Forum - View topicAnswerman - Is Ecchi Anime As Controversial In Japan As In America?
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Jonny Mendes
 Posts: 997 Location: Europe |
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Japanese people watching anime outside of the most mainstream shonen titles are already a niche. And fanservice anime fans are even a smaller niche inside of the small niche. If you go ask about some titles outside of the most know One Piece or kodomo anime, most Japanese never heard of them. There, like in the west, most people think that after a certain age, people should stop watching anime and start working. Is different if we are talking about manga or LN books because many people read them even as adults. But that is not true if you talk about anime, Japan is a good example when comes to don't poking their noses on other people hobbies. In western sites i read again and again that some things like fan-service and other controversial anime themes like Imoto love should disappear and that Japanese anime production companies should stop making them. To that people I say "If you don't like them, don't watch them". Don't make such fuss on other people hobbies. Is better to spend your time support the ones that you like and stopping go making abusive comments on every time a anime of the ones that you dislike appear. Last edited by Jonny Mendes on Wed Jul 25, 2018 11:39 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4426 |
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I do like that approach of leaving people to their hobbies. It seems far more inclusive to me to just not buy, play, watch, etc. the stuff you don't like than to make others feel bad because they do. There have been different times where I've started a show and decided I wasn't comfortable with what was in it, so I just stop and move on to something else.
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CatSword
 Posts: 1489 |
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I think the only place where Japan is more lenient/approving is a bit of sexual humor and fanservice in anime aimed at children that would never fly in America (even Yokai Watch has to be edited here for its sometimes bawdy sense of humor).
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samuelp
Industry Insider
Posts: 2231 Location: San Antonio, USA |
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I think this answer kind of misses a lot, and looks at it too narrowly in terms of the range of _animated_ ecchi and boobs, etc.
The fact is, up until maybe 20 years ago, you'd have naked boobs on normal TV shows in Japan sometimes. Heck there was even an expression for it "porori mo aru yo!" (the sound of boobs popping out). And then there's the entire magazine industry and newspaper rags... All of these are quite "mainstream" but beyond anything you'd see in mainstream stuff in the US. It's really only in the last 20 years or so that there's been quite a "puritanization" of the mainstream media, and niches like anime therefore have escaped some of that (minus the shows that air in primetime slots). However the rise in censored TV broadcasts is a recent thing indeed. So it's not simply a matter of ecchi and especially the naked body as being something people openly complain about more in the west but that are equally accepted, there's a lot more to the cultural dynamics and especially the cultural change that's gone on in Japan over recent history. |
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Lord Oink
Posts: 876 |
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In America the only kind of sex humor appropriate for kids is showing a boy's bare butt. You can't show a girl's bare butt because it's considered sexual, and anything more is way too inappropriate. It was a huge deal when the Simpsons movie showed Bart's penis, but anime's been doing that for decades with characters like Son Goku and Shin-chan. Likewise, comically bouncy boobs is just considered funny humor in Japan, and can be found in numerous children's shows, along with the reverse of making fun of a girl for having small/no breasts. So yeah, Yokai Watch where Keita is often naked and you get obviously super suggestive scenes like sticking his fingers into a Yokai's butt and them moaning in ecstasy wouldn't really fly here, but it's common enough humor in Japanese stuff that I'd say there doesn't seem to be a huge backlash for that kind of content. Maybe a rule of thumb is to look at the big anime like Shin-chan, One Piece, Dragonball, and Conan. If it's in those series, it's an accepted type of content. Nami's yet to be put in a Burka and Roshi was still perving on women in Super. |
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Chrono1000
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Well late night anime is a niche market to begin with but ecchi is less of an issue in Japan where ecchi games can turn into huge franchises. That simply wouldn't happen in the western world where the puritanical movement is returning and there is hand wringing over whether ecchi anime is too sexy. I think that there will soon be attempts made to pressure western anime companies to stop licensing ecchi anime.
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MarshalBanana
 Posts: 5317 |
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Wasn't Miss Machiko a mainstream show? That had boob groping and skirt flipping. It even had a shower scene with the students.
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Jonny Mendes
Posts: 997 Location: Europe |
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Yes it was mainstream. Also boob groping and skirt flipping are pretty common in mainstream comedy anime and also the infamous kancho (poke the victim's anus). The shower scenes are less common. |
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Joshua Zarate
Posts: 2061 |
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I’ve been wondering about this question for a while and I’m glad to see Justin writing about it on Answerman. Condemning people for liking any genre, subtly or not, will only cause more friction in the anime community and not make it grow at all. I still see that lack of welcoming certain genres happen on occasion and it just upsets me no matter how long I’ve seen it happen. Such efforts seem like a wasteful use of one’s time and I don’t understand why some folks appear to get a kick out of doing so. I sincerely hope that in the future, more people can be open to moving on to other things and not making a huge deal over something that they simply didn’t enjoy.
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5825 Location: Virginia, United States |
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It is just the way things are in the United States. We have a 'witchfinder general' mentality, were we demonize people who like the things we don't. As Justin said, in Japan people mind their own business, in American it is almost the exact opposite. That said, it is not a 100 percent thing and it ebb and flows in strength Though these last couple of years we seem to be at high tide. |
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Hardgear
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Ah, I wish it was as easy as just telling them to mind their own business and ignoring them. The fact is, moral authoritarians are not just going to drop it. If you don't give them what they demand voluntarily, they will cry to the government in order to FORCE you into submitting to them via censorship and bans. They need to be crushed outright in every public arena and made into a laughingstock in front of the general public, like what happened to the anti-gay groups a few years back.
But while our niche is thankfully just a small niche and not warranting any attention from the busybodies on high, it is ALSO not something we can gather a large following to defend either. Even when I make the point that regulating, censoring, and banning works of fiction is literally thought policing and pretty much modern day book burning, few people are willing to put their emotions aside and see it this way until something THEY like is next in line for censorship and bans. |
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Chichiryuutei
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There are going to be party poopers everywhere. If you like ecchi (like me) know this: you're not hurting anyone, no one is been force to do anything & these characters are a work of fiction. It's all a fantasy. Just enjoy it.
Whether it's mainstream or not is debatable since replacing anime/cartoons and you'd have your typical Hollywood movie/tv show. People just want to put you down for having a hobbie with imagination (I don't see this discussion with regards to 50 shades of grey or any show on tv with real people). Censorship is a touchy subject but it just a red herring. How's is ok to show a 7 year old boy/girl gruesome murders? But it's done all the time. But big boobs bouncing ohhh the heresy? It's all bs. I think what you're really asking is how to behave/respond to the puritans. This depends a lot on your end goal. Are you trying to make friends in these forums or just "want to feel like" you're part of a large group? If making friends, discuss with the people that are not lecturing and learn why they like the series (boobs might be #1, but many will mention the story, characters, etc.). If you're trying to do the latter, that is high school groupie behavior and unfortunately, if you're not the alpha you'll need to conform to the alpha or always be chastised. I like reddit/Twitter but tbh, I don't care for the replies unless someone says something really thought provoking that can lead to a great conversation. Tl;dr ignore the ass*****. Enjoy your hobbies and discuss with people willing to have conversations. It's anime no need to get so serious lol |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2116 |
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I still think it's weird that Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs runs in the same magazine as One Piece.
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BadNewsBlues
Posts: 5920 |
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Don't know why Nami would be put in a burka.
Yeah I think you're projecting again. |
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Chrno2
 Posts: 6171 Location: USA |
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I've never had a problem with "ecchi" or any type of fan service type shows. I came to understand that the way things are done in other countries was based on their cultural sensibilities. Once I started getting a better understanding of the culture then I was able to address other peoples feelings on what they felt about being exposed to anime for the first time. I remember decades ago a student brought up a reference question to our staff. They basically needed some insight on how to research the subject matter so that they could write a paper on anime. So of course they had to call me. Yeah, the person who long ago some of the staff used to poke fun at regarding my interest in anime, manga and video game music collecting. WHO'S LAUGHING NOW????
But they valued having a person they could go to for help. Because despite these people having MLS degrees and I don't, they can't answer these questions because it's not within their range or knowledge to do so. Now you have librarians who actually have some knowledge of the medium because is has become more mainstream and has now been intergrated into academia. This girl just had her whole ideals on anime just being "dirty cartoons". You don't know how many times I've heard this statement. I had to try to school her a bit that she had to have a better understanding of the medium and the culture surrounding why such imagery is allowed. She eventually began to get it but I did the best I could to direct her to some sources but finding someone who's more academic to talk to was the harder part. This was in the 90's. There were no books you could peruse as of yet. And we didn't have such materials yet until some years later after having an instructor that started requesting things for his reserve. Sometimes I do shake my head at fan service and I know male friends that were often turned off by it because they used to feel like it was being hammered down their throats. Some of my female friends would just laugh and make jokes at the absurdity. Then came 'Naked Agent Aika'. A series that I STILL HAVE NOT finished watching. I've watched the same 4 episodes like 4 times now. I watched it through a friend because only had the first 4. I DL'ded the first 4 and watched that. Then rented it through Netflix and the 2nd disc was damaged. It was like a conspiracy that I never finished. Because no one ever had the rest. I finally broke down and bought it when it was offered again. And while it's blatant fan service that is deliberate in a joking manner, I somehow was able to override it for the story. I really wanted to find out more about the character 'Aika' and the bustier garment. But yet I couldn't get into 'Ikkitousen'. I have no idea why. However I've heard women comment on Ikkitousen. I was surprised. Just as surprised as a female blogger who ran a site which is now defunct, the once 'Hentai-Neko' site which had women bloggers who covered "hentai" favorably. I followed a good deal of hentai because of their reviews. Sometimes you just don't know until you really look. I've even been to some fan events and sat down and talked with younger fans. I felt sort of out of place being much older than them despite the group leader being older than me. While I was sitting and having a conversation with some people the topic of 'KLK' came up and I talked about how I liked it. A fellow sitting next to me found it odd that despite my being a woman (and female) that I was watching a show that had "fan service". He asks me, "how can I watch a show that has fan service (ie. something that is catered to males)?" I just told him that I couldn't explain it as I've been watching fan service shows and adult stuff for years and never really got upset about it. Obviously he's never taken a look outside. Or maybe he's never met women anime fans that would watch fan service because let's be honest not everyone including women like watching hentai or fan service unless they're' into it. But it really depends on the fan service they're watching. Meaning on the fan service that caters to male or female sensibilities. There is a difference. What I do get upset at is that there is a generation that for whatever reason they like anime, but some act like moral busybodies. Trying to attack a fandom that appeals to everyone is counterproductive and does more harm than good. But there's always a case of "it's this, or it's that" or "there's not enough of this"... I really hope that people can really stay out of each other's way and allow the fandom to flourish the way it's done when I first started. Because if this continues there isn't going to be a fandom. |
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