Bill 156

So does anyone else think that its not just a coincidence that the earthquake / tsunami, and power plant troubles happen around the time that this bill, that could change anime / manga as we know it, is being put into effect? too soon?

Well good question by the grade14 I am not sure about it. Since Japan had bad times themself so maybe they could drop Bill 156 unit Japan be back normal.

Both TAF and ACE have been cancelled due to power shortage concerns.

The big question is if the Japanese government will put a hold on implimentation until they can give it the time and insight it requires. We in the USA have far too often seen a good idea handed to the buracracy by congress and then run far wider and more damaging than was ever intended just because some low level buracrats want gold stars in order to move up the ranks. I won't argue the law as long as the implimentation doesn't infringe on creativity.

anime is one of the things i love best in my life so u take that away u mite as well take the will to live from me at most i don't look at TV its full of shit i like and love anime way more so plz don't stop it

If this gets passed i stop loving the new japan.

@elias79 it's already passed! Didn't you read?! I can see the concerns but this really only affects the youth in Japan. If you're an adult than you can watch anything. And than there's always the Web.

I REALLY hope that this doesn't make it even hard to get yaoi..... it's already a pain.

Someone asked me if the bill passed. Here you go:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106174-Child-Safety-Bill-Could-Cripple-Anime-Industry
or
http://www.japanator.com/fffuuu-part-2-tokyo-anti-loli-bill-passes-for-real-17761.phtml

"Update: Bill 156 has officially passed. Preliminary self-regulation will begin on April 1 2011, with the law going into effect on July 1."
-- which means the bill passed already, just need to roll the implementation out. I honestly don't see how this impacts ppl overseas; all this only means that the Japanese youth won't be able to watch materials considered "explicit" which is for their own good (we, in the US, have the Child Online Protection Act which is similar). If you are an adult in Japan, you can still read/watch the same stuff but you'll probably just have to go to the adults section. That's how I interpret this bill.

I think that it has the right idea, but I do agree that if taken too far, that creativity will be stifled and the anime that would come out will not be the highest quality there was lets say ten years ago. I say do not rely on cheap sex jokes and upskirt shots and all of that so much because then it becomes more like hentai even though ecchi might be the correct term to use. However I usderstood that ecchi was simulated and it was coming close to full on revealinng of the oppai and other parts of the human anatomy. I just wish that anime would concentrate more on story such as Gundam, Tenchi Muyo!, basically everything from Studio Ghibli, and Soul Eater just to name a few. I will say that I don't like hentai, yuri, yaoi, or anything that is just perverse in nature because that is what the bedroom is for. Hentai and porn go hand in hand but they aren't neccesary, plus come on do we as humans really need either one of those since if you have a girlfriend/boyfriend or husband/wife you could always do roleplay or some other form of sexual desire? However if you want to argue that then you would have to argue the aspect of violence which is another growing problem and people would demonize aniem as violent propoganda possibly. I don't knwo what else to say but in the end I want anime to be about story, characters, and have the things that make an anime great, not just showing upskirt shots and having sex jokes save that for hentai but you knwo what you might as well get rid of hentai as a whole and just maek anime a class all of its own!

I don't want to sound like some goodie godie but I think this is the right course of action. it will force companies to make anime that is not the same old "lets put in a guy walks in to girls steam room" stunt again. I mean its like in every anime (with a slight twist, of course). I know thats just one example but there are many other times like this.

that and, if you read the artical carfuly it says that it must be labeled "Mature audiences". on the internet that is an easy thing to by pass. it dose not Ban that kind of anime.

it is true that it will not be ban but becuase sell on them will suffer theres a good chance that they won't make them anymore just becuse they don't sell enoght

There is a big enough market in Japan for sexual female-child characters with viewers old enough to be considered adults that it probably won't affect that too much.

The other thing mentioned in the bill was making illegal marriages for adults only.

If these two things are all that anime amounts to, it wasn't creative in the first place. Artists still have plenty room to be creative and find loop holes and push the limit.

I am a Naruto! fan and have seen every single episode. There is barely a single cheap sex joke or an upskirt shot and I say that they should expand from none to a lot more. I am not trying to sound like a pervert but in this day and age it is considered normal to see a bit of flesh. It's not pornographic just a way to show a wide range of expressions and personalities of the character. GO ANIME! Don't destroy what we all love.