×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more
You are welcome to look at the talkback but please consider that this article is over 2 years old before posting.

Forum - View topic
INTEREST: Controversial Tawawa on Monday Manga Ad Sparks Conversation on Censorship


Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Juno016



Joined: 09 Jan 2012
Posts: 2394
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:15 pm Reply with quote
A reminder before posting a comment that this is a highly complex topic that a variety of feminists have debated heavily amongst themselves and your personal experience or exposure to certain opinions might not reflect the entire group.

----
I've said my personal peace before, but I'll summarize it again.
I think censorship is very bad (gov't or public platforms). Platforms filtering what they promote themselves is necessary, but toxic internet culture pressuring for censorship is not ideally the way this should happen. Constructive criticism is good. If we want to break and destroy stereotypes about women or at least give women more agency in media, it is in our best interests to create and promote better works that reflect our values. Platforms should do the same.

There are exceptions to this, but mostly limited to what can be proven with data and analysis to have been explicitely harmful or dangerous to others. ie. Calls for threats, discrimination, etc.

I still think Akamatsu-sensei is fighting the good fight alongside other creators and a few politicians of like mind, but criticism is not the same as censorship, and we can draw a pretty fine line between the two.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Blanchimont



Joined: 25 Feb 2012
Posts: 3454
Location: Finland
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:28 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
"I think it is also a problem that police resources are taken to crack down on victimless creations and do not contribute to saving real children," Fujisue wrote.

Wise words.

Quote:
"Without an explanation from the company, I am not convinced that we will continue to work with them to promote gender equality through the power of advertising," director of UN Women's Japan-based office Kae Ishikawa said.

Looks like they looked over the issue, and found there was no issue to be found.


Last edited by Blanchimont on Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:31 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
kennedykicker



Joined: 31 Mar 2022
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:30 pm Reply with quote
Seeing stuff like this makes me wish more American politicians and creators would stand up to these kinds of people. But the ones that do get blacklisted and booted from the industry sadly.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
ximpalullaorg



Joined: 16 Jan 2007
Posts: 396
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 2:39 pm Reply with quote
Honestly, I'm a free speech extremist.
Even I don't like the depiction in certain manga/anime (heck I may even find them disgusting!) I find the pressure to "regulate" the industry out of the line.
Also, "bad ideas" are fought by open debate and discussion, not by trying to remove them out of existence.
A harsh debate on forums like this ,for example, is much better than saying "this depiction isn't allowed", IMO.
I personally think platform filtering is not working (who decides? how? There are too many problems). It creates the opposite effect.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Cutty Mink



Joined: 13 Feb 2022
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:07 pm Reply with quote
Have they considered that 15 year old boys enjoy and read manga with attractive drawings of female characters their own age?

Teenagers like sex. When I was in high school, both male and female students "objectified" male and female manga characters.

Preteens and teens should be allowed to enjoy ecchi depictions of characters their own age.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
lossthief
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 14 Dec 2012
Posts: 1397
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:10 pm Reply with quote
Cutty Mink wrote:
Have they considered that 15 year old boys enjoy and read manga with attractive drawings of female characters their own age?

Teenagers like sex. When I was in high school, both male and female students "objectified" male and female manga characters.

Preteens and teens should be allowed to enjoy ecchi depictions of characters their own age.


Not sure how many 15-year-olds are reading business magazines but I'm sure they appreciate you going to bad for them.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blazi



Joined: 25 Oct 2021
Posts: 501
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:21 pm Reply with quote
Based Japanese politician.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
thadec



Joined: 02 Apr 2022
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:21 pm Reply with quote
lossthief wrote:
Cutty Mink wrote:
Have they considered that 15 year old boys enjoy and read manga with attractive drawings of female characters their own age?

Teenagers like sex. When I was in high school, both male and female students "objectified" male and female manga characters.

Preteens and teens should be allowed to enjoy ecchi depictions of characters their own age.


Not sure how many 15-year-olds are reading business magazines but I'm sure they appreciate you going to bat for them.


I seem be missing some information or something else vital but I do not understand your rejoinder. Can you please explain or elaborate? Thank you.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Cutty Mink



Joined: 13 Feb 2022
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:22 pm Reply with quote
I see where I didn’t clarify my point and apologize
I'm talking more so about the broad concept of banning any and all material that depicts minors sexually. IE: blanket statements that ignore the fact that there is a legitimate demand for sexualized teenagers from other sexual teenagers.

I agree that sexualized teens in a magazine for adults is creepy. However, adults being creepy (even still, just drawings) shouldn't result in blanket bans of this nature IMO
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Gem-Bug



Joined: 10 Nov 2018
Posts: 1216
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:29 pm Reply with quote
Cutty Mink wrote:
I see where I didn’t clarify my point and apologize
I'm talking more so about the broad concept of banning any and all material that depicts minors sexually. IE: blanket statements that ignore the fact that there is a legitimate demand for sexualized teenagers from other sexual teenagers.

I agree that sexualized teens in a magazine for adults is creepy. However, adults being creepy (even still, just drawings) shouldn't result in blanket bans of this nature IMO


So what, you want materials with teens depicted sexually, for teens, and accessible by teens? And you think creep adults aren't just going to legally purchase it anyway? Confused
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Cutty Mink



Joined: 13 Feb 2022
Posts: 26
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:35 pm Reply with quote
Gem-Bug wrote:
Cutty Mink wrote:
I see where I didn’t clarify my point and apologize
I'm talking more so about the broad concept of banning any and all material that depicts minors sexually. IE: blanket statements that ignore the fact that there is a legitimate demand for sexualized teenagers from other sexual teenagers.

I agree that sexualized teens in a magazine for adults is creepy. However, adults being creepy (even still, just drawings) shouldn't result in blanket bans of this nature IMO


So what, you want materials with teens depicted sexually, for teens, and accessible by teens? And you think creep adults aren't just going to legally purchase it anyway? Confused


Why shouldn't teens be able to enjoy sexual content? Series' like Ranma 1/2 and To Love Ru were very important, formative experiences for my sexuality when I was fifteen.

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. Why should we ban ecchi manga made for a teen demographic just because the wrong demographic might buy it? Further more, why does it even matter to anyone if an adult buys an ecchi high school manga?

So yes, teens, who are at an incredibly sexually volatile age, should. IMO, should be allowed to enjoy ecchi content in their age range. Why the hell should they be punished because adult buys the manga? Teens are attracted to one another and want to read this content.


Last edited by Cutty Mink on Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:38 pm; edited 1 time in total
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
thadec



Joined: 02 Apr 2022
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:37 pm Reply with quote
I am not a fan of this politician intervening.

1. This advertisement joined an international organization dedicated to reducing sexism in media. Did so of their own volition. If this organization deems that this advertisement violates their standards that is the organization's prerogative. This publication needs to either adhere to the requirements of this organization or leave. If this politician objects to the standards or decisions of this organization he is free to join it and attempt to influence them. Otherwise, this is not his business.

2. The issues that this fellow is raising are all wrong. It would be one thing if this manga contains pictures of skimpily dressed high school girls for the benefit of a high school boy audience. Yes, adult men and others outside the demographic would still buy it but hey, free society and nothing you can do about that so long as you don't do anything to court the other demographics. Like, I don't know, advertise your manga in a magazine aimed at adult men which appears to be in this case. But this isn't what is going on in this instance. Instead, the guys in this work are salarymen. Guys in their 30s even. Meaning the target audience - the entire point of this work - grown men who fantasize about high school girls. Which is exactly the sort of thing that this U.N. organization is objecting to.

I won't get into the bigger debates like feminism, objectification, censorship etc. Instead, in this specific instance the organization was 100% right: if you want to be a member in our group don't run ads for a manga that markets fantasies of high school girls to adult men. That really is all that is going on here, and this politician is wrong for using this issue out of context to promote his own agenda that has nothing to do with it.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
lossthief
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 14 Dec 2012
Posts: 1397
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:52 pm Reply with quote
thadec wrote:


I seem be missing some information or something else vital but I do not understand your rejoinder. Can you please explain or elaborate? Thank you.


Well for one, I'd suggest reading the original article on this whole incident, where it's made clear that the issue the UN group had wasn't with the Tawawa manga - they explicitly state the creator and publisher have a right to publish it - but with the Nikkei newspaper - but a business oriented paper that ran an advertisement for the manga.

Specifically, the issue is that the Nikkei had signed an agreement with the UN group to not publish ads or promote works that objectify women. And while the advert itself is fairly tame by Tawawa's standards, that doesn't negate that the manga itself is most definitely about objectifying women. I don't think anyone, even diehard fans of the series, could argue that isn't part of the appeal. And since that's a pretty clear violation of the agreement they signed, the UN group sent a letter calling for an explanation.

But apparently people are allergic to reading and have taken the story to be "UN tries to censor a fanservice manga" like the person I quoted.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
egozi14



Joined: 26 Nov 2009
Posts: 100
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 4:52 pm Reply with quote
Some years back I would've bothered to give a polite and detailed explanation about why I thinks censoreship and mainly the way it's being handled (or mostly exploited) by Govs, Companies, Social media, etc. is bad for humanity's future,

But now all I can thinks of are swears or words that I don't even allowed to write in a censored formed due to lack of free speech we got these days and how we are forced to thinks about what we wants to say hundreds of times before saying it even if it's simple, "right"/fact, and don't means much by itself till the people who sees it takes it toward other directions and make us feel bad for things that didn't even crossed our minds/not were even related to the information our brain had tried to passed by speaking/writing/typing, and apologies after or beforehand to any X, Y, Z, @, Oshiri<Oppai, PrintScreen, that is in the universe.

[EDIT: Removed part which seemed to be an attempt to dodge our word filter. - Key]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Rob19ny



Joined: 13 Jun 2020
Posts: 1700
PostPosted: Wed Apr 20, 2022 5:33 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
His tweet simply reads "Purchased!"


GOATed response.

That's what I'm talking about! That's why he's the MVP! That's why he's the GOAT!... The GOOOAT!
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page 1, 2, 3  Next
Page 1 of 3

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group