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INTEREST: Children's Magazine Manga Criticized for Depiction of Prime Minister


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Aquamine-Amarine



Joined: 13 Jul 2014
Posts: 276
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 12:19 pm Reply with quote
When will these idiots learn to STAY OUT OF POLITICS. NO ONE wants to see it when we're trying to entertain ourselves with some fiction.
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 12:26 pm Reply with quote
It's more like keep the politics to media that isn't for young children. This is freedom of speech I'd wish would happen more in the US instead of violence, however, it's just not appropriate for a children's magazine.
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Lemonchest



Joined: 18 Mar 2015
Posts: 1771
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 12:31 pm Reply with quote
The kids may laugh, but their parents will still probably vote LDP.
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Jonny Mendes



Joined: 17 Oct 2014
Posts: 997
Location: Europe
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 1:08 pm Reply with quote
They should keep the politics out of Manga/Anime/LN. Even more if is aimed at children.
Pushing political views to children is the lowest of the low.
Let the get older and decide what views they have then.

Lemonchest wrote:
The kids may laugh, but their parents will still probably vote LDP.

Yes, that is true. Next elections the only question is if they have a absolute majority or a simple majority.
Japan is mostly a conservative right wing country. They have lead Japan in recovery since WW2 and dominate the politics since then.
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EastN3



Joined: 19 May 2012
Posts: 149
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 1:22 pm Reply with quote
Let's stop pretending that something can be "non-political"; everything is political. If he chose to just make an "objective" depiction of Abe and avoid discussing all of his scandals, he's making the POLITICAL choice of upholding the status quo of ignoring things about public figures that are unsavory.

From what I read, nothing he said about Abe is false, it's just not comfortable for people to hear, so you want to make kids dumb and ignorant of the facts so as to avoid feeling uncomfortable. That's a political choice. It's not necessarily good or bad, but stop getting on high horses' and pretending you're so above the crowd.
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Vent



Joined: 22 Aug 2009
Posts: 321
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 2:13 pm Reply with quote
You absolutely cannot dunk on Abe, Trump, or any other right wing clown too much. Maybe showing them to kids will convince them to not grow up with hot takes like "What if we just edited all mentions of human rights out of the Japanese constitution?"
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Lord Oink



Joined: 06 Jul 2016
Posts: 876
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 4:28 pm Reply with quote
EastN3 wrote:
Let's stop pretending that something can be "non-political"; everything is political.


It's pretty easy to not care or deal with politics. I doubt the latest One Piece or Dragonball Super chapters are a 'response to Abe' like how so many American producers or writers love to boast their work is 'a response to Trump'. Plenty of people aren't one of those obsessives who makes hundreds of tweets a day ranting about Trump or politics. Japan is more level-headed. Most people there just make cool comics and shows.
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tintor2



Joined: 11 Aug 2010
Posts: 2116
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 5:04 pm Reply with quote
How the heck did Gintama survive to it when they literally parodied the politician who started crying while saying it was all his fault?
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Agent355



Joined: 12 Dec 2008
Posts: 5113
Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready...
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 5:51 pm Reply with quote
Aquamine-Amarine wrote:
When will these idiots learn to STAY OUT OF POLITICS. NO ONE wants to see it when we're trying to entertain ourselves with some fiction.


Hoppy800 wrote:
It's more like keep the politics to media that isn't for young children. This is freedom of speech I'd wish would happen more in the US instead of violence, however, it's just not appropriate for a children's magazine.

I completely disagree. I think it's a shame Japan doesn't have more depictions of politicians and political issues aimed at kids and teens. Japan is actively trying to get younger people interested in politics--voter turnout amongst 20-somethings has always been low, leading to a "silver democracy." Japan just lowered the voting age to 18 and recruited AKB48 as poster girls for a teen voting campaign. As a result, more 18- and 19-year olds showed up at the polls last year than adults in their 20s (Source).

Younger kids may not understand the nuances of politics and parrot whatever their parents believe, but seeing politicians and political issues depicted in media, (especially with a lighthearted humorous and/or satirical touch), primes them for the more serious discussions they'll have in high school when they're getting ready to vote themselves for the first time. It's important to teach children in a democracy that politics are important and makes an impact on their lives, and one way to do that is through their media.

As a kid, I may not have understood the subtleties of politics, but I loved it when politicians showed up in my cartoons. It added "smart, grown-up importance" to the fun. Even in The Animaniacs, "Bill Clinton played the sax". And the 1996 Clinton vs. Dole Treehouse of Horror episode of the Simpsons is still one of my favorites.
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EastN3



Joined: 19 May 2012
Posts: 149
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:18 pm Reply with quote
Lord Oink wrote:
EastN3 wrote:
Let's stop pretending that something can be "non-political"; everything is political.


It's pretty easy to not care or deal with politics. I doubt the latest One Piece or Dragonball Super chapters are a 'response to Abe' like how so many American producers or writers love to boast their work is 'a response to Trump'. Plenty of people aren't one of those obsessives who makes hundreds of tweets a day ranting about Trump or politics. Japan is more level-headed. Most people there just make cool comics and shows.


If you think something has to be an overt reference to politicians or legislative politics to be political, hoo boy, you're going to be taken for a ride your whole life. Ideological biases are in each and every one of those "cool comics and shows" people make, and those biases are inherently political.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 2048
Location: australia
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 6:33 pm Reply with quote
By the time the kids reading it are able to vote Abe would probably be dead or completely out of office anyway lol so even if it gives them a negative view on ol' Abe, it's not going to do anything for him personally in a politically negative sense
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Codeanime93



Joined: 28 Jul 2017
Posts: 599
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 7:14 pm Reply with quote
Lord Oink wrote:
EastN3 wrote:
Let's stop pretending that something can be "non-political"; everything is political.


It's pretty easy to not care or deal with politics. I doubt the latest One Piece or Dragonball Super chapters are a 'response to Abe' like how so many American producers or writers love to boast their work is 'a response to Trump'. Plenty of people aren't one of those obsessives who makes hundreds of tweets a day ranting about Trump or politics. Japan is more level-headed. Most people there just make cool comics and shows.

Honestly Japan doesn't really have to worry because Abe isn't as embarrassing or plain crazy as Trump is to the world of American politics. It's hard for Trump not to have an effect on American producers and writers because he is a dangerous clown and it's actually worse than Abe. Writers can't resist because he's also an easy target.
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yuna49



Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 3804
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 7:49 pm Reply with quote
harminia wrote:
By the time the kids reading it are able to vote Abe would probably be dead or completely out of office anyway lol so even if it gives them a negative view on ol' Abe, it's not going to do anything for him personally in a politically negative sense

I don't think the criticism concerns Abe's base of support but the overall notion of showing children something that might undermine their support for the government overall. Japan has what some political scientists might call a "deferential" political culture. Showing parodies of the Prime Minister to children is a threat to that view of politics.

My favorite parody of a PM is The Legend of Koizumi. Though I don't agree with its underlying right-wing perspective, it's pretty funny.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 6281
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 8:36 pm Reply with quote
Lord Oink wrote:

Plenty of people aren't one of those obsessives who makes hundreds of tweets a day ranting about Trump or politics.


How are they anymore obsessive and ranty than a guy and his fanbase who bring up Hillary Clinton or Obama whenever he gets put on the spot for something, or the media for being fake news, or has been demonstrated for the last few weeks protesting athletes and mayors of US territories desperately trying to get aid for their heavily storm ravaged cities.



Lord Oink wrote:
Most people there just make cool comics and shows.


That people here (not ANN specifically) tend to criticize for being pretentious, shoddily drawn, catering to certain audiences, running too long, trampling on the source material, or because the author (of the manga) has the audacity to periodically take breaks from their work instead of pushing themselves in one of many industries known for the problem of overworked employees.
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Jonny Mendes



Joined: 17 Oct 2014
Posts: 997
Location: Europe
PostPosted: Tue Oct 10, 2017 11:12 pm Reply with quote
An this, my friends is the reason why i told before to keep the children out of politics.
The right wing vs left wing is so polarized nowdays, that we need a clean sheet.
People that wasn't influenced by any of the sides when were children.

We need new politicians on the left and on the right or even try to create a middle ground.

Fun fact: What is called "left" in the US is mostly called center-right in Europe. So US a discussion between a right party and center-right party.
A left party in Europe is a Socialist Party or a Communist Party or the extreme left parties.
The US "left" are still far to be a Socialist Party Very Happy


Last edited by Jonny Mendes on Wed Oct 11, 2017 12:12 am; edited 2 times in total
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