[Nominis]

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Even the Chinese have been complaining about the excessive levels of censorship Japanese anime and manga are now subject to, whether due to the attentions of Herr Ishihara or simply down to the prevalence of censorship marketing.

Some of the commentary from Chinese otaku:

“I’ve been checking out some old Japanese anime lately - I found something a little surprising. H scenes were all OK back then it seems. Honestly, it seems things were more liberal back then?”
“Right, they used to show boobs with no problem back then. Like in Lupin III and so on, despite it being the seventies they were shown. Now all you get is great beams of holy light flashing about…”
“They even had them in the first Gundam. But nothing in Seed? And always in OPs…”
“My first recollections are of scenes of Rei and Mamiya getting their tops ripped off in Fist of the North Star. They even showed that stuff on our TV without issue, despite cutting out loads of other stuff.”
“They were showing all that stuff fine in the nineties even here.”
“When did all the breasts start getting covered up by weird beams of light?”
“Japan’s TV anime censorship is getting worse and worse. I doubt they could even air Fist of the North Star now.”

Interjection! Yah, I recently downloaded Sakura Diaries had it Q'd in JDownloader I decided to watch the first episode to see if I'd like it, first impression, "Shoujo anime? The art looks like it's for a Shoujo manga..." one minute later, Huh, hentai? The OP didn't look like hentai well she is the character... hmmm..." Yes censorship has increased a ton since the early 90s! Boooo!
First Gundam, I remember NO such thing? Dub was censored? I know that Gundam Victory has loli-h in one scene (slight exadration, loli [male] nudity, with older woman trying to bath 'em...) Hee, I bet someone just started searching for that one.

Amongst Japanese otaku there is some debate as to whether increasing levels of anime censorship can be blamed on moral hysteria and persecution of otaku on the part of Japanese politicians and media, or simply on cynical efforts by studios to goad viewers into buying the disc release by cutting out all the juicy bits and merely pretending it has something to do with censorship.

Whatever the case, there does seem to be some awareness that when even Chinese feel compelled to complain about their censorship, there is something very wrong indeed:

“You can see it all on the disc release. This is all a sales tactic.”
“Japanese politicians are scum!”
“All those LDP politicians are trying to get anime and manga banned completely. The number of crazy politicians here is really increasing, they are totally nuts now.”
“Censorship these days is really bad though, you can’t even see normal panchira uncensored any longer.”
“Pay up and you can see it all, you filthy chinks!”
“Who cares what a bunch of dirty Chinese pirates have to say!”
“What right have they to an opinion when they just watch it all illegally!”
“How starved of ero are they?”
“This is all the fault of the LDP’s crazy Korean cultist supporters.”
“Late night anime is pretty amazing though… they may not show it directly like ero-anime, but the fetishistic way they present things is quite something.”
“You used to be able to see even Shizuka-chan’s breasts and pantsu without issue.”
“A few years ago, I remember being told by a neighbourhood mother of two who’d just seen a Yattaman remake that you don’t see that sort of thing at all anymore.”
“Kiss x Sis and Yosuga no Sora were the talk of our school, but our teacher just said that there was much more stuff like that before.”
“I don’t see a problem with boobs, but Yosuga takes things too far!”
“Japan is headed in a strange direction.”
“I really think the commercial reasons for censorship predominate now…”
“Qwaser and so on are packed with ero, but aren’t tlight beams just a ploy to increase DVD sales? They can’t just show anime for free.”
“TV used to be good, now it’s pure trash. No wonder viewerships are down.”
“Just look at late night Fuji TV – you can see all kinds of explicit [3D] bondage programming.”
“Terrestrial censorship isn’t just targeting anime though. If anything I think anime is getting off lightly.”
“After the LDP and Koumeito [minor Buddhist cultist party formerly in a governing coalition with the LDP] got into a coalition, the level of ‘voluntary restraint’ on TV got really severe, didn’t it?”
“Now they are in opposition they have become even more obsessed with censorship though… I’m really worried about what they’ll do when they get back in.”
“They are totally obsessed with child porn now, they’ll ban as much as they can.”
“I really do get the impression that their crazies have taken over since they got knocked into opposition.”
“Wasn’t the first piece of legislation they proposed after losing power a ban on ero?”
“Right. Although there isn’t much agreement in their party about anything.”
“Those net right wingers who support them are just as crazy as they are though.”
“Holy light is the right way of describing those beams…”

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1. Crude gags – 26%
2. Violence – 20.2%
3. Their stories are devoid of content – 17.5%
4. Because of the sexual depictions – 14.8%
5. “Other” – 11.3%
6. Moral objections – 8.2%
7. Hatred of Japan – 5.5%
It should be noted that 47.7% did not particularly hate any anime at all.
Death Note is actually banned by the Chinese government for being harmful to the young, showing just how effective China’s state censorship is in preventing people from watching it, and just where Ishihara and company may have been getting their ideas.

Some differences between the sexes were also evident – men’s most hated anime were Chibimaruko-chan, Initial D and Bleach, whereas those of women were Death Note, Bleach and Kuroshitsuji.

On the other end of the scale, the least disliked anime were Conan at 45th with 1.7%, Doraemon at 44th with 2% and Ghibli anime at 43rd with 2.1%.

Of course, it hard to see any Japanese caring what the Chinese think about their anime – China in its infinite wisdom has banned Japanese anime from its TV networks and the vast majority of Chinese never pay for it in any case.

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Chinese quizzed on which Japanese anime they hate the most supply a list topped off by such staples of otaku detestation as Death Note and Bleach, but also including the loveable moeblobs of K-ON!

The ranking, based on a 2011 survey of 3,000 Chinese men and women in equal numbers:
1. Death Note (6.1%)
2. Bleach (5.8%)
3. Initial D (5.5%)
4. Kuroshitsuji (5.2%)
6. Chibimaruko-chan (4.7%)
7. Crayonshin-chan (4.7%) <-- That is on CN's AS isn't it? (I think it sucks.)
8. Captain Tsubasa (4.5%)
9. Code Geass (4.4%)
10. Sailor Moon (4.4%)
11. K-ON! (4.2%)

Other Words, WTF!?