way, since they know the authorities are pussies.
I'd be surprised if it WEREN'T a fujoshi/group of fujoshi behind this.
It's always the fan that made this Manga being hated.
Mostly they're Fujoshi Girls, but I think they should reconsider adding KuroBasu into Comiket, maybe by Limiting the number of titles of KuroBasu Doujin...
Because it's not good too, just because 1 title that could destroy the dream of everyone's.
Japanese bending over for others; nothing new there
"yielding to such wicked and base demands sets an odious precedent"
-and so we would prefer to roll over and play dead and do exactly what they want because that's the Japanese way; cave in to unreasonable threats so we don't rock the boat.
I'll say nothing of value was lost either, but next it'll be some porn men actually care about.
Oh. They've probably concluded the perpetrator may be insane, but they still deserve to be happy. It is imposing upon the other attendees, but it stll can be worked around so that all the parties get what they want. Moreover, the police may now be more eager to help them with security. In turn, KB and whatever it targets gets notoriety. Many levels to this.
Somehow I'm not at all surprised. After seeing how idol otakus act when their "brides" commit "infidelity", this is only to be expected of other otaku "kinds".
Butthurt basement dwelling hikkikomoris can't handle the change of an environment in which they feel emotionally cocooned.
Here's an American phrase:
"Millions for defense, not a penny in tribute."
To be honest, I was thinking that Comiket was going to ban any Shirai Kuroko-related doujinshis instead of the basketball manga.
I wonder what will happen if someone else says they will bomb comiket if they cancel any kuroko related activities???
Always beware of otouto tactics. It may be the same thing they've done to you, but only now has the attention of all the parents been alerted, and it's you who'd come across as the wicked. The ban would miraculously find the justification it lacks so far.
Obviously they would just cancel it.
Catch 22.
And nothing of value was lost.
You mean freedom of expression? I'm sorry I don't agree with you.
yeah, the police and venue people only care about money and their own asses, not freedom or justice
money, their own asses, and the safety of the attendees...I hate to agree with them (and they're definitely going overboard), but better to not allow the thing inciting the threat than to cancel outright.
I like Kuroko but the only kuroko stuff to come out of comiket would have been BL stuff so yeah, you're right.
Where I come from, when boys terrorize girls with threat of bodily harm, we give them a good beatdown.
It's good. It builds character and sets proper values.
Now... I wonder why Japanese men are on the decline.
The only things you can build through violence against children are mass murderers and whimpering cowards.
What if the bullies are girls too.
And what "proper values" might that be?
Agreed, Anonymous 6:53. No one has the right to physically harm another person without their permission (yes, some people will give that permission or do as part of a sport like judo).
"proper values" meaning, of course, how he personally thinks people should act.
You don't deserve the freedoms you have, you complete and total fucktard. Go and fucking kill yourself.
This is not about the content. Do you have any idea what an event costs for those circles?
Most circles don't make any profit from an event. It's about being creative as a fan and the community/event atmosphere.
Here have a read:
http://symposium.transformativeworks.org/tag/comiket/
almost 70% of participating circles are losing money.
You do realize that because of this any nut can just name a series he hates and do the same thing and expect the same results, right? What would people be saying if this was some anti-Touhou terrorist?
Comiket would be cancelled because there'd be nothing to sell.