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NEWS: North Carolina School District Removes Unico: Awakening Manga


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YagamiBlackstone255



Joined: 10 May 2023
Posts: 194
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 11:32 am Reply with quote
Is it bad that I am happy that FOR ONCE this wasnt a soccer mom going "LGBT Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!"? I think this is a bit silly to complain about but they will probably be able to fight back and get it back on libraries.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6397
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 11:45 am Reply with quote
OK, what the hell? Unico is not a mature manga or a manga aimed at an adult and the fact Unico franchise are a lot of time very child friendly makes this mind-boggling to me. And I want to say this about the mother in the ANN article:

ANN's Anita Tai, you wrote:
The move follows a complaint from a mother of a first-grade student at Mineral Springs Elementary.


I better hope that mother doesn't have a history of anti-Asian bigotry given the recent trend of anti-AAPI bigotry that already happened in the last few years, or have a sort of grudge against Japanese people or culture in general.

I'm waiting for the right-wing anime fans going after right-wingers for targeting manga and calling for removal of them from the library if they can condemn one of their own.
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onpufan



Joined: 22 Dec 2022
Posts: 159
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 1:01 pm Reply with quote
mdo7 wrote:
OK, what the hell? Unico is not a mature manga or a manga aimed at an adult and the fact Unico franchise are a lot of time very child friendly makes this mind-boggling to me


This isn't the actual Unico manga but an American comic re-telling. The scene the kid and his mom objected to was a man kicking a cat and shooting at it with a gun according to the linked article.
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tinyirnfist0



Joined: 13 Oct 2021
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 3:09 pm Reply with quote
onpufan wrote:
mdo7 wrote:
OK, what the hell? Unico is not a mature manga or a manga aimed at an adult and the fact Unico franchise are a lot of time very child friendly makes this mind-boggling to me


This isn't the actual Unico manga but an American comic re-telling. The scene the kid and his mom objected to was a man kicking a cat and shooting at it with a gun according to the linked article.


The graphic novel also shows blood.
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yeehaw



Joined: 09 Sep 2018
Posts: 573
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 3:18 pm Reply with quote
Man the stuff it says about Sasamiya is depressing.
I'm sorry about your country guys
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Big Kahuna



Joined: 05 Mar 2010
Posts: 51
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 3:25 pm Reply with quote
Good riddance! I wouldn't let me kids read Unico either, retelling or the original. We need more Christian value like Bible Black and Metamorphosis to get the kids back on track. Chainsaw Man and Berserk can be on the shelf too but they are kinda soft.
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gumbaloom



Joined: 11 Sep 2017
Posts: 309
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 5:31 pm Reply with quote
I wonder if these "Soccer moms" would ban Titus Adonicus.

Shakespeaere play.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_Andronicus

Reading the synopsis makes even my eyes wince...

But nooooo ..it's Shakespeare and classic literature so it's OK right ?
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residentgrigo



Joined: 23 Dec 2007
Posts: 2598
Location: Germany
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 5:34 pm Reply with quote
I read this reboot. 7/10 The cat girl is kicked twice, shot at but the shot goes over her head and the villainous hunter shoots a wolf and bear and you see a bit of blood in both cases. The comic is as graphic and edgy as the "darker" Disney renaissance movies or The Legend of Korra. These are rated PG. If this kid´s comic all about teaching morals is inapposite then I want The Incredibles, Gargoyles, 90s X-men and OT Star Wars wiped from D+ too and resigned an R as they might as well be New French Extremity horror compared to Unico. Absolute insanity that no librarian called bullshit immediately. Guess what my job is?
The mother is obviously a nutjob but why would anyone take up teaching or library work if they don´t have a spine or the time to flip through a 200-page comic? Give in to this madness and you give room for literally anybody to tear apart your job.
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harminia



Joined: 24 Aug 2015
Posts: 2054
Location: australia
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 5:59 pm Reply with quote
I feel like getting a Scholastic published book removed is kind of insane considering their whole thing is meant to be school approved publications.... It's not like this is even the OG Unico, it's a kid oriented remake.
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Saeryen



Joined: 26 Aug 2020
Posts: 992
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 6:24 pm Reply with quote
"My child (or occasionally myself) was disturbed/scared by this piece of media, therefore it should be banned for everyone" is so entitled. Just don't engage with that media.
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TheSeventhSense



Joined: 09 Mar 2013
Posts: 112
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 6:37 pm Reply with quote
"Nikki Fletcher, the mother who filed the complaint, reported being shocked by the graphic novel's depiction of gun violence and animal abuse, specifically when a man attacks a cat."

Kids as old as 12 are in that school and buying books. Your child is in first grade. She would've had the same reaction to the popular upper elementary titles (Warriors, Wings of Fire) with animal violence that are all over Scholastic fairs, the issue is that those have words her first-grader can't interpret, and she was too lazy to do more than a cover glance and say "Here you go sweetie unicorn book!"
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gumbaloom



Joined: 11 Sep 2017
Posts: 309
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 6:39 pm Reply with quote
Lets start a campaign to ban Shakespeare in schools

- Titus Andronics - Rape, Murder, body mutilation, canibalism
- Romeo and Juliet - Gang violence, murder, suicide

OH MY GOD WE CANT LET OUR KIDS READ SUCH SHOCKING CONTENT!!!!
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 6313
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 7:28 pm Reply with quote
gumbaloom wrote:
I wonder if these "Soccer moms" would ban Titus Adonicus.


But nooooo ..it's Shakespeare and classic literature so it's OK right ?



You poor poor soul.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65087218.amp

If they’ll ban Classic works of arts or at the least a picture of said work. They push to get Classic books (sans the Bible) banned.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6397
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 7:28 pm Reply with quote
onpufan wrote:
mdo7 wrote:
OK, what the hell? Unico is not a mature manga or a manga aimed at an adult and the fact Unico franchise are a lot of time very child friendly makes this mind-boggling to me


This isn't the actual Unico manga but an American comic re-telling. The scene the kid and his mom objected to was a man kicking a cat and shooting at it with a gun according to the linked article.


I'm already aware of it being a American comic (or as I called it an OEL manga), I've stated this on a previous ANN thread talking about that Unico comic/OEL manga. I even asked about if this particular graphic novel/OEL manga will get a Japanese translation.

After my initial post, I read about the controversy and yeah, well. The lady should've known this was published by Scholastic. But still I can't believe this... Rolling Eyes

harminia wrote:
I feel like getting a Scholastic published book removed is kind of insane considering their whole thing is meant to be school approved publications.... It's not like this is even the OG Unico, it's a kid oriented remake.


That's what make this controversy interesting to me, Scholastic allowed a scene of gun fire and blood in there, and Scholastic approved that scene to be used in the book.

residentgrigo wrote:
The mother is obviously a nutjob but why would anyone take up teaching or library work if they don´t have a spine or the time to flip through a 200-page comic?


That's what I said in my first post, she either is a nutjob or how do I know this person doesn't have a history of anti-Asian bigotry or bias. I mean does this mother have any hate crime charges toward Asian/AAPI folks in her criminal background or prior incident(s) report before this book ban? I mean I have seen white (and non-Asian) women in the US facing hate crime charges for anti-Asian/AAPI incidents in the last 3 years. So if this person had a history of anti-Asian hate crime or bigotry, then her justification for having Unico banned is not only unjustified, but also I think it could constitute as a hate crime, singling out a book for having character of Asian origin. Authorities (assuming if this lady had a history of anti-Asian bigotry) can used this pattern of the lady's hypothetical anti-Asian hate and the way she singled out this book but not other with similar content can be used to detect anti-Asian/AAPI bias from her, and that can lead to a possible hate crime charge and violating the 1st amendment.
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Bertram



Joined: 29 Mar 2024
Posts: 43
PostPosted: Sun Nov 24, 2024 7:39 pm Reply with quote
residentgrigo wrote:
I read this reboot. 7/10 The cat girl is kicked twice, shot at but the shot goes over her head and the villainous hunter shoots a wolf and bear and you see a bit of blood in both cases. The comic is as graphic and edgy as the "darker" Disney renaissance movies or The Legend of Korra. These are rated PG. If this kid´s comic all about teaching morals is inapposite then I want The Incredibles, Gargoyles, 90s X-men and OT Star Wars wiped from D+ too and resigned an R as they might as well be New French Extremity horror compared to Unico. Absolute insanity that no librarian called bullshit immediately. Guess what my job is?


I mean, it's not like Disney hasn't edited their 90s movies for modern audiences like Aladdin or A Goofy Movie. Even back then that one episode of Gargoyles where Broadway accidently shoots Eliza got banned. And Star Wars these days is pretty kiddy and tame compared to the older days. People are a lot more sensitive these days so what was okay in the 90s are not allowed now so even if it's "90s Disney movie level of violence" that's still more than what's allowed today. Last I heard Disney movies these days were all about "generational trauma" and "realistic panic attacks". There's probably not a lot of straight up violence and blood like they used to have. Didn't they say they were going to remove Bambi's mother's death in the live-action adaption because it would be too upsetting for people today?

But that's censorship at the publisher/distribution/development level. This is just a book being removed from a book fair so at least it's not being censored in the book itself in some new reprint.


Last edited by Bertram on Sun Nov 24, 2024 7:45 pm; edited 1 time in total
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