Forum - View topicAnswerman - Jerkwatch
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RyoShin
 Posts: 83 Location: Michigan |
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I'm reminded of attending a panel for the Cowboy Bebop English VAs (maybe only Beau Billingslea and Steve Blum?) which was pretty cool. One female fan got up to the mic and asked them who would win in oil or mud wrestling, Spike or Jet.
One of the few times I felt embarrassed to be an anime fan. Blum and Billingslea handled it well, did some awkward chuckling and dashed off a quick answer, but that people even think of these kind of things to ask, even if flustered, is mind boggling. |
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7jaws7
 Posts: 705 Location: New York State |
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Rape in anime stems way back into Japan's own history of sexual arousal. It's been around since the days of Edo, which had plenty of smut art to go around.
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unitmikey
 Posts: 286 |
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In response to the answer on rape in anime: could not have said it better myself. Not even close.
But oh god, I can't wait to hear this forum fill up with people's experiences with fans being weird with guests. I've only been to one convention (although I plan to go to many more), but yikes, this is why I would be hesitant to go to a lot of those panels because my teeth would end up ground off from being grated so much. Also, if there is anyone that has been to a ton of conventions, I would be curious to know which ones usually have the crowd with the most respectful, interesting questions (and which ones are worse for it). |
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Moefan199
 Posts: 19 Location: Mississippi |
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It's nice to hear what is up with Free. Was really surprised to hear Crunchyroll had home video rights to some of their streaming shows.
It would be nice if Funi and Crunchyroll worked together to release both seasons but I would agree with Justin I don't think that is happening. Loved this weeks answerman keep up the good work Justin. |
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Asrialys
 Posts: 1164 |
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I can't remember if it was Yuu Asakawa (probably her) or Miyuki Sawashiro at Anime Expo a few years ago, but an attendee asked about their role and alias for some eroge or hentai, and the guest refused to discuss anything in which they were credited as any other name.
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VORTIA
 SubscriberPosts: 946 |
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Moe - protecting anime from creepy rape scenarios since 2003.
Seriously, though, it's a very astute assessment. The moe boom really saw a decline in the kind of really skevvy sexual assault as fan service which was much more prevelent in the 80s and 90s. It's nothing anime hasn't had before, and I can't say I missed it. I take my heroines preciously cute and treated with a modicum of dignity, thanks. |
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Maize Hughes
Posts: 81 |
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Fantastic work Justin. I could not have written that one bit better than you did.
And, when it comes to talking to the celebrity guests at conventions...I narrowly avoided saying something really dumb to Kikuko Inoue at Otakon one year. (I almost expressed how much my SO and I liked watching Ah My Goddess...every evening before bed...which is totes innocent, but context does not favor that...) Unfortunately, someone else asked something unfortunate. In the program guide that year, the guest bio included a reference to an (uncredited) hentai she may have voiced. So of course someone asked about it. *headdesk* The whole room cringed, and the translator took his time dealing with that one. We quickly moved on to other topics e.g. she likes to watch Keroro Gunso for fun! Also, when she reads manga at home, she reads aloud, doing different voices for the characters. (A whole bunch of the boy fans in the room swooned at that one.) Oh, and someone tried to ask her out on a date. |
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Maize Hughes
Posts: 81 |
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GIRLS UND PANZER, FTW! |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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I think the reason the question wasn't answered is that most VAs consider their roles in hentai and eroge as old shame. As for rape in anime, I wouldn't say it's rapey but has more emphasis on sexual harassment (yeah most of that "rape" you see in ecchi is just sexual harassment or assault played for laughs, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist in the genre as Yosuga no Sora and Kuttsukiboshi did have attempted or actual rape in them, it's very off color but who doesn't enjoy some off color humor from time to time), Japan is a conformist and super competitive culture that has an unfortunate dark side effect of harassment and bullying (sometimes for no reason at all). I don't mind the harassment at all in fiction and as for rape, it's tolerable as long as it doesn't head into guro territory, after that it's super high octane nightmare fuel. You also have to realize that both ecchi and hentai are just there for a fantasy for both genders and getting too offended doesn't do any good. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Nobody "has" to realize that because plenty of people might disagree with it. There is no "right way" or "wrong way" to respond emotionally to this content. Trying to dictate to people how they're supposed to feel, suggesting there's a 'superior' reaction and an 'inferior' one - this is how all these arguments start. Stating how you feel about it is fine - the problems arise when you say "you can't get too offended or you're a panicky hyperventilating idiot" or "you have to be offended or you're a disgusting rape apologist". Even hinting that your personal emotional reaction is superior is going to set people off. It's a touchy subject and people should express how they feel, but you gotta be careful about the whole "how I feel is objectively superior and more enlightened than how you feel" language. |
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Bamble
Posts: 131 |
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Interesting. I wonder how many other series' home video rights are actually known, within the industry, to be tied up with Crunchyroll? Public knowledge of this could at least afford fans of such unfortunate productions an opportunity to import physical media from Japan rather than wait for a domestic release that will likely never come. |
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Msag
 Posts: 50 |
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Loved the column this week, Justin. Read it all in one go for the first time in ages because of (sorry, they're interesting but I can't concentrate when I'm tired!) the lack of technical questions.
Truly some very touchy topics for anime fandom, and I don't think I've read them better or as plainly explained anywhere else. You can control what you watch sounds like such an basic piece of advice to anyone, but its strange how much we overlook it or forget about it. Anyway, well written again. |
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818941
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Uh, is the columnist aware that women's "rape" fantasies in shojo and yaoi, if we are to call them that, are actually not about rape at all and they are not limited to Japan in the least? 50 Shades of Grey to name one is a commercial success among women worlwide and it's by a British woman. Also the "victim" does not actually suffer at all:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/all-about-sex/201001/womens-rape-fantasies-how-common-what-do-they-mean "For the latest report (Bivona, J. and J. Critelli. "The Nature of Women's Rape Fantasies: An Analysis of Prevalence, Frequency, and Contents," Journal of Sex Research (2009) 46:33), psychologists at North Texas University asked 355 college women: How often have you fantasized being overpowered/forced/raped by a man/woman to have oral/vaginal/anal sex against your will? Sixty-two percent said they'd had at least one such fantasy. But responses varied depending on the terminology used. When asked about being "overpowered by a man," 52 percent said they'd had that fantasy, the situation most typically depicted in women's romance fiction. But when the term was "rape," only 32 percent said they'd had the fantasy. These findings are in the same ballpark as previous reports. Frequency of rape fantasies varied substantially. Thirty-eight percent of respondents never had them. Of those who did, 25 percent reported such fantasies less than once a year. Thirteen percent had them a few times a year, 11 percent once a month, 8 percent once a week, and 5 percent several times a week. (Twenty-one percent of the respondents said they'd been sexually assaulted in real life.) Rape fantasies can be either erotic or aversive. In erotic fantasies, the woman thinks: "I'm being forced and I enjoy it." In aversive fantasies, she thinks: "I'm being forced and I hate it." Forty-five-percent of the women in the recent survey had fantasies that were entirely erotic. Nine percent were entirely aversive. And 46 percent were mixed. Rape or near-rape fantasies are central to romance novels, one of the perennial best-selling categories in fiction. These books are often called "bodice-rippers" and have titles like Love's Sweet Savage Fury, which imply at least some degree of force. In them, a handsome cad becomes so overwhelmed by his attraction to the heroine that he loses all control and must have her, even if she refuses--which she does initially, but then eventually melts into submission, desire, and ultimately fulfillment. Romance novels are often called "porn for women." Porn is all about sexual fantasies. In porn for men, the fantasy is sexual abundance--eager women who can't get enough and have no interest in a relationship. In porn for women as depicted in romance novels, the fantasy is to be desired so much that the man loses all control, though he never actually hurts the woman, and in the end, marries her." As a woman who is only satisfied by reading and seeing such fantasies fulfilled, as I have these fantasies myself and what I want to experience is being so desired in a safe way, I am quite offended by this article. Last edited by 818941 on Fri Oct 17, 2014 1:19 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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marie-antoinette
 Posts: 4136 Location: Ottawa, Canada |
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Another great column!
I was surprised that someone could think that the use of rape/sexual harassment in anime was something new but looking back at the last few years of anime, it definitely has been less prevalent. It's definitely one of the elements that has been harder to stomach, particularly since it's a plot point my favourite mangaka, Yuu Watase, tends to use at least once per series (though I think Genbu Kaiden may be an exception?). I can't see CR not finding something to do with Free, given the anime's popularity. So I'll join Justin in hoping that they are able to do it in a way that lets there two seasons have a consistent English voice cast (even if I'm unlikely to choose a track that doesn't feature Miyano Mamoru). |
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Utsuro no Hako
Posts: 1052 |
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The idea that Japan is especially rapey compared to the US is an odd contention to make. Have you read many modern fantasy or crime novels? They are full of women getting brutally raped to show how gritty the world is, or how evil the villain is, or how heroic the hero is when he rescues the victim. A Game of Thrones is the same BS as SAO.
Studies have consistently shown that 1 in 5 American women have been raped at some point, and many of those go unreported because because of the attitudes of police and prosecutors, not to mention the general public who will assume the woman must be a slut who was asking for it. Japan certainly has a culture of rape, but lets not pretend the US is a paragon of virtue in comparison. |
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