Ask John: How Age Appropriate is Anime?

Question:
I know hentai is meant for mature audiences, but you mentioned in a earlier question that we anime otaku should watch as much of any kind of anime as possible. When you said this, did you mean in general or watch as your age progresses? Would you think that teenagers should be watching hentai, or is it too early in life to be watching it? Some of my friends express interest in hentai that most people disregard by saying “It’s just cartoons,” or by considering them to be absolute perverts. Can you please tell me your opinion on this matter?

Answer:
It seems there may be some confusion here regarding the intended audience of hentai anime. The common definition of “hentai” anime is “adult anime.” Working from this definition, hentai is not intended for “mature” audiences. It is intended for and should only be accessible to and watched by adult audiences. Not only should teenagers not watch hentai, they should not even have access to it. In Japan, hentai anime is labeled as intended for viewers aged 18 or older, and it is Japanese society’s honor system that maintains this restriction. In America, it is simply illegal for anyone under 18 to view hentai anime under any circumstances. Hentai anime is not like a Rated R movie suitable for teen viewing with adult supervision. There’s no parental supervision involved with hentai anime. Teenagers should not be watching hentai anime. Period. I’m as aware as anyone of the appeal of the forbidden, but I’ve also watched enough adult anime in my years to know that hentai anime is not something to be disregarded as “merely cartoons.” In fact, specifically because hentai anime is animated and not real, it does not have the same limitations and restrictions that live-action pornography does, and therefore is often, in a purely hypothetical sense, even less suitable for impressionable under aged viewers than “real pornography.”

I do advise both novice and experienced anime fans to watch as much anime as possible, and a wide a variety of anime as possible. Good and bad, shoujo and shonen, everything you watch broadens your awareness and knowledge of specific anime series and the anime genre and art form itself. Like all forms of literature, particular anime are created with a particular target audience in mind. Shows like Minky Momo and Sailormoon are intended for preadolescent girls. Shows like Dragonball and Crayon Shin-chan are intended for children. Anime including the films of Hayao Miyazaki and Detective Conan are intended for children of all ages, 8 to 80. Anime like Evangelion and Gundam are intended for teenage boys. Anime titles like Oruchuban Ebichu are intended for 20-something year old women. Hentai anime titles are intended for adult viewers only. However, watching only Cowboy Bebop and Evangelion and totally ignoring Fushigi Yuugi and Sailormoon, or watching Outlaw Star and Slayers but ignoring Crayon Shin-chan and Pokemon, or watching “new” anime like Gundam Wing, Dirty Pair Flash and Harlock Saga while totally ignoring “old” anime like Mobile Suit Gundam, Dirty Pair and Space Pirate Captain Harlock is like a self-proclaimed sports fan that only watches football and no baseball, gymnastics or swimming. A genuine “anime fan” is one who enjoys anime in all its forms. And the only way to experience anime in all its forms is to watch and appreciate anime in all its forms. Watching bad anime lets you know what to avoid in the future and gives you something to compare “good” anime to. Watching good anime brings happiness and entertainment. Watching children’s anime provides Westerners with a sense of the cultural differences between Japan and the west, and the moral values and abstract ideals Japanese society instills in its children. Watching shoujo anime makes a viewer recognize that anime is about more than large breasted girls with guns and giant robots. Shoujo anime goes a long way to establishing the variety and diversity and thematic depth of the anime art form. Watching shonen anime shows why anime is so influential and exciting by revealing action and adventure virtually impossible to present in live action and unlike any visual entertainment produced anywhere else in the world. By watching a great diversity of anime, you’re not only entertaining yourself, you’re researching an art form, educating yourself, and exposing yourself to the influence of a foreign culture.

There’s nothing wrong with a boy watching Sailormoon or a girl enjoying Gundam. There’s nothing wrong with a 30 year old man enjoying a show intended for 8 year old girls (or, at least I hope not, or I’m in trouble). Anime is created to entertain viewers, so there’s no reason to be ashamed of watching an anime that you happen to find entertaining, regardless of what it is. However, that’s not to say that all anime is intended to entertain all viewers. Part of what makes anime so different from any other animation created anywhere else in the world is the anime genre’s reliance on individual viewer’s intelligence and discretion and ability to recognize what is appropriate to watch and what is not. That is why the Japanese animation industry does not have a ratings system. It relies on the intelligence and observation and interpretative ability of the viewers to say to themselves in certain cases, “I should not watch this.” It’s very true that not all anime is mature and not all anime is sophisticated, but all anime, from the most innocent and childlike tone of Tottoko Hamutaro to the extreme and taboo shattering Shusaku that’s only appropriate for adult viewers, relies on the sophistication, knowledge and responsibility of the viewer to be responsible for his or her own viewing.