A petition has been formed to force new legislation in Japan that could see an end to videogames portraying underage characters in "erotic" situations. The Japanese Diet will listen to this petition and its goal of a ban on games and anime that feature underage illustrated erotica.

Our towns overflow with adult anime magazines and games which often depict elementary school girls, and the minds of the youths who are seduced by these games are unwittingly destroyed; they lose their very humanity, there are already incidents of young maidens being plucked from the streets and murdered. Since it is plain that our society has now become one where young girls are placed in great peril, the issue of free expression is a thing of the past. To curb these profit seeking companies with no conception of social morals, to restrict the creation of products which place young girls in peril, there is a pressing need for penal regulations and the accompanying laws.

We wish to see enacted laws restricting the manufacture and sale of bishojo adult anime magazines, and bishojo adult anime simulation games.

Personally, I find this so-called "loli" stuff pretty disgusting and more than a little creepy, but I'm never a fan of using the law to remove what I don't like. It also doesn't account for the fact that you can pretty easily claim that an illustrated character is any age you want it to be.

I don't agree with the proposed law because not only would it be difficult to enforce (a law that says "make anime characters look a bit older plz" won't work), the games and anime themselves don't actually hurt anyone. As they say; if it harms none, do as thou wilt. Just don't expect to be asked to look after small children or household pets.