It's Always the Better Shows

[Duelist925]

Chobits was, funnily enough, one of the first two manga I ever bought, along with Rave Master.

I bought Rave Master because giant sword that exploded.

Bought chobits because...boobs. ( I ws 12.)

I still have fond memories of it.

[Nekojin]

Heck, I'm "middle-aged" and I still buy shows because of boobs. That's nothing to be ashamed of - that's just male genetic disposition.

[Racket_Man]

Yeah the underware episopde (#4 I think) of Chobits was a "little" amusing and funny.

[Sarah Valentine]

There was Chobits, Absolute Boyfriend, and Black Bird manga in the childrens section at the library I brought it to the librarians attention and showed her exactly why they shouldn't be in the childrens section. I had Lauren with me at the time and I told her what if a little kid took this home and showed their parents, they would come back here yelling and screaming about boobs and naked people and how it's porn (there's 2 pages in Black Bird where it shows the 2 main characters having sex). She looked shocked like a deer in the headlights. Like a couple of other people have said just because it looks like a cartoon or a comic book does NOT mean that it's for kids!

[jedimaster91]

The really stupid kicker however, is that unless it's in one case, each DVD in a series or boxset is evaluated individually. Haruhi Suzumiya and Negima are examples of this: Vol. 1 of Haruhi Suzumiya is rated M/MA (don't have the boxset here to look) while the other discs are generally PG/M. I suspect that the reason behind the first one is the thousand and one sexual references floating around. Negima on the other hand, has 4 discs G-Rated and the remaining 2 as PG/M rated. The reasoning? Because the 2 PG/M discs contain more violence and sexual references than the other 4.

They've been known to do that here when anime runs on adult swim. For instance, Full Metal Alchemist is rated TVPG with the last 3 or 4 episodes rated TVMA (ostensibly for lots and lots of blood toward the end). In my opinion, the series overall should be TV14 due to subject matter, but they don't ask me.

My favorite series, Darker Than Black is TVMA, which for the life of me I can't figure out why. There's violence, but not much blood, not a whole lot of swearing, and one character toward the end who's nude, but everything untoward is covered by her hair. Contrast another series, Kaze no Stigma, is TV14 and has several instances of upper female frontal nudity (boobs, in case that description was obtuse ). It seems in the US, there's no rhyme or reason for the ratings.

[AdminAssistant]

In my opinion, the series overall should be TV14 due to subject matter, but they don't ask me.

I agree with you. I've only seen Brotherhood, but the scene in the lab with Mustang and Lust, I mean.....Christ on a Cracker. That's not for kiddies.

[HYHYBT]

Heck, I'm "middle-aged" and I still buy shows because of boobs. That's nothing to be ashamed of - that's just male genetic disposition.

Boobs? Meh.

[fireheart17]

Yeah the underware episopde (#4 I think) of Chobits was a "little" amusing and funny.

It is #4. #1 is Hideki finding Chi, #2 is Hideki discovering that Chi is powerful, #3 is Hideki doing something else with Chi I can't quite remember and #4 is Chi going to buy the underpants.

And yes, the clip of Chi walking down the street repeating "underpants" to herself was funny

There was Chobits, Absolute Boyfriend, and Black Bird manga in the childrens section at the library I brought it to the librarians attention and showed her exactly why they shouldn't be in the childrens section. I had Lauren with me at the time and I told her what if a little kid took this home and showed their parents, they would come back here yelling and screaming about boobs and naked people and how it's porn (there's 2 pages in Black Bird where it shows the 2 main characters having sex). She looked shocked like a deer in the headlights. Like a couple of other people have said just because it looks like a cartoon or a comic book does NOT mean that it's for kids!

I am somewhat lucky in that my council libraries see sense with this. Somewhat.

The manga is placed in a "graphic novels" section of the library, which is usually located with the teen novels. Unfortunately, said graphic novels also include the NON-questionable content such as The Simpsons, Peanuts and so on. (although my very local library has noticed this and has placed some more "kid-friendly" manga and comics in the kids section i.e. Pokemon)

(to clarify what I mean, local councils are sort of like counties. My council district has six library branches located across the district. I can use my card at any of them.)

[Duelist925]

Heck, I'm "middle-aged" and I still buy shows because of boobs. That's nothing to be ashamed of - that's just male genetic disposition.

I'd be lieing if I said it didn't factor into SOME of the series I look into every now and then, even now.

There was Chobits, Absolute Boyfriend, and Black Bird manga in the childrens section at the library I brought it to the librarians attention and showed her exactly why they shouldn't be in the childrens section. I had Lauren with me at the time and I told her what if a little kid took this home and showed their parents, they would come back here yelling and screaming about boobs and naked people and how it's porn (there's 2 pages in Black Bird where it shows the 2 main characters having sex). She looked shocked like a deer in the headlights. Like a couple of other people have said just because it looks like a cartoon or a comic book does NOT mean that it's for kids!

Bloody hell, I hate it when libraries do that. When I was younger, I loved it because...well. Boobs. Now I just don't want some poor library worker to get yelled at because their kid picked up Ranma 1/2 for the fighting, and mom freaks out over a topless scene in it.

They really need a "Youth" graphic novel section in the youth area, and the rest in the non youth area. =/ My local library had Sandman by Neil Gaiman in the youth section! Its a great series, but dear lord is it ever not for children.

On a side note, I need to find Black Bird somewhere online. I have the first several volumes, and want to keep reading it despite being poor...*adds to to do list*

[jedimaster91]

I agree with you. I've only seen Brotherhood, but the scene in the lab with Mustang and Lust, I mean.....Christ on a Cracker. That's not for kiddies.

I remember watching the original anime with my brother and his friend (who had never seen it) and we got to the episode where Tucker transmutes his daughter and his dog into a chimera. You know, for kids!

The poor friend just had a look of absolute horror on his face. Heck, I remember being horrified the first time I saw it. Just...brr.

[Gravekeeper]

Tangent: Chobits had a great deal of potential that never really materialized. Good setup, lackluster follow-through.

Well, that's CLAMP for you. Great concepts, weak resolutions. Granted the ending was changed for the anime series. It was heavier on the implications of their relationship in the manga ending.

On the upside, its one of only two anime I've ever seen where the English voice work was on par with the Japanese. The other being Fruits Basket, which holds the honour of being the only anime ever where the English version was funnier. Thanks entirely to whomever voiced Kyo.

[Duelist925]

Well, that's CLAMP for you. Great concepts, weak resolutions. Granted the ending was changed for the anime series. It was heavier on the implications of their relationship in the manga ending.

On the upside, its one of only two anime I've ever seen where the English voice work was on par with the Japanese. The other being Fruits Basket, which holds the honour of being the only anime ever where the English version was funnier. Thanks entirely to whomever voiced Kyo.

I rather liked the manga when I first read it, but damn if you aren't right about CLAMP overall. =/

On the subject of dubs, Cowboy Bebop is one of the few that I seriously prefer dubbed than subbed. Recently started watching Panty & Stocking, and its voice acting is quite good as well.

[jedimaster91]

Well, that's CLAMP for you. Great concepts, weak resolutions. Granted the ending was changed for the anime series. It was heavier on the implications of their relationship in the manga ending.

CLAMP generally gives me a headache. Tsubasa starts out as a cute little love story. And then you find out the main characters are clones of their parents and it gets weirder from there. Not to mention you have to also be reading/watching xxxHolic and possibly Card Captor Sakura to have any idea what's going on.

On the upside, its one of only two anime I've ever seen where the English voice work was on par with the Japanese. The other being Fruits Basket, which holds the honour of being the only anime ever where the English version was funnier. Thanks entirely to whomever voiced Kyo.

I love Fruits Basket and Kyo was my favorite character. I generally prefer subs over dubs, but FMA has a really good English dub as does Darker than Black. The OVA in DTB is actually funnier in English overall. And some parts surprisingly make more sense in English. Which really isn't saying all that much since the series doesn't make a whole lot of sense anyway, but that's anime for you.

[fireheart17]

On the upside, its one of only two anime I've ever seen where the English voice work was on par with the Japanese. The other being Fruits Basket, which holds the honour of being the only anime ever where the English version was funnier. Thanks entirely to whomever voiced Kyo.

Sumomo's voice in the English dub drives me NUTS on occasion, but you're right otherwise. (the bit where she's dancing around going "hiragana, katakana" etc. is hilarious though )

As for VA work being on par with the Japanese, I'd like to put down Negima as another example. They used mostly the same VA's across both series (yes, there were 2) and while there were a few characters who DID fall somewhat flat, I do believe that was the intention for the character. (in terms of translating across from manga to anime, they were mostly on par except for maybe 3-4 characters in terms of delivery and 1 character who had a MASSIVE character change from manga to anime)

Otherwise, the voices sounded great and fit the characters really well. The only exceptions were mostly:

-Konoka: while she's a bit of a ditz, her voice was too squeaky.
-Negi: I tend to put this down as questionable. His voice does squeak in some places and he sounds older than he actually is, but bearing in mind that unlike the last "Britification" that occurred (think Luna from sailor Moon), Negi was raised to BE a proper gentleman (also his VA is 40)
-Madoka: Her character's voice is meant to be gruff. >.> (she only gets a few lines of dialogue so I can somewhat overlook it)
-Sayo: this was one of the character changes I didn't like, which goes with the voice. In the manga, she's meant to have low self-esteem and is really unsure of herself. In the anime, this is changed to "how she died" in the first version. She also sounded more sure of herself. >.<

[Andara Bledin]

To add on to the canceled shows that should maybe not be canceled, Leverage. I guess it must have been in the wind, though, 'cause the producers set what is the season finale to be a possible series finale, so unlike other seasons that had evil cliffhangers, this last episode shouldn't.

^-.-^