A week after this incident, another teenager attempted to kill his father, also with an axe. The 15-year-old boy struck his father several times on the head, but failed to kill him. You can read more about his attempt in this Japan Today article.
The two anime cartoons that were either cancelled or delayed are the twelfth episodes of School Days (where two high school girls kill their victims with knives) and Higurashi no naku koro ni kai (the sequel to Higurashi no naku koro ni).
Chiba Television Broadcasting Corp. and Aichi Television Broadcasting Co. discontinued airing School Days, while Television Kanagawa replaced the cartoon with a nature programme called Nice Boat (you can find the Mainichi article here). KBS Television and Tokai Television likewise decided to temporarily cancel broadcasting the twelfth episode of Higurashi no naku koro ni kai.
Here’s the portion of the twelfth episode of School Days that involves some violence:
Some fan responses to the delay/cancellation of the anime were that of indignation, questioning how airing the anime might inspire similar murder attempts, or else how taking the anime off TV would prevent such attempts. The assumption underlying this view is that the power of media is limited, and that audiences do not fully absorb and mimic media messages but rather filter them and come to their own thoughtful conclusions about them.
While I wouldn’t be hasty to say that a single cartoon episode could trigger murderous intent, I also wouldn’t totally discount the impact of media upon its audience, regardless of age group. What I think is missing in the analysis is the cumulative effect of media – such cartoons involving violence in addition to the countless other shows featuring homicide. Perhaps gatekeepers and media critics should be thinking about the effect of the media in totality rather than singling out one show or another.
Something else to think about is the time and TV channel that violent anime are aired on. While older fans may be quick to dismiss the impact that anime has on them, the same may not apply to younger audiences. Besides being popular among the younger crowd, anime also simplifies reality in its 2-D world where gore doesn’t look as gruesome and the consequences of violence are muted. Just because content is in the form of cartoons does not mean that it can be shown indiscriminately to people of all ages.
Lastly, to indignant fans out there, another thing to consider would be sensitivity to the families involved in the murder and attempted murder. Sometimes the unfortunate “timeliness” of such incidents warrants some measure of sensitivity and sacrifice on the part of viewers.
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