Let's talk about Anime!

Well. As I said. There's all kinds of anime: education, political, satire... it's as rich as the whole western movie genre. I don't have the actual stats, so I would refrain from saying that most anime is about sexualized high schoolers.

But let's take the current "big" anime that I know of.

Naruto. Kids have small boobs. Young teens are just young teens. Teenager-adult have standard boobs, usually covered but on a select few. There's a 60-years-old granny that has a 30s appearance with massive boobs.

One Piece. Everyone has BIG BOOBS. But none is specifically shown to be highschooler. Kids are drawn in a cartoony way, almost Disney-like.

Attack on Titan. Nope, no big boobs. The female lead is a cold type, covering most of her face with scarf and her body in flatty combat attire.

Gundam. Nope, nothing oversexualized.

See this best Anime of 2013 by Kotaku.

kotaku.com/the-five-best-anime-of-2013-1489380623

So, I agree with your thought, that being what the fans wanted, so they're more popular (the oversexualized high-schooler/kids).

Then there's the problem with styling. Anime/manga usually have simple lines, making the characters look even younger. You should see some shoujo stuff (for girls). Parents are often picture the same way as youngsters, with the addition of wrinkles at the edge of their lips (and nowhere else!).

You guys think anime = cartoon = for kiddie. WRONG! There are good anime, bad anime, anime for kids, anime for tennager, anime for adult, porn, and even the weird stuff. It's a cultural thing you know... seeing a brutal live action movie is okay, but if there's anime like that, "it's all violence".

Now it's true that pedophile is somewhat more tolerated in Japan. Actual pedophiles, not. But the idea in pop culture, yes. But there are also decent stuff that's against these things. So saying you're not watching anime due to pedophillia or extreme violence is as ridiculous as saying you're not watching the whole western movie due to movies like SAW and barely legal porns. It just goes to show your closed mindedness.

I wasn't saying anything against anime, I was saying that the niche internet groups are more drawn to the weirder or more exotic stuff, so it seems more saturated.

It could go both ways. I wouldn't be surprised if the cult movies in Japan from the West followed a similar extreme pattern rather than Hitchcock or Woody Allen, making Hollywood seem like even more of a gore fest than it is.

Good to see that anime is as divisive as ever.

I just thought of another series that I'm not sure anyone has mentioned yet. Death Note was pretty good, certainly worth checking out.

I wasn't saying anything against anime, I was saying that the niche internet groups are more drawn to the weirder or more exotic stuff, so it seems more saturated.

I wasn't responding particularly to you, SaMoKo. Sorry if it seems that way.

hotseatgames wrote: Good to see that anime is as divisive as ever.

I just thought of another series that I'm not sure anyone has mentioned yet. Death Note was pretty good, certainly worth checking out.

High-school-girl-look-alike college girl in sexually-suggestive gothic outfit. Barnes will kill you.

(the manga-ka is awesome though... he wrote a series about... manga-ka! similar drawing style but much lighter tone)

you guys are misusing the term pedo and pedophile here. Pedos are sexually attracted to pre-pubescent children. Teenage girls in private school uniforms are a popular sexualized concept in Western culture. Brittany Spear's first music video wasn't being aimed at pedos for Christ's sake.

I don't see any elements of pedophelia in anime or any of the other media that people seem to see it in. I think the last time I heard a legitimate concern about pedo in media was over Calvin Klein ads which definitely were skirting the lines of pedo (young boy in underwear, etc).

tscook wrote: I have no idea what is happening with people dogpiling Barnes for a legit observation (that is as true in any form of media, Eastern or Western). I was just making fun of him for being an old man and not knowing that other good shows have emerged~

That was my thought as well. There's enough eyebrow raising shit in even pretty mainstream anime to be pretty skeeved about the pedophilia angle.

I just think there were some decent shows that came out since 1986.

Here's the deal with the pedo stuff.

When people act like they're watching this stuff with the material that can EASILY be interpreted as (or explicitly is) pedophiliac because of the robots, the story, the music, artwork or whatever...it's the same thing as somebody saying they read Playboy for the articles.

It reminds me of the whole "photography club" thing men used to go to long before the internet. Wives and girlfriends probably assumed that they were going to talk about cameras. They were really going to to take pictures of a nude model.

Don't make excuses. Don't act like the anime with the sexualized children (or adults drawn to emphasize childlike features) exists for any other reason than to turn on people (predominantely men) with pedo fantasies. If you're into this stuff, man the fuck up and admit that you're watching it because of the girls.

It just blows my mind regularly that in the West, so much of the pedo stuff is ignored. I think it's because the mainstream view _is_ that cartoons are for kids, so when adults see some of this stuff on Manga covers or whatever they aren't thinking that the real audience is adult men with sicko fantasies about children (or adults made to look like children, since that's a typical excuse made by apologists for this shit).

Cook is right, there are newer shows/films that are good. Sev is too, that there is a wide range of anime for all tastes (including illegal, amoral, and vile ones) and there's great anime for children and adults.

I think the main think Mike, while you're right about pedo-related stuff getting "ignored", it's all on a very personal level about pedo. When I see stuff that may register as "pedo" to pedophiles, it's just a "normal cute" for me. I find them uninteresting (I have watched, these anime are senseless cuteness fuck, totally boring even for me) so in my mind not many people like them.

OK, turned I was WRONG. Talked to a female friend about this. These anime are popular. Among females. So the story was, turned there are guys liking this, so they make this kind of anime but for guys. The number is never high. So there's a possibility about guys looking at girls anime. Not much different than guys visiting Victoria Secret stores...

(in Japan, anime and manga are made to cater certain audience... for example Shonen is for guys and Shojo is for girls)

I watched one this morning while flicking through channels. First 3 minutes, 1 guy and 2 girls having lunch eating banana ice cream. Then the guy go home. His little sister showing a "charm" from magazine, on how to get guys, including not eating your favorite food for 5 days and staring the target while muttering something like "Nyiiin, nyeeen, nyooon"..........................

*scratched my head*

I'm sorry Barnes but you are arguing against some diffuse strawmen. Judge each work for what it is and not for any supposed moral failings of a vague majority.

I would also be extremely wary to claim anything that "can be interpreted as" is. Unless you want to argue Truffaut, which is pointless.

Just for laughs, I am tossing this into the discussion:

io9.com/japan-gets-to-the-point-and-make...-1493362908/@bricken

Japan gets to the point and makes straight-up Disney Princess lingerie