It's not an "Anime" ban.

[Unknown Entity]

Does that mean bitches gonna take yo' Elfen Lied?
Poor UK peoples...

Most likely, unfortunately. I have a lot of friends who like Elfen Lied, and even though I couldn't get into it, it's a pretty big shame I might not be able to watch it legally... until I move or whatever.

Really, I think the government needs to bring out a list of the anime with the rotten types of hentai in it, so we know exactly what's still acceptable to watch. Sure, no anime with children and sex in the same sentence, but I think there are quite a few problems with the bill in regards to age of the characters - they might be of age, but they still look pre-puberty - I wonder if that'll effect whether it's legal or not going by looks instead of age?

Cheers Japanimation people for making everyone look like children.

[Andromeda]

Japan is currently trying to do something similar with a law that covers all "virtual" or fictional characters that are under the age of 18. And more or less as the law reads from my understanding is that it is more encompassing and vague than just saying no to child porn. It seems to cover vaguely enough anything that is deemed inappropriate. So it would have the potential to hit far more than just child porn. And as anyone that has seen manga and anime there is often completely non-sexual scenes with underaged characters. As I understand it, the naked body is a sign of purity in Japan.

However, the law, which is supposed to be only for Tokyo, but Tokyo law tends to become national law, is being fought against by quite a few very highly respected and well known manga authors. Enough of an uproar from the artist community got upset over this that the law makers have delayed the law from going to voting.

And apparently recently Osaka is trying to do something about Boy's Love stories. It was vague what sort of actions that they trying to make on it, but they are trying out the same thing Tokyo is with the law that got delayed there, but adding in Boy's Love stories as well. *shrugs* I'm not even sure why, it feels a little random to only go back Boy's Love.

As for the UK law, if it is only is against child porn then that is fine. Anything evolving children like that is just really unsettling. However, it does raise the question on what age is considered a child? At least Japan was specific enough to say an age, even though with anime and manga it is very difficult to determine age of anyone without being specifically told. Which sounds like they'll make it really easy for them to just ban a ton of stuff because you can't easily tell age. Is a high school student a child?

And Shadow is correct that Hentai is as vast and ranged as any other anime. So it is certainly not going to hit the majority of it. It will certainly be a sizable percentage though. But I guess if high school students are included that will end up hit a larger percentage since the primary age tends to be high school to college students.

But Elfen Lied isn't hentai, it is just Seinen. Meaning it is meant for adult males because it has mature (not sexual) themes and content. I think the closest it gets is the child abuse which is brief and not done explicitly. So I would think Elfen Lied should be safe. As the law said if it is in the context of a story as animation it is fine. All of the nudity in the show is completely non-sexual. But I can see this law making it very easy for touchy lawmakers to just hit anything that is remotely dangerous.

I'm not for child porn in anyway, but it isn't real. It is a drawn with made up characters that never existed. Fictional characters don't have any rights or protections. I think they show to be cracking down on the real people that are abusing children and putting them in jail. Because the law just sounds like it will be very easy to just do wide sweeping motions with it if they so wish.

As for the CNN thing. CNN is blowing up a year old story that did not need to be giving any publicity. The game had already long been taken down after last year's Western media got all upset over a 4, now 5, year old game that was legal in Japan and I think only released in Japan, but was available on Amazon so I think you could import it. But the game was already taken down and the only way to find it is illegally through torrent sites. It is not like you're going to accidentally run across something like that and if any parent did their job in raising their children properly. Their children would in a second see "rape" and turn away. Because CNN doing a story on this it is only giving more people the knowledge that the game exists and more people playing. It was already in a niche market to start with that the vast majority of the average American family wouldn't even be aware of it or even give it a second thought if they accidentally saw it. They are playing it off like they are trying to help parents doing something about it, what are they going to do that they aren't already? It actually runs a greater risk of the children learning about it and becoming curious because they see it on CNN, without CNN talking about it 99.9% won't even be finding it. Parents should be watching and know what their children are doing on the internet anyway, so I think it is a completely unnecessary story from CNN which only hurt things more than helped.