UK Anime Distributor MVM Entertainment Discussion Thread

I have never lived in Britain, but isn't giving the BBFC the ability to either force cuts or even outright refuse to rate media kind of state-enforced censorship? In Spain it has some very strong political connotations...
 
praseodimio65 said:
I have never lived in Britain, but isn't giving the BBFC the ability to either force cuts or even outright refuse to rate media kind of state-enforced censorship? In Spain it has some very strong political connotations...
Click to expand...
Not really, it's a non-government business nor does the government demand they make any of the changes that occur. However it's still a legal requirement to have an age rating recognised by the UK (Pegi surffices for games now).
 
Also it’s not like they block the Internet so you can find the stuff elsewhere. When the government attacks the Internet is why I get outraged as now a wannabe computer scientist researcher if they did attack the Internet and its independence I would emigrate.
 
Vincentdante said:
Not really, it's a non-government business nor does the government demand they make any of the changes that occur. However it's still a legal requirement to have an age rating recognised by the UK (Pegi surffices for games now).
Click to expand...
This has always made me curious. Its a legal requirement but Amazon freely sell unrated US DVD & blu rays.
So hypothetically Anime Limited having a French arm could simply bypass the BBFC for releases that would demand cuts (fate/Illya for example) release it under that brand and import that release to sell here. In a similar way to them releasing the JP Gundam boxsets.
If they had the rights in both territories It would be legal 🤷‍♂️
 
Thank you for your responses, it still smells extremely fishy to me but I see the point, don't want to derail the conversation.

Actually I wonder what would have happened if AL had snuck English tracks in some of the exclusive French releases, like Cat's Eye or Cobra (and had secured the UK rights of course).
 
It would make licensing way more complicated.
e.g. UK licenses are often tied to the US licenses, but French licenses are sold seperately. And many titles just aren't big enough to justify a release in France...
 
Jon O Fun said:
Think they're really going to have to say whether or not its uncut before people commit to a preorder....
Click to expand...
Based on their tweets it looks like they recommend taking advantage of the deal and then canceling if you are not happy with the outcome of the BBFC rating.

At least that's what was tweeted in response to queries about Kandagawa Jet Girls being uncut.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1358741424624308226
 
CommanderZx2 said:
Based on their tweets it looks like they recommend taking advantage of the deal and then canceling if you are not happy with the outcome of the BBFC rating.

At least that's what was tweeted in response to queries about Kandagawa Jet Girls being uncut.
https://twitter.com/x/status/1358741424624308226
Click to expand...
Yeah that is an option but I'm with the guy on twitter. I'm happy to pay more later on when I know if its uncut or not. 🤷‍♂️

They must have their reasons but why not wait until they know? Does it even have a release date yet?
 
Regarding Paranoia Agent, we've been in touch with the BBFC, explaining the situation and also mentioning about the title Human Lost only receiving a "15" despite stating suicide in the BBFC blurb. We're able to submit the episode in question to be reviewed to see if it would still need to be cut or not, as opposed to simply submitting for classification.

We are trying our best to get this uncut, but end of the day it is the BBFC's decision of which we have no control over.
 
MVM said:
Regarding Paranoia Agent, we've been in touch with the BBFC, explaining the situation and also mentioning about the title Human Lost only receiving a "15" despite stating suicide in the BBFC blurb. We're able to submit the episode in question to be reviewed to see if it would still need to be cut or not, as opposed to simply submitting for classification.

We are trying our best to get this uncut, but end of the day it is the BBFC's decision of which we have no control over.
Click to expand...

Very interesting!

Glad to see you're persuing this. Speaking as someone who can see why the BBFC mandated the cut in the first place, I'm also of the opinion that it was overly censorious to the detriment of the story.
 
HdE said:
Speaking as someone who can see why the BBFC mandated the cut in the first place, I'm also of the opinion that it was overly censorious to the detriment of the story.
Click to expand...
(Sorry to emphasise that bit, buddy; it's just to bring up my counterpoint.)

Predictable that I'd reply to this, but... I speak as someone who can't see why the BBFC mandated that cut, because I can't see why black comedy would need to be cut in the first place — and certainly not from an 18-certificate release when the cut was apparently being made as a concession to children. 🤨
 
Neil.T said:
(Sorry to emphasise that bit, buddy; it's just to bring up my counterpoint.)

Predictable that I'd reply to this, but... I speak as someone who can't see why the BBFC mandated that cut, because I can't see why black comedy would need to be cut in the first place — and certainly not from an 18-certificate release when the cut was apparently being made as a concession to children. 🤨
Click to expand...

Those 18+ year old children must be protected at all costs! 🤣
 
Neil.T said:
(Sorry to emphasise that bit, buddy; it's just to bring up my counterpoint.)

Predictable that I'd reply to this, but... I speak as someone who can't see why the BBFC mandated that cut, because I can't see why black comedy would need to be cut in the first place — and certainly not from an 18-certificate release when the cut was apparently being made as a concession to children. 🤨
Click to expand...
While I agree on what you said, I think part of the issue is that the BBFC rated the rest of the series a 15 and it's because of that episode is why it jumped to an 18 from my understanding.

Hopefully MVM can manage to get the situation sorted so that it's uncut considering titles like 13 Reasons Why got away with an uncut 18 considering that content was much worse (doesn't matter if Netflix decided to cut it out in the end, the fact that the BBFC was fine with it says something).
 
Neil.T said:
(Sorry to emphasise that bit, buddy; it's just to bring up my counterpoint.)

Predictable that I'd reply to this, but... I speak as someone who can't see why the BBFC mandated that cut, because I can't see why black comedy would need to be cut in the first place — and certainly not from an 18-certificate release when the cut was apparently being made as a concession to children. 🤨
Click to expand...

Not to worry, Neil. Probably worth explaining my position:

Career HdE, who has a bit to do with the creation and packaging of fiction, is of the opinion that censoring content that's important to a narrative is a bad idea from a creative / storytelling standpoint. However, I believe the BBFC's decision making may have been influenced by certain internal mandates at the time. Or an assumption that material such as was cut could be seen to be easily emulated by an impressionable audience. (Dont take my word as gospel, mind, as I'm not especially well versed in what was ACTUALLY going on at the time.)

However, it's a slightly different issue for Real Human Being HdE. I'm not sure how much is wise to actually say on the matter - and I CERTAINLY don't want to derail this thread into a discussion about it - except to say that I've had to deal with the fallout of somebody's attempted suicide in the past. I've also had the experience of talking somebody through a depressive, suicidal phase at a crucial point. Believe me - I'd no sooner want anyone else to have to go through that than I'd want them to experience the kind of feelings that lead to having suicidal thoughts themselves.

It's a very tricky thing to reconcile experience of such things with how they're portrayed in entertainment - and I'll be keeping my deeper thoughts on the matter to myself, because the whole issue is a powderkeg. Suffice to say, I DO think there's some merit in considering what effect the content of entertainment might have on its audience on the BBFC's part. And just because folks are old enough to legally watch something doesn't mean they're not open to being influenced by it. (I speak, regrettably, from someone else's experience.)

To be honest, I could probably do with familiarising myself with the situation regarding the cuts to Paranoia Agent a bit better, as I only have a surface level understanding of it. But looking at it from an angle of censorship and such, it's an interesting one to consider - especially if MVM have contested the previous cuts.
 
Back
Top