China has banned 38 popular anime and manga titles because they “include scenes of violence, pornography, terrorism and crimes against public morality.” The list includes a number of current popular titles, including Attack on Titan, Black Butler, Tokyo Ghoul, Sword Art Online II, Psycho-Pass and Death Note.
The new ban comes as part of a crackdown on online content that went into effect April 1. The series will be banned from all forms of distribution in China, online as well as in print and other forms of media.
The full list includes titles with an extremely wide range of content, though most feature scenes of graphic violence, or plots dealing with murder, abuse, or other dark themes. Other notoriously violent anime like Kill La Kill are not included on the list, but Chinese Ministry of Culture official Liu Qiang noted that more titles will be added in the future.
There are 29 websites, including Baidu and other major web portals, received warnings about the ban from The Ministry of Culture, which has been targeting video streaming websites that feature Japanese animation. After April, any website wishing to stream content is required to seek government approval. As a result of the ban, eight businesses so far have reportedly lost their business licenses.
The list of banned anime and manga includes the following:
- Terror in Resonance
- Blood-C
- Highschool of the Dead
- Ergo Proxy
- Parasyte
- The Skull Man
- Another
- Inferno Cop
- Afro Samurai
- Tokyo Ghoul ?A
- Sword Art Online II
- Tokyo ESP
- Tokyo Ravens
- Devil May Cry
- RIN – Daughters of Mnemosyne
- The Testament of Sister New Devil
- Attack on Titan
- Corpse Party
- Strike the Blood
- Death Note
- Deadman Wonderland
- Date A Live II
- Psycho-Pass
- Devilman Lady
- School Days
- Those Who Hunt Elves
- Elfen Lied
- High School DxD
- Samurai Bride
- So, I Can’t Play H!
- Girls Bravo: Second Season
- Kanokon
- Aesthetica of a Rogue Hero
- Sakura Diaries
- Black Butler
- Claymore
- Dance in the Vampire Bund
H/T Anime News Network | Photo via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0 RS)
