NEWS: Iowa Collector Charged for Allegedly Obscene Manga

[Nerevarine]

ok, found this out from

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... cene-manga

Christopher Handley receives 7 volumes of manga from the post office because he ordered them from Japan. The authorities follow him home because they already investigated the volumes and deemed them "obscene" and "objectionable." He is arrested, and they confiscate his whole collection: DVDs, manga volumes, VHS tapes, computers, etc. And now he faces a trial and up to 20 years in prison. All for ordering manga.

and to me...this is actually a pretty scary case...

because while im not too much into stuff like loli...

i still have some explicit stuff on my computer...in fact i think i even have some chapters from Mai-chan no Nichijou still on here

but wow....20 years....not even actual rapists are sentenced for that long

some more links...

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... e-are-yaoi

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/editori ... n-thompson

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/editori ... /carl-horn

[Assassin]

I'd say it's a case of biasedness?

[ShadowZeroHeart]

I am not much into loli stuff and all, but there are some inside quite a lot of manga and such. Hmmm... maybe i should delete my "Kodomo no Jikan" just because of stupid rules like this?

[Rectifier]

This reminds me once again of the stupidity of the American legal system.

[shichinanatsu]

whatever happened to the right to privacy and freedom of expression? though having the 9th amendment in your defense doesn't amount to much these days because of things like homeland security and terrorism, isn't this still a bit too much?

yet in retrospect.. the law seems to find it better when citizens are apprehended for the possession of such suspicious materiel, than making it impossible for such citizens to obtain the materiel in the first place..

[Macko Darlack]

think here in Peru laws are not that strict. yet, what someone has in his/her computer is personal matter if it is not third-party harmful, if you get what i mean I mean, were I a Yuki that tries to get inside FBI data or that stuff to delete, well, law is applicable. but what if I like to write erotic stories and have them in my pc...? would the apprehend me for that?? that's stupid u.u

moreover, i think i read this is not law-applicable because the characters are fictional, NOT-real... were it other stuff and not pencil over paper... and it doesn't matter if it's yaoi, yuri, etc, etc. all the same. it's personal matter, i think. and those arresting-people, don't say they do not watch pornography as if they all were good guys... everybody has his/her little perversion! (don't get perversion mixed with paraphilia )

i don't support loli nor dislike it (ecchi-fan ), but this, as i see it, is kinda violation to one

and why i get "Yuki" when try to write H@ck3R!?!?!?

[HolyCow]

Meh. We had figurine stores raided here once because they were deemed "indecent". Ironic thing is that they confiscated all the swimsuit ones (like Bikini Ilya) and semi-revealing ones (like Bunny Tsuruya) but not the castoff-able ones like the Bible Black series =.=

All because some half-witted tabloid journalist thought all anime figures = erotic.

[shichinanatsu]

this is a serious wake-up call to all those out there who consume manga and anime.. not only because of this particular case in the States, but because of something else i found out while sniffing for more info on the topic..

i leave it to you guys what to think of it.

are we going to be next in line as outcasts? to be put alongside all the 'deviants' normal people don't seem to WANT to understand..

[ShadowZeroHeart]

LOLz there are enough loopholes. Firstly the ban should be on children, so

Meh. We had figurine stores raided here once because they were deemed "indecent". Ironic thing is that they confiscated all the swimsuit ones (like Bikini Ilya) and semi-revealing ones (like Bunny Tsuruya) but not the castoff-able ones like the Bible Black series =.=

All because some half-witted tabloid journalist thought all anime figures = erotic.

should not be banned. If it is, then all swimming pools shall be demolished, all beaches closed.

Secondly, you know how Japanese works always thinks of the impossible.

For example, in Disgaea 1, Flonne and Etna are over 1000 years old despite their looks. Are they considered children? Fictional characters have ages that do not change, so the term "children" should not be applied to them. Or consider a cat-girl. Do you take the age of a cat or a human as the basis to calculate its age?

If you take the looks as the standard, then just how do you determine whether a character is a child/minor? By a specific height? of a fictional character? So there are actually a lot of problems I would say.

Lastly, i would say that the most polluted ones are the so-called scholars. They are the ones who would think indecently at the slightest hint, that is why they are making such complaints won't you think? Even though SOME Japanese mangas and pictures may be indecent indeed, but not all. So it is a very blurred line for whether it is unacceptable. So I personally find it WRONG for

ok, found this out from

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/20 ... cene-manga

Christopher Handley receives 7 volumes of manga from the post office because he ordered them from Japan. The authorities follow him home because they already investigated the volumes and deemed them "obscene" and "objectionable." He is arrested, and they confiscate his whole collection: DVDs, manga volumes, VHS tapes, computers, etc. And now he faces a trial and up to 20 years in prison. All for ordering manga.

When they can just ban the volumes he ordered and warn him, rather than intrude on his privacy to give him the heaviest penalty. And if he is indeed sentenced for 20 years, I guess they are telling people, don't think about manga, just do it! Rape and kidnap!! I wonder which would be better?

[Nerevarine]

Its sad how they would waste all the time and resources to go charge someone for fictional material that does not hurt any party instead of going after the REAL child rapists and murderers

[Beware the talking cat]

They actually had child porn charges against him originally, but they were deemed unconstitutional, so they are only going with the obscenity charges.
I hope to see the obscenity charges dropped too, but it's harder to do so.

[Umiman]

I was under the impression that loli manga is considered child porn in the US and in Canada. People have been charged and convicted of so before.

On one hand, not making loli a part of child porn would give leeway to pedophiles that it's alright to own images of obscene conduct with children regardless of medium, which can be use in court.

On the other, if they consider drawn cartoons of children having sex to be child porn, then they should consider drawn pictures of people killing other people to be murder.

[shichinanatsu]

on that account of blurring the lines, Neil Gaiman has been rather insightful.. you might want to stop by his journal. he has an article on the Handley case, and he's of a sympathetic stand to comic/manga enthusiasts..

[Beware the talking cat]

I was under the impression that loli manga is considered child porn in the US and in Canada. People have been charged and convicted of so before.

On one hand, not making loli a part of child porn would give leeway to pedophiles that it's alright to own images of obscene conduct with children regardless of medium, which can be use in court.

On the other, if they consider drawn cartoons of children having sex to be child porn, then they should consider drawn pictures of people killing other people to be murder.

http://74.125.113.104/search?q=cache:HX ... cd=6&gl=us
This case actually has created some good precedent. The court strikes down the child porn charges because there were no actual minors involved.

[Rectifier]

The most ironic part is that pornography actually reduces sexual-based crime rates. So deeming all of this manga illegal would actually increase the sexual-based crime rates across age groups.