The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby C.T.1290 » Wed Mar 01, 2023 12:02 am

I’ve been curious on how the fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project manga series had not resulted in it getting banned in the western nations.

I get that Japan have their age of consent at 13, but that doesn’t make things any better. The age of consent in most countries are at least 18, or so it is in America. So how is it that the series haven’t been pulled off the shelves of most book stores or sections?

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I recalled Asuka being topless in one part. And due to the fact that she and the others are 14 and not even an adult, how come there hasn’t been an outrage on that? I’m sure Twitter would lose their shit upon seeing that.
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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby Blockio » Wed Mar 01, 2023 2:23 am

Because it's low quality ecchi manga that comes a dime a dozen; apart from the Eva nametag slapped on to it, the thing is thoroughly unremarkable. It's not nearly egregious enough in any direction to raise eyebrows outside of the context of Eva people talking about it
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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby kuribo-04 » Wed Mar 01, 2023 6:31 am

The age of consent isn't 13 in Japan. Prefectures set it at 18 so it's actually higher than in a lot of European countries (where it's 16, which is fucked up imo).

The reason the manga isn't banned is that it's fiction. The characters are designed to be atttactice despite their age. It's not supposed to be realistic or make sense.

I'm surprised you ask about the manga but not NGE itself which is full of fanservice too.
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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby Blockio » Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:29 am

^ that, the "age of consent is 13 in Japan" is a kind of sensationalist take that is fundamentally removed from reality in much of the same way as death penalty is still technically legal in a couple of countries on a federal level, except every individual state (or local equivalent thereof) has its own legislation outlawing it (or the other way around, as would be the case in Germany for example)
Ironically enough, the "age of consent in Europe" thing is a similar case, since it specifically only covers a very short age range (up to 19 or 20 if memory serves, although the exact rulings differ from country to country as far as I'm aware) as a way of enabling someone in a reasonable same age group to be in a relationship with someone a bit younger - in a way to make sure that someone who is only a month older and has just passed their 18th birthday can't be on-a-technicality dragged into court for being in a relationship with a minor.

But yes, ultimately the reason for why SIRP is the way it is is because it falls well within commonly accepted and broadly reasonable standards of fiction.
I am, of course, not saying that this is necessarily a good thing, I personally disagree with much of the fanservice in SIRP, but that's personal opinion, not me thinking that it should be banned; it never calls particular attention to the fact that they are underage and the artstyle, very likely intentionally so to appeal to as broad an audience as possible and not turn away those who would quite reasonably rather not think of 14 y/os as attractive, is kept in that standard issue anime look where the characters could plausibly be anywhere from just at the start of puberty to their early 20s.

In my book it's a different story for works that do call deliberate attention to the fact that characters are underage, especally when it's in the context of compromising situations, the list of excuses for what the intention could be there other than appealing to those who find that specifically the attractive aspect (which, ew), but for any work that does that, in my experience most people making a fuss about that are either the aforementioned people who I'd rather not have any form of association with, or borderline-puritans with an axe to grind that are looking for something to be upset about
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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby JoelcrNeto » Wed Mar 01, 2023 6:43 pm

As has been very well said here, these laws are taken more seriously with real people, not fictional characters from illustrations. I don't remember seeing governments from other countries expressing strong concerns with partial or total nudity of underaged characters in Japanese pop culture in general. When there are discussions on the internet about this it doesn't make too much noise.

Of course, part of the Japanese society condemns this type of content.

About the age of consent in Japan is indeed 13 years, although it is being discussed in the Japanese parliament to raise this one to the age of 16.
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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby dzzthink » Wed Mar 01, 2023 8:01 pm

Im not sure how bad sirp is though I heard it has excessive nudity of the characters. I don't have a good understanding of censorship in many countries regarding publication of this type of material but I do agree that some things should just not be available in your local bookstore. It's just really awful to read and you wonder why it's put on the same shelf as Naruto.

That being said, and as said by others, often is the case that there is leniency regarding fiction in manga/graphic novels, especially since it is so readily available on the internet. Western countries have not banned The boys and invincible comics despite their graphic content but have made TV series out of them. However, I do get the sense that Japan has a lower threshold to some types of content as they want to appeal to a certain demographic that are rising in population (many age groups read manga). If there is a demand, there will be a supply unfortunately. People change from repulsion to acceptance if enough people get on the bandwagon.
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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby cyharding » Wed Mar 01, 2023 8:43 pm

View Original PostJoelcrNeto wrote:I don't remember seeing governments from other countries expressing strong concerns with partial or total nudity of underaged characters in Japanese pop culture in general.

It wasn't individual countries but the United Nations.
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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby Konja7 » Thu Mar 02, 2023 5:12 am

View Original Postkuribo-04 wrote:The age of consent isn't 13 in Japan. Prefectures set it at 18 so it's actually higher than in a lot of European countries (where it's 16, which is fucked up imo).

The age of consent in Japan is 13, but there are many regulations that would make illegal that an adult has sex with an under 18 years old.

The age of consent of a country being under 18 doesn't really mean an adult could have sex with minors.

For example: In my country, the age of consent is 14, but it's also illegal for an adult to use deceit, abuse of power, or the vulnerability of a teenager to procure access to a minor under age 18. In other words, the age of consent is 14, but the laws expect minors to only mantain sexual relationships with other minors.


PS: In many states of USA, the age of consent is 16. I guess they have regulations too.
Last edited by Konja7 on Thu Mar 02, 2023 3:56 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby nerv bae » Thu Mar 02, 2023 1:23 pm

View Original Postcyharding wrote:
View Original PostJoelcrNeto#939228 wrote:I don't remember seeing governments from other countries expressing strong concerns with partial or total nudity of underaged characters in Japanese pop culture in general.

It wasn't individual countries but the United Nations.

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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Wed Mar 08, 2023 8:41 am

Well, also, these manga with teenage fan service are typically marketed specifically towards other teenagers. And I'm not about to get all weird about teenagers being attracted to other teenagers or whatever. Sometimes the creepiness of a thing is specifically how people outside of the target demographic (in this case, adults) respond to it.

I've never read Raising Project, so I can't speak to that specifically, but this is just a general rule of thumb I have whenever I come across something in an anime or manga that shocks my adult sensibilities. Just so long as it feels like it's sympathetic to its younger demographic (which, admittedly, I don't know if Rising Project does), and just so long as that younger demographic is responding well to it, then everything should be just fine. If not, then hopefully the kids make a big stink about it and let everyone else know.

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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby Blockio » Wed Mar 08, 2023 8:49 am

Sirp definitely has its share of chapters that are just broadly weird and uncomfortable, but it almost feels like those were written by a different person than the rest. Outside of the ones where the beginning and end of the plot is someone getting groped, the manga is broadly chaste and fluffy, so I really don't know what happened with those.
I can see why Gendo hired Misato to do the actual commanding. He tried it once and did an appalling job. ~ AWinters
Your point of view is horny, and biased. ~ glitz2hard
What about titty-ten? ~ Reichu
The movies function on their own terms. If people can't accept them on those terms, and keep expecting them to be NGE, then they probably should have realized a while ago that they weren't going to have a good time. ~ Words of wisdom courtesy of Reichu

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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby Kendrix » Wed Mar 08, 2023 1:21 pm

View Original PostFreakyFilmFan4ever wrote:Well, also, these manga with teenage fan service are typically marketed specifically towards other teenagers.


This; If it no longer titillates you cause the characters seem too young for you or the tropes are kinda juvenile, congrats on growing up! Graduate to actual porn with adults or something;

Accidental bumping no longer does anything for me after actual sex became an option but that's just me growing out of it, not grounds for a moral crusade. Obsessing & going giggly over the possibility of the slihtest touch / horny thoughts all the time is pretty much the default experience of adolescence, possibly topped only by experimenting with presentation of identity.

Also ultimately, made up drawings are not real people who can be harmed. Same as guilt-free violence in films & video games. Violence is extremly harmful IRL but it's also kind of cool & stimulating to the inner animal - a movie is exactly the right way to give it a healthy, consequence free outlet.

I kinda wish they'd focussed more on the slice of life cause there was imho more potential in that - but sexuality is part of the human experience & hence worthy of depiction in art

I mean the way this media is interacted with is generally a) ppl putting themselves in the character's shoes (eg. Shinji) b) people interacting with it as a vicarious standin for their own youth (especially because most of us probably did not score hot babes as an awkward pimply youngster) c) your way of relating to the characters being "frozen" at the point that you first saw the show. (no more "creepy" than fondly remembering a crush from your youth)

Same with "hot for teacher" tropes - like ovsly it would be bad if someone IRL raped their students, but also many students totally had horny fantasies of their teachers & what such media presents is the cathartic fantasy version of that, like the cathartic fantasy of kicking ass with a gun (though war in real life is traumatic and kills innocents)

Like the subconscious is weird, and art, from the highbrow to the lowest common denomintor, is the id in a box; There are recorded cases of concentration camp survivors winding up with Nazi uniform fetishes (maybe a way to subconsciously conquer the fear)

Apparently the JP fandom has taken to calling the fandom puritans "feelings yakuza". I'm so stealing that.

Like I personally consider SIRP fairly meh apart from some of the slice of life moments, but I'm against puritanism on principle. Once "I feel uncomfortable" or "I think thats weird" becomes an acceptable reason to shun/ban/bash something, (as opposed to harm to real persons) where does it stop? No gays? No dark fic? No ships where ppl don't talk like they're trying to ´get a good grade in therapy?
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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Thu Mar 09, 2023 7:17 am

Well, the "they're just drawings, bro" argument only works so far. Art is a cultural expression of cultural phenomena, so what topics are being depicted and how they're being approached by the artist is important and, in certain cases, can be almost alarming for some folks. That's why I tend to draw the line at works that feel exploitative in some way, and not so much at the thematic element/explicit nature of the work itself.

But that's just me.

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Postby Blockio » Thu Mar 09, 2023 8:33 am

There is definitely an argument to be had in either direction, and the truth will be falling somewhere in between the two extreme stances.
While, yes, ultimately those are just lines on paper and noone was directly impacted by their creation, but they still represent something; which is why I made my earlier point about how much of it is calling attention towards the age, if the point of interest is intended to be oh hey, look at these characters you like getting into zany antics vs if the point of interest is look at these highschoolers, remember how they're just kids, don't you also find that hot
I feel filthy for typing that out even just for the sake of illustrating a point
I can see why Gendo hired Misato to do the actual commanding. He tried it once and did an appalling job. ~ AWinters
Your point of view is horny, and biased. ~ glitz2hard
What about titty-ten? ~ Reichu
The movies function on their own terms. If people can't accept them on those terms, and keep expecting them to be NGE, then they probably should have realized a while ago that they weren't going to have a good time. ~ Words of wisdom courtesy of Reichu

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Postby FreakyFilmFan4ever » Thu Mar 09, 2023 12:25 pm

Honestly, it’s “vibe checks” for me. A work can be explicit without feeling exploitative, if that makes sense. No one needs to have a precise definition of what does or doesn’t feel exploitative, they just know it when they see it.

But, also, most of my manga intake lately has only been “Komi Can’t Communicate,” so maybe I’m punching above my weight class, as it were.

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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby Blockio » Fri Mar 10, 2023 10:24 am

I think the two of us are largely getting at the same angle here, just from two different rationales
I can see why Gendo hired Misato to do the actual commanding. He tried it once and did an appalling job. ~ AWinters
Your point of view is horny, and biased. ~ glitz2hard
What about titty-ten? ~ Reichu
The movies function on their own terms. If people can't accept them on those terms, and keep expecting them to be NGE, then they probably should have realized a while ago that they weren't going to have a good time. ~ Words of wisdom courtesy of Reichu

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Re: The fan service in the Shinji Ikari Raising Project

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Postby JoelcrNeto » Sat Mar 11, 2023 11:53 am

View Original Postcyharding wrote:It wasn't individual countries but the United Nations.

Ah, I remembered that discussion at the UN. Even so, it doesn't change much what I said; the Japanese government doesn't want to mess with their soft power, let's face it.
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