A new report made the rounds that Russia is moving to ban the sale of anime figures in the country.

The new ban follows a series of speeches by right-wing Russian media figures warning about the “dangerous psychological impact” that watching anime can have on the minds of children.

Worldfeed247 backs up the reporting by Russia Today, noting how Death Note and Tokyo Ghoul have also been banned in Russia, not just for children, for adults too.

“Citing concerns over their potential psychological impact on children and possible violations of child protection and obscenity laws… This step is part of the country’s broader crackdown on media content it considers harmful to minors,” the outlet said. “Under laws like Federal Law No. 436-FZ, which focuses on shielding children from disturbing or inappropriate material, and provisions in the Russian Criminal Code.”

This latest crackdown on anime is merely a ramping up of the extreme hostility to art and free speech within Russia. Earlier this year, Russian convicted a 19-year-old poet for writing an anti-war poem.

She was sentenced to nearly three years in a penal colony for the poem. Even darker, a child and her parents were arrested for putting flowers at a memorial to protest the war in Ukraine.

The Russian attack on anime also mirror several Republican bills in America that also seek to criminalize the viewing or owning of anime.

We have been covering the proposed Goblin Slayer ban in Texas (the bill is opposed by the Democrats and has not passed the Texas house of representatives) as well as Senator Mike Lee’s proposal to ban any anime with sexual themes at the federal level.

The recent war on anime began when Moms For Liberty, having recently supported several bills banning LGBT+ books in schools, turned their sights on manga.