A Russian court has banned several popular animes including “Death Note,” “Tokyo Ghoul” and “Inuyashiki” Wednesday over claims that Russian teens reenact violent scenes depicted in the cartoons.
State prosecutors had also asked the court in St. Petersburg to ban “Naruto,” “Elfen Lied” and “Interspecies Reviewers” in December.
“Every episode contains cruelty, murder, violence,” said the St. Petersburg court system in a Dec. 18 announcement that it had registered five lawsuits against 49 websites.
St. Petersburg’s Kolpinsky district court ruled Wednesday that “Death Note” and “Inuyashiki” be banned from distribution on two websites while “Tokyo Ghoul” has been banned on one website, according to the court system. The state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported that the court system specified that the bans only affect the listed web addresses.
The court continued hearing arguments Wednesday over the other three anime cartoons as well as popular Russian rapper Morgenstern’s meme-based song titled “I Ate Grandpa.”
Russian parents have campaigned to ban “Death Note” as far back as 2013 after a 15-year-old girl with a collection of “Death Note” manga died by suicide.
This year, St. Petersburg media reported that a teenage “Death Note” fan had fallen out of a window in what appeared to be a white dress shirt and red tie styled after its main character.