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Answerman & Ms. Answerman
99 Red Columns

ONE MORE COLUMN TO GO before we have our spectacular 100th Answerman column! I'm so excited I can barely contain myself.

Too bad Answercat and Answercat Jr. already ate the cake...we really need to stop leaving food out on the counter top...



Hello!

I was playing around on the Excel Saga volume 2 extras, and found saw the commercials from Japan. It says there that Excel Saga played at 1:45am. That seems weird, was that a normal Excel Saga type joke, or is it not so uncommon to have anime that late (or early as the case may be)... What timeslots does anime normally take up in Japan?

Also what is with Japan's odd view of rape? It seems there take is "boy's will be boys" and that "the girl was asking for it". For example, in DNA^2 there is a point when the red hair guy (well someone pretending to be the red hair guy) is going to rape a girl. She decides that it's ok, as long as he is raping her, not just someone. I can almost understand that a little, but then take an example from your favorite series Love Hina. At one point in the winter special Motoko is on a train, and some old guy starts tweaking her butt. She turns around and bashes him in the face. Seems fair to me. Only later on, she's in the police station. They catch the officer saying something like "just because he tweaked your butt was no reason..." What the hell's with that? Plus there is all this talk in a lot of series about just being alone with a guy is a fair opening. That any guy when alone with a girl would naturally rape her. Just seems weird to me.

Anyway, hope you can help me out here. ^_^

-Eric

No, that isn't a joke. Anime series aimed at older audiences always air at odd hours of the morning. Sometimes when a show's been on for a while and parents think it's too intense for younger kids, they'll move it to a later slot. Outlaw Star aired at 1:15 AM. Typically you'll find anime on in the mornings, like around 6:30 to 8:30 AM, in prime time, around 6:00 to 9:00 PM, and in the early mornings, starting at around 1 AM or so. Excel Saga was for a decidedly older audience, so it aired later on.

This isn't as big in Japan anymore (either that, or they just don't make it as known to the public) but women are made out to be a more submissive role in certain areas of life. I know there are numerous problems on Japanese trains and subway cars where a number of men will get very close to a woman and 'accidentally feel her up'. I've heard of it getting pretty bad, to the point where they have special cars that only women are allowed to enter to keep them safe from these molesters and rapists. Like with the Love Hina episode you made reference to, if a woman was to hit the guy doing that then the woman would be seen as the aggressor, because it is thought that 'if a man touches a woman, she obviously did something to ask for it' (though I've been told too that they avoid American looking woman for the simple fact that we don't take that kind of shit and will pummel them). As for the 'it's ok that he rapes me because I care for him' well...again it's because of the submissive roles portrayed in some anime. It probably stems out of a desire for men to have control, though I don't believe it's as prevalent in Japanese culture today as it has been in the past.



yo answerman and ms. answerman,

I have just finished Rurouni Kenshin, it was sad that the series i have been collecting for about a year and a half was over, even though the last arc was garbage. But, now i'm on to other things and i need your help. Even while i was collecting kenshin I've been looking for a good anime with gun action. I discovered Gunsmith Cats, which to me was great with 2 exceptions- 1.Not enough blood, 2. Only 3 episodes. Ever since, I've been searching for a good gun anime, but, so far i have been unsuccessful, so i turn to you to give me some good anime gun titles according to the following:

1. no machine type anime like gundam or Big O
2. a good amount of blood
3. a lot of good action/gun scenes
4. at least 13 episodes
5. modern day guns
6. decent story line
7. no magic using what so ever
8. somewhat realistic

I know this isn't exactly easy, but i would appreciate it if you could give
me a couple titles so i can move on to my next collection. I would like both
of your suggestions.

Thanx,

SledgeHammer

Not very picky, are you? Well, it's hard to come up with anime that meet your criteria, but I've thought of a few. You should definitely check out Trigun. It's 26 episodes, nicely animated, and features a lot of gunplay. There isn't much blood in it but the storyline is okay and, like I said, there's plenty of guns. As far as I know, they don't use magic, and it's… well, kinda realistic. You can always go with Cowboy Bebop, which has plenty of blood, lots of gunplay, takes place in a semi-realistic future and has beautiful animation. The storyline is pretty good, even if it is episodic. Even though it isn't out yet, you may want to investigate a show called Noir, which features just about everything you asked for in spades.

ACK!! You forgot about Hellsing!! There's a little bit of magic used, but it lasts about 5-10 seconds in short chants of charms. TONS OF BLOOD and it runs 13 episodes. Then again, it's got vampires in it. It'd be difficult to find a 'realistic' show with guns and lots of blood unless you find anime that deals with war or history really, and I don't know of any like that offhand.

Oh yeah, Hellsing.




I finally found a good anime site with up to date news. Anyway, I have a couple of questions. One: Is there a web site where I can see what CN has cut out (nudity) without buying said DVD? Two: How do I go about emailing CN to complain about censorship? I'm new to your site but I like it already. Thanks.

There might be a site where you can do that, but I'd rather you just go buy the DVD, dude. If all you want to see are naked anime characters, go to a store and buy some hentai. Sheesh. Is it really worth it, complaining to Cartoon Network? Why would you need to do that? Are they going to read your email and think “Hey, this guy says we should have nudity and swearing on our children's programming channel. Let's do it!”. They have “Adult Swim”, which airs stuff that has slightly more blood and suggestive content. Yeah, it's still edited, but you can go buy the DVDs of these shows in their unedited forms. Some people are just never happy.

I would have to agree with Answerman here. You want nudity, go and buy anime that focuses on it. If you just want to see other things cut out (ie more blood and gore) then buy the DVD. As for censorship, the station is called 'CARTOON' Network...and America believes these to be for younger audiences. Even Adult Swim lable things 18+ that are really meant for younger teens. So you either take the edited stuff, or shell out money. Your choice...

[Editor's note: Check our Kyle Pope's Edit List to get the Skinny on what Cartoon Network edits out of Anime. Kyle compares the Cartoon Network broadcast to the North American "unedited/uncut" dub releases. Next up Kyle will be focusing on Cartoon Network's broadcast of Inu Yasha]

Oh, I forgot about Kyle's Edit List. Definitely the resource you're looking for; thanks mr. editor.

Alright, we're running a bit empty this week, so that's the last question for this round. We'll see you all on Friday with our special edition 100th Answerman column. Until then!

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