Posts Tagged ‘Censorship’

Agarest Senki Massacred by Anime Haters

Saturday, August 29th, 2009

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Xbox 360 and PS3 breeding ero-RPG Agarest Senki, to be known as Agarest: Generations of War in its European incarnation, clearly had too much in the way of beautiful anime art for the publisher, who decided to change it to something unrecognisably manly.

The protagonist as he originally appeared:

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The Japanese version was rated a C (15+) on Cero’s scale, being packed full of banana fellatio and bikini service, whereas the European cover here is given a PEGI “12” rating, so it seems probable the game has been completely Bowldlerised, with all the juicy banana licking scenes removed.

However, a visit to the game’s homepage reveals that for the past several months they have had this charming image as their header:

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“COMING soon” indeed.

It seems nothing will disavow international publishers of the notion that games including creepy Chinese cartoons need to be given manful CG art, as seen recently in CG Tales and international Star Ocean localisations, though it is clear this only serves to alienate actual anime and JRPG fans, whilst having questionable impact on the store-going general public…

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Via Hachimaki.

Ero-Figures Too Hot for Comiket!

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

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A doujin circle was recently forced to pull its assortment of ero-figures during Comiket 76 for being too hot for sale there.

As the figures are still readily available through shops such as Tora no Ana however, the opportunity to inspect what exactly it takes to be banned from the Comiket is too good to pass up…

The figures are the products of 希馬屋 / Keumaya, originally a more typical doujinshi maker before focusing on producing ero-figures that are sold at doujin events and via consignment shops.

During the August 14-16 event, this notice was placed on the Keumaya website, edited for brevity and translated below:

Notice of Comiket Figure Sale Supension

Due to the inappropriateness of Keumaya figures’ nether regions (i.e., crotch, groin), the sale of the figures at this year’s Natsucon has been suspended.

Taking into consideration the bother caused to the Comiket Preparation Comittee, special attention will be paid in the future to ensure that something of this manner does not occur a second time.

Again, I would like to apologize here for the nuisance caused to the gentlemen that had to come to the Keumaya circle booth.

Furthermore, the sales suspension only affects Comiket.

The plans for consignment sales at Tora no Ana for Chou-Kangofu (Super Nurse) Kotone-chan and Aku Mashi (Evil Witch Girl) Normal Ver. will continue as planned.

Plans for what to do with the event-exclusive GAL Mashi figure are still undecided.

News of the figures being banned from sale at Comiket encouraged one figure fan to order two of the figures being sold at the event for a closer look.

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These are the 悪魔子(ノーマル) / Evil Witch Girl (Normal) on the left, and 超看護婦ペインキラー琴音ちゃん / Super Nurse Painkiller Kotone-chan on the right.

Kotone-chan also came with a small ero-doujinshi as a furoku, a sample page of which can be found near the bottom of this article.

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Both figures look to be of a very good build quality, although the large-breasted Witch’s face might be off-putting to most.

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The unassembled state the figures are sold as shows the detail paid to the girls’ ero features, which leads to the reason for the figure’s removal from Comiket:

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As can clearly be seen in the above images (censored by the blogger), the Keumaya figures’ loins are indeed more detailed than the norm; more typically this area is either left less obvious or even bare, covered by a non-removable piece of clothing through which pubic outlines are hinted at.

It is not a surprise that the figure was removed from the Comiket – the especially ero figures of this sort are typically reserved for figure-only events where the decency guidelines for figures are more lax, though of course it raises the question of why differences between the events exist…

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In any case, the figures are quite accomplished for doujin products, especially Kotone-chan here, and their banning by the Comiket authorities can only add to their allure.

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Kotone-chan’s instructions leaflet.

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More information on Keumaya’s offerings can be found at the official website.

Via Sore wa Watashi no Mougen Da.

UN Demands Hentai Ban

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

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The UN has told Japan it must ban adult games and erotic manga featuring themes of rape, calling Japan’s protection of fictional women from fictional rape “inadequate.”

The demands come by way of the UN’s radical feminist arm, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, or CEDAW. Extreme feminist pressure group Equality Now previously vowed to make them seek such a ban, and it seems CEDAW happily complied.

Calling Japan’s treatment of women “inadequate” and “regrettable,” CEDAW formally demanded Japan end “human rights violations” against women by banning games and manga featuring themes of “rape and sexual violence.” It is not clear whether they extend their demands to anime, AV or literature, though this seems likely.

The suggestion that fictional works such as manga serve to promote sexual violence is entirely unproven; it is notable that Japan has some of the lowest rates of crime and sexual violence in the world, and yet some of the most abundant pornography, much of which deals with such themes.

This is of course undoubtedly tied to the intervention of busybody international feminist groups in Japanese politics after the Rapelay scandal…

Via Asahi.

Saki DVD 2 Decensored

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

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The second DVD edition of nopan anime Saki has had its marketing censorship removed, and an extensive comparison of the two has surfaced by way of 2ch.

The episodes are not high in their service quotient (the first DVD was slightly higher it seems), but innumerable subtle changes are apparent:

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Huge resolution versions here and here.

The DVD comes with free loli tacos.

MS Bans Indie Dating Game for “Sexual Violence”

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

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Microsoft has banned a Japanese made dating game from its own Xbox Live “Indie Games” program for a romantic scene in which a girl is pushed onto the ground, showing her pantsu in the process. Microsoft calls this scene “reminiscent of sexual violence,” and so banned the game.

The game in question, それでも、私は愛している / Sore de mo, Watashi wa Aishiteru (“Even So, I Love You”), a short visual novel depicting a school romance, was released onto Microsoft’s Xbox Live distribution service “Indie Games” as an independently developed doujin title.

Not long after release, distribution was suspended and the developer was ordered to stop distribution of the game or have it deleted from the system and have his account terminated.

He managed to extract an explanation from Microsoft’s EU support (US support apparently never bothered informing him of the reasons) regarding the problems with the title:

Event scenes had the following issues:

A girl being grabbed.

A girl being pushed over.

Exposure of underwear.

These are condemned as “reminiscent of sexual violence,” or, in other words, it is a rape scene in the eyes of MS.

You can see the likely scene at issue below, though you will have to excuse the creepy otaku voiceover:

As these scenes are routine in such games in Japan (and indeed in games, movies and so on in the west), he asked if he could not restrict distribution to Japan only (the game is in Japanese only), but was merely told he must suspend distribution or be banned completely from the service (a problem for a publisher who releases other games as he does).

Based on the information at his command, he suspects that a certain feminist inspired furore in the UK has caused Microsoft to become incredibly strict.

The maker is currently working on providing a censored version with no scenes of schoolgirl tipping, which may allow it to resume distribution.

Of course, scenes of bloody carnage perpetrated against both men and women (but not involving anything so depraved as pantsu) are the staple of most major Xbox games, so the fairness of this decision seems questionable…

Via Ore-teki.

Nice Jugs! 8th China International Ceramics Expo

Saturday, August 15th, 2009

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The 8th China International Ceramics Fair had plenty of jugs on display, not all of the ceramic kind.

The mostly male visitors to the event were delighted by an artistic display of naked ladies having their bodies tastefully painted, visible below:

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In a nation whose tyrannical government routinely supresses any display of sexual material, it seems the world of art is having to operate as a substitute, with bodypainting proving a definite favourite.

Via Heaven.

ToHeart2 Checked by Sony

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

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The Bowdlerisation of visual novels adapted from PC to “family friendly” consoles is nothing new, but in this latest case, involving the PSP adaptation of ToHeart2 X-Rated, it seems Sony even objects to “naughty” expressions, with the lower image showing the Sony safe expression…

Naturally, pantsu are also out:

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Just what the point of playing these adaptations on consoles portable or otherwise is at times hard to see.

Via Hachimaki.

XXX-Blades Xbox 360 vs PS3 Tentacle Action

Monday, August 10th, 2009

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Ero-moe master and Macademi creator Blade pokes fun at Aya Hirano voiced demi-hit X-Blades in this illustration; you may recall that the game failed the “Sony check” and was forced to cover up heroine Ayumi’s oshiri.

Ayumi herself has been the subject of a modest amount of fan art, with Blade’s being some of the best:

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Sony Puritans: “Sony Check” Worse Than Nintendo

Friday, August 7th, 2009

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The recent release of a multiplatform console safe loli cleaning eroge highlights the shocking truth that Sony is now more concerned about keeping a family friendly console than Nintendo, a curious reversal of the traditional role of Nintendo as the most moralistic of console companies.

The situation is highlighted this time by suspiciously eroge-like non-eroge お掃除戦隊くりーんきーぱー / Osouji Sentai Clean Keeper, being released on the PS2 after a Wii release some time ago.

The sexy Wii version:

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The church-safe PS2 version, renamed Osouji Sentai Clean Keeper H, in what is hopefully intended as irony:

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More:

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Such changes have been dubbed the “Sony check,” for when Sony’s censors become unhappy, they force makers to fastidiously clothe their characters. At least sickening displays of violence do not generally fall foul of this…

Additional shots demonstrate the erotic content of the uncensored game:

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Via Ore-teki.

You may also recall that X-Blade on the PS3 was more modest that the Xbox release

Agnes Chan: “The Internet is the Lolicon Superhighway”

Thursday, August 6th, 2009

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Anti-loli crusader idol Agnes Chan is still trying to curry favour for her cause, despite having been abandoned by Japanese politicians in the face of elections. Now she has started hinting that the Internet itself is part of the problem…

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She made a variety of comments lamenting the lack of a proper loli ban in a short interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun, but the highlight is her comparison of the Internet to a lolicon highway:

“Why doesn’t the loli decrease?”

“The Internet is like a highway down which loli porn travels. Even if one country restricts it, it will just flee to a country with looser laws. Just having loli isn’t even a crime in Japan. Most other countries ban it, I want Japan to change its laws too.”

With this line of thought, it is not hard to guess what sort of laws she will be promoting should she get her ban – mandatory filtering of all Internet connections springs to mind, already in operation in a number of developed countries which should know better.

Sadly for her aspirations, Japanese politicians will be for the foreseeable future only be concerned with saving their own skins as elections loom and the LDP’s popularity continues to plummet.