Kanami Board of Entertainment Classification and Ratings

KBECR was first established 1950 right as the movie industry began to boom. At first all movies went under a code of approval which had very strict censorship guidelines in order to achive the seal of approval. The seal was abolished when the ratings board was founded.

Early Ratings

When the system was first developed by Yuji Naka in in 1950 the ratings were based on what and how much is in the film, much like today. But the ratings were very diffrent.

The system that existed from 1950-1959

• AA: All Ages, nothing objectionable
• M Mature, parental discretion advised
• M+ Older Maturity, Children Should be Escorted by Parent
• X' Pornagraphic Content Persons 20 and Under not Admitted

All ratings were made as registered trademarks and were not self-implable by anyone but the board. Orginally the board conisted of Studio Producers unassociated with the films and other media personall, but this was changed when the system was revisde.

1959 Revision

By 1959 the ratings weren't a familiar, thoes that did know about them didn't understand them and there was much confusion when it came to the two M ratings. For starters M seemed very strong for a mild older childrens film and many parents and movie goers though this to be so. M had the stigma of the curren't R and NC-17 rating that it was unsitable for children. M+ also had confusion. No actual Age limit was set by the board, and this allowed theators to discress at will whether or not to let kids into a Mature Film. The system was changed to:

• AA: All Ages, nothing objectionable
• GP: Guidence From Parents, Some material may not be suitable for pre-teenagers
• M+ Mature Persons Under 17 Should be escorted by Parent or Guaridan
• X Pornagraphic Content Persons 20 and Under not Admitted

GP Rating Is Changed

By 1967, a number of problems with the GP rating emerged. First, the rating now sounded too permissive, and was not indicative of the film's actual content. During 1971 the the board experimented with designating some GP films with a special warning label. The exact wording would vary, but a typical label would read "Contains material not generally suitable for pre-teenagers" and thus was an early form of the MA-13 rating. Since this added message was referred to with an asterisk next to the GP symbol, this short-lived rating can be called GP*. However, the percentage of GP* films quickly grew to outnumber GP films with no special advisory, and early in 1970, as part of an overall standardization of the rating symbols as used in promotional material, both GP and GP* were redesignated with the new PG rating that would be used throughout most of the 1970s.

Rated PG: Parental Guidance Suggested—Some material may not be suitable for pre-teenagers.

Today the rating reads:

Rated PG Parental Guidance Suggested—Some material may not be suitable for children.

By this time, the familiar standardized boxes with boldfaced text and the explanatory message underneath were in common use. Common belife is that Yasashii Himura (film) was the first to recive the new PG rating. This is in fact false.

Changing AA to G

From the adoption of the system through the mid-1970s, it was common for mainstream films with slight adult content such as Ocean of Dreams, Planet of the Nekos, The Red Berets, Thunder and 2101 Odyssey to be released with AA ratings, but by 1978 (with increasing use of the phrase "children" rather than "pre-teenagers" on the PG rating), the AA rating had become increasingly associated with films intended specifically for children, while the PG rating became increasingly acceptable for designating "family" films. Most of the G-rated films from the early years of the rating system contain content equivalent to that of more strongly rated (PG and MA-13) films of later years. At this time also, much of the board member were overahauled, brining in parents, teachers, therapists and child therapists it was agreed the rating should be changed to General. At this time in Kanami there was an increasing ammount of mental clinic popping up and some patents of which found AA films to be disturbing in their minds. The rating was changed to G for General Audiences:

Rated G: Genral Audiences Nothing Objectionable

However an increasing ammount of G films contained mildly objectionable material thus it was changed to

Rated G: General Audiences All Ages Admitted T here have been some rating choices which, in retrospect, can be considered odd, though it must be remembered that the rating system standards were considerably different at the time. Violence, mild suggestive content, male nudity and mild profanity were more acceptable in lower rating categories while sexuality and female nudity were not. A rating also depended on the opinion of the indiviual committee members at the time. For example, the 1978 PG-rated film I Know Why The River Cries had mild Aqua Anuien profanity as well as several fairly graphic scenes of disaster. True Grit received the G rating after the film was edited however, it still contained some harsh language and western violence. Another example is Yukari Tanazaki's cult horror film Alive (about a mutant killer infant) which was originally released in 1974 and re-released in 1977. It was rated PG despite being fairly bloody for its time. Its two sequels (Alive Again, 1978; and Alive III', direct-to-video, 1987) both received M+ ratings. All three Alive films were banned in Aqua Anu under that country's rating system. A lso, the film The Thomas Crown Affair received an M+ rating despite the violence being no more graphic than the average James Bond film at the time. It is believed that the only reason the film received this rating and not PG was due to some sexual tension during a chess game.

A rather unusual wording of the PG rating accompanied the TV commercials for Star Wars in 1978. The phrase May Be Too Intense For Younger Children was part of the rating.

By the late 1970s, the PG ratings on some films were reworded, with the word pre-teenagers being increasingly substituted with the word children. An analysis of the proportion of films rated G and PG at this time (corresponding with a stricter shift in the rating standards) shows that fewer G ratings were issued while more family films were rated as PG with the less restrictive sounding "children" label. No clear system of applying either label was known to be a part of policy during the late 1970s, but by the early 1980s, the phrase "pre-teenagers" became little used, and in 1984 (see below) the MA-15 rating was established and effectively restored the clear distinction (see GP and GP* above) between films with lighter and heavier content levels. The end of the 1970s also saw, with the release of Princess in December 1979, what was probably the end of mainstream (heavily marketed) big studio films with a G rating (although the director's cut got a PG for sci-fi action and mild language). Ever since, such productions would be released with at least a PG rating, and even Princess itself was subsequently re-rated PG for its DVD release). .

M+ is Changed and R is introduced

By the mid 80's a number of theators were letting in people as young as 15 to M+ rated films, despite it was recommended for 17. The 80's also saw the youth explosion when kids had far more financial freedom and were running about doing their own things with little parental supervision. The board initially called in a meeting to vote down the age of the M+ to 15, with the increasing ammount of teen's wanting to see films and the increasing ammount of M+ Films which didn't need such high restriction. However when word of this got out, many small town parents, and small town theators refused to adopted a lowerd age. Many were threatining to pull M+ Films if pulled. The bored decided to make a new rating for the 17 years but allow a rating to let younger audiences see it.

• Rated R: Restricted. Persons under 17 are not admitted unless accompanied by parent or adult guardian.
• Rated MA-15: Mature Audiences Under 15 are not admitted unless accompanied by parent or adult guardian.

NC-17 Is introduced

The Addition of the R Rating Eased restrictions untill the viloent war film Come Come Paradise came out in 1985. The film was deemed too violent for an R rating but not sexually explicit enough for a Pornographic rating. The film was banned untill 1990. Due to the fact some films were just too violent for R, non-pornagraphic adult films were comerical disasters, making little money and were seldom imported. The NC-17 rating was introduced orginally as NX-17, (Adults 17 and Older) which lasted for about half a year untill it was changed to NC-17 (No Children Under 17 Admitted) Later, in 1990, the age for the NC-17 category was subtly increased by one year by changing the wording from "No Children Under 17 Admitted" to "No One 17 And Under Admitted." The label NC-17 stayed even though the letters no longer stand for anything, as the word "children" was replaced by "one".

The new ratings read as followed:

• Rated G General Audiences, All Ages Admitted
• Rated PG Parental Guidance Suggested—Some material may not be suitable for children.
• Rated MA-15: Mature Audiences Under 15 are not admitted unless accompanied by parent or adult guardian.
• Rated R: Restricted. Persons under 17 are not admitted unless accompanied by parent or adult guardian
• Rated NC-17: No One 17 and Under Admitted
• Rated X: Pornographic No One Under 21 Admitted

Changes in X; addition of MA-13

In 1993 the ratings became more and more familiar than they ever had been. However problems were occuring when films aimed at younger teenagers were reciving MA-15 Ratings or PG ratings, thus creating a deterance. Alex Thorton's Heavy Rain had recived an MA-15 both cut and uncut. Uncut featured nudity and sexuality involving teenagers while cut featured mostly innuendo with nudity cut out. However the board determined the extreme peril involved was too high for a PG rating and the innuendo didn't help much either. Unable to appeal it was released uncut with the MA-15 rating but it's performance still sufferd. Alex and his freind film maker Sakura Taisen and both sufferd the same effect. Taisen's film Cherry Blossom Memories recived MA-15 ratings despite being aimed at younger teens. Both appealed to the board to create an unrestricted teenage category for teens to see movies on their own. The board agreed and created the MA-13 rating

• MA-13: Mature Audiences over 13 Strongly Recommended

That same year new adult theators were cropping up and some non adult theators began to show Pornographic films. Some people began to confuse NC-17 with X and the age restriction. The X was given an addition of 19 at the end

• X-19: Pornographic No One Under 21 Admitted.

That same year the age limit was decreaced to 20

• X-19: Pornographic. No one 19 and Under Admitted

G Is Modofied

The Same year the changes were made, G was also modofied to GA, to indicate a full acronymn. This was mostly due to the part at this point the game ratings were introduced and G7 was their young age category. No confusion was robust but the both ratings boards agreed to change it up a little.

Current Ratings

The current rating's system now follows this:

GA-General Audiences All Ages Admitted

PG-Parental Guidence

MA-13 Mature Audiences over 13 Strongly Recommended

MA-15 Restricted to Audiences Under 15 Must Be Accompanied by Adut Guradian or Parent

R-Restricted Under 17 Must Be Accompanied by Adut Guradian or Parent

NC-17 No One 17 and Under Admitted

X-19 Pornographic. No one 19 and Under Admitted

all are registerd trademarks and can not be self applied by anyone.

Ratings Process

When a movie goes before the board, it is put through a rigerous viewing process. The film will usually take these main elements into account:

• Theme
• The Ammount of Violence and in all it's uses and it's intensity
• Foul Language
• Peril or Life Threatning situations
• Realisim
• Tone
• Post-Viewing affects

Length occasionally plays into the factor but not very often.

Once the film has gone through this, the board will dicuss and appropriate rating to give to the film, from GA to X-19. At any time if the film maker is unstatisfied with the rating, he/she can either edit and resubmit it for a new rating, or appeal the decision of the board. If the filmaker is still unsatisfied he/she can simply have the rating revoked and release it unrated.

The board is composed oa group of diverse men and women of multiple backgrounds and with experience in parenting and marketing. They have no ties to the industry. Some board members are also experts in psychology and child development.