The biggest news surrounding anime and manga this year was in the passage of Bill 156. This is a ressurection of the ‘Non-Existent’ Youth Bill that was shot down earlier this year which attempted to place serious censorship laws on the industry. Bill 156, which was just recently passed, does many of the same things but in a re-organized fashion.
Rather than give my own interpretation of the bill and possibly get several details wrong — I will refer you to two editorials and one article posted on ANN as well as an article pertaining to the response from several animation studios from the blog AniMaybe.
1. Youth Brigade: Clearing up the Tokyo Youth Ordinance Bill
2. Editorial: How Bill 156 Got Passed
3. 10 Manga Publishers Boycott TAF 2011
4. Announcement of the ‘Anime Contents Expo’
A proper understanding of Bill 156, its passage, and the ongoing reaction on the part of the companies involved is absolutely required reading on the part of any individual who considers themselves a fan of anime and manga or is even just mildly concerned with freedom of speech and artistic expression.
The picture above is a cosplayer portraying the Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara at Comiket 79 which is being held this week in Tokyo.
As this is an ongoing critical series of events, I will attempt to keep Teatime up-to-date with all new information regarding the bill.
If you are interested in fighting back against the bill, you can directly show your support to the frontlines by purchasing the book that’s pictured above on amazon.jp.
Entitled 『サルでもわかる都条例都条例対策 ～Monkey Business～』 or An Idiot’s Guide to Tokyo’s Harmful Books Regulation; this is a doujinshi that discusses Bill 156 and its passage in a variety of formats (including essays and comics) and is suitable for all ages. Here is Dan Kanemitsu’s personal blog which discusses Bill 156 and the Monkey Business doujinshi that is being released this week at Comiket 79.
Teatime with Godzilla 