Ban On Anime

An email has been going around urging people to sign this petition:

To:  George Bush
Some people are signing against anime and are calling is to be a "perverse, evil, insiduous form of animation from the dark land of Japan, and is corrupting America's youth at unprecedented rates." Anime is NOT corrupting the youth of America, and since when has America become a country of Christians? Isn't there a SEPARATION of Church and State? Isn't this a ban on our Freedom of Speech? And Freedom of Press? What does anime have to do with brainwashing our youth?


Even though I'm not sure what 'signing against anime' is supposed to mean, I do know that there is no movement underfoot by any politician to ban anime. But it's worth scrolling through the messages left by the 4129 people who signed the petition. Some of them are quite amusing.

Art

Posted on Sat Jan 29, 2005



Comments

Do online petitions have any legal value?
Posted by Citizen Premier  on  Sat Jan 29, 2005  at  08:07 PM
This will be as influential as the Stop Ashlee Simpson petition. O_o

Anime can never be banned; it's too popular. The government has better luck controlling illegal substances.
Posted by Sarah  on  Sat Jan 29, 2005  at  09:53 PM
This is the original petition to "ban anime now" to which the other petition was responding:

http://www.petitiononline.com/cutiepie/petition.html

If you are a parent or a decent human being, I urge you to sign this petition to ban all forms of anime in the United States. Anyone who is found in possesion of anime should be arrested and jailed for an exhorbant period of time. Anime is a dark scourge upon our beautiful nation, and we don't need this Japanese filth corrupting the hearts of the children.


An obvious troll, but it doesn't take much to get a reaction from media fans.
Posted by tem2  on  Sat Jan 29, 2005  at  10:45 PM
Please work HTML!
I was bored, so I thought I'd kinda mess with the system. It's a totally serious petition, though.
Posted by Citizen Premier  on  Sun Jan 30, 2005  at  12:47 AM
People are funny. Some sigs on the petition are touting how great these cartoons are...others are saying they're evil!

I have to say that I'm not really a fan, and I did have an ex-boyfriend that was a fan for all the grossest of reasons...

That said, I have a hard time with a lot of cartoons. This kind of runs into that line that parents should really be screening what their kids are watching & playing with. Also, if you say no to one thing, you really have to say no to it all. You can't say that Disney violence is okay, b/c it's cute, but Pokemon violence is not okay..for whatever reasons...(I've never seen it).
Posted by Maegan  on  Sun Jan 30, 2005  at  06:16 AM
The original petition is confusing regular anime with porn anime, right? That's like saying any movie should be banned because of porn movies.

I think it's interesting that people get a good deal more concerned about this sort of thing than they do about the gov't sanctioning torture of prisoners and suchlike.
Posted by cvirtue  on  Sun Jan 30, 2005  at  07:21 AM
'anime', noun, ..............?
Posted by Nick  on  Sun Jan 30, 2005  at  09:45 AM
porn anime = hentai

(The fact that I know this scares me.)

Hentai is creepy in lots of ways. However, it is porn, and as far as I know that means it can't be bought by anyone under 18. It's not corrupting the children anymore than non-animated porn is.

I always have to laugh at people who start/sign these online petitions, like they actually think they will make ANY DIFFERENCE WHATSOEVER. Or that anyone important will even be aware of their existence. No, online petitions are not considered valid under the law for obvious reasons: someone could sign it five hundred times under different names. There is no way to prove that 4129 individual people support this petition.

I don't even think legal petitions hold much water as far as Making Things Happen.
Posted by James D  on  Sun Jan 30, 2005  at  01:51 PM
I don't there's such a thing as a legal or illegal petition. Petitions are just a way of people declaring their opinion on a particular issue. They're simply meant to demonstrate to a person or persons of authority that many members of the public feel strongly enough about an issue to personally endorse it.

Petitions generally hold little merit for anyone, and the few times where they have "worked" is only the result of the accompanying publicity.

Online petitions are the worst, because they truly represent the anonymity of the internet, and are generally considered a joke.
Posted by AqueousBoy  on  Sun Jan 30, 2005  at  07:51 PM
ok let's set some thing straight
1)hentai means perverse.not all hentai is anime and vice versa. perverse does not only mean sexually but any dark or what could be considered adult anime.

2)second in Japan anime is HUGE. I mean take Spirited Away which was released in the US by disney/pixar. it is the highest grossing film in Japan's history. not highest grossing animated film highest grossing film period. or perhaps "Grave of the Fireflies" which is considered by most otaku (japanese word ofr over obsessive fan-fanboy, you can be otaku about anything , sports, movies, video games but mainly it aplies to anime and manga (japanese comics) fans) to be the pinnacle of anime is about a brother and sister trying and failing to suvive post WWII japan. of the dozens of people i know that have seen this movie NONE have not cried during it

3)Manga-this is the origin of most anime. the comics which average several hundred pages in legnh and are in black and white are read equally in Japan by businessmen, children school teachers and moms. EVERYONE READS THEM! they all don't obviously read the same ones.

4) things ar eVERY different in JApan. in alot of ways. protitution for example is seen as just another job like being a teacher or a truck driver or a lawyer. ther eis NO AGE OF CONSENT IN JAPAN EITHER. are they worse for it? copare stats on sex crimes between here and there and you tell me. their religious belif stem i large part from animist beliefs (that spirits reside in all things), lineal piety (reverense towards ancestors for allowing you to exsist in the fisrt place), and buddhist philosophies (universal harmony and oneness). these are EXTREMELY different form the Judeo-Muslim-christian beliefs we have here in the 'west'. anime tends to deal with alot of these deaper issues.

sorry if i've gone off and none of this is targeted to any posts here but ignorance annoys me
Posted by darqcyde  on  Sun Jan 30, 2005  at  09:00 PM
...wow?

Okay...but I do know that my ex-boyfriend used to get these pics of the kids from Pokemon doing weird gross things to each other. I was like...They're portraying kids you sick bastard!!

Anyway...I have a hard time with dubbing. The way mouths don't match up with words really distracts me. I'm never sure who's talking. I used to get some anime movies when I worked at the video store...but I would never actually pay to watch anime. (Any kind.)
Posted by Maegan  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  08:35 AM
Come on Maegan. We all know you really have a thing for tentacles. Don't try to hide it. We're here to help.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  08:58 AM
Admitting I have a problem is the first step to recovery!
Posted by Maegan  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  12:01 PM
All together now -

"Welcome Maegan"

Now the healing can begin.

Please remove all articles of clothing prior to healing.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  01:59 PM
Note to: darqcyde

Speaking of ignorance, learn to type and spell.
Posted by Jeff  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  02:35 PM
"Do online petitions have any legal value?"

No petition has any legal value (unless it's filed as a motion in court). A petition just means a written request for something (it could be for anything). People get up these kinds of petitions, I suppose, because signing them is easier (but infinitely less effective) than writing actual letters, or sometimes just in an attempt to get attention.
In this case, I side with tem2 when he (she?) says the original anti-anime petition was "an obvious troll."
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  03:28 PM
"I'm not sure what 'signing against anime' is supposed to mean..."

Isn't it obvious? This nefarious movement is being spearheaded by deaf users of American Sign Language, who insist that all movies should be subtitled, not dubbed as are most of the imported Japanese cartoons.
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  03:33 PM
I'm such an otaku.

Duo x Heero forever 😉
Posted by James D  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  04:55 PM
As far as petitions are concerned, something I was told several years ago by a political activist is that each petition regarless of how many signatures are on it counts as one vote. Form letters, regardless of how many are received count as one vote. A normal letter, original content, counts as ten thousand votes.

I got started watching anime about fifteen years ago and I can say that anime covers just about every genre of movie making. I have seen Manga in black-and-white and in color. I like anime primarily because it gives more freedom to the artisic people to tell the story. One of my favorites is "They were Eleven" which involves aliens, spaceship, gender-changers and a love story. Trying to do that in a "normal" picture would cost a fairly large fortune and wouldn't necessarily draw enough of an audience to justify the cost. There are some American animation studios now that are doing anime, and the style is basically the same. And, having watched anime in Japanese, the mouths don't match the words there either. At least not so you'd notice.
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  07:01 PM
Darqcyde... there's a lot wrong with your little rant... just to address a few points:

-Hentai IS porn, or let me put it this way: One could argue an R-rated horror film is 'pornographic', but that doesn't make it porn. Similiarly a graphically violent anime is not Hentai

-Anime is no bigger in Japan then animation is here. It's used more frequently in 'non-traditional' genres, yeah... but aside from Spirited Away (which was made by a HIGHLY respected director) it's not as big as live action there.

-An Otaku is a very bad thing to be. (to people who want to know the true Japanese meaning: think of the biggest dork possible, now imagine they smell HORRIBLE!!!... American 'otaku' like to think the word means 'Super well learned fan' when it really means "Comicbook Guy from the Simpsons Has A Better Social Life then me"

-Not "everyone" reads Mangas... they'll write them in many different genres and you do see business men reading them, it's as common as seeing someone reading a book on the bus.

-Mangas (at least the ones you refer to) are more like American Comics in their "Trade Paperback" forms then their monthly issues. The mangas most people read are big thick anthologies like Shonen Jump, that are super cheap and are then thrown away. "Mangas" in their 100 page one story form are just collections of those runs. Sometimes you will see original Manga pop up in 100 page book form, but American comics are the same way.

-Prostitution is still very illegal, 16 is the age of consent not "NO AGE", and I doubt you compared the sex crime stats because there no better then here.

-Not all anime is deep and spiritual, 'Otaku' like to think that because most of them like Sci-Fi/Fantasy... which just like in any country has deep and spiritual themes! (Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, even to a degree Spider-man are religion/spiritual in base) There are animes that are NOTHING but commericals, you going to tell me Yu-Gi-Oh or Dual Masters is any less a commerical then Teen Titans or JLU? Or that Hamtaro or Super Milk-Chan are more spiritual then Fairly Oddparents or Spongebob?!

-
Posted by Todd  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  11:22 PM
Good lord I hate Super Milk Chan.
Posted by Ponygirl  on  Mon Jan 31, 2005  at  11:46 PM
ya know i could argue but what's the point. yeah i was wor gabout the prostituion on the legal account BUT it is a social norm there by tradition. also perverse cartoons can be also found of disney, and hana-barbara cartoons as well. if it has a female in it, there is probably a perverse version of it somewhere out there. saying other people do soemthing does not mean i agree with it or condone , except fo rthe fact i don't care what other people do. i mean if you want to blow goats knock yourself out, i don't care. as for my spelling live with it. time taken correcting my spelling on a trivial post is time i'm not wasting. and i could say "everyone reads books" and not feel i'm lying. anyhow anime can be traced back to GASP old american cartoons such as betty boop (note the big eyes on girls). due to insufficent resouces artist in Japan developed a more economic style of drwaing and animating. this was refined over time to give us the style(s) we most associate with Japanese anime today (which is done in large part by Koreans, as are a lot of disney flicks). yu-gi-oh is fluff crap as are some of the others you mentioned but so is alot of programming and movie fare in general (gigli anyone?). Also as far as age of consent i can only find age limits on adult productions being 16, while the age of consent i can't find. did you know dragonball and DBZ are just retellings of the legend of the monkey spirit, a chinese myth akin to the greek trial of herakles, only more epic in scope perhaps? yeah you probably did, didn't you? also i think the most crucial thing is that both these petitions are moot. expcept the ashlee simpson petition, that should be taken seriously.
Posted by darqcyde  on  Tue Feb 01, 2005  at  01:47 AM
one more thing, to see what could be argued as the epitome of anime tv series, watch cowboy bebop. it's good in jsut about every way measurable.
Posted by darqcyde  on  Tue Feb 01, 2005  at  01:50 AM
It bugs me that no one has pointed out that any kind of "ban on anime" would be illegal, wrong, and unconstitutional.

And Teen Titans and JLU are not commercials. They both tell deep and meaningful stories, and I'll put the quality of their writing up against any show the networks air.
Posted by Barghest  on  Tue Feb 01, 2005  at  07:00 PM
"It bugs me that no one has pointed out that any kind of "ban on anime" would be illegal, wrong, and unconstitutional."

Also pretty well impossible. How could write a law banning "anime" in a way that wouldn't also ban just about every other movie or cartoon?
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Wed Feb 02, 2005  at  02:46 PM
I LOVE ANIME!!! If anime is banned, I believe it would be an encroachment on my freedom of press and speech! And you are not allowed to do that!!!
If you do that, then you must also get rid of R- rated movies, and pretty much ANYTHING that might be offensive to people!!! There is no law that says you HAVE to watch or read anything that has to do with Manga or Anime. You have the CHOICE to aviod it just as some religions tell you to aviod R- rated movies or drinking alchohol. Just a thought.
Posted by Janelle  on  Tue Feb 08, 2005  at  03:56 PM
I presume the petition exists, but I wonder if the original intent was for publicity and not a serious effort to ban anime. I can remember when D&D first came out and the outcry against it. There is no way anime can be banned, even if it was legal to do so. I bet there is a request for money somewhere near the end of the petition, most special interest groups seem to always be asking for money when they send out letters or petitions or whatever. If this was a publicity stunt, whoever is behind this is getting their wish, at least to some degree.
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Tue Feb 08, 2005  at  04:27 PM
You should know by now that signing an online petition is about as effective as spitting into a forest fire.

Besides, why ban cartoons based on the country of origin?! While we're at it, we might as well confiscate all the Czech, French, and British cartoons too.
Posted by Laser Potato, a closet Unico fan  on  Wed Mar 09, 2005  at  10:36 AM
Honestly, I don't see HOW President Bush can ban such a thing from the United States. Yes, some anime out there can be sexual, and yes, he is the president, but really, it's not anyone else's concern. I'm a major fan of anime, and hearing of this proposed "banning" of anime in the U.S. is just idiotic. There's many shows on television now that show worse things, so why not ban them while you're at it? (not that I am complaining, just stating). And of course, seeing this is plastered around the internet, it's kind of hard to really believe if this is actually true or not. If indeed it is, someone is just trying to get a rise out of others, or the president really has more issues than I would have thought.
Posted by Amber  on  Sat Apr 16, 2005  at  02:12 PM
people I think people are gay and dumb that just shows how jerk our country is ya'll don't know hentai may save people it did save me in fact my life was influence and I am not currpted before I had all of that I was suicidal and all that and hentai saved me
Posted by Yasashii Yatsamoto  on  Wed May 18, 2005  at  02:09 PM
this is wrong you no its like he is being raceist!!! you no pplz should of vote for kerry he an't being no raceist damn you can't just do that. http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/saveanime this is a site with 1402 and more pplz liek r not up to teh idea of anime geting taken of tv. this is wrong he can't do that. I guess he is maad that japanses animation is better then america's don't get me wrong or any thing you no disney is great but you no I ratehr be watching anime tehy can't do that.
Posted by Annie  on  Sat May 21, 2005  at  11:49 AM
hey i love inuyasha he bata not take it off or imma do some thing BAD like that baster bata not do that man so ya... that asian hater get some people to do something about this >_<** faggit bush
Posted by mr kid aka YA  on  Sat May 21, 2005  at  04:47 PM
Hey,does anyone have proof that Bush is doing this?Lots of people pick on race,that isn't right,anime should stay,Bush should go!I am asian and I have more asian friends then white and other religions,but he is doing this to the United States because he just hate us asians?!The whole of Asia is strong they have the power to destroy the USA!If you hate asians,the asians will fight you Bush,and war will erupt,think of your people here!We unite today for a reason,you can't defeat our fate,our thoughts belong to us,after all,"No man deserves punishment for there thoughts!"How can our president be such a fool,why don't we might as well move to Asia or something?Does our future have to be controled by such a fool for four more years? :coolmad:
Posted by Ms.Lam  on  Sat May 21, 2005  at  05:24 PM
Has anyone heard if the petition was sent? Even if it was sent, the odds are probable about 10 million to 1 that it reaches President George W. Bush's desk and another 10 million to 1 that he would pay attention to it. There is no benefit to the President that I can see for him to pay attention to this, much less act on it. I haven't heard a word about this anywhere but here. This is just some jerk getting his fifteen minutes of fame. And, if the guy responsible for the petition knows about this thread, all anyone is doing here is feeding his ego. The guy protesting isn't much better. His letter has, I am sure, an even smaller chance to get noticed by the President.
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Sun May 22, 2005  at  04:55 PM
The petition was a joke by an anime fan. Whether or not anime should or should not be banned isn't the point. Whether it can or cannot be banned isn't the point. The true humor and genius of the petition lies in trapping the less intelligent into spewing bigotry and random hatred against others. The sad part is it didn't trap "bigot christians" but infintile idiots who I can only pray are only 13 (as an excuse for the lack of grammer or coherent thought). Instead of ignoring the petition or treating is as a joke most of the people that signed spewed such witty gems like "Christians should die. You all suck. Anime is God!". Anime is not the greatest thing since sliced bread and I'm a fan. I enjoy watching it like I enjoy catching the occasional blockbuster flick. It's a form of entertainment and escapism not a reason d'etre.

Please. Read. A. Book.
Posted by Logic and Reason  on  Sat Jun 25, 2005  at  08:48 AM
Ugh. If anime is banned, that would be terrible! I am a HUGE fan of anime, and to do that would be a big loss to the USA. I have lots of friends who love anime, and we even have our own club. To ban it would just be wrong.
Posted by Lori  on  Tue Jul 05, 2005  at  08:46 PM
Lets see, this thread started back at the end of Jan. There has been nothing in the common media about either an attempt to ban anime or the effort to defeat such. Beyond the fact that such would be impossible, unlawful, and unAmerican there is the glaring probability that this is a hoax (surprise!) so that whoever started it might get a bit of fame.

I can remember, vaguely, a small group who picketed the White House in the 50s demanding that animals be made to wear clothes. It was a hoax then and this is something similar as far as I can tell.

Anime can be good or bad, just like Hollywood movies. I like anime and would protest any serious effort to ban it. It might get tried, there was an effort to ban comics in the early 50s, and comic magazines were made unlawful which is why they are called comic books now. Regardless of how this turns out, anime will continue in America - if it does get banned, the name will change and nothing else.
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Wed Jul 06, 2005  at  09:00 PM
Saying Anime is bad is just like saying all reality shows or comedy shows are bad. Anime is a genre. Its the people that make a single show bad, not the whole genre. Theres nothing wrong with anime....only some anime shows are bad..
Posted by Seth  on  Thu Jul 28, 2005  at  01:06 PM
Guys, guys, chill... The petition to ban anime was a hoax by an anime fan. Sure, the people who sign it agreeingly are either physcos or just joking too, but do you really think that politicians would give enough of a damn to actually ban anime? It's stupid even to think it. We don't live in a fasicst society... yet... people >.>
Posted by Kallero  on  Tue Aug 02, 2005  at  02:27 AM
I say the person who made it is just a racist prick who doesnt like the japanese. They said nothing about the banning of porn which is a lot more morally degrading than effing pokemon! Besides if I wasnt watching anime I might be off doing worse. As for Ah! My Goddess (im going to a-con as urd by the way...) it is NORMAL for older men to marry younger women. they still do it in a lot of countires! just because WE think its incorrect doesnt mean its not normal for other people! Honestly....-edward-
Posted by edward  on  Sat Aug 06, 2005  at  12:06 PM
hahaha..it's more like a forum thread than a petition and it doesn't seem real.
Posted by nancy  on  Mon Aug 22, 2005  at  05:36 PM
OMG!!!
Ban On Anime...
Thanks for that interesting post. It makes great reading!
Posted by MANGA  on  Fri Aug 26, 2005  at  06:18 PM
Your mean I'm only ten years old and I think that is upseting I watch anime, I want to go Japan, and I wacth all kind of anime like AzumangaDaioh, D.N.Angel,Inuyasha,Scryed,pokemon,yugioh,onepiece,zachbell,slayers,vandread,ayane's high kick,fullmetalpanic,fullmetalpanic fomouffo,madlax,dragonball,e's otherwise,and sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo much more I can't name em all. P.S. YOU SUCK!!!!!!!: )
Posted by mc10  on  Sun Sep 04, 2005  at  03:51 PM
Damn u Bush!! U cant get ride of anime!! Anime is not a bad thing!! Sure it comes from japan and some of them show things other ppl might not like but, if u dont like it then dont whatch it!! jeez!!! Leave the ppl who like it alone dont mess with our anime! thats the only good thing on tv!
Posted by Jennifer L  on  Sat Sep 10, 2005  at  11:57 PM
I would just like to say;
if you choose which anime you watch and manga you read, you won't find any pronography or "Fan Service of any kind. Anime has a rating just like anything else and you can eaasily avoid harmful content. Secondly, i'm an Otaku, i'm not stinky, and have alot of friends, hardly any of them otaku or comic book fans or whatever. I wish people would stop being so narrow minded.
Posted by Chris  on  Thu Nov 10, 2005  at  02:03 PM
Hentai means pervert.

Otaku means house.

Tentacles are positivly arousing.

Now let's join hands and hum.
Posted by Miss*Mochi  on  Thu Nov 24, 2005  at  06:08 AM
I personally think anime is stupid, incoherent, and highly predictable. I used to watch it as a kid, but now looking back, most of the shows seem to run together, everything from the same generic plot to the same character types (my friend accurately predicted the outcome and character fates of the Yu-Gi-Oh series after watching the first 4 episodes). Oh and don't forget the schoolgirls. So at most, it's dull entertainment, and the people who go around talking about it constantly are more than a bit annoying. But banning anime is obviously an infringement of the constitution and is unpractical in reality. What would happen if we could ban anything we think "evil" or "corrupting." That's why we have the bill of rights in the first place.

A few people here though think that any such peition id pointless and won't change anything. Well, that's about as stupid as some anime or hentai are. What would happen if Martin Luther King in the 60's said, "wow, this is pointless and won't change a thing anyways." Get the point? And to the person comparing the usefulness of this petiton to the ban-ashley-simpson petition, well as far as I know, ashley simpson isn't sigining any record deals lately - or any deals.
Posted by Fei  on  Tue Nov 29, 2005  at  03:21 PM
Bah you kids and your opinions.
Can't you enjoy anything these days?!
Posted by MadnessGirl  on  Tue Nov 29, 2005  at  04:38 PM
Seriously. People need to get a grip. Manga is where most anime stems from, most anime is based on a manga (not always). There is a seperation between anime and hentai, hentai = pornographic anime. yeah, there is a lot of insinuations and perverted jokes in anime and manga, but in the end it's not serious, it is usually portrayed in a funny way. I mean, i love to draw. I'm a girl, and being my age i like to experiment with different things, sometimes i draw perverted things but it's all part of human nature. Look at the big picture, there is so many things in the world that are worse in this category, than anime and manga. Ignorance sickens me, get a clue.
Deep down, everyone has perverse thoughts anyway, no one can escape their own minds. So in reality, people against this kind of thing for that reason, are all hypocrits.
Posted by greenwings  on  Sat Dec 10, 2005  at  05:11 PM
Does anyone read the thread anymore? This whole thing is a bad joke - one I wouldn't tell. There is no effort to ban anime and if there was President Bush has no authority to implement such a ban. And even if Congress passed such a ban, and President Bush signed it, the courts would overturn it. Some twerp started this to get attention and so far it has worked.
Posted by Christopher Cole  on  Wed Dec 28, 2005  at  07:23 PM
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