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INTEREST: Pearl Diver Mascot Controversy Continues to Rage


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AnimeAddict2014



Joined: 16 Feb 2015
Posts: 925
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:19 pm Reply with quote
"..maybe i should be a pearl diver.."

that's what i thought after reading the first paragraph..

but when i scrolled down ... i changed my mind

60ft under water without breathing equipment.. these people have iron lungs.. Wink
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Kikaioh



Joined: 01 Jun 2009
Posts: 1205
Location: Antarctica
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:33 pm Reply with quote
A sexualized moe mascot. For a time-honored tradition mostly performed by older women.

...It's incredibly sleazy and disrespectful.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:41 pm Reply with quote
Snakebit1995 wrote:
Who the hell would want to visit a place where the mascot is an old women in a skin tight suit? Not very many.


An old woman can work as a mascot, or a spokesperson, if she is interesting as a character. For best results, she'd be played up for comedy on TV commercials or billboards and such (usually the one dispensing dry wit to everyone around her).

Of course, this won't bring in the anime market, but hey, it could still bring in other markets.

mrsatan wrote:
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.


Roger Sharpe, a legal rights attorney, recently said something about how he worries for any field or hobby that's comprised mostly of old people (and in his line of work, he sees this a lot), because that's a sign that it's completely lost the interest of younger folks and thus will die out soon (or, if you ask me, will simply become a tiny core group of people who do it for the sake of staving off its extinction). It stood out to me, for one thing, because Sharpe himself is an old man.
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Animelover12313



Joined: 07 May 2014
Posts: 278
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:51 pm Reply with quote
The complainers do have a point since I see very little resemblance to what they are doing at all. Considering that it IS a long standing tradition, a little bit more accurate mascot would have been helpful. But the reasons that they are complaining are still weird haha, I just love reading their reasons.
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TarsTarkas



Joined: 20 Dec 2007
Posts: 5821
Location: Virginia, United States
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:53 pm Reply with quote
The accusations of child (xxxx) are ridiculous. They hired this guy to make a mascot that would get people interested in pearl diving and the location. He did his job well.

They could have just as easily hired a photographer to do the same job, and he would have hired a bunch of young models and photographed them at the local beach wearing swimsuits.

Sounds like the angry villagers would have hated either option. What the community wanted and what they actually requested are two different things. They wanted good PR for their community and business, but they didn't have realistic expectations for what that actually means. That photograph they provided was a nice thing, but it wouldn't have engendered hardly any interest.

Any type of PR needs to have a hook and/or allure. You have to get people interested so they look deeper.

If you wanted to recruit more Garbage Men (and women) you wouldn't do it with pictures of dirty workers on dirty trucks doing the actual job. You would do it with Soviet style artwork. But if we are talking about pearl divers at the beach, then it is going to be beautiful women in swimsuits at the beach. Otherwise there is no sense in wasting your money on PR.
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firedragon54738



Joined: 24 Sep 2007
Posts: 3113
Location: wisconsin
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 8:54 pm Reply with quote
Oh japan not every thing needs to be moe and dont know why they cant just make a older character
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Foxaika



Joined: 28 Apr 2015
Posts: 365
Location: Columbus, Ohio
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:00 pm Reply with quote
Suena wrote:
There's no physical way a lady can be 5'2" and 101 pounds and have boobs like that. No. Way.


I love this comment Laughing
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Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 9:16 pm Reply with quote
When people perceive a drawing they don't like as a "human rights violation," it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that they've lost all sense of reasoning.

I understand that Megu-chan's youthful, innocent appearance may feel a bit offensive to these ama that are outraged towards her, but Mr. Hamaguchi-san and the anonymous twenty-year-old have a point as well- an elderly-looking character is going to have a very hard time trying to attract newcomers to the city, if at all.

Edit: Hey...2300 posts! Smile


Last edited by Mr. Oshawott on Fri Aug 28, 2015 6:51 am; edited 1 time in total
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Lili-Hime



Joined: 05 Jun 2014
Posts: 569
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:33 pm Reply with quote
Foxaika wrote:
Suena wrote:
There's no physical way a lady can be 5'2" and 101 pounds and have boobs like that. No. Way.


I love this comment Laughing


Me too lol. Welcome to anime physics! The more obvious anatomy fail in most anime anatomy is they give girls with big breasts way too slender shoulders. Can't support that weight without neck/shoulder muscles. Had to laugh it was a bit mistake a lot of guys made in art school (boobs to big, shoulders too small.)
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PackMontoya



Joined: 27 Aug 2015
Posts: 18
PostPosted: Thu Aug 27, 2015 11:41 pm Reply with quote
It's like the character designer took one look at the old mascot and thought "Alright. How can I make this appealing" without doing much research on modern day pearl diving. I'm not against a young, female mascot, but they could have gone with a more practical hair length and ditched the outdated white dress for a diving suit. At least then, the skin tight clothing would have made sense.
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Arale Kurashiki



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 744
PostPosted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:07 am Reply with quote
"But this WILL attract people!" Attracting people to your town is one thing, attracting sleazy otaku to your town is another.
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Mr. Oshawott



Joined: 12 Mar 2012
Posts: 6773
PostPosted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:21 am Reply with quote
Arale Kurashiki wrote:
Attracting people to your town is one thing, attracting sleazy otaku to your town is another.

I staunchly doubt attracting "sleazy otaku" was what they had in mind with in the creation of Megu-chan.
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Nosehair



Joined: 23 Feb 2015
Posts: 79
PostPosted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:27 am Reply with quote
heads up"pearl diving" is slang for jerking off underwater and then retrieving your jizz one handscoop at a time
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CeaseActivity





PostPosted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 12:40 am Reply with quote
Remember, anime is not "normal" in Japan. I don't think it's strange if old people - that, y'know, most likely aren't otaku - think she's uncomfortably sexualized.

The problem here is that this mascot is supposed to represent a group of people that clearly doesn't identify with it.
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leafy sea dragon



Joined: 27 Oct 2009
Posts: 7163
Location: Another Kingdom
PostPosted: Fri Aug 28, 2015 1:26 am Reply with quote
Say, isn't there a bookstore in Japan that uses an old woman as its mascot? I remember one of the Anime News Network Goes to Japan articles had a photo of a promotion involving her screaming or something.
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