Tyr

Nazi symbols are fine in art, sadly video games are still not recognized as art in Germany. However, Nazi symbols are not illegal per se, you're just not allowed to sell products with swastikas in public.
That means for example: A German shop isn't allowed to sell Dies Irae in public. But I'm allowed to buy it. The shop is also allowed to sell me the product as long as the game itself is not showcased in the shop.
Violence is historically the only thing that is censored in Germany. You guys might have heard of the Criminal Girls 2 and Valkyrie Drive debacle that happened recently and even we Germans are dumbfounded by it because it's so out of the ordinary. Most fanservice games got a 12+ rating in recent years even though they usually get a PEGI16 or M rating in EU and USA. Time will tell what happened there, I speculate some personal or political agenda is at work here.
It's important to notice though, that "Germany" does not censor games. Publisher censor games so they can sell them to teens in Germany. Because Germany takes youth protection very seriously, which is not a bad thing. It goes like this:
- Rating boards would rate a violent game with an 18+ label
- Publisher wants more copies sold so he targets the 12+/16+ audience
- Publisher censors the game to get the desired lower rating
There are essentially no video games in Germany that are illegal. If you hear about a game being "banned" it essentially means it's 18+. Every adult in Germany can buy every game he wants. Even uncensored versions from other countries. It's just that some games aren't allowed to be publicly sold, like I mentioned above. But that doesn't mean they are illegal. No work of art is illegal in Germany as long as it's fiction.
Censored games are the result of greedy publishers, not of German laws.
No, I think it's important that someone tells the truth so that other people don't believe half-truths.
We were speaking of importing stuff. "Distributing" is something entirely else.
The term "wirklichkeitsnah" (realistic looking) is something which often spawns arguments between Germans who discuss this topic. There is always someone who argues "If a Manga looks too realistic, it's child porn".
This however is NOT true. The meaning of "wirklichkeitsnah" is not a matter of interpretation. It's used for cases where a real abuse is filtered through a form of art. For example, an artist who uses a real child as a model. And it's safe for the customer to assume, that everything that is legally sold in Japan was produced without abusing a child.
The BKA (German law enforcement agency) explicitly stated in an interview in regards to hentai, lolicon and such that these forms of entertainment never satisfy the condition of "wirklichkeitsnah". To use another example, even the most disgusting toddlercon eroguro doujinshi is legal in Germany. Because it's fiction.
Being on the index doesn't mean that it's illegal. It only means it's liable to corrupt the young. Like I said many times in this post, not being allowed to be distributed does not mean that the product is illegal or that it's illegal to buy or own it.
If you are/know German, try to look at this: Liste verbotener Medien in der BRD
You will see that only a very small percentage of this list is actually illegal, and always for a good reason. Good reasons are for example (child/animal) abuse, glorification of violence (which is not justified as an element of art) or simple legal issues like not being authorized.
There are no illegal video games and only three illegal movies (two of them show real animal abuse, the third is actually due to a mistake in evaluating the content and wouldn't even stand a chance in court... @XReaper knows what I'm talking about, but that is another matter altogether)

Nazi symbols are fine in art, sadly video games are still not recognized as art in Germany. However, Nazi symbols are not illegal per se, you're just not allowed to sell products with swastikas in public.
That means for example: A German shop isn't allowed to sell Dies Irae in public. But I'm allowed to buy it. The shop is also allowed to sell me the product as long as the game itself is not showcased in the shop.
Violence is historically the only thing that is censored in Germany. You guys might have heard of the Criminal Girls 2 and Valkyrie Drive debacle that happened recently and even we Germans are dumbfounded by it because it's so out of the ordinary. Most fanservice games got a 12+ rating in recent years even though they usually get a PEGI16 or M rating in EU and USA. Time will tell what happened there, I speculate some personal or political agenda is at work here.
It's important to notice though, that "Germany" does not censor games. Publisher censor games so they can sell them to teens in Germany. Because Germany takes youth protection very seriously, which is not a bad thing. It goes like this:
- Rating boards would rate a violent game with an 18+ label
- Publisher wants more copies sold so he targets the 12+/16+ audience
- Publisher censors the game to get the desired lower rating
There are essentially no video games in Germany that are illegal. If you hear about a game being "banned" it essentially means it's 18+. Every adult in Germany can buy every game he wants. Even uncensored versions from other countries. It's just that some games aren't allowed to be publicly sold, like I mentioned above. But that doesn't mean they are illegal. No work of art is illegal in Germany as long as it's fiction.
Censored games are the result of greedy publishers, not of German laws.
No, I think it's important that someone tells the truth so that other people don't believe half-truths.
We were speaking of importing stuff. "Distributing" is something entirely else.
The term "wirklichkeitsnah" (realistic looking) is something which often spawns arguments between Germans who discuss this topic. There is always someone who argues "If a Manga looks too realistic, it's child porn".
This however is NOT true. The meaning of "wirklichkeitsnah" is not a matter of interpretation. It's used for cases where a real abuse is filtered through a form of art. For example, an artist who uses a real child as a model. And it's safe for the customer to assume, that everything that is legally sold in Japan was produced without abusing a child.
The BKA (German law enforcement agency) explicitly stated in an interview in regards to hentai, lolicon and such that these forms of entertainment never satisfy the condition of "wirklichkeitsnah". To use another example, even the most disgusting toddlercon eroguro doujinshi is legal in Germany. Because it's fiction.
Being on the index doesn't mean that it's illegal. It only means it's liable to corrupt the young. Like I said many times in this post, not being allowed to be distributed does not mean that the product is illegal or that it's illegal to buy or own it.
If you are/know German, try to look at this: Liste verbotener Medien in der BRD
You will see that only a very small percentage of this list is actually illegal, and always for a good reason. Good reasons are for example (child/animal) abuse, glorification of violence (which is not justified as an element of art) or simple legal issues like not being authorized.
There are no illegal video games and only three illegal movies (two of them show real animal abuse, the third is actually due to a mistake in evaluating the content and wouldn't even stand a chance in court... @XReaper knows what I'm talking about, but that is another matter altogether)

Nazi symbols are fine in art, sadly video games are still not recognized as art in Germany. However, Nazi symbols are not illegal per se, you're just not allowed to sell products with swastikas in public.
That means for example: A German shop isn't allowed to sell Dies Irae in public. But I'm allowed to buy it. The shop is also allowed to sell me the product as long as the game itself is not showcased in the shop.
Violence is historically the only thing that is censored in Germany. You guys might have heard of the Criminal Girls 2 and Valkyrie Drive debacle that happened recently and even we Germans are dumbfounded by it because it's so out of the ordinary. Most fanservice games got a 12+ rating in recent years even though they usually get a PEGI16 or M rating in EU and USA. Time will tell what happened there, I speculate some personal or political agenda is at work here.
It's important to notice though, that "Germany" does not censor games. Publisher censor games so they can sell them to teens in Germany. Because Germany takes youth protection very seriously, which is not a bad thing. It goes like this:
- Rating boards would rate a violent game with an 18+ label
- Publisher wants more copies sold so he targets the 12+/16+ audience
- Publisher censors the game to get the desired lower rating
There are essentially no video games in Germany that are illegal. If you hear about a game being "banned" it essentially means it's 18+. Every adult in Germany can buy every game he wants. Even uncensored versions from other countries. It's just that some games aren't allowed to be publicly sold, like I mentioned above. But that doesn't mean they are illegal. No work of art is illegal in Germany as long as it's fiction.
Censored games are the result of greedy publishers, not of German laws.
No, I think it's important that someone tells the truth so that other people don't believe half-truths.
We were speaking of importing stuff. "Distributing" is something entirely else.
The term "wirklichkeitsnah" (realistic looking) is something which often spawns arguments between Germans who discuss this topic. There is always someone who argues "If a Manga looks too realistic, it's child porn".
This however is NOT true. The meaning of "wirklichkeitsnah" is not a matter of interpretation. It's used for cases where a real abuse is filtered through a form of art. For example, an artist who uses a real child as a model. And it's safe for the customer to assume, that everything that is legally sold in Japan was produced without abusing a child.
The BKA (German law enforcement agency) explicitly stated in an interview in regards to hentai, lolicon and such that these forms of entertainment never satisfy the condition of "wirklichkeitsnah". To use another example, even the most disgusting toddlercon eroguro doujinshi is legal in Germany. Because it's fiction.
Being on the index doesn't mean that it's illegal. It only means it's liable to corrupt the young. Like I said many times in this post, not being allowed to be distributed does not mean that the product is illegal or that it's illegal to buy or own it.
If you are/know German, try to look at this: Liste verbotener Medien in der BRD
You will see that only a very small percentage of this list is actually illegal, and always for a good reason. Good reasons are for example (child/animal) abuse, glorification of violence (which is not justified as an element of art) or simple legal issues like not being authorized.
There are no illegal video games and only three illegal movies (two of them show real animal abuse, the third is actually due to a mistake in evaluating the content and wouldn't even stand a chance in court... @XReaper knows what I'm talking about, but that is another matter altogether)

euphoria made me what I am today.

More like making themselves into a laughingstock. Are they even aware how modern interwebs work?

The elitist circlejerk who likes to say this can't even read German. And we all know that you can only appreciate a work of literature when you read it in its original language.
Don't trust people who read English translations!

The elitist circlejerk who likes to say this can't even read German. And we all know that you can only appreciate a work of literature when you read it in its original language.
Don't trust people who read English translations!

The elitist circlejerk who likes to say this can't even read German. And we all know that you can only appreciate a work of literature when you read it in its original language.
Don't trust people who read English translations!

The elitist circlejerk who likes to say this can't even read German. And we all know that you can only appreciate a work of literature when you read it in its original language.
Don't trust people who read English translations!

The elitist circlejerk who likes to say this can't even read German. And we all know that you can only appreciate a work of literature when you read it in its original language.
Don't trust people who read English translations!

The elitist circlejerk who likes to say this can't even read German. And we all know that you can only appreciate a work of literature when you read it in its original language.
Don't trust people who read English translations!

euphoria made me what I am today.

euphoria made me what I am today.

euphoria made me what I am today.

euphoria made me what I am today.

euphoria made me what I am today.

euphoria made me what I am today.

I live in a Western country and yet I can see nipples at lunchtime on TV every day and we still produce bad pornography. Your argument is flawed because most Western countries actually are pretty progressive and open-minded. So I don't see a correlation here.
I'm not sure I understand your argument. Tropes are not bad. Of course porn relies on tropes. These tropes are called fetishes and they're the reason we watch this.
The difference in quality between Western and Japanese pron is simply how much these fetishes are explored and appreciated.
Let's use the Maid fetish as an example:
Western porn: 3 minutes of a bad acting maid in a stupid pseudo-setting, she undresses, 27 minutes of generic sex, no trace of a maid left. Every single time.
Japanese porn: Variable length, high quality costumes, elaborated setting and uses its time for build-up, actress is in-character the whole time, whole sex act is focused on master-maid relationship.
Implying the West has no sex culture. Which is obviously not true. The culture is there, but it doesn't get reflected in pornography.
Because humans are simple. They think the only thing they need to fap is a naked body. They think the most interesting things are the things they normally don't see (genitals). And that's what they will buy.
Japanese makers of pornography can't take this shortcut. They can't satisfy the simply need of showing uncensored genitals, so they need to do something else to make their videos interesting. Elaborated stories to flesh out fetishes or the actresses' personality for example.
If a Western studio did that, it would cost more than a "normal" video and would probably not sell very well. Because the normalfag would rather buy the cheap vid with naked bodies having sex instead of a more expensive video which is wasting its time on non-explicit stuff like roleplaying or the non-explicit parts of a fetish.
Well, how about stop watching the JAVs you don't like and start watching the vids more to your liking? Saying that every JAV features scared women is like saying every eroge is a nukige.
Don't be a pleb and only watch what JList has in stock or what's popular on xhamster when you search for "asian". What you are describing are Debut JAVs and they are probably the most cheap and boring genre of the medium. And sadly the only thing that is actively advertised to gaijins. Don't let that fool you. The world of JAVs is much, much more than this.

I live in a Western country and yet I can see nipples at lunchtime on TV every day and we still produce bad pornography. Your argument is flawed because most Western countries actually are pretty progressive and open-minded. So I don't see a correlation here.
I'm not sure I understand your argument. Tropes are not bad. Of course porn relies on tropes. These tropes are called fetishes and they're the reason we watch this.
The difference in quality between Western and Japanese pron is simply how much these fetishes are explored and appreciated.
Let's use the Maid fetish as an example:
Western porn: 3 minutes of a bad acting maid in a stupid pseudo-setting, she undresses, 27 minutes of generic sex, no trace of a maid left. Every single time.
Japanese porn: Variable length, high quality costumes, elaborated setting and uses its time for build-up, actress is in-character the whole time, whole sex act is focused on master-maid relationship.
Implying the West has no sex culture. Which is obviously not true. The culture is there, but it doesn't get reflected in pornography.
Because humans are simple. They think the only thing they need to fap is a naked body. They think the most interesting things are the things they normally don't see (genitals). And that's what they will buy.
Japanese makers of pornography can't take this shortcut. They can't satisfy the simply need of showing uncensored genitals, so they need to do something else to make their videos interesting. Elaborated stories to flesh out fetishes or the actresses' personality for example.
If a Western studio did that, it would cost more than a "normal" video and would probably not sell very well. Because the normalfag would rather buy the cheap vid with naked bodies having sex instead of a more expensive video which is wasting its time on non-explicit stuff like roleplaying or the non-explicit parts of a fetish.
Well, how about stop watching the JAVs you don't like and start watching the vids more to your liking? Saying that every JAV features scared women is like saying every eroge is a nukige.
Don't be a pleb and only watch what JList has in stock or what's popular on xhamster when you search for "asian". What you are describing are Debut JAVs and they are probably the most cheap and boring genre of the medium. And sadly the only thing that is actively advertised to gaijins. Don't let that fool you. The world of JAVs is much, much more than this.

I live in a Western country and yet I can see nipples at lunchtime on TV every day and we still produce bad pornography. Your argument is flawed because most Western countries actually are pretty progressive and open-minded. So I don't see a correlation here.
I'm not sure I understand your argument. Tropes are not bad. Of course porn relies on tropes. These tropes are called fetishes and they're the reason we watch this.
The difference in quality between Western and Japanese pron is simply how much these fetishes are explored and appreciated.
Let's use the Maid fetish as an example:
Western porn: 3 minutes of a bad acting maid in a stupid pseudo-setting, she undresses, 27 minutes of generic sex, no trace of a maid left. Every single time.
Japanese porn: Variable length, high quality costumes, elaborated setting and uses its time for build-up, actress is in-character the whole time, whole sex act is focused on master-maid relationship.
Implying the West has no sex culture. Which is obviously not true. The culture is there, but it doesn't get reflected in pornography.
Because humans are simple. They think the only thing they need to fap is a naked body. They think the most interesting things are the things they normally don't see (genitals). And that's what they will buy.
Japanese makers of pornography can't take this shortcut. They can't satisfy the simply need of showing uncensored genitals, so they need to do something else to make their videos interesting. Elaborated stories to flesh out fetishes or the actresses' personality for example.
If a Western studio did that, it would cost more than a "normal" video and would probably not sell very well. Because the normalfag would rather buy the cheap vid with naked bodies having sex instead of a more expensive video which is wasting its time on non-explicit stuff like roleplaying or the non-explicit parts of a fetish.
Well, how about stop watching the JAVs you don't like and start watching the vids more to your liking? Saying that every JAV features scared women is like saying every eroge is a nukige.
Don't be a pleb and only watch what JList has in stock or what's popular on xhamster when you search for "asian". What you are describing are Debut JAVs and they are probably the most cheap and boring genre of the medium. And sadly the only thing that is actively advertised to gaijins. Don't let that fool you. The world of JAVs is much, much more than this.

Censoring is the only reason that Japanese porn is leagues above the porn from every other country. I don't understand why any sane ero connoisseur would want the laws and the market to change.
If you rather look at ugly genitals in full glory instead of enjoying good settings, dialogues, characters, fetishes and so on, just watch bad Western porn.
Please Japan, never change.

Censoring is the only reason that Japanese porn is leagues above the porn from every other country. I don't understand why any sane ero connoisseur would want the laws and the market to change.
If you rather look at ugly genitals in full glory instead of enjoying good settings, dialogues, characters, fetishes and so on, just watch bad Western porn.
Please Japan, never change.

Censoring is the only reason that Japanese porn is leagues above the porn from every other country. I don't understand why any sane ero connoisseur would want the laws and the market to change.
If you rather look at ugly genitals in full glory instead of enjoying good settings, dialogues, characters, fetishes and so on, just watch bad Western porn.
Please Japan, never change.

isaku/shuusaku/kisaku to make them die-hard feminists know their place.
aside from those plus some untranslatable ones it´s Be-Yond, yep, wish all people would accept its hillarious glory for themselves and start enjoying life.

edit: dont think rasen kairou1-2 are that much fetish oriented, sure them chicks are getting abducted and whatsnot, but the series main focus lies more on the who and why. not saying these are bad titles, as i love the latter one to death.

the konchuu saga from cyclet, there is a lack of sex with insects VNs in the western market that I find disturbing.