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NEWS: Maryland School Library to Remove Dragon Ball Manga


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DFBTG



Joined: 02 Sep 2007
Posts: 385
Location: Hell
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 6:41 pm Reply with quote
Okay, an elementary school, yeah, okay, I see that (even though I still think it's kind of stupid). But banning it from middle schools, too? Isn't that when they start teaching sex ed? At least that's when my school district did. And for a middle school student to not be at least vaguely aware of sex is unlikely in my opinion. And it's not like it even features straight up sex. Is an elementary kid even likely to get an innuendo? If anything, they might laugh without even understanding it.
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Drac



Joined: 08 Apr 2005
Posts: 165
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 7:02 pm Reply with quote
Well there is a difference between innuendo and blatantly showing something. Animaniacs can get away with a penis joke since it's hidden in the dialogue but they'd never get away with showing Wakko being anatomically correct.
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4609
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 7:17 pm Reply with quote
I will say that it is probably a good idea to pull this from an elementary school library, just going from how many instances of a comedic situation revolving around Goku being naked with his thing hanging out I remember. That said, I'm a bit surprised that this was in there to begin with. Sure, the people that ordered it for the library probably thought it was just cartoon stuff, but Viz uses a recommended age rating system on it's manga, and Dragonball is considered Teen material. I'm not sure, but I don't think there are many teenagers in elementary school.
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ClocktowerKyon



Joined: 21 Mar 2009
Posts: 36
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:07 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
I will say that it is probably a good idea to pull this from an elementary school library, just going from how many instances of a comedic situation revolving around Goku being naked with his thing hanging out I remember. That said, I'm a bit surprised that this was in there to begin with. Sure, the people that ordered it for the library probably thought it was just cartoon stuff, but Viz uses a recommended age rating system on it's manga, and Dragonball is considered Teen material. I'm not sure, but I don't think there are many teenagers in elementary school.


In my state, you're booted out of elementary school at 13.

In response to my post earlier (I was running out the door at the time, so I didn't get to say all I wanted to say), it really is the liibrarian's fault for not checking the rating. But, if it was just nudity (I know it's not just nudity, but hypothetically), one could argue that there's nudity in american cartoons all the friggin' time.

Look at Ren and Stimpy: that show is LOADED with ass jokes and nudity (but, they get away with it for being animals). I remember an episode of Rugrats where the babies spent the entire episode naked; would you consider Rugrats, as tame as it is, softcore porn? According to the standards that the second parent in the article has, it is. Sesame Street has Ernie taking a bath; is that softcore porn, too?

The lesson here is nudity does not porn make. Unfortunately, many people seem to confuse the two being tought that your body is something to be ashamed of and to be kept hidden (or maybe that's just my bias). Whatever the case, the two are often thought as one in the same when it's not; but, you just can't teach those who refuse to learn.
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hikaru004



Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Posts: 2306
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:42 pm Reply with quote
The problem to me is that the elem and middle school share the same library and Dragon Ball is a teen title. So the only ones that should be reading it are the 8th graders and older imo. The 9 yo shouldn't have taken it out of the library imo.
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britannicamoore



Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 2618
Location: Out.
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 8:47 pm Reply with quote
LordPrometheus wrote:
I'm pretty sure Animaniacs had FAR more innuendo than Dragon Ball ever did, and nobody ever made a stink about that. Geez laweez, people seriously need to stop being such frakking hypocrites.


Ren and Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life (The Chokey Chicken anyone?) and a whole slew of cartoons were about ten times worse.

I agree that when I have kids (if I do) they'll be a little less sheltered.

At the same time I can see why they had such a problem. At least the parents was involved in what their kid was doing.
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Ashen Phoenix



Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Posts: 2940
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:02 pm Reply with quote
Ctimene's Lover wrote:
Sheesh! These parents need to learn there is a difference in the standards of what is allowed in Japanese children's series and American children's series. Hypocrisy this is because cable cartoons will often have sexual innuendo or nudity.

Indeed.
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darcerin



Joined: 22 Apr 2005
Posts: 330
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 9:53 pm Reply with quote
Ah good old Wicomico County. I don't miss you a bit.

For those that aren't from Maryland, Wicomico County is on the Eastern Shore of Maryland WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY on the other end of the state and the only way to get there is to drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. There are some small towns in it, and it's biggest claim to fame (as far as I'm aware) is Salisbury University. There is NOTHING to do in Salisbury on a Saturday night, and I'm pretty darn sure all the other towns in that county are similiar.

So yeah, I can see why the woman wanted to kick up a stink about it, probably to make the news, but yeah, he shouldn't have been reading it, either. But still...why remove the book so that other people IN that target demographic can't read it? Just put it in a restricted section or something. Jeez!
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Navak



Joined: 30 Mar 2006
Posts: 88
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:05 pm Reply with quote
So, what books are they going to remove for having these items, and more, with text sans pictures?

I'm guessing none.
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KanjiiZ



Joined: 28 Jun 2009
Posts: 661
Location: Central Coast
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:15 pm Reply with quote
I want to quote my friend Stu:

Quote:
It's not like little girls are never going to see a penis.


And he's right. What's the difference between this and a textbook? It's not as if he's doing something super vulgar with it. It's just simply "drawn". Should we lie to little girls and tell them guys don't have one? (This logic only applies to certain logic, not an old man walking up to a little girl in a trench coat).
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The_Libertarian_Otaku



Joined: 11 Sep 2008
Posts: 189
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:16 pm Reply with quote
darcerin wrote:
Ah good old Wicomico County. I don't miss you a bit.

For those that aren't from Maryland, Wicomico County is on the Eastern Shore of Maryland WAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY on the other end of the state and the only way to get there is to drive across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. There are some small towns in it, and it's biggest claim to fame (as far as I'm aware) is Salisbury University. There is NOTHING to do in Salisbury on a Saturday night, and I'm pretty darn sure all the other towns in that county are similiar.

So yeah, I can see why the woman wanted to kick up a stink about it, probably to make the news, but yeah, he shouldn't have been reading it, either. But still...why remove the book so that other people IN that target demographic can't read it? Just put it in a restricted section or something. Jeez!


Nothing to do in Salisbury on a Saturday night? Hello, there's a mall there with a movie theater, and a bunch of restaurants! I know because I live near there! Are we even talking about the same town?

Now, if you were to cross the southern county line, into Somerset County, there'd be nothing to do, since all that area has going for it is a sleepy crabbing town that's nice to visit, but you would never want to live there. (And I did live there for eight years.)
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configspace



Joined: 16 Aug 2008
Posts: 3717
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:32 pm Reply with quote
Drac wrote:
Well there is a difference between innuendo and blatantly showing something. Animaniacs can get away with a penis joke since it's hidden in the dialogue but they'd never get away with showing Wakko being anatomically correct.


While Japanese kids would be wondering why these characters are all missing chinchin Very Happy

Quote:
Dr. Susan Napier added, "There is just a wider tolerance for sexuality in Japan. It usually is played out humorously and perhaps titillating in a mild way. It's just a difference in cultural sensibilities."


fertility festival visit
Quote:

We had both only been in Japan a few months and I have to admit more then once we found ourselves standing there slack jawed. The people of Japan have none of the tabu's we have in the US. Running around in all of the chaos were young Japanese children.


onsen visit by high schooler
Quote:

There were a few other people in as well on business - I thought to myself how different it is to the way western culture works - business partners would never go naked to a public bath together!
...
The outside pools are actually mixed (male and female!), but we went at the end of the day so there wasn’t anyone (i.e. female) using it.
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alp227



Joined: 11 Sep 2009
Posts: 12
PostPosted: Wed Oct 07, 2009 10:38 pm Reply with quote
The library should auction these off and provide more funding for educational development. Given the current recession I say that public schools need to watch the money better.

I guess incidents like these motivate Alfred R. K[KK]ahn and 4Kids ehh?
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chibihoshi



Joined: 17 Aug 2005
Posts: 7
PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 4:53 am Reply with quote
I'm very surprised that the librarian (or some other authority) at the Maryland school would even allow the title to be in there in the first place. If he/she had read the first few volumes, there's a good chance it would had never appeared in the library's shelves. Or at the very least made the comics only available for the middle school students and not the younger kids.

This reminds me of an old Dragon Ball episode on Toonami (R.I.P) when Goku would jump into the river naked and then resurface somehow wearing a pair of underwear which didn't even move with Goku's movement and shook a bit when Goku stood still.
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BleuVII



Joined: 19 Sep 2006
Posts: 672
Location: Tokorozawa, Japan
PostPosted: Thu Oct 08, 2009 5:04 am Reply with quote
I'm thinking that a lot of people who are talking in here have never read Dragonball? It's actually pretty bad. It's not just the presence of nudity, but the fact that actual perverted things are happening. It's been stated before, but I'll state three things again for consideration:

- Goku basically feels up Bulma's crotch with his hands and his head, then removes her panties
- Roshi makes a deal which involves Bulma flashing him, which she agrees to because she thinks she has panties on, but it turns out she doesn't. Her naked butt is drawn in full detail--much more detail than in other frames.
- what's-his-name acts as a voyeur and spies on Bulma as she is taking a shower completely nude. Her nipples are actually drawn in.

And that's all on top of Goku's casual nudity.

So I think that removing it from a PUBLIC LIBRARY MEANT SPECIFICALLY FOR AGES 6-14 is not blowing things out of proportion. I think it's good common sense. It'd be one thing if it was a library for all ages, but it was a school library. That kind of stuff doesn't belong there.
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