Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni refused classification in Australia and Germany

Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni is an Anime-Themed hack-n-slash brawler which was part of the Valkyrie Drive multimedia franchise created by Marvelous under Kenichiro Takaki of Senran Kagura fame. While being different from Senran Kagura, it contains elements and concepts borrowed from said game series, and while not nearly as popular and successful as the Senran Kagura series itself, it was still well received by gamers and even fans of the Senran Kagura series itself, and has thus gained a relatively decent cult following, especially with the inclusion of the Kagurazaka sisters Rinka and Ranka, the main protagonists of the game, as DLC for Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash.

However, unlike Takaki's mainstream Senran Kagura franchise, which were passed with ratings in Australia and Germany, the game was refused classification by the two countries' respective classification boards, the Australian Classification Board and the USK ratings board, which refused classification on the game for differing reasons (see below):

Australia
In August of 2016, the game was Refused Classification and "technically BANNED" by the Australian Classification Board, in which it claimed that the game features scenes implying sexual violence, as well as sex via the game's requirement to increase the Rack Rank of the characters, being used as an incentive or reward, therefore banning the sale, import and exhibition of the game nationwide, while also banning the possession of the game in Western Australia and pre-scribed areas of the Northwestern Territories.

Despite having been banned, the PC version was available to Australian Steam Users upon release on June 20, 2017, until it was taken down by Marvelous on August 10 the same year, and thus, it remains forever unavailable despite Marvelous claiming that it is "working to make the game legally available again", which will never happen considering that reforms in regards to the content which got the game banned, will never be made.

And while the game was banned, the anime of the multimedia project, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid, was released by Australian Film Distribution and Anime licensing company Madman Entertainment, which previously held the Simulcast rights to the anime, on June 6, 2017 with an approved R18+ rating.

Germany
On August 19, 2016, the game was Refused Classification by the USK ratings board, in which they (originally) claimed that it featured sexual activity involving people who are, or appear to be, children under 18 years, despite being of indeterminate age as PQube removed the characters' ages prior to submission, except it has not been stated which of the characters cried foul to the USK. The refusal decision was the 2nd after Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors, in part of a new policy in regards to sexual portrayals of minors, which was introduced in 2015, and the game is therefore subject to be put on the Index of Media Harmful to Young Persons (BPjM).

While still not indexed, the PC version of the game was made available to German Steam users upon release on June 20, 2017, until it was permanently taken down by Marvelous on August 10 the same year, while the game is still yet to be indexed by the BPjM (Games that are refused classification by the USK and are subject to become indexed, will remain temporarily available upon release due to Steam's more lenient policy in regards to Unrated/in Germany RC-classified games unlike the major console manufacturers, until they are put on the Index and thus get removed from the German Steam storefronts.). It was the very first anime-themed RC-classified Steam game to be blocked in Germany even prior of being put on the index.

However, on August 22 in the same year, two weeks after the PC version of the game was removed from the German Steam Storefront by Marvelous, German Anime Site Anime2You published an interview with Marvelous CEO Mike Fisher, who was at that year's Gamescom which was held in Cologne, which revealed the actual reason behind the refusal by the USK, in which it was neither the game's content nor any of the major characters. But it was, according to the interview, an "Optional DLC", which was the result of an error that PQube had made, when the publisher "accidentally" submitted the "Complete Edition" of the game with the "Optional DLC" included, to the USK, rather than the base game itself, which resulted in the refusal. The interview also stated that they are hoping to re-submit the base game to the USK for a more proper rating, except that the "Optional DLC" will likely be left out of Germany entirely.

It was not said which "Optional DLC" it was. But according to a forum member of the German Anti-Censorship group For Uncut!, it was revealed in a forum post that it was likely the "Mirei Shikishima DLC" which caused major problems with the USK. More specifically, the character from the DLC named Mamori Tokonome, who, despite being an unplayable character but can still be interacted with in the Dressing Room, and being only selectable by Mirei as her "Extar", was described as "child-like" due to her overall physical construction, appearance, personality and voice being that of a shy, naive and pacifistic 12-year old, while also being of indeterminate age. This was a very similar case in how Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors was refused classification at the same time by the USK, due to sexualized content in relation to a major character who was also described as "child-like", also despite being of indeterminate age, as it was also part of the same policy which got Valkyrie Drive: Bhikkhuni classified RC in Germany, in which it was the very first game in history to be classified RC in Germany based on this instance.

On August 3 in the same year just prior to the removal of the PC version of the game from the German Steam servers, German Film distribution and Anime licensing company KSM Anime licensed the anime of the multimedia project, Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid, from which the characters Mirei and Mamori of the namesake DLC came from, for a German release that is due February 18 2018, as it was announced in the German AniManiA magazine published in that month. But due to Mamori, the anime is also likely subject to be refused classification by the FSK film classification board, and will also likely be the very first anime in Germany to not only be classified by the SPIO/JK organization, but also be indexed.