Forum - View topicIs this upcoming manga release a good idea?
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fighterholic
Posts: 9193 |
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I wanted to respond to this last night, but not while my family was sitting at the table behind me.
First of all, I am amazed that they got this. Second of all, ARE THEY OUT OF THEIR MINDS?!  Third of all, as PantsGoblin mentioned earlier this is only going to cause more hatred toward lolicon, on its already unstable course here in the US. We must prepare ourselves for the worst if there starts to be a lot of manga haters after the release of this series.
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Richard J.
 Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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I'm sure I'm in the minority that doesn't see a problem with this being released, but might as well toss out my thoughts.
First, I'd very much like to know how the decision to license this in the first place was made. Was it simply a morally neutral, provide something for a neglected section of the fan base decision or are they TRYING to get negative publicity under the premise that it will help them in some way? I'd like to think they did it because they want to provide a product that part of the fan base wants but I can see it going the other way too. Second, am I the only one who doesn't get the point of the controversy? It's not real. It's fiction; it's illustrated fiction but still fiction. The previously mentioned novel Lolita has similar themes and it's hailed as some great literary masterpiece. Neither are real but since one has drawings it suddenly becomes some abomination? I don't get it. Third, I'm going to be buying this one. Why? I LIKE twisted comedy like this. I enjoy reading and watching series where very different elements are combined. Cute little girls with perverted minds sounds like fun to me. A story about a battle hardened soldier who collects plush toys and says "kawaii" a lot would appeal to me too but I haven't seen anything like that out. If there's any controversy, I doubt it will extend far beyond the fan base. Maybe someone will mention it in the third paragraph of a below-the-fold article, but it's not front page material. If there is a huge controversy, Seven Seas will suffer some sort of reprisal and no one will think about licensing this sort of manga again any time soon. A blow for free speech but hey, people can claim pointless moral superiority over the lolicons. Not that they actually accomplished anything important but they can pretend that they did. |
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Shonen Bat
 Posts: 382 |
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Mature. Or adult. I dunno what the ratings of lolicon manga are here. What amazes me is that a girl that young would know what "ejaculate" means. I mean even if she IS fictional. Then again, that's the mind of a pervert for ya. |
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Richard J.
Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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chicogrande
 Posts: 190 Location: Huntsville, Alabama |
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The same thought crosses my mind when browsing through Mandarake online's naughtiest sections. I am concerned because I know how the rest of American society, its media, and politicians can be. In other words, this nation has already set its limits for what it will accept, even when the limits for homosexuality are far from set. I hope the manga is just a lot of verbal innuendo from a precocious 3rd Grader. I can see where that twist can be part of the joke. But, you know how well those manga-ka can draw! 
Should the manga not be allowed? Heck, I don't know. It sure seemed like I was hinting that. I have not seen it yet. I'm not about to actually suggest that it not be distributed just on the weight of the content of one page. As a customer, I'll hold judgment until I see the whole thing. On a lighter note, I thought about other translation options for "naka-dashi." (god, help me.) Hide your sausage in my pantry. Be my Michael. Last edited by chicogrande on Thu Nov 30, 2006 2:07 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Wolverine Princess
 Posts: 1100 |
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The rating is right there on Seven Sea's page for it: 
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Kouji
 Posts: 978 |
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I seriously doubt this manga is going to cause much controversy. Is everyone forgetting about a certain little manga that Tokyopop released recently called Loveless? Loveless is a manga that also has a heavy focus on shotacon themes. Of course, the shotacon themes in Loveless are so far non-sexual (I've only read the first 2 volumes and seen the anime, so I don't know what the later volumes are like), but this manga has become quite popular with yaoi fans in the U.S. It's not quite as successful as Gravitation, but it has developed quite a large cult following in the U.S. The truth is the only manga that most soccer moms care about are those mainstream popular titles that have had anime adaptations broadcasted on TV.
Unless this title has an anime adaptation that'll be aired on CN, most soccer moms aren't even going to know what it is to even complain about it. After all, the soccer moms are too busy watching their slutty soap operas to care about any anime or manga unless it's something they can catch when they accidentally flip the channel to CN and complain about an out of context moment that's not really all that bad. Seriously, if yaoi manga can survive in the U.S. without drawing any attention from the soccer moms, I'm sure this manga will do just fine and if you don't like it, don't buy it. Nobody is forcing you to read it and don't give me crap that this is going to continue to give manga a negative stigma. Unless a miracle occurs, anime and manga will always have a negative stigma. People are always going to find something to complain about it, whether it's about trashy fanservice series or kiddy cartoons like Pokemon, ignorant jerks are going to complain about anime because people like to complain about things that are different from the norm rather than try to understand it. Not licensing this title isn't going to change people's perspective of anime and manga, so chill out already people. ADV licensing UFO Princess Valkyrie didn't worsen the negative stigma anime and manga has in the U.S. This title most likely won't either. |
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omar235
 Posts: 1572 Location: Florida, Jacksonvile |
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I agree with PantsGoblin and LydiaDianne that it wasn't a good idea for them to have gotten this since this should be left underground but then again Kouji's got a point they do have Loveless out. I can't see why they would but they did and well I only hope it isn't as bad as I think it is. If it's like Loveless then there shouldn't be too much of a problem. But it seems lolicon has more hate in the U.S. then Shota.
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chicogrande
Posts: 190 Location: Huntsville, Alabama |
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You've seen actual Shota content, yes? I'm sure Loveless has nothing close to what real Shota content is. Loveless is either Shonen-Ai or Shoujo, according to the debates. I think Loveless is very different from Nymphet. Besides, Ritsuka still has his ears and tail. 
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HitokiriShadow
 Posts: 6251 |
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Shoujo, shonen-ai, shota.... none of those are mutually exclusive and Loveless can be categorized as all three. Shoujo simply describes the target audience (female) while shonen-ai and shota describe the content (boy x boy love and little boy love). Shota does not necessarily mean its porn.
Of course they are. But that doesn't mean they can't have some similarities.
But I'm sure he won't by the time the series ends. It was still ongoing the last I heard.
Well, for starters, the boy in Loveless is in either late middle school or high school, not 3rd grade. While the relationship between the two may be a bit disturbing, the series seems to be pretty low in sexual content. I know there is a little bit for the yuri couple (which was pretty tame), characters don't go around trying to seduce each other and talk about ejaculating inside each other. I agree that Lolicon seems to get a lot more flak than shotacon, but I think that's mainly because it is much more visible, both in recent anime and manga trends and in what the fans are willing to say in general forums like this. |
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Lapis Lazuli Lolita
 Posts: 220 Location: The N-Field |
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I would like to point out the licensing of Strawberry Marshmallow. While not sexual in nature, the material looks very loli and is fine. Sexual comedy is also something that is accepted. Why can they not cross?
I mean, look at the anime series Rizelmine. |
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PantsGoblin
 SubscriberEncyclopedia Editor  Posts: 2969 Location: L.A. |
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You have not read any of the loli arguements in this forum, have you? (no, you are not alone)
I don't find it quite as surprising. I cannot believe how my 12 year old cousin knows some of the stuff she does. Although, I'm not 100% sure she fully understands it... I'm pretty sure she doesn't actually.
I also doubt it is going to cause controversy on any sort of large scale. But I know it will within the fandom, which is what I meant. And it already has, like this thread. Also, it does not surprise me in the least that people make a bigger deal about something like this than they do about crazy yaoi fangirls. Personally, I find them worse (mainly because I do find many of them annoying, but that's not because what they like, more just the way go about it...). But homosexuality isn't quite as much of a social stigma as it was before. Anything to do with children and sexual content now is. |
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Swissman
Posts: 779 Location: Switzerland |
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The first two volumes of Kodomo no Jikan happen to be in my posession. I've bought them after I read that Seven Seas is going to release this one perverted Lolicon manga that has now a strong following in Japan and after having seen this infamous "ejaculate inside me" scan. Sounds pretty risqué by content and a stupid move by the publisher to bring this over in the west, I thought. My curiosity was aroused.
And you know what? ... I was quite (positively) surprised. The manga is half the Lolicon stuff some people make it out to be. Sure, Kokonoe Rin is a mischievous third grader who tries to provoke her beloved teacher with naughty words and actions, but she does that because she really wants his attention, and he's definitely not sexually aroused by her. He seriously tries to understand her problems and feelings from a trustworthy teacher point-of-view. The manga, actually drawn by a woman, has some detailed and moving background story about Rin's past and also puts some focus on the male teacher's problems dealing with his pupils in general. The "risqué" stuff is also rare and IMHO harmless – it never goes beyond some nudity and sexual innuendo – it's pretty normal for a story targetting older male teens. Last but not least, I thought the artwork isn't bad at all. It's certainly cute and "moe" (*huge* eyes) enough to gather lots of attention from certain readers and yet it has some elegance in certain drawn details (hands and clothes) I guess only women do it that way. The one big stupid thing is the decision by Seven Seas to call this manga "nymphet". That's really wrong because that really doesn't do justice neither to the protagonist Rin nor to the content in general. |
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Richard J.
Posts: 3367 Location: Sic Semper Tyrannis. |
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I think my last post was deleted.
Oh well,  if the mods felt it was a good idea to nuke it, I'll trust their judgement. (Though a PM explaining why would be nice. Not necessary but nice.)
Anyway, if Swissman's right, it doesn't sound like this release is going to be half the problem we were thinking it might be. It sounds much tamer than that one page would have you believe. The creator is female? 
I've been wondering if Seven Seas is planning to market the series as Nymphet without the original title or if they plan to have both on the cover. They're using Kodomo no Jikan on the site as the first name you see, so maybe they plan to use one name as a subtitle? Haven't bought anything from them in the past but they're about to start putting out a lot of titles I want to read, so it's be fun finding out exactly how they operate. |
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HitokiriShadow
Posts: 6251 |
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I'm still undecided on how I feel about the title itself. It sounds like it may be a decent comedy if you don't mind the lolicon themes. I'll wait for some reviews and comments by more people who get the official release to decide whether or not to get it.
I still question the wisdom of licensing this title, but perhaps they are hoping to hit another niche within the manga market. Viz and Del Rey's market strategies are just to license the best titles from their respective publishers. That leaves the other publishers with the left overs and they need a more specific strategy. Tokyopop is basically taking the shotgun blast approach by licensing a bunch of cheaper, lesser known titles and hoping for some good sellers out of those (and then they hae their yaoi line also). Dark Horse basically caters to the more mature audiences with more mature (or at least more adult oriented) titles along with their own yaoi line. I can't find any such broad strategy for other more minor publishers, but it seems that Seven Seas' strategy is hit some previously untapped markets, namely Yuri but perhaps also lolicon if this pans out. |
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