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I'm a little creeped out over the sexualization of minors in Anime

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Lady Bow

Lady Bow

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Nov 30, 2017
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I'll be focusing on My Hero with this since it's one of the animes I'm most familiar with. I started watching My Hero when it launched back in April/May of 2016 and quickly fell in love with the show. A fun premise with a lot of interesting takes on shounen tropes but there was one thing that really irked me though, and that was the show's "fan-service." Fan-service in it of itself is pretty pervy/shameless but we're talking about something even more grimey and that's fan-service of teenagers. I don't watch a lot of anime but I do hear this is sadly a common trope among a lot of the shows.

This really fucking sucks because the show is brilliant otherwise besides its poor portrayal of female characters and the under-aged fan-service referenced above. What inspired this post was myself browsing the official subreddit of the show and stumbling upon this post:

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Safe to say I was weirded out that the creator of this shounen would sexualize a young teenager that's 15 years old this way. Even weirder were the comments inside...."10/10 would smash" "damn she thicc" "OMG OMG" etc etc. Basically ogling over her.

Her regular outfit is just as appalling among other female characters in the show:

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This is so rampant in the anime community that it's mind boggling. Do these people not see how problematic and gross this is? What makes this so tolerated in Japanese culture? Please bear in mind this is not a hate thread for My Hero specifically but the sexualization of minors in anime in general. Also please don't pull the "Quiet" talking points like:

"She needs less clothes to breathe." The creator's intentions are very clear.
 
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Finaj

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I would like to recommend stuff like Monogatari and Made in Abyss... but I can't.
 
Alexhex

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Yeah it's effed. Screw the cultrual relativism noise. I just want to enjoy anime like a normal person. Though that's probably a fool's errand to begin with
 
Wein Cruz

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oh i misread. yeah tons of shows do this and it's why i don't watch much anime anymore. When people recommend shows i think it's important to mention if there is sexualization like you describe.
 
MMarston

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Didn't you put this thread up earlier and it got locked due to the inevitable direction it will take?
 
Geist

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One of the major reasons I don't watch a lot of anime anymore.

Evidently shows with adult characters (like Black Lagoon or Cowboy Bebop) just aren't popular.
 
OwensboroEsq

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Only a little? It creeps the hell out of me full stop.

I'm also curious about it being (supposedly) considered alright in Japanese culture. I just don't get it. Like, really, help me learn why it happens so much.
 

Deleted member 1258

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It's appalling and the "culture" that is birthed by it is even more disturbing. People like to deflect the argument by saying it's fictional like their consumption and enjoyment of it isn't reflective of their personality.
 
Speevy

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Has someone ever made a documentary about this subject?

I would be interested in seeing people being interviewed in a very confrontational Michael Moore style way.
 

Deleted member 19218

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It's creepy. Most creepy indeed but if you want to see something horrific then look in the adult section of a manga store in Japan. The covers are extreme, like 5 years getting gang raped.

I dunno how people can defend that.
 
texhnolyze

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Yeah, it's sick.

What's even more sick is that how the authors regularly create adult characters that look like a minor. Like she's supposed to be on her mid 20s but looks like a junior high-schooler.

Bakercat said:
We need more mom representation in anime. Love me a good milf.
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Even some moms are portrayed as a teenager in some cases.
 
Aurica

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It is one of the things that pushed me away from anime. The fanbase always talking about the best girl is also so juvenile and irritating to me.

I read lots of manga still, which obviously has many of the same issues. It sucks when there's a series that's great, but then it has this shit. I think most of the series I read don't have much. Shounen crap is pretty rampant with it, though. No thanks.
 
SaintBowWow

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I don't really watch any anime but got into JoJo because it's awesome, and that episode in Stardust Crusaders where a 10 year old girl is naked for most of the episode with a bunch of shots of her ass and sideboob almost made me drop the series entirely. Luckily there hasn't been anything at all like that since.

It's kind of weird though that if I were to recommend the series to anyone that is put off by anime I'd have to be like "oh no, it's not weird and pervy, there's only one episode that fetishises a child."
 
MMarston

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Lady Bow said:
I private messaged him and we had a talk on how to make the thread more suited for discussion/less one-sided.
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Ah, I see.
Geist said:
One of the major reasons I don't watch a lot of anime anymore.

Evidently shows with adult characters (like Black Lagoon or Cowboy Bebop) just aren't popular.
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Yeah, I've brought myself to watch some newer anime in recent years -- because there definitely still is some quality content out there -- but this is one of the larger reasons that I don't watch as much as I did back in high school.

Even if it's part of a show's metacommentary like say, Devilman Crybaby, it's still incredibly uneasy to view.
 
Kuro

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At last on the flip side Netflix seems to be ordering some more adult oriented anime.
 
Bitanator

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I do not watch anime because of it, the less support that goes to the sick fucks making this disgusting shit the better.

Then you have people like Nobuhiro Watsuki being caught for child pornograhy and I have to stop and wonder if supporting this medium helps contribute to the continued abuse of children
 
Jobbs

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There's kind of a sickness running through anime in general to varying degrees. I'm not sure why it is that way, but outside of Ghibli I mostly avoid it.
 
guek

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Kuma Bear said:
It's creepy. Most creepy indeed but if you want to see something horrific then look in the adult section of a manga store in Japan. The covers are extreme, like 5 years getting gang raped.

I dunno how people can defend that.
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Here's what I think is the more important question: does this cause societal harm? Is pedophilia and misogyny major issues in Japan? I admittedly don't know enough about the extent of those issues in Japan but I recall reading an article voicing frustration at the lack of a Me Too movement in places like Japan.
 
Soj

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Yeah, it's gross. I try to avoid it, but it seeps it's way into so many shows.
 
AdrianG4

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Waiting for one of the posters from the daily "I am trying to immigrate to Japan" threads to rock up here and justify it.
 

Deleted member 4212

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Kuma Bear said:
It's creepy. Most creepy indeed but if you want to see something horrific then look in the adult section of a manga store in Japan. The covers are extreme, like 5 years getting gang raped.

I dunno how people can defend that.
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I was pretty shocked when I went into book stores in Japan. I don't even know if I was in the adult section, but the covers were insanely graphic.

guek said:
Here's what I think is the more important question: does this cause societal harm? Is pedophilia and misogyny major issues in Japan? I admittedly don't know enough about the extent of those issues in Japan but I recall reading an article voicing frustration at the lack of a Me Too movement in places like Japan.
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Read this
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/f...ssault-japan-girl-victim-170307101413024.html
 
Fear_Amanda_Waller

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guek said:
Here's what I think is the more important question: does this cause societal harm? Is pedophilia and misogyny major issues in Japan? I admittedly don't know enough about the extent of those issues in Japan but I recall reading an article voicing frustration at the lack of a Me Too movement in places like Japan.
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Woohoo buddy. Japan is in the 1920s when it comes to gender relations.
 
Lotus

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Yea I really hate that character's outfit, especially since her powers could very clearly work if she wore a damn sports bra lol

Finaj said:
I would like to recommend stuff like Monogatari and Made in Abyss... but I can't.
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MiA's popularity was quite saddening to see tbh
 
Zipzo

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Lady Bow said:
I private messaged him and we had a talk on how to make the thread more suited for discussion/less one-sided.
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I'm honestly not sure how this discussion couldn't be one sided in this particular forum environment. Are you expecting someone to disagree and basically put a giant "ban me" sign on their forehead?
 
okayfrog

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This is definitely not the right forum for this discussion. That being said, I'm not sure there is a right forum for this discussion. I would say that you should try this on 4chan if you wanna see what the justification for this material is, but the thread would probably get deleted rather quickly.
 

Deleted member 19218

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guek said:
Here's what I think is the more important question: does this cause societal harm? Is pedophilia and misogyny major issues in Japan? I admittedly don't know enough about the extent of those issues in Japan but I recall reading an article voicing frustration at the lack of a Me Too movement in places like Japan.
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I know misogyny is a huge problem in Japan, that's easy to search but admittedly I don't know about padophilia.
 
NCR Ranger

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I won't defend that shit because It's creepy, but on my list the high-schoolers that could pass for adults in anime is pretty low.

What makes me really nope the fuck out is when the do the creepy bullshit with character drawn to look under age. 15 year old anime girl that could easily pass as an adult like in the OP is one thing. Someone who is clearly drawn to look twelve or what ever goes into what the fuck is this sick shit territory for me. I have had a few animes that I otherwise enjoyed instantly killed by the later.
 

Deleted member 11413

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It's a significant problem, to be sure, probably the most significant issue with anime and manga as mediums. I don't think it is going to change any time soon, the audience at large is really not bothered by it or enjoys it.

There are some works that are actually attempting to address the topic of teenage sexuality (particularly if we are talking about manga) but the overwhelming majority is just crass pandering and shameless sexualization to a rather disturbing degree.

I do think it's important to recognize that a lot of people begin watching anime in their teens when their own sexuality is developing, and they latch onto the sexuality displayed in anime as an outlet for those feelings. They grow up in the culture surrounding anime and manga, in which the fandom is highly sexualized, so they consume a lot of that media and become so used to it that they don't see it as wrong. That's not a defense, it's just an explanation of the mindset.
 
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