The Cabinet Office of the Japanese government announced in their press release on Friday, Jan 7, 2022, that they have teamed up with the anime, Tokyo Revengers, to promote the partial revision of the Japanese Civil Code. The amendment will drop the “adult age” from 20 to 18-years-old. It will come into effect on April 1, 2022.

The collaboration produced a TV commercial and five WEB videos with the tagline, “New adults, make your own future.”

The change made to the Civil Code is to respect the right to self-determination of young people and “expects the promotion of active social participation.”

The government publicity campaign promoted the change in the “adult age” to spread awareness about the voting age of the Public Offices Election Act. The 19-year-olds are encouraged to participate in important national political decisions.

Even though the adult age is reduced to 18, the age at which people will be able to drink and smoke, along with the age limit for public gambling (horse racing, bicycle racing, auto racing, motorboat racing) remains 20.

Additionally, new voice lines were recorded for the project. Some of the tie-ins will appear in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine.

Dengeki Online, a Japanese news portal, explained that 20 years old has been the age of majority in Japan since the Meiji restoration in 1879.

Ken Wakui‘s Tokyo Revengers manga debuted in 2017 and has already sold over 40 million copies. It won the 44th Kodansha Manga Award for shonen in 2020. The first season of the anime aired in April 2021, and ended in September 2021. It was also licensed outside of Asia by Crunchyroll.

Source: Japanese Government Public relation Website via Dengeki Online