A file picture taken on November 30, 2009 shows fans of the popular Japanese anime character Crayon Shin-chan visiting a memorial to the character’s late creator, the cartoonist Yoshito Usui, in Tokyo.
AFP/Jakarta
A popular Japanese children’s cartoon in which the main character regularly displays his bare buttocks will be censored in conservative Indonesia after regulators criticised it as “somewhat pornographic”, officials said yesterday.
The TV network that shows animation Crayon Shin-chan in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country has agreed to tone down “disturbing” scenes after the broadcasting watchdog voiced concerns.
The show follows the adventures of five-year-old Shinnosuke “Shin” Nohara and his family, often depicting his mischievous antics such as dropping his trousers or making inappropriate jokes, like asking elderly people: “When are you going to die?”
The Indonesian Broadcasting Commission this week put the programme in the category “caution”, a level below “danger” on the body’s scale of how disturbing a programme is, commission member Agatha Lily told AFP.
“Many scenes considered humorous in Shin-chan are actually indecent and inappropriate for children, for instance Shin-chan pulling down his trousers to show his underwear or peeping at couples making out, scenes of sexy women in miniskirts, showing their cleavage, and men flirting,” she said. “While the content is not outright pornography in which body parts are clearly and explicitly shown, it is somewhat pornographic and can be associated with pornography.”
She said that the commission had ordered private TV network RCTI either to censor some scenes or show the cartoon very late – at a time it would miss its target audience of young children.
RCTI said that it had received the warning letter and would comply with the watchdog’s request.