Comments on: MSNBC: Anime is for teh Sex!

By: Martin

Martin — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:05:00 +0000

@Ibrevis and Kadian1364: sorry for any misunderstanding! While it’s *theoretically* possible that Machias actually meant what he said to come out like that, I think you could be right about his comments being innocent ones taken out of context. Given the biased and skewed nature of the article as a whole, it wouldn’t surprise me that Alexander put a spin onto what he said or implied (I’ve not actually read Otaku USA so don’t have anything against Machias, in case my first comment implied that). Which kinda makes Alexander’s article even worse really…

By: rollchan

rollchan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:30:31 +0000

Mr. Alexander should watch La Blue Girl, so that he could better understand the true nature of anime. LOL! or maybe, he did watch it before, does he? XD LOL!

By: rollchan

rollchan — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:14:51 +0000

news articles are just news articles. I mean, hey, they just want to sell what they write. mass media, baby!

look at all of these loser, lonely freaks and perverts who wack off to cartoon porn of 12 year old girls getting penetrated by octopi! <– this really made me laugh. hehe. :) octopi! XD

By: Kadian1364

Kadian1364 — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:14:51 +0000

You gotta believe Mr. Macias was quoted out of context, or at the very least his statements are used to support conclusions he did not mean. I can definitely see this happening:

Alexander: So what is appealing about anime?

Macias: Well, the stories aren’t so cut and dry as most American animation is. There is MORAL AMBIGUITY.

Alexander: I see! Please continue…

It helps that Mr. Brian Alexander has all the deductive reasoning, informative knowledge, and subtlety of expression as a DROOLING IDIOT.

Modern journalism at it’s best, ladies and gentlemen. OTL

By: IcyStorm

IcyStorm — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:24:08 +0000

Whatever it is, for a true otaku, Eng says, it is not pedophilia. “Fans abhor young looking [real-life] models,” he said. “They abhor real child porn. They do not want to be associated with that stuff.”

At least it says this. I’m not a damn pedophile.

By: lbrevis

lbrevis — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 21:31:49 +0000

But sexually-suggestive and explicit anime like “Gurren Lagann” and “Legend of the Overfiend,” is finding an eager audience of adult Americans who are drawn to the post-modern, almost post-human mash-up of playful, blurry morality found in the genre.

Okay, I burst out laughing at this point. I can’t believe he just compared Legend of the Overfiend to Gurren Lagann. He probably saw a picture of Yoko’s bikini and jumped to wild conclusions. Too bad he missed the chance to make it really shocking by informing readers that this “explicit anime” is actually a kids show that aired primetime Sunday morning.

As for Macias’ comment I can’t speak about that but I can tell you that I’ve subscribed to Otaku USA and couldn’t be happier. I’ve never once read anything in the magazine that really rubbed me the wrong way so I wouldn’t write it off just because of one comment.

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:24:27 +0000

The problem here is either 1. it was badly-researched or 2. is playing the ’sensationalist media’ card, or both. If I said that otaku culture didn’t have a sexual aspect I’d be lying but in terms of its impact on Western pop culture this is a pretty narrow and limited overview of the subject. Perhaps the fact that Alexander’s specialist area is contemporary sexual practices (judging by the topic of his book, anyway) makes the article so biased in that direction. I’m not sure Machias’ views reflect those of his readership either, which is a worry in itself.

More often than not, this sort of article is either a piece of bad satire or simply an effort to gain more site traffic through hits and complaints from irate anime fans – I’ve seen that sort of thing in the past too.