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This Week in Anime - Sex in Anime is Complicated


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Ggultra2764
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Joined: 21 Jan 2004
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Location: New York state.
PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 1:06 pm Reply with quote
Another angle to Mysterious Girlfriend X I took notice of is the greater focus on emotional connections within a relationship instead of physical and sexual ones. The latter elements are there with the thoughts and actions of Urabe and Akira, but more focus is put on the feelings experienced by the two with their relationship considering the unique abilities of Urabe's saliva.
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Andrew Cunningham



Joined: 01 Feb 2006
Posts: 464
Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 1:20 pm Reply with quote
Mysterious Girlfriend X (manga) ultimate winds up very much interested in how everything about someone you're into starts reading as sexy. It's been far too long since Ueshiba's last manga ended, and here's hoping he comes back soon.

I recently crossed 900 light novels on my shelves and Uno Bokuto is basically the only author I've got doing anything interesting with sex. A couple of others have sex scenes, but don't really do much with them beyond an extension of the existing romance. (Which is still better than them barely even kissing...)

I do dig the way Apothecary Diaries treats it as a practical skill you might have to resort to eventually. Best to be informed in case the chips fall that way.
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Joe Mello



Joined: 31 May 2004
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 1:23 pm Reply with quote
I don't know why "saddest low-five imaginable" made me start to corpse, but well done.

Quote:
100 GFs is maximizing enthusiasm for sexuality and all the weird/fun kinks its initials

is this supposed to be "it entails" but got mangled by the autocomplete?
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KitKat1721



Joined: 03 Feb 2015
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 1:42 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
Part of what makes that scene hit is that it's so explicit without being sexy.

I do really appreciate when media tackles this sort of frank, no-frills look at sex (including many of the shows mentioned in the column), as well as the inverse. Scenes that aren’t necessarily very explicit on-screen, whether it’s nudity, exposing fan service, etc… but are still undeniably erotic and sexy. The Case Study of Vanitas is usually my go-to example here, but there are plenty of examples outside of anime as well.

Also love the shout-out to Scum’s Wish, O’Maidens, and Stranger by the Shore. All three are so uniquely refreshing in the anime sphere and deserve more attention. Thankfully Funi gave Stranger specifically so much care upon release by handing the dub off to David Wald - a longtime supporter of lgbt anime having an actual presence with financial support/promotion in the western market. You can tell he poured a lot of care into that film.
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psh_fun



Joined: 22 Oct 2023
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 1:43 pm Reply with quote
I think it was Yakuza 0 that had Kiryu famously and proudly shout “You shouldn’t judge someone just because they don’t conform to society’s standards of sexual normalcy!” in the defense of buying used schoolgirl panties.

I am kind of scratching my head at all the Chainsaw Man discourse though. I don't know how those people got that far in the series if that was the scene that broke the camel's back for them. Overall I appreciate fanservice and sex in anime especially in a time where more and more media is becoming more and more puritanical. I'm already reading reports and posts about how newer generations dislike sex scenes in movies and a lot of sexuality seems to be disappearing from modern media. I'm glad anime is still fine with it.

I loved all those Fairy Tail OVAs so the Lucy screenshot was very nostalgic for me.
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Lizuka



Joined: 27 Jul 2018
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 1:56 pm Reply with quote
I just want to throw out that I clicked on this entirely due to Mysterious Girlfriend X being the thumbnail. I stumbled into that show having absolutely no idea what it was so I got completely blindsided by it and I loved it so much.
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Turtleboy76



Joined: 06 Jun 2023
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 2:03 pm Reply with quote
That latest CSM chapter was the litmus test for normies or newbies. Today's fans are absolutely weak and would not have lasted in the 2000s
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FishLion



Joined: 24 Jan 2024
Posts: 68
PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 2:30 pm Reply with quote
Great discussion this week, I wish every author could seamless integrate the adult content the way Chainsaw Man does, it all feels thematically meaningful even where it is supposed to be sexy and it never feels idealized. It is a dirty part of a dirty world and the plot even makes clear that for all the motivation that can come from desire and devotion, putting it on a pedestal is going to lead to disappointment.
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Shay Guy



Joined: 03 Jul 2009
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 2:54 pm Reply with quote
I’m reading CSM through the print volumes, so I’ve been avoiding reading about this latest incident in detail, but… are people seriously upset about this kind of material being present? After two separate chapters in Part 1 – when it was still in the print WSJ magazine for every elementary-school Demon Slayer fan to see – had those splash panels of Quanxi and friends?

Anyway, I’m pleased to see I’m familiar with a lot more of the series being praised than usual here – O Maidens, Hyakkano, Scum’s Wish, Marriagetoxin, Mysterious Girlfriend X, and Yamada’s First Time. By the way, if anyone’s curious about how the last turned out in the manga, since the anime stopped long before that point: spoiler[She did, in fact, have her first time – after publicly confessing to her love interest. And fittingly, the sex was hilariously terrible. Their second time was better, but that’s all they were able to make time for before graduation.]

On another note, though… the references to “people who are likely younger and inexperienced in emotional or physical intimacy” and “adolescent fantasies made for people with little-to-no sexual experience” (followed up with “presumed young male audience”) makes me wish the experience of adult virginity was more a part of the conversation, along with the insecurity, shame, and stigma it can involve (and insecurity and shame can often be part of why someone remains a virgin later in life than most). Marriagetoxin’s fun, but it’s not really about that. And I wonder what some good examples of fiction specifically for adult virgins, as opposed to “for teenage male virgins” (almost always a pejorative), would be.

KitKat1721 wrote:
Scenes that aren’t necessarily very explicit on-screen, whether it’s nudity, exposing fan service, etc… but are still undeniably erotic and sexy. The Case Study of Vanitas is usually my go-to example here, but there are plenty of examples outside of anime as well.


Some Hays Code movies managed some pretty impressive work – Ball of Fire comes to mind.


Last edited by Shay Guy on Tue Jun 11, 2024 3:01 pm; edited 1 time in total
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oilers2007



Joined: 23 Sep 2022
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 2:59 pm Reply with quote
Turtleboy76 wrote:
That latest CSM chapter was the litmus test for normies or newbies. Today's fans are absolutely weak and would not have lasted in the 2000s


A recent Jojolands chapter had a similar effect from what I remember with Dragona and his whole ordeal. Sexual stuff does that to people I guess. I dont mind it myself and am glad manga and anime doesnt shy away from this content
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Joe Mello



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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 3:30 pm Reply with quote
psh_fun wrote:
I am kind of scratching my head at all the Chainsaw Man discourse though. I don't know how those people got that far in the series if that was the scene that broke the camel's back for them

You kinda answered your own question:
psh_fun wrote:
I'm already reading reports and posts about how newer generations dislike sex scenes in movies and a lot of sexuality seems to be disappearing from modern media.

Chainsaw Man and the like are still primarily consumed by non-adults who lack the life experience to understand their sexuality and how it interacts with the greater world. The changes in media are largely to do with evangelical nonsense, but even if they didn't change, the evolution of sex and gender in society would make a lot of the "sexy" things of the past less effective.
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Sorraffy



Joined: 26 Feb 2008
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 5:11 pm Reply with quote
When you have to switch to your ad blocker version to view an article because the ad is blocking your options to view the article
https://i.imgur.com/iFVeIV3.jpeg
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ZiharkXVI



Joined: 29 Jan 2009
Posts: 380
PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 5:28 pm Reply with quote
Joe Mello wrote:
psh_fun wrote:
I am kind of scratching my head at all the Chainsaw Man discourse though. I don't know how those people got that far in the series if that was the scene that broke the camel's back for them

You kinda answered your own question:
psh_fun wrote:
I'm already reading reports and posts about how newer generations dislike sex scenes in movies and a lot of sexuality seems to be disappearing from modern media.

Chainsaw Man and the like are still primarily consumed by non-adults who lack the life experience to understand their sexuality and how it interacts with the greater world. The changes in media are largely to do with evangelical nonsense, but even if they didn't change, the evolution of sex and gender in society would make a lot of the "sexy" things of the past less effective.

You believe that evangelicals are still the main, underlying cause for the changes in media? I somehow doubt that. Definitely not for anime. Maybe 20 or even 10 years ago for other forms of media, but if you examine how many people are leaving evangelical christianity in recent years, that seems to me to be a wrong assumption.

I don't think he did answer his own question because the question remains unanswered why the shift in public preference? I don't know either - don't get me wrong. As an older fan of anime, I have noticed that the explicit nature of some of the better anime just isn't there anymore. I think generally what has happened as anime becomes more mainstream companies realize what can be mass marketed and what cannot. It has always been true that G or PG rated kids movies done right will do far better than hard R rated flicks. My guess is tons more people will pick up a manga of the hot new show like Chainsaw Man and that opens it up to far more criticism than it used to from a more diverse group of fans. Fans that didn't exist 20 years ago. Just my guess though.
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yeehaw



Joined: 09 Sep 2018
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PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 5:31 pm Reply with quote
please please please change the thumbnail it makes me feel sick
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That Little Rapscallion



Joined: 31 Jul 2023
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Tue Jun 11, 2024 6:02 pm Reply with quote
ZiharkXVI wrote:
I don't think he did answer his own question because the question remains unanswered why the shift in public preference? I don't know either - don't get me wrong. As an older fan of anime, I have noticed that the explicit nature of some of the better anime just isn't there anymore. I think generally what has happened as anime becomes more mainstream companies realize what can be mass marketed and what cannot. It has always been true that G or PG rated kids movies done right will do far better than hard R rated flicks. My guess is tons more people will pick up a manga of the hot new show like Chainsaw Man and that opens it up to far more criticism than it used to from a more diverse group of fans. Fans that didn't exist 20 years ago. Just my guess though.


Anime is definitely more mainstream and that's why you see more complaining compared to the past but I don't think anime itself has changed all that much. It's still as sexual and perverse as it's always been. It's just now we live in an era where we get to publicly see people on social media and news sites talk about it which includes the detractors. It could be the younger and newer fans but I also see some older fans do it too and claim they have "matured" although that usually entails being more close minded. It's less about evangelism and more about social progressivism and changing tides. Other countries like Japan haven't really jumped on board with it so when a WSJ series comes out with something like that one nude Hagakure cover for My Hero Academia people are surprised that artists are still doing pin-ups like that when American media has largely abandoned that and tend to condemn it's past transgressions.
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