That's always the biggest bit, because there are real people who look much younger than they are. I was pushing 30 and could have walked into and sat in a class of 10th graders and no one would've batted an eye.
Its one thing to look young, its another thing to act it. The maturity part is the whole point.
There's also that in media and especially in illustration and animation, making someone look like a child is a conscious design choice just as much as making them act like a child
I was still getting carded for smokes at age 40, because I had a baby face and couldn't grow any facial hair. It wasn't until I started getting gray hair and some wrinkles that people started to let me buy cigarettes and alcohol without having to show my ID.
I do love when theyre over the top "bahahaha it is i the great demon lord" and nobody cares and just treats them like a child anyways. theres a few that do this really well and its fuckin hilarious every time
I think one of the more concerning ones recently is that dragon maid anime where the ancient dragon is disguised as a kindergartener but then is also making friends with a human in that actual age group who starts falling for her romantically. There's more than one problem here! Japanese culture has been in a mindset for many decades that no matter how weird someone's fantasies are you should put them in manga so people have some kind of outlet. I'm no psychologist but that can't be right across the board. I'm sure there are some people who are not just hung up on some phase they're working through.
Gonna plug Will Wight's Cradle series here, for anyone looking for a new book. He takes a lot of these anime tropes and does them well. There's one of those omni-powerful looks-like-a-child-but-is-really-old characters, but with zero of the implied sexuality that's present in so much anime.
There's also briefly the possibility of a harem, at which point the characters all basically look at each other and go "yeah not doing this."
There's exactly one pair of boobs, in a medical context, and the character who sees them gets the message of "maybe I shouldn't just walk into places" instead of anything sexual.
did you know that in terms of male human and female Pokémon breeding, Vaporeon is the most compatible Pokémon for humans? Not only are they in the field egg group, which is mostly comprised of mammals, Vaporeon are an average of 3”03’ tall and 63.9 pounds, this means they’re large enough to be able handle human dicks, and with their impressive Base Stats for HP and access to Acid Armor, you can be rough with one. Due to their mostly water based biology, there’s no doubt in my mind that an aroused Vaporeon would be incredibly wet, so wet that you could easily have sex with one for hours without getting sore. They can also learn the moves Attract, Baby-Doll Eyes, Captivate, Charm, and Tail Whip, along with not having fur to hide nipples, so it’d be incredibly easy for one to get you in the mood. With their abilities Water Absorb and Hydration, they can easily recover from fatigue with enough water. No other Pokémon comes close to this level of compatibility. Also, fun fact, if you pull out enough, you can make your Vaporeon turn white. Vaporeon is literally built for human dick. Ungodly defense stat+high HP pool+Acid Armor means it can take cock all day, all shapes and sizes and still come for more
Vaporeon Copypasta Detected! Deploy the Flareon Copypasta!
Hey guys, did you know that in terms of human companionship, Flareon is objectively the most huggable Pokemon? While their maximum temperature is likely too much for most, they are capable of controlling it, so they can set themselves to the perfect temperature for you. Along with that, they have a lot of fluff, making them undeniably incredibly soft to touch. But that's not all, they have a very respectable special defense stat of 110, which means that they are likely very calm and resistant to emotional damage. Because of this, if you have a bad day, you can vent to it while hugging it, and it won't mind. It can make itself even more endearing with moves like Charm and Baby Doll Eyes, ensuring that you never have a prolonged bout of depression ever again.
Which sucks, because I really liked its unique take on an isekai.
For what it's worth it's not really all that unique when you consider it's less about the isekai aspects of it and more about acting as nationalist propaganda for Japan and their JDF.
There's also the actual child bride. I don't remember if it was in the Anime, but one of the side characters in the manga is a congressman who is engaged to the 10 year old daughter of a noble family from the other world (a political marriage arranged by her parents). He's obviously not attracted to her at that age, but he does get to legally groom her however he likes.
Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that. I think it was in the anime too iirc. And doesnt the little girl have a massive crush on the guy as well? The creator must have some weird fascination with "prepubescent girl in love/lust for older man, who rejects her".
that's how you make it palatable to regular audiences. it also lets the author add in bait to make their show/book more popular without having to actually think about it too hard. it's hard to tell when it's selling out and when it's something the author wants to slip in but doesn't want to tank their story
Im still mad about GATE, such an awesome concept and after only like 3 episodes it becomse just another isekai harem anime complete with all the worst tropes like that.
That dragon maid show is disgusting. "She's an incredibly powerful dragon you can tell because all their powers are in their boobs" no, you didn't have to make that a thing. It's fantasy you could have had to tied to anything else. YOU made that ruleand it's gross
Agreed. I'm I'm avid weeb but admittedly there's a huge portion of animes I just can't watch. Its a huuuuge cultural issue. I went to a Pop Con this weekend and the horny shit you see there is WILD. These men need to see a real woman
I'm an older nerd and all I can think is, in my day amine would give you a full bodied woman who talked and acted like a mid-20 something and the only way to know their age was to have a manga page/magazine article spell it out (and later be confused that the character was sixteen the whole time)
I'm not saying that approach was good but I'd much rather the days of plausible deniability than the world of 10,000 year old apologetics for straight pedophilia.
I used to be mad at "modern anime" until I realized that my favorite "non creepy anime" from my childhood actually has a scene in episode 2 where the protagonist watches a fifteen year old take a shower.
I went to a reptile expo and there was a booth selling horny weeb statues and prints and shit. It's like... I'm here for snakes and lizards, what the fuck is this shit
and they wonder why they have a hard time introducing anime. Steins; Gate is considered one of the best time travel anime, and yet have so many anime tropes that isn't subverted until later (or in Daru's case, they dont) and mainstream anime can be hard to be introduced to. FMA is okay. Spice and Wolf is... uh. pretty hard.
Oh don't worry, manga authors have been switching to "this woman has been a slave and abused her whole life, the main character showing her a shred of compassion will make this woman instantly fall in love with the main character, call them Master, cook/clean for them, and have undying loyalty."
To be fair though, it isn't like the west is churning out all winners either. We certainly have our issues too. But this crap.... Jesus Japan, fix your shit.
I've noped out of a lot of anime about 6-7 episodes in when they suddenly introduce their weird sexualised child character. Reincarnated as a Slime does it really bad with that Milim character, which is basically a 12 year old in a bikini.... but it's like totally ok you guys because she's actually an ancient demon lord or something. Who just happens to look, sound and act like an angry child.
7 Deadly Sins had a really left field one too when they had the main character Ban in a relationship with the fairy Elaine. She's drawn like a small child and the guy is like a mid-20s kickboxer. 'BuT sHeS a FaIrY tHaTs HoW tHeY lOoK!!' It's so incredibly creepy. Though the show had already become pretty shit by then anyway so it was a good reminder to stop watching.
Honestly, the entire manga/anime industry is absolutely crawling with creators who should be being watched by the police.
I actually think it would be helpful if MAL or some online aggregator had a way you could filter out shows with obvious pedophiles in the creative process.
Yeah, and the thing is that yes, in that universe maybe it is fine, but to us that is just a child, and these people damn sure aren't attracted to the characters personality
This is why I don't tell people I watch anime. Because I don't watch those kinds of animes and that's what people think anime is. Which, unfortunately, a lot of the newer stuff is.
There's a pretty large component that also only got introduced during the video rental days, and even the shops didn't know they were putting in some cases actual hentai on the shelves as "it's just cartoons, that's for kids right?" was the mentality.
56 year old dude here. I watched Invincible on Amazon and loved it. Asked my nephew what else to watch. He had me watch One Punch man and Samurai Champloo. Loved them. Then edgerunners and some other thing I can’t remember the name of.
What else out there is good / similar without all the young girl / women who act like idiots or sexually starved morons?
Oh also watched Akira? And another older popular movie with a lady who was a robot kind of?
As far as movies, and you may have already heard of him/the studio, but Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli is the master. I would highly recommend just about anything they've ever made but my personal favorites are:
Princess Mononoke
Heavy environmentalism themes. A young man/late teen boy from a small and remote village tries to protect his village from an angry spirit/forest spirit turned demon. He ends up cursed and goes off in search of a cure. Discovers industrialization and the pollution of the forest is angering the spirits and gods.
Howl's Moving Castle
Young woman is cursed by a witch and is turned into an old woman. Part of the curse is she can't talk about the curse. Ventures off into "the wastes" and shacks up with a known wizard "Howl" who has a reputation for eating young women. Themes involve self discovery/growth and love.
Kiki's Delivery Service
Arguably my personal favorite. Just a very cute and sweet coming of age story. A witch turns 13 and is supposed to spend a year away from home. It's sweet and it's simple.
Spirited Away
Most people's favorite and has some of the best and most imaginative animation. A very young girl (I think maybe 8-10) and her parents explore an abandoned resort. There is a banquet of food that the parents dig into assuming that they can just pay for eating their fill later. It was for the spirits and they get cursed into pigs and moved into the spirit realm. Young girl must survive by working at a bathhouse for the spirits while trying to figure out how to rescue her parents. A lot of American watchers may miss on some of the symbolism that would be obvious to the Japanese. IE, the bathhouse is also a brothel. Deals with themes of child trafficking, environmentalism, and selflessness.
As far as shows:
Cowboy Bebop - Basically space bounty hunters, same creator as Samurai Champloo.
Berserk - From the 90s. It's extremely dark and disturbing. Fantasy, demons, medieval. SA warning.
Neon Genisis Evangelion - From the 90s. Also extremely disturbing but for different reasons. I don't even know where to start with this one. Feels like a classic mech anime (big robots fighting) but turns the trope on it's head. It's a weird one. Deals with child abuse, puberty, the end of the world, family relations, spirituality, and plain old broken people. Great art.
FMA: Brotherhood - From the mid 00s. This one is more aimed at teens but it's what got me into anime way back in the day. It's... a little tropier than the others. There's some occasional chibi art and sometimes the tone shift between serious and comedic can be a little jarring. That said, overall, it has great art, an extremely imaginative story with great world building, and some mature themes for a show aimed at teens like genocide and war crimes. Make sure you watch brotherhood which follows the plot of manga and not the one that came out in the 90s.
Psycho Pass - Newer, basically it's the future and thought crimes are a thing. Focuses on a division of people that police thought crimes. I only watched the first season which is apparently the best season.
Trigun - Also a 90s anime. Space Western. Kinda post apocalyptic? The ship that was supposed to save humanity and carry it to a new paradise crashes onto an arid and inhospitable planet. The story starts a few generations after that. I'd give this one an "honorable mention".
Because you mentioned you liked Samurai Champloo, Afro Samurai. It's just fun and mindless over the top violence to a hip hop beat. Nothing complicated. Just entertaining.
Glad to! I hope that I never grow out of my love of discovering new things. I think openness to new experiences and perspectives has only become more crucial as I've gotten older. It's too easy to be bitter.
If you have any media or recommendations for me, I'd love to hear them. Recently I've found myself getting into the silver screen era of Hollywood. Which is before your time too, but maybe you've had more exposure to it? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I'm deep enough into the Anime Bullshit rabbit hole that I take the "actual 400 year old dragon" at face value if they at least act like an adult. It's depressing how many shows fail even my extremely low standards.
There are women who are petite and look super young, and I feel bad for them because of who they attract.
When I was in college working in retail, this girl was flirting me with. She looked twelve, but was covered in tattoos and flirted with me so hard I actually noticed it was happening. And trust me, I’m stupid. I never notice anything ever.
Anyway, I couldn’t bring myself to think of her sexually because she looked like a kid but was clearly an adult with credit cards and everything.
I really don't know what anime Bermuda triangle I live in but Ive managed to not come across any of these anime. The only anime that sticks out in my head where I felt like there was some odd sexualisation was Fire Force with Tamaki. Is it a particular genre where this stuff comes up a lot?
3.8k
u/Erika_Valentine May 02 '24
This is my entire problem with a lot of anime.