Ask John: Is American More Tolerant of Ecchi Boys than Lolitas?

Question:
The recent OVA/TV anime Kodomo no Jikan, based on the manga series of the same name, appears to be very controversial in the American fan community because of its lolicon themes and its heavy censorship on Japanese TV. However, many years ago, there was another, different hentai manga/anime named Kodomo no Jikan which seems to have gone by largely unnoticed in America. That series featured young, elementary school boys graphically raping their babysitter. Recently there has also been an ecchi series called Kyou no 5-2 about perverted elementary school boys which has gone on largely unnoticed by American fans. Does this mean Americans approve of perverted young boys but not perverted young girls?

Answer:
Rather than take a side with a “yes” or “no” response to this question, I believe, instead, that the examples cited in this question make the question impossible to answer. I don’t think it’s reasonable to base a theory of relative tolerance for “shota” versus “lolicon” based on reactions to examples with drastically different exposure and content. Allow me to clarify.

Prior to the 2005 debut of Kaworu Watashiya’s mainstream comedy manga series Kodomo no Jikan (with “Jikan” spelled in hiragana), adult manga artist Akira Goto published a three volume manga story titled “Kodomo no Jikan” (with the “Jikan” spelled with kanji) beginning in 2000. A 7 episode long anime adaptation of the manga, titled “Kodomo no Jikan ~a forbidden time Kinjirareta Toki~,” was released in Japan periodically from 2000 through 2003. In 2002, manga artist Coharu Sakuraba published a school comedy manga titled “Kyou no Go no Ni” (“Today in Class 5-2”), which was adapted into a 4 episode OVA series in 2006.

Kaworu Watashiya’s Kodomo no Jikan has become a popular hit in Japan, spawning figure toys and other merchandise, an OVA, and a current anime television series. Akira Goto’s Kodomo no Jikan manga has never been especially well known, even within the anime and manga fan community. The Kodomo no Jikan anime is characterized by its near amateur production quality and its relative obscurity. Despite having been distributed on VHS and DVD by a major adult anime distributor, the Kodomo no Jikan erotic anime series has always been relatively overlooked and unknown. Finally, Coharu Sakuraba’s Kyou no Go no Ni includes some very mild sexual innuendo, but it’s far from being pornographic, or even erotic. In fact, many mainstream manga and anime series contain more overt and graphic sexuality than Kyou no Go no Ni.

Kodomo no Jikan has caused international scandal because its American licensor retracted plans to publish the manga series in America, and the anime TV series has been heavily censored in Japan. Out of the five Japanese television networks initially scheduled to broadcast the anime, two canceled broadcast plans. The anime production staff itself vetoed broadcast on the AT-X network because the network refused to broadcast the program without a viewer advisory message while the anime staff adamantly considers the program suitable for all viewers. The two remaining networks that broadcast the series, and the Biglobe internet service that streams episodes online, heavily censor the TV episodes.

Despite the fact that Kaworu Watashiya’s Kodomo no Jikan does not contain any sex, the mere association of overt sexuality with pre-adolescent girls, and the theme of sexual innuendo and sexual teasing between female children and an adult male has obviously proven to be too risqué for American and Japanese audiences. However, the fact that there isn’t equal outrage and condemnation of Akira Goto’s Kodomo no Jikan and Coharu Sakuraba’s Kyou no Go no Ni does not imply that audiences are more tolerant of the content of these works. Kyou no Go no Ni simply doesn’t contain significantly offensive content. The frequency and severity of its sexual references are no more than one would find in a mainstream children’s anime like Crayon Shin-chan. Akira Goto’s Kodomo no Jikan simply isn’t known widely enough to cause controversy, and furthermore, while Kaworu Watashiya’s Kodomo no Jikan contains sexual themes and is targeted at a large, mainstream audience, Akira Goto’s Kodomo no Jikan contains sexual themes but is targeted exclusively at a small adult audience. In effect, neither Kyou no Go no Ni or Akira Goto’s Kodomo no Jikan compare equally with Watashiya’s Kodomo no Jikan, so their impact on mainstream society, and their reflection of American social values cannot be equally compared.

I will admit the possibility that American society may be more prone to accept sexual urges depicted in young boys than in young girls because boys naturally develop their libido earlier than girls. Furthermore, American society has a natural, traditional expectation of seeing boys be aggressive and experimental while girls are expected to be chaste and proper. So American society may be more receptive to the concept of sexually aggressive boys than sexually aggressive girls. However, I don’t think that any such comparisons may be drawn from relative American reactions to Kyou no Go no Ni and the two different Kodomo no Jikan series because Kyou no Go no Ni is, I think, an irrelevant example, and Akira Goto’s Kodomo no Jikan is too little known to establish any reliable precedent or trend.