So, if you haven’t heard the news lately on eroge bans (erotic games, including visual novels), I’ll get you caught up. Illusion releases a 3D game called Rapelay which, in terms of eroge probably pushes the line on what most fans would consider “appropriate”. The game appears for sale on Amazon UK and sparks massive aggro from British feminists. Very soon the whole ordeal is blown out of proportion and Japan is in the media’s spotlight. To be put to shame publicly is not easy for the Japanese, and the eroge industry does not speak up as a whole when a meeting is held about banning all non-consensual sex from games. So as of now, all production and distribution for such eroge is banned.
This was not enough for them however, and now a ban on most all fetishes is in the process of being pushed through. As well as the censoring of anime, video games, and websites. (Oh noes 2chan, what will become of you?)
While some of these things deserve reasonable consideration for a ban, others pose a large threat to the future of anime and video games. Let’s break it down.
Shoujo: Since this was translated from a Japanese list, I’m taking a shot and saying they meant Yuri (girl x girl). Notice that Yaoi is not on the list (guy x guy). Would this make it more of a personal attack against homosexuals due to the view of feminism? Some titles which have this include Maria-sama ga Miteru, Strawberry Panic, and Kannazuki no Miko.
Multiple Play: I don’t see what’s wrong with this. They obviously stated that non-consensual multiple play was unacceptable, so that means this would be consensual. This leads me to believe it is another biased view, that when broken down says; “Men and Women should only ever have one partner”
School Council: Most likely meaning school uniforms, and high school related content. This can actually pose a huge threat. If someone points to an anime or a video game set in a school, and claims that the uniforms are sexualized, it could fall under the ban.
Enjou Kousai: Basically, men paying women for their company. This does not unnecessarily mean prostitution, it is also not ruled out. It would include men who pay women to come with them to dinner parties and public appearances. We see examples of this in Mai Hime, and I believe there was also an episode of Jigoku Shoujo that delt with the topic. Gyaku-enjo-kōsai which is women paying men, is not on the list. Again, biased.
Incest: While most of the world frowns on incest, who are we to say it’s wrong. Obviously if you’re going to be dealing with love interest between siblings, it’s probably going to be sexualized at least a little because that is part of attraction. I’ve seen Koi Kaze which deals with this subject, and I think it was very well put together. It illustrated the complications of falling in love with a sibling, and focused on how it was hard for the main characters to interact with everyone else because it was viewed as wrong.
Pregnant Women: Sorry to burst your bubble guys, but women have sex while they’re pregnant. The difference between pregnancy and pregnant women is unclear to me. As far as impregnation goes, I don’t see any reason to axe that one. Obviously someone got the wrong idea about eroge.
NEWS FLASH: EROGE IS NOT BAD. From what I’ve seen, it seems like an unlucky turn of events that someone got ahold of what could be considered the worst of the worst in terms of eroge, and then decided that all other works must be like that without doing any research. A lot of eroge focus on the storyline, and just happen to have adult content in it. Some companies also release clean versions of their visual novels. Many of our most popular animes are based on eroge, to ban them would be killing off a huge pool of creativity. It’s like saying Grand Theft Auto was too inappropriate, so let’s ban all video games.
Visual Novels/Eroge that became anime:
As you can see, some extremely popular animes came out of H-games, and the animes don’t even contain adult content. This proves that some eroge focus on story over stimulation.
Many of key’s works focus on one main male character, and a handful of female characters. The story moves in arcs, following a back story of each one, until you reach the story for the main female character and the story concludes. If you’ve seen Air, Kanon, or Clannad, you know that they actually do fall under some of these bans. Episode 17 of Clannad 1st season. Tomoya and Kyo are accidently locked in a gym shed due to a love fortune. At first the viewer is led to believe that something may happen between the two characters, but then Tomoya rips his shirt off and chants the counter jinx. Is it innuendo? Yes. Does it involve Kyo in her gym uniform? Yes. Is it wrong? No. That’s just life folks. If you want censorship then might as well tell Japan to stop dressing their school kids in bloomers for gym. While you’re at it, might as well punish all the girls rolling their skirts at the top to shorten them, regardless of school regulation lengths. My point? Art imitates life, you can’t censor what you can’t control, and you can’t control people’s free rights. The people who are fighting for equal rights, are in turn suppressing the equal right of the media.
You may argue you can produce visual novels with no sexual content… but would it sell as well? No. History has shown us this is true. Sex sells. Back in 1930 Max Fleischer produced Betty Boop. The cartoon had many sexual innuendos and Betty’s image itself was sexualized yet her personality preached innocence. After a few years of success, the Production Code forced Betty to be toned down. Instead of a flapper, she became a house wife, was given modest clothing, and a new found boyfriend. Fans did not take well to this, and Betty soon fell off the charts of popularity.
We have a rating system, so use it! Let’s face it. No one is making anyone read or watch anything. We have ratings, we know what M means, we know what sexual content means. We know how to research things before we buy them. If someone wants to wank to cat girls who cares. People have weird hobbies, an outlet keeps it healthy. For the amount of action people have made Japan take, their efforts could have been put to better use somewhere else.
Is censoring going too far? In my opinion yes. Back in March 09 a 14yr old girl went to trial for taking elicit pictures of herself then sending them to her boyfriend over myspace. The sentence was 17 years in prison. Way to go. Let’s arrest her parents while we’re at it, how dare they wipe her bottom. Let’s arrest the doctors who delivered her as well, those perverts, holding naked babies and cleaning the blood n’ guts off of them. Not only would this girl go to jail, she would have to register herself as a sex offender… for offending herself. The creator of Megan’s Law finds it uncomfortable that it is being used in this way, and deems it inappropriate application.
Hopefully the ban of fetishes will not become reality. Unlike the eroge industry, the porn and anime industry is prepared to fight back, and angry fans continue to protest their outrage. People should be allowed to create works even if they are taboo. It gives people an insight to things that would normally be shunned, and creates an outlet for those who don’t want to or can’t do such things in the real world. I think at this point we’re getting very close to conveying the message that sex is wrong, and being comfortable enough with another person to have creativity in their love life is wrong.
Sources: sankakucomplex.com & Anime Raku http://animeraku.blogspot.com/2009/06/do-not-ban-eroge.html
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