!IMPORTANT! to the Anime and Manga community

[taldein]

I don't know if any of you have heard of Christopher Handley, but you should!

I'm having trouble typing right now, so I'll keep this short. He was arrested fir OWNING a manga that the postal inspector deemed OBSCENE. That's right, he mail ordered it, and they looked through his mail. His home was then assaulted by several local, and federal law enforcement agencies, brandishing a search warrant.



He faces 20 years in prison for merely owning a manga collection with just a few graphic images. The CBDLF is defending him, and this case stands to shake the very foundations of comics of any kind, in America.

Please, read more here: www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-10-10/iowa-collector-charged-for-allegedly-obscene-manga
and here: www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-11-24/lawyer-indicates-manga-in-iowa-obscenity-case-are-yaoi

I have donated a little myself, but given how arbitrary the word "obscene" is, we can only hope for a few manga fans on his jury.

[Max "Lone" Raine]

I can only guess that the manga involved lolicon or kids... It's not too uncommon in hentai... As far as I'm aware there is no laws against art containing minors yet though, or else FA is in some serious trouble... unless they can use the same argument in court as on the site "They're animals and we all know animals reach sexual maturity sooner than humans"... Bah I say.

I really hope he gets freed... It is really the stupidest claim I've heard...

[taldein]

Actually I believe the series in question was a yaoi. But that's about all of the info that was given that I found. They're keeping this as under the radar as they can.

The real issue is this, obscenity boils down to personal beliefs. I can think of many a series that could be considered "obscene" depending on who you ask. Not just in Manga, but anime, comics, cartoons, movies, and books. Although they aren't releasing many details of this case, it stands to set a precedence for all these mediums; like it or not. And not even a precedence on what can be sold, but what we as people have a right to own.

It really boils down to this, this case is a "conservative" extremist's dream, and an average persons worst nightmare. They always look for a way to make everyone else do what they want, nost of the time we've been able to bypass it though. All that can really be hoped for is a balanced jury with at least a few comic and manga fans on it.

And for the record, series I can think off of the top of my head that could fall into the "Obscene" category, with little to no stretch of imagination:

Berserk
Afro Samurai
Onegai Teacher!
Elfen Lied

And the list can go on and on considering whatever and particular person would find personally offensive. So really it's a case that will be decided completely subjectively, rather than relying on any real facts.

[Sparky The Dog]

In america with any form of art the characters being depicted have to be of at least 18 years. In most hentais now a days ye get the whole "all characters in this show are drawn to b at least 18 years age or higher" and according to the obscene description that was given it is most likely a drawing of some minor in a sexual act. thus he is at fault for having kiddy porn. from what i have read this in no way is some lawyer trying to ruin the manga/anime trade in america the guy has kiddy porn and thats the bottom line

[Max "Lone" Raine]

I don't know what manga it is he had really but like it said in one of the articles, determining the age of especially boys in some manga can be hard. Especially in yaoi as they are often drawn androgynous and without pubic hair, as there's a taboo-ish sorta thing about that in Japan. I'm not defending him as I don't know how his manga looked though.

But considering this I hope they don't start investigating FA or I'll lose my main art site I'm sure =/

I must add though that I'd prefer if all people who for some reason find minors arousing would keep to art as it doesn't harm anyone... =/