Negima? neo Review Posted

As you have noticed my reviews are being posted at Comics Village, and I am posting other Japan-related stuff here. Check out my review for the first volume of Negima!? neo here. And check out the reviews for other manga and comics.

Detroit Metal City: review posted

Check out my review of the first volume of Detroit Metal City at Comics Village. I have been looking forward for this one literally for years.

RoboGeisha Trailer NSFW

A part of me hopes that this is like that fake trailers in Grindhouse, because there is no way a movie can top the compact brain explosion that is this trailer. This is probably NSFW unless you work for the coolest company in the world.

Michael's Last Trip to Japan: A Visit to SMAPxSMAP

I was asked about Michael Jackson's popularity in Japan and these clips from SMAPxSMAP in May of 2006 show a bit of the reverance he held always in Japan.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

No Dragonball Evolution Sequels?

Unconfirmed reports are suggesting that the dismal numbers for Dragonball: Evolutions stateside have led to Fox pulling the plug on the two planned sequels. This conflicts with reports earlier in the month that James "Lord Piccolo" Marsters revealed that shooting for Part 2 would begin.

Evolutions brought in a pathetic $9 million domestically, but made much more internationally. Well, $45 million more, which doesn't exactly justify a sequel to it's supposed $100 million budget.

So is the rumor that failing franchise will be cut off at the knees? We shall soon see...

Final Blood Trailer and Contest

July 10 is the release date for the new live-action Blood: The Last Vampire movie. Fans of the anime/novels/manga/games/etc. will want to click here for details about a new contest sponsored by BloodyDisgusting.com and Dark Horse. The prizes include a variety of Blood+ titles released by DH.

Blood+: Adagio review posted

Please check out my review of the first volume of Blood+: Adagio at Comics Village.

Handley case question

Discussions of the Handley case with lawyerly types led one friend to point out this Supreme Court ruling:

In 2008 in United States v. Williams, the Supreme Court upheld a challenge to the constitutionality of section 2252A(a)(3). While the court dealt primarily with the issue of offering images of real children, the court nevertheless stated that "an offer to provide or request to receive virtual child pornography is not prohibited by the statute. A crime is committed only when the speaker believes or intends the listener to believe that the subject of the proposed transaction depicts real children... Simulated child pornography will be as available as ever, so long as it is offered and sought as such, and not as real child pornography."

If Handley pleaded guilty to "possession of obscene visual representations of the of the sexual abuse of children," doesn't the above ruling by the Supreme Court make "visual representations" not a crime?

Black Jack V.4 Review Posted

If you have noticed fewer manga reviews at this site, it is because I am have posting manga reviews at Comics Village.

My latest review is for Black Jack Volume 4, and you can read it by clicking here. 

Handley Pleads Guilty--The Right Choice? My Two Yen

As has been widely reported in the blogs in recent days, Chris Handley has made a plea deal with the federal prosecution and has pled guilty to the charges of mailing obscene matter and to "possession of obscene visual representations of the sexual abuse of children." (Wired) 

If you are not familiar with the Chris Handley case, in a nutshell the 39-year-old avid manga collector was arrested after he ordered a package of manga from Japan that had been intercepted by the US Postal Service. Some of the material in the package was suspected as being obscene, and a federal case was filed. Mangablog has been my main source of news, and I won't even try to imitate Brigid's efforts. Here is an early look at the case and some more recent views since the guilty plea on May 20th, an update on May 26, and on May 28. 

Handley was looking at 75 years in federal prison for possession of obscene comic books, but after the plea bargain it appears he is still looking at 15 years. Keep in mind Handley has never been accused, much less convicted of a crime before. His advisers at the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (who put money toward his defense, but didn't actually defend him) were disappointed by the guilty plea. So were other supporters, like Neil Gaiman.

There is no shortage of opinion on the blogs and once cannot help wonder if Handley and his legal team do not regret this plea deal as 1) no one has ever gone to prison for what he is accused of and 2) his is still facing serious jail time, fines, and the loss of his extensive collection of almost entirely non-obscene (as if I can define the word) manga. 

One of the sticking points for interested parties like myself is the lack of revelation of what was considered obscene. There were rumors early that these were yaoi titles, but later reports point to lolicon. Handley's lawyer, Eric Chase, doesn't do his client any favors when talking about the contents as "Use your imagination. It was in there." (Wired) Apparently the thinking was the hand-drawn images were so bad that a jury in Iowa wouldn't not find Handley guilty. 

The fact that the publications imported are 100% legal in Japan really has no bearing, but I will save that for a later point. 

I think the main question that needs to be asked is, who is the victim of the "crime" Handley committed? 

Handley purchased bound volumes of drawings. The content of those drawings, whether they depict underage characters in sexual situations or not, do not represent real people. This is getting to the level of fantasy regulation which is a step above of thought police. These aren't words I usually toss around, but the fact that someone would not only be accused of a crime by possessing artwork, but would plead guilty to avoid a jury trial is more than a little mind-jarring. 

My feeling is that the Puritan mindset says that temptation leads to action. By allowing the possession of the depiction of under-18 characters in sexual situations, let's even say forced sex, will lead to the actual act taking place. The logic says the fantasy leads to actual action, actual crimes. 

To jail someone for a crime they haven't yet committed amounts to the events depicted in Minority Report, and I remember how that ended.  

Getting back to my Japan point, Japanese society takes a different approach to obscenity. Manga (pardon the repetition, but drawn images) depict every kind of genre and story imaginable. Handley's lawyer had it right, basically if you can imagine it, it exists. Japanese society is not based on Puritanist values. In Puritanist thinking, simply access to fantasy materials will lead to individuals acting out on that fantasy. However, looking at Japan, where access to materials depicting almost any fantasy are legal and available we should expect that child molestation, rape and other fetish-related sex crimes would be so rampant that society should be in chaos. 

Fortunately for Japan and unfortunately for the Puritans, fantasy does not lead to reality. Some (but not all) Japanese nationals I have talked to say the fantasy actually prevents the reality. What that means is given an outlet in manga, anime or other legal forms (Japan, like the US, has almost the exact same laws in terms of the actual ages of actors appearing in adult videos), the fantasy can be satisfied, not fueled. Sex crime rates in Japan would probably support this theory, but there really is no direct evidence to say this is true or not. 

We don't know which way Chris Handley's proclivities lean, and it doesn't matter. Until a victim of his crimes is revealed, it is hard for me to consider him a criminal. The fact is there is no victim to his crimes. Handley is not guilty of abusing children. He is not guilty of drinking and driving, taking drugs or paying for sex. 

Handley is guilty of buying art. Do you really want the government deciding what is art and what is not? It wouldn't bother me so much if citizens weren't looking at prison time. I was disappointed to hear of Handley's guilty plea, and we can only hope logic and common sense will enter this legal process sooner before later.