I believe it was Michael Gombos who told me that MPD Psycho v4 had the largest parental advisory sticker ever in the history of manga in the US. But my copy had a bigger sticker than this one shown on Amazon.

So, one of the things I love about Oregon (besides the fact that Portland has the highest number of strip clubs per capita of any city in the country, including Vegas) is the fact that we have some of the broadest interpretations of “freedom of speech” of any state in the union. (As a result, I’ve always wondered why so many anime and manga companies are situated in Texas instead of Oregon.)

However, I didn’t know that back in July, a law was passed that was supposed to forbid the sale of any sexually explicit material to a minor if the material was meant to “satisfy a sexual desire.” However, apparently local bookshops and publishers found the law to be too broad, however, and feel that it criminalizes titles that would otherwise be acceptable. For example, the law could be interpreted such that any book that contained information about sex, like a textbook, might be illegal to sell to minors.

The manga-related news is that Dark Horse has joined the group of stores and pubs suing the state over the law. A few other plaintiffs include Powell’s (remember them?), the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund, and interestingly, Planned Parenthood.

(P.S. Link via Journalist.)

An Indonesian child apparently managed to strangle himself to death after imitating someone on Naruto (no mention of who, or what they were doing), leading a member of Indonesia’s parliament to call for stricter regulation of broadcast materials.

I’m not exactly sure what he thinks stricter regulation will do, exactly. He’s right that people mistakenly don’t see cartoons as adult and probably don’t take violence in them as seriously as they do in live-action TV, but on the other hand– they don’t seem to censor their live-action TV all that much either. Eh.

Original source: The Jakarta Post
Secondary source:

Canned Dogs reports that a survey by the Japanese Cabinet Office found that 58.9% of survey-takers said that manga and illustrations should be subject to the same child porn laws that photos and videos are, and another 27.6% say that if they HAD to pick one, they lean more towards the same.

But Canned Dogs notes that the survey was conducted via face-to-face interviews, and who wants to come across as seeming pro-kiddy porn? It’s interesting stuff, and I’m too tired to reparse it here, so go over and read the Canned Dogs report.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Business Center has cancelled an event called the ABnormal Carnival– a doujinshi event which features some of those sub-sub-genres we love so dearly, like futanari, preggo, cross-dressing boys, and tentacles (and some we HATE HATE HATE! like shota).

The event has been hosted at this location for six years, but this year “…a center official discovered a Web site that showed the comics sold and displayed at the event depicting sexual acts with children and other bizarre acts” and the center told the organization they couldn’t use the location this year.

It took ‘em six years to figure out what “shota” is?

SaiAni pointed to a blog post from one of the KoJikan creators on its recent cancellation from TV Saitama. The basic gist of the blog entry is that TeleTama cancelled it because of Axegate 2007. But they express dismay:

“But [in our show] no axe or saw or knife comes out, not to mention there are no grotesque depictions. When we think about that, the feeling is ‘where is it’ [i.e. the violence that poses a problem]?”

Canned Dogs translates a post on the Barnum Studio website (they’re making the anime) which talks about their concern not just for the show but for the industry, since the TV station can pull the series even after everyone has paid for everything (including advertisers) without any consequences. (!)

So, I remember being kind of surprised when people said TV Saitama might not air Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai during the whole Axegate dust-up (for those who weren’t paying attention, Higurashi and School Days had airings pulled on many stations due to the public (mis)perception that the violent schoolgirl-featuring shows may have inspired one girl to kill her dad with an axe).

Why was I surprised? Because TV Saitama is the station that was set to air Kodomo no Jikan (known to many in the U.S. as Nymphet, or That Loli Series Seven Seas Licensed and Wussed Out On).

But now TV Saitama has taken Higurashi off of their line-up, and Kodomo no Jikan has also disappeared from their schedule, says Canned Dogs.

There are other stations listed on KoJikan’s official site (and a CM, by the way): Chiba TV, Mie TV, and KBS Kyoto. Let’s hope they stick with it!

Canned Dogs now says that Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai is now airing on TV Saitama, so yesterday’s dire predicament apparently did not lengthen the attack of the Nice Boat.

So now we can get back to our usual displays of gratuitious violence. WHEW!

Those crazy Japanese kids are at it again: according to Canned Dogs, a 15-year-old boy attempted to cut off his father’s head with an ax (though he apparently didn’t succeed; currently, the father is still alive).

The outlook for continued airings of Higurashi in the near future look considerably dim, as does the outlook for School Days‘ finale.

Dear children of Japan,

Quit trying to kill your freakin’ parents with axes. Or any other weapon, for that matter. Yeesh.

No love,
gia

A few more items before I hit the proverbial hay:

Apparently people on 2ch were joking about how the aforementioned girl-killing-dad-with-axe incident was kinda like Higurashi, which lead a few news publications to pick up on the story, which was then caught by a TV show…and hence, cancellation.

The power of the Internet, my friends: do not underestimate it. Fear it.