Forum - View topicINTEREST: Newspaper Ad for Raunchy Tawawa on Monday Manga Draws Ire
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Mune
Posts: 376 Location: Minnesota |
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I think this has some odd responses. The picture is in no way promoting anything other than trying to cheer people up that are entering the workforce.
The content does not: 1. Pose the character in a sexual way 2. Give any language to suggest anything sexual 3. Show more skin than what one would typically encounter in a public setting It is only an issue because of the character's body type, which is a form of body shaming and objectifying that body type. This type of reaction can also affect those who have this body type, making them feel like they are indecent, immoral, and only to be objectified. |
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ATastySub
Past ANN Contributor
 Posts: 660 |
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Way to completely gloss over the way they’re trying to “cheer people up.” Seems a lot of people are completely refusing to read the article, which considering their reactionary responses isn’t surprising. It’s not even about the body type, it’s about the age. Saying “we’re gonna cheer everyone up by sexualizing a child” while being part of a partnership of a group that is committed to protecting young women from those harmful societal messages is the problem. |
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Joesmith580
Posts: 16 |
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Why is this a problem but litearlly everything else about underage isn't? Ecchi that shows high school girls naked let alone hentai. |
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Catsplay
 Posts: 381 |
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It's not a child, it's a fictional manga character where the age literally doesn't matter at all. Also the character is not sexualized in that drawing whatsoever. It doesn't matter what's in the source material when it's just a harmless ad that doesn't have sexual content in it. |
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Mune
Posts: 376 Location: Minnesota |
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I realize the article is partially about the age, however if it were simply an underage girl without this body type, it would have less of a controversy around it. The act of simply being that body type as being sexualized is part of the reason why I am quite upset with the response. The advertisement simply states ""I hope this will be a wonderful week."" Nothing about that statement is sexual. This means that the problem being discussed is not about the language used, but rather the character or the material being advertised as being the problem. The fact that Kodansha said nothing was wrong with the advertisement says a lot about their stance on the issue. They don't seem to care and don't think it is an issue at all. It is an advertisement for their manga, though probably not very well placed. It did reach a larger audience, as intended. The problem lies that some of that audience is not the targeted audience, and some may feel completely nauseated at the idea of such a thing to exist. The advertisement is not explicit, but could be seen as suggestive, as the only way that is given about cheering up the readers.
In other words, "I don't want to be exposed to this sort of thing (fanservice manga) and it must not be advertised in this type of publication (The Nikkei)." I see that, as The Nikkei is he world's largest financial newspaper. Kodansha just pushed it out because they could reach more people, which is how advertisements work. Tawawa on Monday (Getsuyōbi no Tawawa) manga has characters that follow the law, though a bit on the line (a student who, after graduating, enters in a relationship with her former teacher). The character pictured for the advertisement does not do this and actually doesn't even have a romantic or sexual relationship with anyone. She is just happy to make a regular connection with someone who happens to be an older man on a train every Monday. I'm not going to sugarcoat it: the manga does contain fanservice. The advertisement is completely devoid of any of the fanservice. |
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Juno016
 Posts: 2398 |
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I'm someone who believes the ages of fictional characters are non-existent and any attempt to regulate the base sale of, say, fictional lolicon, is probably not doing so with any proof that fictional lolicon being sold in porn shops or sites is harmful to society at large. It's not harmful if it's used as fantasy/escape/etc. because you [hopefully] know it's not representative of reality and it doesn't reflect on your rl values. But this isn't porn or a targeted ad. And it is sexually suggestive. It's a casual pose, but her silhouette specifically emphasizes her curves and her skirt is still quite short if you're not already a fan of anime (which most people targeted by this ad would not be). I said this before, but I draw erotic art myself and this is something I would draw to that end. Absolutely unsurprising considering it's from a proud and shameless fanservice manga. If you are a woman in a culture like Japan's, there is a lot of pressure to conform specifically to what appeals to the eyes of men. Young girls who have less of a filter for fiction or advertising see it and exemplify it all the time (personal experience growing up in Japan). This being in a newspaper under the supervision of a women's advocacy group that usually points this exact kind of issue out is why this is noteable. Clearly it was assumed the business-oriented, male-dominated field would appreciate it, with zero concern about what women in the same field would think. To throw some balance in here, I don't think this ad is some shameful blunder that should get anyone fired or called out on some broader world stage. It's more an example of a lightly problematic thing that's been normalized in Japan and the world over to the point that a lot of people have clearly missed the deliberateness of the artist's (and the message's) intent in the art. I'm more than happy it stirred discussion and I'm absolutely for letting Japan's own women decide for themselves what to do with it without the global community unfairly shaming them if they decide removing the ad isn't the proper response. Personally, I think simply promoting better women representation in media is leagues better than removing more problematic missteps on the way. |
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Saiphaz
Posts: 60 |
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Let's see what's the ad that drew the ire of the UN Women. Surely is some raunchy thing with clearly sexist undertones which denigrates women by making them prey of men's deranged fantas...
It's a schoolgirl... just standing there. Surely the manga has to be worse than Healing Hero then. This better be some kind of sick thing that puts most hardcore doujins to shame... It's the schoolgirl befriending a salaryman, and other very of age woman dating her coworker... Even assuming that it's okay to censorship fictional works out of some outrage for fictional characters and that people deserve to be paid for it instead of doing actual work, why this in particular? Isn't there other stuff that desperately need attention even under the assumption that this is an urgent issue? Did they see the deluge of isekai works with slavery, rape, brainwashing and very non feminist content, some of which have actually reached a TV audience and decided it was too much for them? |
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Shay Guy
 Posts: 2165 |
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My earlier prediction seems to be bearing out well.
Yes, and also, come on. Does anyone seriously not think the entire concept behind Ai-chan is "a schoolgirl's sex appeal from a salaryman's perspective"? She's a collection of cheesecake shots that congealed into a character because it was more convenient than coming up with a new character design each week. |
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livin_large
Posts: 107 |
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I think these sorts of groups realize that their alternatives will never be able to compete with the problematic originals in a free market.. The most popular characters are always going to be the Tifa Lockharts and Mai Shiranuis, the Namis and Orihimes, the Raphtalias and Asunas. The only way to ensure compliance is to make it the only choice available so it's more effective to remove and alter works than create new ones. American media went down that route by replacing and changing established characters over promoting new ones and it's proven to be much more effective for media dominance than just offering alternatives. There was no need to compete with characters like Lara Croft when you can just grab the character and remold her into what you want and do away with the original version. The main reason we haven't seen that in Japan is most media is creator owned. A new person can't just simply hop in and suddenly change Bleach or Mushoku Tensei like with American franchises and characters. So far it seems the only real consequences these sorts of groups have been able to achieve in Japan is sometimes getting posters or advertisements taken down. Thankfully there doesn't seem to be a case where they have enough power to actually alter the works themselves. |
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