China’s top video sites to be punished over violent Japanese anime

Several of China’s top video portals now face punishment for hosting violent and pornographic content, according to Reuters. They include web giants like Tencent, Youku, and Baidu’s iQiyi. The details of their punishment have not been disclosed.

Specifically listed among the offending content are three Japanese anime TV shows: Blood-C, Terror in Resonance, and Highschool of the Dead. According to China’s Ministry of Culture, these shows include scenes of violence, pornography, terrorism, and crimes against public morality. Anime and manga enjoy a high level of popularity among China’s youth.

Out of professional curiosity, we hunted down some clips from these shows to find out whether they could really, as the ministry puts it, cause juvenile delinquency. All of the shows are easily searchable on Youtube, so don’t expect any hardcore hentai. Obviously we couldn’t inspect every episode of every show, so we’ll just state our first impressions.

If Quentin Tarantino directed an anime series, it would probably look something like Blood-C. It’s about a girl who fights monsters. For the most part, the show is extremely slow and brooding, interspersed with scenes of extreme violence. Here’s a clip (NSFW and viewer discretion advised):

Highschool of the Dead is about a group of teenagers surviving a zombie apocalypse. It was criticized by the ministry for "borderline-pornographic imagery," the keyword there being "borderline." While there don’t seem to be any depictions of actual sex, there’s an abundance of butts and boobage. Here’s a clip which we actually found quite humorous (slightly NSFW).

Terror in Resonance doesn’t appear to over-indulge in either sex or violence. But the theme of the show, as the title alludes to, is terrorism. Here’s a clip:

Chinese authorities first announced they would crack down on Japanese anime and other cartoon websites in February. The ministry of Culture shuttered or punished over a dozen animation websites found to be operating without permits or containing explicit content.

New restrictions enacted by Chinese regulators on websites streaming foreign TV series come into effect today. The new law says those sites must obtain licenses to stream foreign shows and implement a quota of Chinese versus foreign content.

One year ago, American TV shows came under government scrutiny, including American Horror Story, House of Cards, and The Walking Dead. Shortly after, hit TV series The Big Bang Theory, The Good Wife, The Practice, and NCIS were all banned from the Chinese internet for objectionable content.