Enough With the Less-than-subtle Sexual Innuendo

By CHONG KAH YUAN

What is the first thing that pops into your mind the moment Japan is mentioned? This is the era whereby all Japanese fashion books such as Kawaii! are always sold out the moment they are released on shelf. The first in chronology is probably fashion, followed by sushi? As for an almost-otaku like me (I am still in denial), it is most probably manga, anime and cosplay.

By the way, otaku actually means someone who is obsessed with either anime or manga, who can be almost called a geek not because they know the differences between a memory slot and AGP slot, but because they spend ALL the time immersed in kawaii girls, shounen hype or drowning themselves with 24/7 fantasy of bishounen with themselves as the main female character. Even in dreams, some of the manga and anime might come back to haunt them, or for those perverted ones, wet dreams.

*Glossary

kawaii- cute

shounen- for teenage boys eg. bleach, naruto

bishounen- cute guys

shoujo-for girls

ecchi-contents which include panty, cleavage and you-know-it

yuri- lesbians

yaoi- gays

mangaka- author of manga

lolicon- sexual preference for yet-to-reach-puberty girls

*end

Most parents hate it when their children develop infatuation for this Japanese bandwagon. The first judgemental impression out of their mouth would probably be, "You are too old to be obsessed with cartoons. Grow up," But the thing is, anime are not cartoons and manga are not comics! To the otaku(s) anyway, I am just an almost-otaku. *still in denial* The thing is, when the teenagers are being labelled as frivolous and immature for their preoccupation with the manga and anime, the adults always have it easier when they baby-step their first shoujo drama or series.

I am almost sure that when your mum and aunt watches t-dramas such as meteor garden, peach girl or bubbles in the summer, or perhaps k-drama like goong and full house, even going as far as being gaga over the cute guys, do they even realise that the depiction of those movies are adapted from manga? For those who pride themselves on the manga or anime virginity, if you really enjoy watching the white-knight-saving-princess routines of k-drama or t-drama, you might not be a full virgin for manga too. Sorry to break your bubble though.

To be fair, I will affirm that the anime and manga has its backlash too. Some of the ecchi manga or anime, are probably meant for boys with raging hormones. Other genre(s) of ecchi manga probably include scenes that will be of interest to those with paedophilic tendencies *yuck* and homosexualities in manga. As for this, it probably falls under the genre of yuri and yaoi. Some of the manga, such as History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi or Rosario + Vampire illustrates females in such a degrading way that it even struck my feminist sentiments as bordering on vulgar. I am sure it felt like a slap across the face for all the females out there too.

A manga with an interesting storyline completed with a twist is good enough to attract my attention, but is there any need to illustrate the more-than-fair-share of cleavage or nipple outline, or even a chest size which looks like you have two melons in it instead of living cells and fats? Perhaps the mangaka thinks that it is too tame and reserved for his/her depraved sexual taste, he/she just need to add more sketches which include a full view of a very voluptuous female derrière topped with pink frillies.

In my opinion, these kind of manga and anime clearly degrade females by defining them either by their chest or hip size. If offends my female sensibilites *yes, I do have one* as downright humiliating for the female sex and undignified version of female sexuality. The manga Dance in The Vampire Bund is a clear turn-on for those lolicon(s), as the main character is clearly a female who has yet to start puberty, yet prances around naked as though we are back to the era of Adam and Eve.

What I am trying to say is, the mangaka could probably try being more sensitive towards its readers. There are a fair share of female audience too for the Japanese manga and anime. Why go out of their way just to slip in those not even subtle evocations of sexually rated scenes just to attract the individuals which allows hormones to rule their mind? As for the continuous rage of sexual innuendos in manga, I personally have no doubt that it will attract more perverse audience eventually. What happens to satisfying the desires of standard readers who are just seeking for a light/leisurely read?

This blog post is a stroke of revelation inspired by Chester Chin's Oops!... She Did It Again which recounts for the English music and Song Sook Kin's Why The Hate? for its relevance to K-pop. Perhaps the Taiwanese trend next?