Forum - View topicManga Rating System
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lunotick
Posts: 2 |
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Can someone tell me the name of the US government organization that regulates manga ratings. How could I get in contact with them. I'm trying to find out what their guidelines are for rating manga, what they consider Mature, Teen, etc.
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Abarenbo Shogun
 Posts: 1573 |
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Pretty much each company "Self-Polices" themselves when it comes to their properties. There is no CCA (Comics Code Authority) or ESRB-esque body that does a blanket rating system. |
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coolerimmortal
Posts: 522 |
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It's most fortunate that there is no government involvement in the rating of manga. That would be problematic.
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lunotick
Posts: 2 |
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So what kind of guidelines should someone follow though, there must be some kind of rules that companies must follow.
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shadow_guyver
 Posts: 307 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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Not really. I suppose there are federal laws that govern indecency and obsenity, but most manga imported to the U.S. doesn't really fall under that.
It's not like everything has to have a standardized ratings system. The companies are doing a fine job, so why should Uncle Sam get invovled? Last edited by shadow_guyver on Wed Aug 03, 2005 1:40 am; edited 1 time in total |
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JustinSane
 Posts: 269 Location: The Punk Underground, NJ |
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You know what I find kind of strange, how they give manga a rating but there are no rating on "regular books". I'm a really big fan of Chuck Palahniuk and his books are full of swearing and other horrific things (I love my dark humor books) that are definitely not suitable for children yet there are no ratings on his books. It would be pretty annoying to have ratings on books but I believe that manga should not be rated either, it's pretty useless. But then again there are a lot of crazy conservatives and soccer moms out there waiting for the chance to screw everything up.
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Kagemusha
 Posts: 2783 Location: Boston |
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There is no single rating system to govern manga, and companys only do it themselves to get titles into book stores (which would explain why Darkhorse doesn't bother to shrinkwrap or rate the titles that are aimed at comicbook readers on already have strong fanbases). Because each company uses they're own system, some titles are rated pretty inaccurate (like Negima being Older Teen). I really could care less about the ratings since bookstores haven't discriminated against mature rated titles.
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The Ramblin' Wreck
 Posts: 924 Location: Teaching Robot Women How To Love |
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This may come as news to some people, but the government doesn't "rate" any entertainment in this country. Movie ratings are given out by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) with voluntary consent by the major studios. Manga ratings are self-enforced. The companies rate their own titles. |
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shadow_guyver
Posts: 307 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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Heh heh, oh yeah. Now that I think about it I remember that the rating systems are not government nor required.
Useless? Don't forget, not everyone knows the difference from American comics and manga, apart from the obvious physical differences(tall and skinny vs. short and fat). Parents that want to control what their children have access to, which I support by the way, should have some way of knowing what they're buying. I would like it if they just knew about manga, but it's still a niche market and not everyone knows about it. |
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coolerimmortal
Posts: 522 |
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Sure, parents have the right to control what their kids are buying. But you forget that far too many parents are shallow fools who only look at the rating. Often times, titles are misrated. Parents who only look at ratings rather than examining the actual content are horribly misguided. It's the same with movie ratings. There are plenty of PG-13 movies that contain more offensive content than some R rated movies, but the parents who only look at ratings will allow the kids to see the PG-13 movies but not the R ones. It's the same way with manga. Parents should actually read the description of the series on the back of the book, and maybe even flip through it. This would be far better than blindly relying on a rating system. Sure, I recognize that there are plenty of titles that children should not have. But any worthwhile parent should be able to tell that Battle Royale and Hellsing are different from Pokemon, and that their children should not be reading them. The lack of responsibility on the part of parents in this nation is...sickening. |
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shadow_guyver
Posts: 307 Location: Tokyo, Japan |
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Sorry, I wasn't clear. I agree that parents actually reading the synopsis on the back and maybe flipping through the pages would be ideal. Alas, we live in a world where people like to have someone else do all the work for them, hence a rating system.
Also, what if the parent doesn't want to be offeneded by what the ses while skimming for content. They should have some warning as to what's in the manga, that's one of the reasons for other ratings systems. Thery're not just to protect kids, but also to guide reasonable adults away from movies, games, or whatever that they might find offensive. Bottomline, a ratings system is a tool. It shouldn't be used as the sole basis of any decision, but neither should it be discarded because some people use it that way. Oh and your last line:
I couldn't agree more. |
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.Sy
Posts: 1266 |
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A rating system can be found on TokyoPop's website here. It's similar for most companies that publish manga. Sometimes I find that a certain manga rating can vary greatly, although I still do agree with it's rating. Rurouni Kenshin is on the lower margin for "Older Teen" while Saiyuki is higher up, although not yet "Mature". Just my opinion, anyway.
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