lolicon

Some final comments about the “Google dropping lolicon sites from search results” story, and a quick look at related legal problems elsewhere.

As explained in the previous post, Google picked up on a complaint that loliero scanlation site Little White Butterflies was hosting child pornography, and pulled it from search results after filing a report to NCMEC. Pointing out that the material hosted there was clearly not child pornography under US law, the site owners asked on Google's webmaster support forum that the takedown be reviewed. The request has been ignored so far, and it appears that Google has no intention of addressing the site owners' concerns (not even by telling us that they won't overturn the takedown).

Loliero doujinshi scanlation site Little White Butterflies observes (link is safe for work but the rest of the site is very much not) that it has been removed from Google search results following a complaint, filed by an unnamed party, that it was hosting child pornography. Google also reported the site to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children—a legal obligation for US content providers who become aware of child pornography. The removal can be easily verified by searching for “Little White Butterflies” on Google. The site itself doesn't show up, and a notice at the bottom of the page reads:

In response to a legal request submitted to Google, we have removed 7 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read more about the request at ChillingEffects.org.

At this very moment, I should be having a great time in the hot springs of Gunma prefecture, but a last minute volcanic eruption in Iceland kind of trashed my plans for the whole week, and I am rotting away in my room instead. So now that everything is canceled, I'll try to blog a little for a change.

For starters, I'd like to introduce the first volume of Shoujo sosuu, literally “young girl prime numbers.” It's the latest all-age manga by Nagatsuki Misoka's (serialized in Kirara Forward) whom you may know for his LO-published story-heavy eromanga A day in the life, or his later 4-koma HR. Shoujo sosuu doesn't have a lot to do with prime numbers, but it certainly does with young girls. It's the everyday life story of Anzu and Sumire, two twin middle school girls with somewhat constrasting personalities, and of their older brother, their friends, their acquaintances and so on. A standard setting perhaps, but with a rather unique spin on several levels.

So it seems that all hell won't be breaking loose just yet. Thanks to an unprecedented mobilization of the cream of the crop in all things manga (artists, publishers, critics, professors and more), the Minshutō majority in the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly announced yesterday that they would push for a postponement of the vote on the “juvenile nonentities” (hijitsuzai seishounen) reform proposal and a reexamination thereof. Their allies are expected to support the motion as well. The Jimintō-Komeitō minority, who introduced the reform bill to begin with, does not seem prepared to back down, but if votes go along party lines (and since public announcements have been made, it is likely that they will), they should be overruled during Friday's debates.

Having told of my disappointment from ten days ago, I guess it might be a good idea to also write about the parts of that week-end I enjoyed tremendously. A Chuugakusei nikki post is certainly in order, in particular, but that will have to wait for a few days. In the meantime, I'd like to share a few very short thoughts about the Nanoha movie. I won't be addressing any specific plot point, so you can consider this post almost spoiler-free.

While I don't really expect Dance in the Vampire Bund to reach masterpiece level by the end of the season, I wholeheartedly agree with hashi that it is the most promising show of the winter. Beyond the hilarious first episode, the mesmerizing opening sequence and the scenes of underage nudity (which we at tsurupeta.info strongly approve of), it is the way the show revisits original vampire myths in the light of contemporary sexual morality that really makes it shine, as was thoughtfully pointed out by E Minor over at Moe Sucks (a site that doesn't always suck!).

He does however express some reservations regarding the show's message which I must take issue with. In episode 2, he notes, Mina is “protected” by Akira a couple of times. Therefore, he concludes, despite its seemingly powerful, assertive heroine and its unconventional representation of sexuality, Dance in the Vampire Bund ultimately conveys a conservative view of gender roles. I think this is a misperception of the power dynamics at play in a couple such as Mina×Akira.