‘Blood, guts and Bambi eyes’: Urotsukidoji and the Transcultural Reception and Regulation of Anime

Abstract

Abstract:The regulation and reception of anime in Britain has, historically, been fraught with difficulty. In 1992, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) rejected the first instalment of Urotsukidoji, a controversial series of erotic anime, on the grounds of its sexually explicit content; this decision set a precedent for the way in which they would continue to censor anime for the following two decades. Nearly twenty years later, in 2009, the Coroners and Justice Act, also known as the 'Dangerous Cartoons Act', made it a criminal offence to possess non-photographic pornographic images of children, including CGI, cartoons, manga images and drawings. Through an examination of the BBFC's archival materials on Urotsukidoji -Legend of the Overfiend, supplemented by references to a small number of newspaper articles published during this period, this article offers a range of insights into the historical context in which the current series of debates surrounding the 'Dangerous Cartoons Act' can be situated and assessed. These are used to consider the transcultural flow of genres across national borders, and the difficulties a regulator from one culture encounters when dealing with controversial material originating from another, such as Japan, that has a substantially different set of social values and artistic conventions. Furthermore, this case highlights the important role played by distribution companies in shaping the production and evolution of genres within the transcultural marketplace.

Anime, otaku y cintas de vídeo: el formato OVA como catalizador de la complejidad narrativa en la animación japonesa contemporánea

“…La libertad de maniobra del género pink eiga tal y como es descrito por Zahlten es similar a la de este nicho del anime que explota también gracias a la difusión de las ediciones domésticas. La circulación internacional de exitosas OVA como Cream Lemon (1984Lemon ( -2006) y las adaptaciones de los manga eróticos de Toshio Maeda como las series Urotsukidōji (1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994) o La Blue Girl (1992Girl ( -1993 son un factor decisivo para entender tanto el celo hacia la animación japonesa comercial por parte de la opinión pública (Williams, 2006), como la atracción académica de estudio desde enfoques culturalistas hasta nuestros días (McCrea, 2008;Piñón Perales, 2010;Pett, 2016). Más allá del hentai, la irrupción de la cinta de video transforma radicalmente la manera de consumir anime, pero también introduce cambios esenciales en su producción que permiten la inserción de la complejidad narrativa.…”

Japanese popular culture reception in Croatia as exemplified by anime and manga fans

“…Japanski sociolog Yui Kiomitsu anime i mangu u 21. stoljeću smatra glokalnim fenomenom čiji razvoj i popularnost pronalazi u sprezi okolnosti i kvaliteta postmodernosti 196 (Yui 2010: xvi-xx). Prema Robertsonu, u razmatranjima o globalizaciji pojam globalno ne može se odvojiti od lokalnog, nije mu suprotan već je njegov sastavan aspekt, uključen je u proces globalizacije i nužan za njegovu kreaciju.…”

“…Iako je kao forma koja je između ostalog nastala pod jakim utjecajem globalnih tokova popularne kulture, ali i svojom raširenosti i praksama odvojena od modernih i nacionalnih okvira, upravo zbog globalne prihvaćenosti i pozitivne ocjene od "stranog" pogleda, anime i manga postaju dijelom strategije nacionalnog brendiranja nazvanoj "Cool Japan" 197 gospodarskim uspjehom koji japansko gospodarstvo ostvaruje u relativno kratkom razdoblju nakon završetka Drugog svjetskog rata, u novom mileniju zamijenjen interesom prema popularnoj kulturi kao zaigranim i postmodernim licem Japana 198 . McGray navodi kako se, za 196 Postmoderne tendencije određuje kao one kojima dolazi do vremensko-prostorne fragmentacije života, njegove estetske rekonfiguracije, u kojima je sebstvo decentralizirano, te dolazi do slabljenja razlučivosti preskriptivnih razgraničenja (Yui 2010: xviii). 197 Dio japanske strategije intelektualnog vlasništva koju država uvodi 2002. godine (Daliot-Bul 2009: 248) 198 1980-ih godina prošlog stoljeća internacionalni interes za Japanom fokusiran je uglavnom na posebitosti društva koje su omogućile poslijeratnu obnovu i zavidan ekonomski uspjeh Japana.…”