O.k. I have drafted a new reply specifically concerning Manga and would appreciate any comments on it. How can it be improved? Are any parts wrong or just dumb? Etc.
I'm not a hardcore Manga enthusiast, as you can no doubt tell, my interest in manga is just part of a wider interest in comics and cartoons, but I am concerned and suspicious of this law. Please look over this draft and tell me what you would say differently.
--------
Reply 2;
There will be a great risk that some Anime/Manga, will fall foul of this law, in fact the police have already tried to prosecute Manga images as child porn, at least once, and not succeeded.
The Japanese attitude toward sex in the media is generally more open and adult than in Britain and so it is not unusual for respected and mainstream adult comics to contain images of sex.
The Japanese culture has an appreciation of all things ‘cute’ (kawaii), because of this even cartoons of adults generally have ‘cute’ faces. To western eyes these can sometimes be interpreted as images of child-like faces.
You may say that if it is possible that western eyes can interpret them as children, then western courts should do so too. But the BBFC has not taken the same attitude and for decades has passed much of this material for public consumption as cert 18.
It is difficult to say how large the Manga/Anime community is in the U.K., but judging by the massive online communities dedicated to this, it is safe to say they are a significant number and that there are vast amounts of this material already in circulation and there has been for decades.
Further confusion can arise with the inclusion of the stylized representations of adults called ‘chibi’. These are a convention of Manga that depicts the adult characters as very stylized child-like figures for comedic effect, to show embaressment, confusion, even comedic rage.
Apart from mainstream Manga, the sub-category specifically made as pornography called Hentai, will almost certainly create problems. These characters are meant to be adults, but, again, in some cases may be interpreted as having child-like faces, albeit with adult bodies.
This is very much distinct from the sub-category of Manga called Lolicon, which is specifically cartoon child pornography and the characters are drawn with child-like bodies – that is they are meant to be children in sexual situations. This category of Manga, Lolicon, is almost certainly the cause for the concerns of police and others stemming from Japanese cartoons in particular.
The problem is distinguishing in law between mainstream Manga and ‘Lolicon’ Manga, you may say that is a chance Manga consumers have to take, but with the proposed penalties of three years imprisonment this constitutes a ‘chilling’ effect on human rights.
Basically the harshness of the possible punishment will frighten people from viewing what they have a perfect right to view, but are unsure about. Additionally, given the very large numbers of Manga consumers in the U.K., you could be criminalising a significant proportion of the population with a stroke of the pen.
Far better to simply allow confiscation of ‘offending’ materials, rather than criminalising people because their interpretation may not be the same as that of the police.
---------------------
Maybe I'm not getting the right balance here, am I overstating the case and being alarmist? Are my concerns broadly right?
Can anyone suggest a way to clearly distinguish Lolicon from other forms of Manga in written law? Remember your average citisen will not be that familiar with Manga and as for your average plod...
Perhaps a forum specifically concerned with Hentai may be a better place for such questions or do they concern mainstream Manga at all?
