Forum - View topicAnswerman - What Time Is It, Anyway?
|
Goto page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 Next Note: this is the discussion thread for this article |
| Author | Message | ||
|---|---|---|---|
prime_pm
 Posts: 2367 Location: Your Mother's Bedroom |
|
||
|
Director of Photography: when you need your video to look right, you don't just f@$& with it. You DP it.
|
|||
|
|||
|
the_windcaster
Posts: 47 |
|
||
|
I'm a Duran Duran fan, and I've watched two of their concert videos. BOTH of the times they did "Careless Memories," they play this ridiculous anime-style music video behind them. Not sure who made that creative choice, but good on ya?
|
|||
|
|||
|
Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11584 |
|
||
|
The most famous one I can recall was the Republicans trying to make fun of Kerry for being anti-yakuza by using a doctored image of Wolfwood (and a Chinese gong sound effect). Nobody can offend more people in less time than the GOP.
Absolut vodka used Akira in their ads. I remember hearing Kiri, the OP of Ergo Proxy, used as background music for a BBC doc about transexuals once. That was unexpected. SNL had a sketch in which one of the actors was wearing a Sanosuke T-shirt. I see lots of anime shirts and wall scrolls in the backgrounds of ads though. This restaurant. Malcom in the Middle used shots from Nazca in its opening credits. All I can think of at the moment. |
|||
|
|||
|
Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18426 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
|
||
|
Yeah, the extreme arbitrariness of age ratings on American anime releases is something I regularly gripe about in reviews. There's little consistency between companies as to what levels of graphic violence, nudity, sexual content, foul language, and other "mature themes" constitute what age rating, and some assigned ratings have been so off-base that I've wondered if the person assigning them was at all aware of the actual content of the title. Double-checking any anime age ratings by reading the graphic content parts of reviews for the title is highly recommended.
|
|||
|
|||
|
GATSU
Posts: 15548 |
|
||
|
Key: I'm kinda pissed that Streamline was able to sell Akira as 13+ title for years, but the MPAA slaps an R on it. Same type of violence as Princess Mononoke, but it's got tits, so 'not for minors'. =p
BTW, the Japanese have gotten a bit stricter on ratings in the last decade than they would have in the past. Though PG-13/soft R gore can still land a 'G' over there. 
'Cus Japanese companies were horrible at going after that sort of thing until recently? 
|
|||
|
|||
|
configspace
Posts: 3717 |
|
||
|
For anime, Funimation, Viz, will always take the most conservative route and are very consistent in that regard. For manga, Viz, Yen Press. That means they'll also restrict access on their site or other services. There's an strange dichotomy of people freaking out over boobs, effectively treating it like porn, all the while it's more accessible. Basically, the more widespread it's become, the more it's treated like a vice (though for boobs only, not for violence).
Since most publishers also include a Canadian rating, It's interesting to contrast the TV14 Canadian goverment rating on nearly everything in that's MA in the US. I doubt people notice that yellow triangle on the back though. However, not all publishers are like that. Media Blasters uses 16up and so does Aniplex, similarly for Seven Seas with manga, which I think is better, since MA is treated as strictly adults-only now across all mainstream services instead of a recommended discretion.. except for CR). Sentai has gone against the grain in a few instances for their own ratings with TV-14 for occasional nudity or fanservice (Infinite Stratos series and OVA, Majikoi, ToLoveRu series and a few others) however. And I am so very thankful that Seven Seas and DarkHorse and Kodansha have not succumb to the idiotic idea of embedding warning signs into the front covers, keeping their manga covers pristine. Viz is the only publisher doing that for anime and they go overboard sometimes. Interestingly I think all live action home video with extra footage/director's cuts or foreign films just skip this entirely and release as unrated. Personally I don't think there should be age ratings since they aren't universal and vary by consumers' values even within the same country. Instead I think you can easily have indicators for type of content. Some publishers already use abbreviations for type on the back, but you shouldn't use have an age because otherwise people would just look at that number instead of the actual indicators. As far as the MPAA, I also think their guidelines are clear but that is where the idea of curse word and female nipple prohibition for young adults--something Japan and most of the western and latin-american world avoided--was cemented into society and practically quasi-law (where as the FCC's prohibition on them is real law). I say that because while the MPAA is nominally independent, they like the ESRB, are actually a government created entity. |
|||
|
|||
Polycell
 Posts: 4623 |
|
||
|
The Motion Picture Association of America is an industry group that happens to have a ratings board, which was created to displace the Hays Code that was created to placate the censors of its day.
The Entertainment Software Rating Board was created in response to pressure from elected, self-righteous busybodies, but succeeded both one-size-fits-all content codes(like Nintendo's) and other, proprietary rating systems(like the sort seen in the manga and anime industries). Even the infamous Comics Code was an industry creation, albeit once again in response to book-burning politicians. |
|||
|
|||
rizuchan
 Posts: 980 Location: Kansas |
|
||
|
It's weird, I never ran into issues with anime/manga ratings until I was an adult and it shouldn't matter anymore. I got carded for buying Hetalia at Best Buy and felt quite awkward, like they thought I was buying porn or something...
...And a while back I got in the mood to re-read NANA. I wanted to read it on my lunch break at work... until I noticed the giant "explicit sexual content" warning on it. I'm not reading porn at work! Honest! 
|
|||
|
|||
|
Zalis116
Moderator
 Posts: 6900 Location: Kazune City |
|
||
Star Trek: The Next Generation slipped in some references to Urusei Yatsura and Dirty Pair, among others. The original Starcraft game lists "Ayukawa Madoka" in its Special Thanks section. Not surprising that those working on space/sci-fi franchises in the 80s and 90s would've been exposed to anime fandom of that era. |
|||
|
|||
Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 10012 Location: Virginia |
|
||
|
With regard to anime and manga images showing up in odd places:
A couple years back I was at Target. I was passed by a little old lady. I mean that literally, she was a bit over five feet tall and in her late 80s. She was wearing a Hawaii type shirt that came down over her hips. It had a lush jungle print on it. The style looked familiar. After she passed I realized why. Neatly centered on and taking up most of the back was one of Masamune Shirow's girls. One of his more PG attempts. I have wondered since if there is an old lady store selling Shirow print shirts or if some fabric store had it and she made it herself. |
|||
|
|||
vanfanel
 Posts: 1258 |
|
||
|
I guess the grandaddy of "anime in unexpected places" award would go to Matthew Sweet, for his "Girlfriend" video (and for his left bicep as well
 ).
As for ratings, I'd say the "Contains some violence; suggested for mature audiences" message on the old "MD Geist" VHS box was a bit...understated, considering there's a knife shoved into a guy's temple, arms chopped off, and a sex scene with nudity in the first ten minutes or so. That's as far as I ever watched "MD Geist," and I'm grateful to this day that both my parents dozed off before it got to any of that. Doogie Howser, it wasn't! 
Also, I remember that all three of the "Area 88" videos had the same nudity warning on the back, though only the 3rd one had actual nudity (a very brief shower scene). In the early 90's I was really eager to watch anime, but also wanted to avoid nudity as much as possible, so the oft-confusing labeling was a regular problem. (After "MD Geist," first watches were almost always done when the parents were away or in bed.) "Blockbuster's 17+ Youth Restricted Viewing" stickers were the least helpful thing; I was tempted to take their "17+" tape of Family Home Entertainment's "Just for Kids" release of "Clash of the Bionoids" to the counter and say, "Okay, which is it?" |
|||
|
|||
12skippy21
 Posts: 785 Location: York, England |
|
||
|
I remember anime being advertised in Metal Hammer, a British metal magazine I subscribe to. Not all that uncommon being magazines regularly lease out ad space, but it was Spice and Wolf Season 2. Not the most METAL of anime series out there.
I also remember a BBC article on Hikkimoris with images from Welcome to the NHK in it. Reprint the manga dammit! |
|||
|
|||
LavenderMintRose
 Posts: 168 |
|
||
|
... I wonder if that waiting-game situation is what's going on with FUNimation's license rescuse of Code Geass (which they announced over a year ago with no updates yet).
Though I'm glad to wait if it means they'll include the picture dramas and audio dramas in their set, because the story really isn't complete without them. Maybe even the season 2 ones that Bandai never released. One can only hope... |
|||
|
|||
potatopurplexs3
 Posts: 60 |
|
||
I remember a few years ago on SNL they mentioned Candy Candy during a sketch. Don't know if it would count since it's manga and irl, but when I was in 5th grade my school's library started carrying Oh My Goddess! and some shojo manga from Viz. |
|||
|
|||
Themaster20000
 Posts: 870 |
|
||
It's been like that with both Funi and Sentai when it's come to the bandai license rescues. It expect both to start rolling them out next year. |
|||
|
|||
 |
All times are GMT - 5 Hours |
|
|
|
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group