Visual Novels Illegal?

[SixthPeriod]

Wouldn't having visual novels on my hard drive of minors having sex be illegal? Like Da Capo, Little Busters EX, and maybe Katawa Shoujo? I was reading about this guy who imported manga from Japan and was prosecuted because of this.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/05/2 ... ning-comic

I did some research of this (and by research I mean a 5 minute Google search) and most people are saying that its illegal. Some of the visual novels actually say that "characters are over 18" but what about the ones that don't say that? You can't expect anyone to believe that the high schoolers are over 18 right? I can't wait to play this and I have other visual novels on hold right now but I'm kinda scared to have these on my hard drive. What makes this worse is I backup these things to the cloud (SugarSync, LiveMesh, Dropbox) so they could find out easily.

Yes I'm paranoid.

[Shades of gray]

news to me... and to be honest, legal or not, I don't give two flying s****

I'm already guilty of downloading several games and movies, and My ISP doesnt care (probably because I now pay them lots of money for a 50mb connection plus phone and digital tv)

besides, as long as you arent downloading real images/videos of... well you get the hint, they cant and wont touch you, 1 due to the nature of visual novels being draw, it can be considered "art", and 2, why would they check in the first place unless you were viewing the aforementioned?

hmm... another example of governments being stupid : "Think of the Not-Real Children!" Its like saying watching a violent movie will make you commit violent acts... and if thats the case, the person who does that is either : A) mentally unstable B) Unable to differentiate between fiction and reality (See A) or C) was going to commit the act anyway.

urgh... TL;DR : dont care if is or isnt legal

[Panty Supervisor]

Legality of lolicon (under US law):


Besides, I think all the girls in KS are supposed to be over 18 (if someone asks) - although I've not seen it being stated explicitly in the game. Oh, except Emi, of course. If you play her route, you'll go straight to jail.

[Ar Grathnos]

did some research of this (and by research I mean a 5 minute Google search) and most people are saying that its illegal. Some of the virtual novels actually say that "characters are over 18" but what about the ones that don't say that? You can't expect anyone to believe that the high schoolers are over 18 right?

This is actually something I myself have put thought into (lol Canadian law makes no distinction between fiction and non-fiction). My understanding is that year 3 of Japanese high-school (grade 12 equivalent in American schools) has an average age of 18, so it isn't unrealistic to assume all related characters in KS are of legal age.

I plan to play it with "adult scenes" disabled regardless.

*EDIT* Sorry Shades, I usually catch those errors. >.>;

[Sajomir]

Makes me glad I'm not into the whole loli thing right about now. o.o

[Shades of gray]

Ar Grathnos... that isnt me you are quoting... just a heads up

Watched that Vid PS, drones on a bit and he (the vid maker) mostly uses his own definition... but other then that its very informative.

[Mirage_GSM]

Guess that depends on the country you're living in.
I wouldn't want to get caught with KS on my harddrive in either Saudi Arabia or North Korea...
Here in Germany, I don't worry. Politicians hereabouts are more concerned about blood and gore than they are about sex - quite the opposite from the US, and even in the US, I can't imagine stuff like KS being illegal.
Oh, and btw, they're called Visual Novels.

[A1phaDrag0n]

If most actors portraying high-schoolers in media are older then me, I think it's safe to day the girls acting in this visual novel are too...

[Nightdragon]

Oh, except Emi, of course. If you play her route, you'll go straight to jail.

After visiting the hospital first more likely. Also, >implying both my country and my branch of service care about what I do, unless it is blatantly illegal (like cp).

[DaMan65]

news to me... and to be honest, legal or not, I don't give two flying s****

I'm already guilty of downloading several games and movies,

Aren't we all

[SixthPeriod]

Guess that depends on the country you're living in.
I wouldn't want to get caught with KS on my harddrive in either Saudi Arabia or North Korea...
Here in Germany, I don't worry. Politicians hereabouts are more concerned about blood and gore than they are about sex - quite the opposite from the US, and even in the US, I can't imagine stuff like KS being illegal.
Oh, and btw, they're called Visual Novels.

I guess I wasn't really paying attention. I've been calling them virtual novels lol.

[PasterOfMuppets]

I heard some guy in the 'States was persecuted for doodling stick-man porn that looked "Under-aged"...
sooooo.....
but what ever...
It's not illegal untill you get caught, right?

[DaMan65]

I'm gonna go ahead and say right now in the end it probably doesn't matter.

We're gonna play it anyway, laws have never really stopped people from doing what they want to do.

Prohibition didn't work, laws against pot don't work, the list goes on.

[iskander]

Yes I'm paranoid.

+1000000

[scott1and]

There's a few realistic things we should look at here.

1] It has been stated that this game will have adult content that features "minors", and no one has notified the devs that what they will eventually distribute is illegal.

2] Even if it is illegal, no one has notified the devs of this fact, ergo, no one probably cares.

8] There are FAR worse things on the nets that haven't been banned, such as Justin Bieber's Twitter page

There are also some other things I'd like to bring to your attention. Many of you, if not all of you have extensive knowledge of Japanese culture, and as such you will have ventured on to many Anime, Manga and Japanese oriented websites. Now, I ask each and every one of you to go and see if you can find a site that does NOT feature loli orientated anime, drawings or games somewhere within it, be they extreme or not . Secondly, the characters within the game are not exactly overly sexualised 10 year olds (no, not even Emi) and it does feature an actual message as well as the ability to turn the adult content off.
Lastly, this game is basically an eroge, so even if it is illegal, your not going to go to your parents or you morally up standing friends or peers and go "hey, I got this great new game where you get down and dirty with disabled girls", because while some of us may be perverts, we are not stupid.

That sounded really serious for a second there, but I'm pretty sure this isn't illegal as such in the West