After reading about the book here, I checked it out of my local library and read it. It’s a very comprehensive history of manga. After reading it, I knew significantly more history and even had a chance to practice reading the little Japanese that I know. (There are also many reproductions in English and some in other languages.)

Was there explicit sexual content? Well, yeah, there were some manga I’d not want a young child to see. Most sexual content was not worse than what you’d see on a late-night movie channel.

Personally, I found some of the extremely violent comics more disturbing. Some of these artists must pull from really awful nightmares or a type of creativity I’d not previously imagined. However, I don’t think sexual content or violent content is a reason to pull the comic from any library.

Oh, and about the “sex with animals”? I seem to recall one manga reproduced that involved a woman and snakes, but I don’t think it was that explicit.

Good followup here from Mangablog

text: Bill Postmus, the chairman of the board of supervisors in San Bernadino County, California has banned Manga: 60 Years of Japanese Comics from public libraries, citing it as obscene. What a jerk.
The 2004 trade paperback, written by Paul Gravett and published by Harper Design, is a history of Japanese comics, and includes, in several chapters, discussion of adult comics that depict sex and violence. The violence was apparently not an issue, nor was the fact that the reproductions of panels that feature sexual situations were, as far as we could tell, all R-rated and treated in a serious, scholarly way. Postmus’ statement and the local newspaper coverage made much of the fact that the book contains “sex with animals,” but we couldn’t find it; we must not have looked as hard.

[posted by Mark Frauenfelder at boingboing]

And defending myself from thugs? I’ve never had to and don’t think i ever will. And tell me how many muggings a year are stopped in America because the victim manages to whip out their gun before the crook can pull the trigger on his gun?

Huh?

Nevermind…

Duo, what difference does in make if there is no insurgency in those countries? People who want to own guns shouldn’t need to justify it to anyone.

You are a master of comparisons, comparing guns which are made to kill and are used for this purpose with something which has greatly aided society, something used for art and education etc etc. How many cases a year do you hear of people killed by pencils anyway?

If the kid is 16 he could have had sex legally in the Uk anyway. I love it when there are these oversensitive parents though. I mean seriously he could see the exact same stuff just by using any search engine on the net.

Hey don’t worry everyone, the kid can get his fill online. Who goes to a public library anyway, please…

Paul, come on, guns are fine with an armed insurgency going on around you, do you expect one in Sweden or Japan? But hm, arming teachers is something else alright. I’m an officer in the USN and they wouldn’t even let me have a gun for watchstanding duty. Here’s hoping they’re smarter at it than that idiot from the DEA who shot himself giving a gun safety presentation to a classroom full of kids!

Come to think of it I think I’d feel safer living around gun-toting Swedes than gun-toting Japanese for some reason, although I’m not sure why. Instinct!

While we’re on the subject of guns, look what I found in American Hunter! It’s happening in Asia, so I think it belongs here, or at least on Asiapundit.

“Thailand Encourages Teachers To Arm Themselves for Defense”

“The Bangkok Post reports that in Thailand a new program for arming and training teachers is being conducted with the support of that country’s Federation of Teachers and its Queen Sirikit. The report notes that school-teachers in Thailand’s three southern-most provinces are being encouraged to buy handguns and participate in voluntary small arms and martial arts training for defense against violent insurgents.”

“Several hundred teachers have already been trained, with another 2,500 expected to be trained this year. “We must dare to fight and protect ourselves,” said Sa-nguan Intharak, the commander of the Teacher Protection Battalion. Teachers, he said, “should not be sitting ducks.”"

It seems Thailand cares more about freedom than I thought. Other countries could learn a thing or two from these people, like Sweden, Japan, and even much of the USA.

Guns kill people (yeah i know people kill people, but the people who kill peoples usually have guns)