Forum - View topicNEWS: Tokyopop Manga Draw Negative Attention
|
Goto page Previous Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
Necros Antiquor
 Posts: 571 Location: Funny in a car crash sort of way |
|
||
|
I've always been surprised that products marketed towards adults or older teens are being sold to younger audiences through the child's decisions, with parents complaining about their lack of responsibility on the matter later. As an avid video game player, I'm well familiar with the policy of not selling M-rated games (the equivalent of an R-rated movie) to anyone under the age of 17 at all the major retailers. However, once I got a job as a cashier at Wegmans, I was really surprised that, upon asking about selling R-rated movies, they can be sold to anyone. It always seemed sort of unfair compared to games.
Do we have to adopt an across-the-board policy of ID-ing every "older" product that comes through the line, even if it's a manga book at a library? No. Just get parents to do their damn job and keep track of what their kids are buying. It's not that hard, they don't have large incomes and can't drive to the store/library on their own, they should be looking to see what they shop for or come home with if they're paying any attention at all. |
|||
|
|||
rpb3000
 Posts: 25 Location: Middle of Nowhere, OH, USA |
|
||
I really have to disagree here. How can you assign an arbitrary age to people and say that the younger crowd isn't going to understand something? When does this magical enlightenment occur? To me (who started attending college at 13), it just sounds like blatant age discrimination, and I've had to fight with various aspects of it through my teen years. And I don't consider myself to be a "special case". My little bro has been watching "R" movies at home (after my parents pre-screened them) since he was like 7. And we both play all kinds of videogames and read manga (yeah, most of which claims 13+), and I don't think either one of us are about to go out on a shooting spree or some other such thing that these hysterical parents seem to think is going to happen if the expose their kids to *gasp* reality. The same can be said for a couple of my friends who have been doing the same for pretty much the same amount of time (they actually started off on it younger). |
|||
|
|||
Animefan16
 Posts: 1014 |
|
||
|
I show my little brothers my shonen mangas even if the the more violent ones like FMA. If they can be targetted at kids at Japan and still have a lower crime rate than the US, then I don't see the harm in letting my brothers watch those shows. My parents don't mind although my mom sometimes complains about it. My brothers have watched violent shonen animes like FMA, Bleach, and DBZ uncut and they're not out there shooting people.
I draw the line at Seinen mangas like Gantz since they're too young for those and they're targetted at adults. |
|||
|
|||
Azumangaman
 Posts: 256 Location: Canada |
|
||
That is so true. I don't see a problem with most manga considering the fact that most famous artwork involves detailed nudity. Just think about that. Also most issues like rape should be touched upon so anyone who reads it knows how bad these things really are. So in fact, It's a good thing that this person read Peach Girl. She should indeed read more. |
|||
|
|||
freshkazuki
 Posts: 235 Location: Texas |
|
||
|
I think there was a missing sentence or two from the Anime News Network article. It went something like:
"After the mother got over her initial shock she consoled herself by doing some crack and sleeping with the husband of her next door neighbor" 
Now, I think if this sentence had been included then the "shock" at having her own life portrayed in her teen's manga would explain her reaction. She needs to check into a detox program and also build up her moral fiber! I think the mother should have bigger issues with the public library. Like for instance, people watching porno videos on the library computers. I mean, come on! I went to the library with one of my friends and they were like "man, did you see what that guy was watching!" Now, I make it my business to not even glance at what other people are doing on those computers instead of looking up books. As for the age listing on manga, they are very inconsistent. I think that if you made a movie out of a lot of "16+" manga they would be rated-R. Or a manga rated 7+ includes some fan service. If the kids want to find some really bad stuff, they could just look in the fiction section for Danielle Steele. There are plenty of books in the library that can be checked out that parents would find offensive. I guess you'll know when manga has really hit it big when the whole morality issue becomes a hot topic. It is a prime market for Christian fundamentalists that have no problem with their millionaire televangelions with their bling bling breaking their neck and puffy purple hair and palaces and amusement parks and gospel karaoke. I disagree with this being the first wave. We haven't even started to feel the tide yet. Where's Hillary Clinton?? Maybe she should regulate manga like she's trying to jump on the anti-videogame bandwagon because she is an expert in the field of sexual deviance due to her husband. |
|||
|
|||
Joe Mello
 Posts: 2260 Location: Online Terminal |
|
||
Wait, that means the system is working....(what's the difference between 16 and 17?) An 11-year-old picking up 13+ manga. Does anyone else see a problem, here? I actually have a mind to kinda side with the mother (which is rare for me) in that someone should have stopped this from happening. However, you can't just avoid the reasons why Peach Girl is "bad." As cheesey as it may sound, this would be a very good opportunity to discuss those topics that every girl should be aware of. There is no substitute for good parenting. |
|||
|
|||
|
ShadowrazoR
Posts: 17 |
|
||
lol good one. or two, for that matter. in the end it's just the fame-seeking parents like these who actually go and rant about stuff like this to the press. they want their 15 minutes of fame and they'll destroy anything to get it. think about it. with manga and anime distribution being so widespread, if people actually thought like them, pretty much all parents all over the world would be going at it. but no, only a few cases actually get reported like this. why? simply because most people are more understanding about displaying such themes in manga and anime. kids gotta learn about this sort of stuff sooner or later. heck, any 7 year old kid can probably learn more by watching the news or cop shows. or maybe most people just aren't that attention-seeking. |
|||
|
|||
|
.hacker
Posts: 24 |
|
||
|
To be honest, I really don't see why the mother is making such a big deal about the manga. As stated from other members, I agree that it's both the librarian's and the parent's responsibility. For the librarian, the manga has to be placed in the correct location for 13+ material. For the parent, if they are really concerned about it, they should probably be with the child when they check out books. But, if you let the child check out books on their own, then you don't care what they check out. If that's the case, don't complain when they come home!
Manga to receive negative headlines is not too great for manga readers, but I don't feel that it will cause a censorship issue at this time. (But, knowing us, people will start to make a big deal of it over time). Maybe it'll reinforce the idea that you need to be careful what the manga rating is before purchasing/borrowing. But, this is all coming from someone who doesn't like censorship at all. |
|||
|
|||
Steroid
 Posts: 329 Location: At home, where all good hikikomori should be |
|
||
|
I feel sorry for the poor child who's now not going to get to keep reading the series she liked so much. I can only hope some kind person who lives near her will find a way to smuggle the manga to her.
|
|||
|
|||
|
.hacker
Posts: 24 |
|
||
|
Oh, let me add one more thing.
Apparently, this town also likes to lynch Santa Claus from a tree and has subsitutes sniffing cocaine in class... http://www.local6.com/news/5491296/detail.html So, maybe this town is just overall weird. Now, I feel the manga situation will blow over. I also like the fact that the article did not accurately describe the whole story, but just one event. >_> Last edited by .hacker on Sun Dec 11, 2005 11:22 am; edited 1 time in total |
|||
|
|||
rankothefiremage
 Posts: 516 Location: Michigan |
|
||
How true, i always feel sick when people give me "are you insane looks" when they hear that i enjoy reading 1000-5000 pages a week. Kids don't read enough these days, they'd much rather have everything told to them by the TV. Now I'm from a devout Catholic family with a priest my godfather and closest uncle, my family has never had a problem with the manga i read or the anime i watch, i mean good lord my uncle went with me to otakon once. If families just spent a bit of fricken time together, they could worry less about their kids, sure they might not make as much money but they would be far happier day to day. Manga has no worse content than any other book kids around 13 should be reading (not factoring adult manga of course). Parents should just bloody grow up. |
|||
|
|||
|
SushiGirl
Posts: 1 |
|
||
|
As a librarian, I would like to respectfully mention Article V of the Library Bill of Rights developed by our professional organization, the American Library Association:
"A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views." As crescendoll points out, "the library can shelve books according to intended audience to help readers make good decisions about their choices, but the library has no right to restrict anyone of reading anything." Books are not shelved according to age level unless the librarian makes an additional distinction over and above what is required by either the Dewey Decimal System or the Library of Congress Subject Headings. I love my job and am thrilled when I see students checking out manga (or any book for that matter); I enjoy manga myself and hope to continue to provide open access to materials to all patrons. |
|||
|
|||
DarkTenshi90
 Posts: 440 Location: Nebraska |
|
||
|
This by far, has to be the dumbest artical I have ever read. It makes me thankful to not live in Florida at the moment. Anyway, I told my mother about this and even she thought it was silly. She said, "Don't manga have ratings on the back? Why was she checking it out anyway?" I love my mom
 *laughs*, but yeah. It's the same thing as "OMG, VIDEO GAMES ARE TEH EBIL-NESS!!! SUE SUE SUE SUE!!!!!!!!!!!!" Please, people, go check out some other regular, non-manga books, and they are even worse than Peach Girl.
... it wouldn't surprise me if those parents are going to raise a big deal over this for the next year, though, it's impossible to ban libraries from bringing in manga just because [insert fake sob here] "Their little baby saw drugs and hintings of rape, wah~." Please, I saw Vanilla Sky when I was... what, 11? Oh, and American Pie 2, and those are much worse than Peach Girl and Marmalade Boy (which by far has to be the most innocent love story I've read, so why are the parents in a frenzy?) and my parents didn't cause a huge commotion. They just covered my eyes every once in awhile. But really, who is to blame in this story? It's the child for not showing her parents what she borrowed. The public does not need to be diciplined, it's their child. This is why I hate these wannabe "Leave it to Beaver" families, they don't know what reality is. 
|
|||
|
|||
hooliganj
 Posts: 113 Location: Longhorn Central |
|
||
|
Man, this one is straight out of the OC. Of all the titles they could possibly complain about, it's Peach Girl and Marmalade Boy?
Anyway, SushiGirl beat me to it, but I want to back her up. While I sympathize with the parents' dilemma, no public library can discriminate on the basis of age, unless another federal law would be violated (distributing pornographic material to minors would be the most relevant one here). Welcome to equal rights and liberty the hard way. That being said, most libraries I've been to do shelve the Young Adult titles sepearately from the Children's books. But if a child purposefully makes their way to the YA section, I think they should be congratulated for challenging themselves. The children who develop the fastest are the ones who reach beyond their means, even if it's just comic book themes. If a parent is worried about what their child is learning, then they should discuss those themes with the kid. They're obviously ready for it - after all, they're the ones who picked up the book. And if you don't have the time or inclination to talk with your children, it's not the library's fault. |
|||
|
|||
JiJi McPaws
 Posts: 40 Location: Orlando, FL |
|
||
|
I believe it's better for the 11 year old to learn about date rape from a book rather than first hand experience.
|
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group