Japanese Manga ruled obscene

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2004-01-14 08:39am

kojikun wrote:I'd like to see the offending comic. I want to see what Japan considers obscene.

It's probably a manga equilvent of "The King in Yellow" or something.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2004-01-14 08:44am

kojikun wrote:I'd like to see the offending comic. I want to see what Japan considers obscene.

I doubt its any more obscene than any other doujin.

All this is just the law enforcement people reminding artists that even though the censorship laws are rarely enforced these days, they still exist. I doubt its a strike at anyone in particular.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2004-01-14 11:32am

For those interested, John at Animenation had this to say on the trial, and consorship in general in Japan:

Article 175 of the Japanese Criminal Code prohibits the public distribution or exhibition of "Obscene pictures and/or documents." Punishment can be up to two years in prison or a 2.5 million yen fine (about $23,500). On the other hand, Article 21 of the Japanese Constitution guarantees freedom of assembly and association, as well as freedom of speech, press and all other forms of expression. This conflict is presently at the heart of Japan's first trial regarding the legality of adult manga.

On October 3, 2002, Shobunkan Publishing president Kishi Motonori, chief editor Takada Kouichi, and adult manga artist "Beauty Hair" (Suwa Yuuji) were arrested by Ikebukuro, Tokyo police on charges of distributing obscene material, namely Beauty Hair's adult manga Misshitsu, which was sold by an estimated 1,900 Japanese bookstores nationwide, albeit wrapped in plastic and clearly labeled as adult material. Beauty Hair initially accepted a guilty charge under protest in exchange for being released from jail and an agreement that police would not similarly harass other Shobunkan Publishing contracted artists. And all of Beauty Hair's manga, which include "Joousama wa M Dorei" the basis of the "Queen & Slave" hentai anime OAV and Rancou Choukyo, basis for the adult anime OAV series of the same name, have been taken out of print. As of September 2003, the court case is still ongoing, having introduced expert witnesses including Yasuhiro Okudaira, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, and Shinji Miyadai, assistant professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University, arguing on behalf of the defense.

Getting back to the point at hand, the Japanese adult industry typically censors all depictions of graphic sexuality in respect of the law, and out of tradition. The main exceptions are Japanese fan art and manga (and, oddly, graphic depictions of the anus, which don't have to be censored because the anus technically isn't a sex organ). While it's not yet exactly common, over the past 2 or 3 years there have been a small number of adult manga published in Japan that are totally uncensored and quite graphic. This is all at the discretion of the manga artist and his/her publisher. Occasionally doujinshi and CG art collections on CD-ROM also appear uncensored because these items are produced in limited quantity by amateur artists who decide, on their own, to go against the grain of Japanese tradition and publish or print their art uncensored. Likewise, occasionally adult PC games may slip into the Japanese market uncensored, although the higher profile of "bishoujo games" over fan produced comics or CD-ROMs makes them an easier target and therefore less likely to be released uncensored. For example, first edition copies of the original Kimi ga Nozomu Eien adult PC game were recalled because one image in the initial release slipped by without its digital mosaic censoring in place.

In summation, based on the presently ongoing Shobunkan trial, the Japanese regulations on censoring adult material may or may not be lifted in the not too distant future. In the present, the Japanese release of fully uncensored hentai material is an exception usually reserved for limited distribution merchandise that's able to filter into the Japanese market without being noticed by authorities.

http://www.animenation.net/news/askjohn.php?id=799

Shadowhawk · Post by **Shadowhawk** » 2004-01-15 02:33am

Well, I just downloaded this manga.

It definitely flouts Japan's censorship laws. While the first few pages are in color and sport (relatively) large, blocky, white censor bars, the rest of the manga is in black & white, and the few censor bars are only blocks of gray at 25-50% transparency. Most of the censor bars are on the male side of things, and there are very few on the females (or, they might be so transparent that the scanner couldn't get them reliably).
It's not really fetishist, either. Just some bondage towards the end.
However, the art is quite explicit, even for a hentai manga--closeups abound and they're very detailed. Probably the most explicit manga I've seen. Lots of pubic hair, too, which, despite having the ban lifted, apparently still makes the censors squeamish (it's a bit disconcerting to me, too. Untrimmed women are pretty rare in most types of porno, live action or not).

I think Japan's censorship laws are just stupid, but this guy clearly broke them, and I guess they needed to make an example of him and the publisher.

Rubberanvil · Post by **Rubberanvil** » 2004-01-15 10:03pm

Shadowhawk wrote:
I think Japan's censorship laws are just stupid, but this guy clearly broke them, and I guess they needed to make an example of him and the publisher.

A lot of artists have broken the rules to the point making it a target rich enviroment for the Tokyo police to choice the "example" from.

kojikun · Post by **kojikun** » 2004-01-15 11:28pm

shadowhawk:

head to Glitchbot and show us this manga.

Mlenk · Post by **Mlenk** » 2004-01-16 02:48am

Wow.... Japan actually considering something to be obscene?!?!

Rubberanvil · Post by **Rubberanvil** » 2004-01-16 04:21am

Mlenk wrote:Wow.... Japan actually considering something to be obscene?!?!

Bad thing the manga in question is actually rather tame with no blood [from violence acts], incest [from what I could tell], no minors [everyone looks like they're in their early 20s at the very least], scat, watersports, torture, excessive pubic or body hair, beastility(sp) and no tentacles.

Shadowhawk, I really need to hook you up to the real explicit hentai.