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Senran Kagura Producer: 'We've Stopped Putting in Sexual Content with No Narrative Reason'
posted on by Kim Morrissy
Senran Kagura series producer Kenichirō Takaki was featured in an interview with pop culture website Akiba-Souken on Saturday. He shared his thoughts on the sexual depictions in the currently airing Senran Kagura Shinovi Master TV anime series, which he has been writing scripts for.
Takaki said that across all the Senran Kagura media, the teams have "stopped putting in sexual content with no narrative reason." Whenever something sexual happens in Senran Kagura, there needs to be a narrative explanation for it. Characters should no longer just strip or look up each other's skirts "for some vague reason."
Takaki further stated that he wants the stories to properly convey character growth and have serious elements that co-exist with humorous elements. The anime has a heavy focus on action for this reason. However, he also admitted that sometimes the logic behind the fanservice scenes can't be fully explained and viewers should take it in stride.
Takaki also mentioned that, because of increasing international scrutiny due to the upcoming Tokyo Olympics, it has been getting harder to push the envelope with sexual content in both the games and anime. Games website Siliconera translated a small excerpt of the interview as follows: "Lately, regulations regarding sexual depictions have become more strict around the world, and for this reason, we need to make sure there isn't any misunderstandings in what we make. There are some parts that are difficult to work with, likely more so than we've ever experienced."
Takaki does not appear to think that sexual content is doomed, however. "There are people that want to see [sexual content], and there are people like us who want to make such games, so I'd like to think of a way for us to slip our way through.”
Crunchyroll is streaming both the censored and uncensored versions of Senran Kagura Shinovi Master. (The uncensored version is not available for free members.) The English release of the Senran Kagura Burst Re:Newal game was recently delayed to remove the "intimacy mode" from the PS4 version. The Steam version will still include the mode.
Sources: Akiba-Souken, Siliconera
