Politician's Propaganda Manga Sparks Controversy Over Censorship
Japanese politician and Love Hina creator Ken Akamatsu recently commented on the United Nations condemning a manga advertisement in a Japanese newspaper. Now further debates about media censorship have sparked online as the world scrutinizes a propaganda manga he created about freedom of expression that features himself and a political ally.
Akamatsu has previously played a serious political role as the chief advisor for the Association to Protect Freedom of Expression (APFE), an organization founded in 2016 by political ally and fellow Liberal Democratic Party member Taro Yamada. Yamada has personally opposed applying child pornography laws to anime and manga and he alongside the APFE claim to fight for artistic freedom of expression in the industry.
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The manga, roughly translated as How to Fight For «Freedom of Expression,» features Akamatsu and Yamada as RPG-inspired heroes. Their mission is to protect a magical girl — a stand-in for anime and manga — from a dark-skinned angel known as Libera. Libera uses attacks with names like «Affirmative Action,» «White Veil of Ignorance,» and «Supererogation,» a Japanese nationalist buzzword for individualism, as attacks. Akamatsu has previously raised concerns over «external pressure» to regulate Japan's «freedom of expression, especially for manga, anime, and games.»
Akamatsu may be referring to proposed guidelines inspired by recommendations from the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children and the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child that have been mentioned in a petition to amend the Child Prostitution and Child Pornography Prohibition Act as sources of «external pressure.» The petition includes amendments
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