Hide your husbandos and hide your waifus because they’re banning everybody out there. No, seriously, Texas Senator Pete Flores created Senate Bill 20, which went before the Texas Senate last week. What does that mean for people who play video games, read manga, or watch anime? Well, the bill makes possessing any material depicting minors in what they describe as an ‘obscene’ way will result in a felony charge. Unfortunately, there are many forms of media that depict minors that way, and that is especially so in games, manga, and anime. It’s getting tough out here.
The bill was unanimously passed just recently and is primarily aimed at AI image generators that create inappropriate content revolving around children. However, that doesn’t mean that the bill is exclusively limited to AI.
“It’s cartoons.. why is this even a problem ? 😂”
More specifically, those who are found in offense of this new section will be charged with a state jail felony, a third-degree felony id the person was previously convicted, or a second-degree felony if they’ve been convicted more than once. Now, if I were to give you a rundown of just how many video games fall under ‘obscene’ according to this bill, you’d be surprised.
Off the top of my head, anime franchises such as Neon Genesis Evangelion and Sailor Moon will be greatly affected. Games like the Persona or Danganronpa franchises will also be in danger of being banned permanently.
There haven’t been any major motions towards implementing this bill, since content that falls under ‘obscene’ is still listed on platforms like Steam and the PlayStation Store. However, I can imagine it would be difficult to block only one state from accessing those things. It’s likely that instead this bill will apply more severely to physical copies of things, and will start asking bookstores and other retailers to have them removed.
