Eroge: the war room

Visual Novel Community Archive, 2000-2009
#21

No. The particular manga at issue might have been judged obscene, had the case gone to trial. But it did not go to trial, and even if it had, unless it had been appealed, and the appeal upheld the conviction, it still would establish no precedent.

Not much of a distinction, but it IS an important distinction. Nobody (for example) is going to be prosecuted for Negima!, even considering it’s crammed full of lolicon. There’s a line, and even though it’s pushing that line real hard, it isn’t even close to the edge.

#22

That’s true, but importantly the obscenity charges were not dismissed. It’s not legal precedent in the legal sense of the term, but there’s precedent set nonetheless. First, obscenity cases involving virtual pornography are not likely to be dismissed outright in the future. Second, prosecutors and police are likely to go after people like Handley more aggressively in the future. For the majority of people, being taken to court alone over something like this and winning is almost as bad as being convicted. It’ll ruin your life.

#23

it’s president for gung-ho prosecutors to start slamming more obscenity charges on more people, especially those who they know can’t afford to fight back.

#24

It would seem at least Lilith intends to fight back against any censorship as according to this article on Dark Translations:

“The blurb about the game on the Lilith-Mist page is rather interesting, because it doesn’t really describe the game, but lists the people involved and the supreme effort they’re putting in to it, one such person was the project supervisor of Taimanin Asagi and Gang Rape Club, for example. They end it with this: “We are guarding our freedom of ero expression!!”, which I assume pertains to the recent events that have been going on.”

Fight the power, Lilith! :smiley:

#25

The LDP suffered a major blow in the Tokyo election, it looks like parliament will be dissolved by the end of the week. This is good news because it means the censorship bill will be delayed further. Taro Aso was counting on the Tokyo election to be the major deciding factor on whether he’d call the general election or not.

#26

Hmmm… not so sure if it’s good news or not. Taro Aso is stalling for time… he won’t disband the Diet until the last possible moment. That being said, the LDP is going to try as hard as they can to pass whatever bills they have going, before they’re thrown out. So I’m sure the lolicon bill will go back on the floor in the upcoming days. Since they know they’re screwed, some LDP members might vote in favor of party bills, because it’s their last chance.

However I am supremely happy the liberals are winning in Japan: this is a good sign for us pornography and erotica supporters. However I do have some reservations against the DPJ since they’re somewhat anti-military (and with a militant NK and China, that’s not what Japan needs). But we can’t everything. :wink: :stuck_out_tongue:

#27

Watch them bring Koizumi back and the LDP wins by a landslide and passes every facist law in the books. I just hope the loli law doesn’t get passed before parliament is dissolved. Aso should just be a man and call the election already. The sooner he does it, the sooner he can salvage what little dignity he has. I mean even if the LDP passes laws. People think that the DPJ will reverse these laws. I have huge doubts about that. If anything it looks like they’ll probably just keep it because it was passed, out of respect for the opposition. Once you got an anti-loli law even if it relates to artwork and non physical shit, any attempt to fuck with it will blacklist you from the voters entirely as some kind of pedophile supporter.

#28

Yea, they probably won’t repeal the law so that when they lose power its less likely laws they make will get repealed. What they might do is just underfund enforcement of the laws they don’t care for.

#29

Upper house censured Aso, legislation has gone to a standstill. The loli bill is dead until after the election.

#30

Not sure how good this is. Prime Minister Aso is seen as more sympathetic to the otaku culture than most politicians. It may depend upon who replaces him. I’m not so sure he is as pro-west otaku fans though.

#31

Equality Now is at it again.

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/07/2 … eroge-ban/

#32

(reads article)

As Linkara would put it: “Anti-life justifies my hate, anti-life SO justifies my hate!”

#33

I doubt this will have the same kind of impact now. The game, RapeLay, has been effectively removed from the market. There is also strong opposition (though I do not condone threatening) against them pushing much further. It’s a case of poking a stick at a sleeping lion.

#34

as usual, sankaku are complete morons - that ‘new’ response from equality now was posted AGES ago. I was quoting the bit about the death threats on threads way back before the ban was even officially announced to demonstrate how raging internet troll hordes were only strengthening the resolve of the would-be censors and making them believe that they really were fighting evil.

I’m having trouble tracking down evidence of the exact date that response was posted, but at the very latest, the beginning of June, because there are news articles referencing it from that point.

sankaku are basically just trolls and liars, intentionally shit-stirring and encouraging people to send MORE hatemail.

#35

Probably mostly to get more hits on their horrifying ads.

Okay, okay, the ads aren’t that bad compared to some places, but I shouldn’t have to put up with that shit on WESTERN websites. Which is why I don’t visit SankakuComplex, heh

#36

For those who don’t watch International News, Japanese parliament was dissolved on Tuesday.

I’m figuring a government mandated eroge/lolicon bill, won’t be considered until next year: they’ve got the budget to worry about now.

#37

Okay, if this is true, then the people of Equality Now have officially flipped:

http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/07/2 … entai-ban/

#38

Since Sankaku is somehow completely incapable of reporting anything without filling it with utter lies, you are aware that they made up their entire “quote”, right?

Take a second to read the actual letter. What it says is roughly:

A lot of hentai glorifies criminal sex acts.
Rape isn’t taken seriously enough in Japan.
Hentai fans are really creepy and keep mailing us death threats and videos of actual rapes taking place.
We’d like to know what if anything you’re planning to do about all this.

Honestly, the more sankaku screams, the more it makes me want to support EN. They’re misguided idiots, but sankaku is actively malevolent and many of their commenters appear to be dangerous people who SHOULD be in prison.

#39

Agreed. Sankaku seems to be making things far worse than Equality Now is (and arguably the various lies + misleading stories that Sankaku Complex/Artefact perputuates are equally misguided - not just in relation to eroge censorship either).

#40

Someone pointed out to me, UN mandates don’t really mean squat… they’re like lip service to the International Community.

Japan ignores whaling and ocean dumping. The US ignores illegal invasions and POW rulings. France ignores nuclear technology sales. Columbia ignores drugs. Somolia ignores pirating. China ignores human rights. North Korea ignores everything.

UN can pass whatever they want. Unless someone is willing to invade Japan for violating sex laws, it’s next to meaningless, since Japan simply just doesn’t have to sign it. :expressionless:

I should also point out that what EN is trying to push, would be considered unconstitutional in many countries (violation of free speech and whatnot). Kinda hard to push that through the UN, when various member states don’t care (most of Africa doesn’t give a damn what’s being sold in Japan) or wouldn’t agree with it.