What Happened
Takii Noame, known for yuri visual novels, recently announced the postponement. Their latest title, Watamari Part 2, A Fake Marriage?, was slated for an August release. It has now been pushed back by two months.
The problem centers on two banks: SBI Shinsei Bank and Japan Post Bank. Both have reportedly blocked transfers of Steam earnings coming from Takii Noame’s adult-oriented Ne No Kami series and the all-ages Watamari series.
The Adult Content Excuse
SBI Shinsei Bank initially requested documentation for the international transfers. According to the developer, the bank later cited that part of the revenue was related to adult-oriented (yuri) content.
That was enough for the bank to refuse processing the funds entirely.
Takii Noame then tried a different approach, routing all-ages game revenue through Japan Post Bank instead. That attempt failed too, after another round of screening. Japan Post Bank gave no reason for the rejection, leaving the developer with more questions than answers.
A Growing Pattern in Japan
This isn’t an isolated incident. The debanking
of adult game developers in Japan has become a recurring problem, and multiple banks appear to be involved.
Other indie creators have reported nearly identical experiences:
- Ren, blocked despite legal compliance, citing undisclosed risks
- Mousou no Mayu, blocked from receiving revenue even for an all-ages version of their game
- Nupuryu, given no explanation for a blocked transfer
These blocks often come bundled with a second headache. Developers report significant tax complications, since they’re still taxed on income they’ve been blocked from actually receiving.
What Comes Next
Takii Noame has spent the past month trying to resolve the issue. They’ve opened an account with another bank, but that account can only handle small international transfers, nowhere near enough to cover what’s owed. The developer says resolving this remains their top priority.
The bigger question hangs over the entire indie scene in Japan. Will banks eventually offer clear guidelines for what triggers these blocks, or will developers keep running into the same wall with no explanation and no recourse?
Our Take
What stands out here isn’t just one developer’s bad month. It’s the pattern. When multiple creators across different games report the same vague rejections from different banks, that stops looking like isolated compliance caution and starts looking like a systemic gap in how Japan’s financial institutions handle digital content revenue. Until banks publish actual criteria instead of case by case judgment calls, every indie developer selling adult or even adjacent content on Steam is operating with real financial risk they can’t plan around.
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