It seems the debate over some certain manga titles in Australia is raging on. Over the past year, fans have kept an eye on the country as several of its politicians have raised questions about the content of several controversial light novels or manga. Now, a new report says the Australian Classification Board has put a specific ban on the No Game, No Life novels to the surprise of readers.
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The news comes from Anime News Network in the wake of the board’s decision. The national organization has made it illegal to import or sell volumes one, two, and nine of No Game, No Life. This is because the light novels were said to violate a classification clause concerning the depiction of minors.
You can read the full clause here: “The publication is classified RC in accordance with the National Classification Code, Publications Table, 1. (b) as publications that “describe or depict in a way that is likely to cause offence to a reasonable adult, a person who is, or appears to be, a child under 18 (whether the person is engaged in sexual activity or not).”
With this decision in place, the board refuses to classify the banned volumes, so they cannot be distributed within the country. Of course, this decision has raised some eyebrows from fans. The topic of censorship has been a touchy one within the fandom for some time, and this decision has only exacerbated the debate. In the came of No Game, No Life, things are heightened as Australia still imports the anime and films based on the partially banned novels.
Australia’s decision to come down on No Game, No Life came after several politicians called for the classification board to reexamine manga and light novels. The first was Stirling Griff of the Centre Alliance political party; The politician asked the board to do a second examination of titles like Sword Art Online as they seem to exploit minors. His critique was matched by ally Connie Bonaros who managed to rid one Kinokuniya store of the controversial series listed by Griff.
What do you make of this latest decision? Do you think there are other series the Classification Board needs to reassess? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB to talk all things comics and anime!
