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INTEREST: Pearl Diver Mascot Controversy Continues to Rage


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Snakebit1995



Joined: 25 Apr 2015
Posts: 842
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:33 pm Reply with quote
This just sounds like old folks being a little old school and out of touch.

The hemline is barely discernible, there is no nipple, in anime terms her boos are not huge, and smiling is not a shameful look that makes her look ready for "Nasty Stuff"

If the average age of Pearl divers is 70 than it's a old person thing and they should be looking to get younger and this is a perfect way to appeal to a younger age demographic.

I hate to sound mean but the main complainers seem out of touch, and foolish on how to advertise.

The old mascot has no appeal to the younger generation, they need to expand and a cute FICTIONAL moe character is a good way to do it.

Who the hell would want to visit a place where the mascot is an old women in a skin tight suit? Not very many.

but i bet you could get a lot of people to visit with a cute mascot.

These people need a wake up call too see just how out of touch they are. Someone call Jon Taffer they need a Mascot Rescue.
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EricJ2



Joined: 01 Feb 2014
Posts: 4016
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:37 pm Reply with quote
So, they're upset at having a mascot that DOESN'T look like Trixie from Speed Racer? Confused
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Suena



Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 289
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:42 pm Reply with quote
There's no physical way a lady can be 5'2" and 101 pounds and have boobs like that. No. Way.
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FenixFiesta



Joined: 22 Apr 2013
Posts: 2581
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:43 pm Reply with quote
If I were the PR firm, to appease the host I suppose they should double down on the "Nendoroid" art style and just pretend the generic sexy girl version wasn't the first stride.
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VORTIA
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Joined: 26 Jul 2005
Posts: 941
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:46 pm Reply with quote
"She considers it a human rights violation,"

Let me get this straight - a cartoon drawing of a girl is violating someone's human rights. Exactly what right is that? I'd like to hear what specific, inalienable god-given human right is being violated by A DRAWING?

The citizens of Shima are free to accept or reject a city mascot for any reason they feel like - it's their town - but engaging in gross exaggeration and irrational hysterics isn't going to grant them any credibility. How about "We're from Shima, and we don't like it, we think it's crass."?
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AJ (LordNikon)



Joined: 14 Apr 2009
Posts: 503
Location: Kyoto
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:48 pm Reply with quote
Snakebit1995 wrote:
This just sounds like old folks being a little old school and out of touch.

The old mascot has no appeal to the younger generation, they need to expand and a cute FICTIONAL moe character is a good way to do it. Who the hell would want to visit a place where the mascot is an old women in a skin tight suit? Not very many.

These people need a wake up call too see just how out of touch they are. Someone call Jon Taffer they need a Mascot Rescue.


Right, this reminds me of all those advertisements that have been playing around here with all the young millennials having these exciting adventures zip lining, but when they get out there, it's more like the Zip Line episode of South Park.

Sorry hoss, but try to take something as boring, ho-hum, and mundane as pearl diving, and adding a sexy moe idol is only going to lead to a hell of a lot of disappointment,
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 6:50 pm Reply with quote
They need to chill, you can't compare a moe girl to acts of death, tyranny, oppression, and suffering. Age does bad things to you sometimes.
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asdqweiop



Joined: 21 Feb 2014
Posts: 33
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:11 pm Reply with quote
this is the best article ever
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Arale Kurashiki



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 750
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:22 pm Reply with quote
I don't blame them at all, if I had a long-standing tradition I wouldn't want pedo shit representing it either. Remember that although she isn't very sexualized by anime standards, that's anime standards which are through the [expletive] roof in terms of sheer terribleness. She's still a terribly generic anime girl with overly present breasts who was almost certainly designed by a bunch of old men.

That's worth pointing out, in fact. You can't exactly use "the complainers are old" as a defense, because young people are fairly often not the ones marketing these kinds of characters.
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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1555
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:34 pm Reply with quote
The complainers have a point, in that the character clearly isn't representative of actual pearl divers. It would be nice to recognize that most of the people doing this work are older women, especially since that's something a lot of people probably wouldn't expect.

That said, the protesters are really shooting themselves in the foot when they start accusing the character of somehow being child porn and projecting weird sexual ideas onto her appearance (God only knows what she meant by "all kinds of nasty stuff.") Those accusations are just ridiculous.

If it were me, I'd have created two mascots, both in the same art style; maybe Megu could have a grandmother who is an actual pearl diver (and is dressed realistically) whereas Megu herself just aspires to be one when she gets older?


Arale Kurashiki wrote:

That's worth pointing out, in fact. You can't exactly use "the complainers are old" as a defense, because young people are fairly often not the ones marketing these kinds of characters.


Exactly right. Almost all these mascots are designed and approved by local town committees, so what you're looking at here is probably the work of a bunch of men in their 50's.
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4570
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:52 pm Reply with quote
The actual language of the complaints is definitely way overblown, but I think they have a good point in principle. Especially when you read quotes like this:

Quote:
According to a twenty-something man in Shima, "it would be impossible to make [a 70-year-old] a character. Their boobs aren't full anymore. To draw a pearl diver cutely, you need this much exhibition."

Seriously, what the hell?
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Rob49152



Joined: 19 Dec 2014
Posts: 118
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:56 pm Reply with quote
I am amused by the complaints because they are simply out of touch with the current reality. Someone should show them the moe battleship girls. or the moe appliance girls they have now. Or the completely confusing mascot characters they have now.

But no. there are zero human rights being violated. Saying that just makes the person sound hysterical or out to lunch. Maybe oxygen starved...
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 7:59 pm Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
The actual language of the complaints is definitely way overblown, but I think they have a good point in principle. Especially when you read quotes like this:

Quote:
According to a twenty-something man in Shima, "it would be impossible to make [a 70-year-old] a character. Their boobs aren't full anymore. To draw a pearl diver cutely, you need this much exhibition."

Seriously, what the hell?


That man has quite the epiphany there.
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Arale Kurashiki



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 750
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:00 pm Reply with quote
Wyvern wrote:

That said, the protesters are really shooting themselves in the foot when they start accusing the character of somehow being child porn and projecting weird sexual ideas onto her appearance (God only knows what she meant by "all kinds of nasty stuff.") Those accusations are just ridiculous.


It makes sense when you think about how the character is intentionally designed to be sexually attractive as well as being 17. Obviously not literal child porn, but it's the same kind of shit that saturates the anime industry that most people aren't willing to point out. About the line about "nasty stuff" though, I believe the speaker was trying to get across an idea about who the target was for this drawing but they didn't really know how to describe what they were thinking at all. Basically, the character itself isn't sexual/"nasty" but the target audience is obviously the kind of people who would think about the character in that way.
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mrsatan



Joined: 06 Jul 2005
Posts: 909
Location: Olympia, WA, USA
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:03 pm Reply with quote
You know, they weren't always old women. I've seen old films of ama and they were once young women that did this. Young people simply don't want any part of it and if they want it to continue it should not be advertised as an "old person thing".

The wetsuits are certainly not traditional and it's a stupid thing to complain about. They're lucky he draw her nude like the ama used to do it.
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