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Bushiroad’s upcoming game Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact was given a rating of “Refused Classification” by the The Classification Board of Australia.
The Refused Classification rating means that the game cannot be sold, hired, advertised or legally imported in Australia, as the content in question is very high in impact and falls outside generally-accepted community standards.
While the game has received relatively low age ratings in other regions—approved for ages 12 and up in Germany and South Korea and rated CERO B (ages 12 and up) in Japan—Australia’s Classification Board took a different stance.
Responding to Automaton Media, the board elaborated on its decision, stating that the game features depictions that suggest “sexual violence against characters under the age of 18 by an adult male character.”
They further clarified that these depictions lacked any story context to justify their inclusion, which contributed to the refusal of classification.
The decision has sparked speculation among fans, particularly concerning Hisoka, a character from Hunter x Hunter known for displaying inappropriate sentiments towards young protagonists Gon and Killua.
While it is unclear if Hisoka’s actions in the source material are directly reflected in the game, his characterization has led many to draw parallels.
Without an age rating, the game cannot legally be sold or distributed in Australia. Bushiroad now faces a decision: either revise the game’s content and reapply for classification, or provide supplementary explanations to justify the inclusion of the flagged material.
The Classification Board of Australia is notorious for giving the RC ratings to Japanese anime and manga. In the past Australia had banned How Not To Summon A Demon Lord Season 2.
They had also banned volumes 2, 4, 13 & 15 of To Love Ru Darkness manga in July 2022. Later in December, the authorities decided to ban 15 of the total 18 volumes from the manga, with only 5 volumes escaping the ban with a category 1 and 2 rating.
In 2020, Australia had banned 3 volumes of No Game No Life. Even before that in 2012, a batch of 15 manga were seized by the Australian authorities as they had “stylized images of sexual fetishes containing non-consent or physical harm”.
Films, computer games and publications have to be legally classified in Australia before they are made available to the audiences.
Hunter x Hunter: Nen x Impact is based on Yoshihiro Togashi’s Hunter x Hunter manga. Originally slated for release in 2024, the game was delayed to 2025 to implement rollback netcode.
Source: Automaton Media
I wonder if bushiroad games could work around it
I wonder if bushiroad games could work around it