Otaku Review

AnimeVice pointed this out last night and if you’re in the UK, one can only hope that this law gets overturned in a real hurry. New laws in the UK will soon go into effect which could essentially make many comic books and manga possibly illegal. The new law states that it will be illegal for anyone to possess “extreme pornography” defined as any “extreme image” that is created “solely or principally for the purpose of sexual arousal”.

How do you know if you possess “extreme pornography”? Well, according to the government if it is an “extreme image” or any sort of moving or still image (i.e. hentai or more than a few manga titles though those are my examples, not theirs) that contains a character that a “reasonable person” would consider engaging in sexual activities with an animal or corpse or just being sexually injured. Personally the “reasonable person” bit is what gets me the fastest because of course we all have the same definition of “reasonable”.

It does get better as there is a second half to the law. In the second half, the Coroners and Justice Bill, currently going through Parliament procedures, will make it illegal to possess any image that has a character engaged in any sexual activities. How do you know if a character passes this standard? The material has to have “the impression conveyed … is that the person shown is a child”.

Ironically live action films are being specifically excluded from these laws. Once again, take a look at your collection of manga, anime and possibly eroge games… got anything in there that you should be worried about after these laws go into effect?

Any readers in the UK have any thoughts on these laws? I’d love to hear the perspectives of manga and comic fans from the other side of the pond.