seijin eiga

[Udo Helms]

Hi Aaron,

> The tendency to equate seijin eiga
> with pink film was encouraged by the fact there were very few cases
> after
> the mid-60s (when the term pink eiga came into vogue) in which Eirin
> designated non-sex films "seijin eiga."  Eirin has been continually
> criticized for this (rarely citing, for instance, violent films as
> "seijin eiga"), which is one reason it supplanted the seijin eiga
> designation with "R-18."  The latter, it was announced, will allow for
> a
> broader designation which includes non-sex films as well, something
> which, in popular usage, the term "seijin eiga" did not.

I'm kind of surprised though that Eirin's plans for a PG12 designation
have not been carried out yet, as the kantoku kyoukai's protest of May
1997 (which called for a dissolution of Eirin) was largely due to the
fact that the present rating system is regarded as out-of-time.

Chief commissioner Shimizu Hideo has repeatedly announced such a
category ever since the utsukushiki isakaime controversy in '92 (as a
remodeling of Eirin's principles). I therefore cannot help but to think
of the renaming of seijin eiga as R-18 as a meek attempt to divert
attention from the fact that Eirin is, in fact, incapable of adapting
itself to the demands of the independent production, which could only be
appeased by an altogether new classification system... which is however
opposed by the theatre owners, fearing programming difficulties and the
necessity to introduce age control of the audience.

Hope that's not too finicky & curious about remarks from your side,

Udo
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