Forum - View topicHow do you desensitize yourself to rape in modern anime?
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Hamyuts Meseta
 Posts: 12 |
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(I ask this because I'm finding modern anime much worse when it comes to rape.)
Considering most newer serious-animes have so much of it. It like the makers of these newers anime feel NOTHING towards the people watching this horrible stuff. I'm really disturbed by this mindset in Japan "Let's throw in a rape scene here and here, Kill those groups of kids and kill off 99% of the cast.......let's add some minor sexual assault to this character also". One thing that's even more frustrating then a rape-scene is the implied-rape. It's just so creepy on many levels you really do start to get frustrated with real life Japanese men and wonder if they even care about women in general. Much of the rapes don't matter because by the next episode the cast doesn't even care about the rape event. Lastly, I really really really hate the ones that force the lead to watch his girl be raped. Why the hell is that popular in Japan? |
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EireformContinent
 Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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You are referring to animated porn or regular anime? Because I recall about 3 rape scenes from all things I've seen and all of them were portrayed as a horrible crime, not to mention that they weren't committed by heroes.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18178 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Yes, you definitely need to clarify what types of series you're referring to on this, Hamyuts Mesetah. You also need to provide some examples of series that have the kinds of elements you're talking about, because you're making some pretty provocative claims that I don't think can be easily supported. Either that or you're using a very broad definition of what constitutes "rape."
Is this kind of thing common in hentai titles? Oh, absolutely, to the point that one has to look carefully to find one that doesn't have that element to some degree. Behavior that could lead in that direction is more common than I'd like to see in shoujo manga, but it's pretty rare to actually see anything like that animated. In both cases this kind of thing has been around for quite a while, so it's hardly a new trend. |
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Veers
 Posts: 1197 Location: Texas |
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I am really curious about what kind of modern anime you are watching where rape is so common.
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jsc315
 Posts: 925 |
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^This. It was more common in anime in the 80's and 90's and even then that usually was just stuff that was borderline hentai or just strait up porn. Though as I stated and Key has said this is nothing new or hardly a new trend, So I'm not sure what the original poster is going on about. |
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Did they watch Honneamise? That's about the only high profile anime where the spoiler[attempted rape] isn't seen as monsterous by the characters, but an awkward happenstance that then drives them apart after halting the story's flow. Then again, Honneamise is older than I am, so I can't call that modern anime.
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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When I started reading this thread, the very first modern anime that came to mind is BTOOOM! Although the scene in question doesn't result in actual penetration, the girl is definitely sexually assaulted and it comes very close to some kind of penetration. Also, SAO had several very similar scenes where a bad guy was sexually assaulting or fondling Asuna, and part of the show's suspense was "will the male hero rescue her in time before she is penetrated?" I could probably think of many other examples... even some of the lighter stuff has a tendency to use this trope. For example, a show that I have been in love with for weeks now, Magi - in a recent episode, a young girl is kidnapped by a "Djinn" who is also holding her parents captive. The heroes were requested by the young girl to save her parents, but then she somehow gets taken herself. When the heroes come to confront this evildoer, he is holding the young girl up and starts licking her with a massive tongue. Its pretty obvious that the implication is, if they don't stop him in time, he might "do something" to her. I still love the show, but I thought that scene was more than a little gratuitous, just like the bad guy from the second part of SAO constantly fondling an either unconscious or unwilling Asuna.
If the question is looking more at explicit rape scenes, then yea outside of Hentai, I am not really seeing that. However, sexual assault seems fairly commonplace in anime these days. |
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zawa113
 Posts: 7357 |
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I feel like this is more common in shojo manga than any non-hentai anime for the most part (and yeah, the Wings of Honneamise example above). I mean, was it Peach Girl or Hot Gimmick where the so called "friend" of the main hires a bunch of guys to drag her off and rape her? And she somehow still sorta hangs out with this person afterwards?
Then there's Teacher's Pet by Hot Gimmick author Miki Aihara, and it is one of the worst things I've ever read. It's about a student teacher in an abusive relationship with the oddly young principal, whose boyfriend's brother (a student) totally rapes her in like, chapter 1. Her boyfriend's response is to force her to walk around with a vibrator up there (which he has the remote to) all day. She then ends up falling for the guy who raped her. And this isn't hentai, it's just an awful title. Who knew one single volume of manga could be so horrible? There is somehow also a sequel single volume manga, so I guess people must've liked it in Japan? I honestly do not understand the rape fantasy and it disgusts me every time I see it used as a positive thing. In Banana Fish for example, characters are raped (off page, I don't know why so many insist on showing you all the "juicy" details) and it traumatizes every single one of them. One character asks another something like "It took me a year to get over that rape, how are you already so calm?" and he replies "If it took me a year to get over every time I was raped, I'd die of old age". So while the character himself is that broken (he was first raped by his little league coach when he was like 8, and essentially became a trafficed sex slave by his teens), no one sees it as a good thing and every rapist is seen as a disgusting pig, not a potential love interest. So, I do think it can be used correctly as a drama tool (which I sound horrible for saying), but only if it's story appropriate and it's not something everyone is just fine with where everything inexplicably turns out happy with the rapist. So I can't desensitize "rape as romance" because that trope is bs, but I do somehow allow it when it's not positive. Maybe I justify it because it's still a bad thing, and thus that's an actual realistic response to rape and not this bs fantasy. It will still disturb me, yes, but just pretending it doesn't exist at all doesn't seem a good solution to me and I'd rather see it treated correctly than incorrectly. I like seeing tough subject matter tackled so long as it is done so with dignity, brushing things under the rug and pretending we live in a perfect fantasy society isn't healthy either. It's about finding that line that addresses it reasonably and doesn't necessarily desensitize the viewer to it, but make them aware of the reality of it. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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Granted, although I get tired of the sexual assault scenes I referenced above, it is not because I refuse to accept the idea that some people have a fetish in that. There are some people who are in consenting relationships who really get into that as "role play." That's completely up to them and not for me to criticize. What I do get annoyed with is anime constantly barraging us with these "unilateral" sexual assault scenes, which generally involve a male character feeling up, fondling, licking, groping, etc... a female character who clearly doesn't want that, and it's often glorified in some shows. Seeing that constantly makes me question, what is the purpose of it? Why are we constantly seeing such scenes? Does it say something about society? Did some marketing guru at an anime company tell the staff that including such a scene will automatically boost sales of the show by X%? I wonder about it because the scenes are always so crude and forced, like someone just slapped them in at the last second. It's rarely, if ever, used as some kind of intelligent plot device.
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18178 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Yes, this is a clear attempted rape scene - no question about it. It's also definitely not played off casually or like nothing happened; the experience negatively affects Himiko for much of the rest of the series, so it does not support the OP's claims. (The spoiler[actual rapes of her friends that happen in the flashback] also have very decided impacts long after they're shown.)
We've had this debate ad nauseum in the SAO thread, so I'm not going to get into detail on it here, but I do seriously question your use of "several very similar." There's only one scene in SAO which even comes close to going as far as BTOOOM! does; the rest was just talk or implications.
Like? You've made it quite clear in other threads that you have a very liberal interpretation of what constitutes rape or attempted rape, so yes, I'm calling you out in this. Mere fondling, though often deplorable, doesn't count, either. Either way, I see nowhere near enough of what the OP is talking about to support the claims that she's making - again, unless we're talking about hentai, which is a cesspool of all sorts of things that many adults would be better off not knowing actually exists. |
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Reliak
Posts: 50 |
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Psycho-Pass had two rape scenes that I remember... One in the very first episode, and one somewhere around episode 15 or so? In the first spoiler[the victim's mental health is threatened, putting her at risk of being detained by the police or even imprisoned.]
The one thing I can think that would match the OP's concern was the other scene. In episode 15 (or somewhere near there, in the early-mid back half of the show) the rape was spoiler[a terrorist act designed by the main villain, done in a public place, to demonstrate the flaws in the police system and show that the public have become so used to crime being preempted that they don't know how to react when something horrific happens right in front of their faces. Dozens of people stand by and watch a woman get raped and beaten in the middle of the street and do nothing, because they don't understand what is going on and don't understand why the mentally unstable perp wasn't picked up by the police brain scanners positioned everywhere.] So... in that case the lack of reaction from witnesses is a plot point. OP, was that the scene you were referring to? |
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Veers
Posts: 1197 Location: Texas |
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This again? That woman did not get raped. She got abused and was almost raped (maybe; probably would have been if the main characters hadn't shown up). There's a difference.
That woman did not get raped. She got partially stripped and murdered. There's a difference. Edit: Not that I'm saying either scenario was somehow automatically more flattering of women or not a disquieting display simply due to the fact that no rape was actually followed through with. |
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ChibiKangaroo
Posts: 2941 |
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Theron there's no reason to call me out. I think you are conflating sexual assault and rape. I clearly made the distinction in my earlier post, where I said the following:
I am speaking of rape in the terms of sexual penetration or something approximating that. I am speaking of sexual assault as a lesser offense which is generally forced sexual touching of some kind. You seem to believe that I equate all sexual touching with rape, which I have certainly not said in this thread and I am pretty sure even in my SAO railings, I talked in terms of "rape fetish" and never said that Asuna was actually raped. In that context, my thought would have been that the potential rape (the penetration which I referred to in my post above) was what was being teased, but it didn't actually occur because the hero comes in and saves her before it can. The sexual assault is the actual act of Asuna being forcefully fondled or licked or otherwise touched in a sexual way. As you can clearly see, in both of my other examples (BTOOOM! and Magi) that is the type of thing I was referring to. Also, if you REALLY don't think there are numerous other examples in Anime of girls being unknowingly or unwillingly fondled or touched in a sexual way, and want me to provide more examples, I will do so but I think you know as much as I do that you will lose that argument. |
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EireformContinent
Posts: 977 Location: Łódź/Poland (The Promised Land) |
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ChibiKangaroo, the answer to your question was written by Marquis de Valmont by the hand of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos.
Rape lets woman to have sex without losing their innocence. Of course this statement only works when you see woman as a kind of angel with no sexual desire on their own- a twisted form of Madonna/Whore complex. So as long as female don't act on her own, but stay on position of passive victim you can romanticize her. It sounds awful but as a woman I see that even nowadays Western people have a problem admitting that woman can willingly enjoy all sides of love without becoming "slut" in every possible way. Anime is targeted towards Japanese teenagers, not XVIII century libertines, so actual rape shows very rarely, but judging from the fuss around teen idols' contractual purity the mindset hasn't changed that much. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18178 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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Oh, I'm quite aware of how much of that goes on, as it's something that I comment about regularly in reviews. I'm also quite well aware that a heavy amount of what could be called sexual harassment or sexual assault is actually girl-on-girl behavior; guys are much more commonly portrayed as doing it accidentally. Sugou's behavior towards Asuna is much more the exception than the rule, and he's clearly portrayed as being a complete bastard anyway. In fact, the more that I think about it, guys who are the perpetrators of such cases are almost invariably portrayed as psychotic villains. The notable exception here is Sasha from Qwaser of Stigmata, and in his case he has non-sexual reasons for doing it. |
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