Ask John: Is There too much Sex in Anime?

Question:
Here is something that troubles me about introducing new people to anime. It seems to me that a rather alarming amount of anime has scenes of attempted rape or sexual abuse. I’m not talking about any of the more bizarre hentai anime, but several popular titles in America, titles such as Ninja Scroll, Macross Plus, and Vampire Hunter D. Even Wings of Honneamise has an attempted rape scene that seems to come out of nowhere! I’m not saying all anime has such scenes, but rape does appear with alarming regularity, almost casually. Are such scenes apparent in live Japanese film? Is this just a cultural difference between openness about sex? I think many great anime series get a bad reputation among mainstream american viewers because of such explicit scenes.

Answer:
It’s true that anime does deal with more mature topics and situations than what may normally be expected of from animation, and scenes of rape, attempted rape or other sexual activity may seem somewhat common in anime, but taken in ratio, the number of anime titles that contain rape or suggestions of rape are virtually insignificant in relation to the total number of anime episodes and shows produced each year. I’m by no means whatsoever trivializing the significance of the subject, merely stating that four examples out of just the hundreds of anime titles available in America seems to account for a relatively small percentage of anime that contains rape scenes.

Excluding direct discussion of hentai anime, there are two main reasons for the inclusion of non-consensual sex, or the suggestion of such. Such scenes may be included for essentially exploitive reasons, or may be included for their dramatic effect. Examples such as Jubei Nin Pocho (Ninja Scroll), Legend of Lemnear, Yoju Toshi (Wicked City), and Midnight Eye Goku contain scenes of sexual abuse overtly for their sexual nature. These shows are intended for male audiences, and their graphic sex and violence are intended to appeal to the primal male instincts. At the same time, these sequences provide dramatic background for the animation. All of these series are set in violent, Darwinistic worlds. The inclusion of sexual abuse, especially in shows including Berserk & Ima Soku ni Iru Boku, go a long way to establishing the reflexive cruelty of the worlds these anime are set in. As a family picnic wouldn’t be expected in a serious war story, violent death and sexual abuse would be as they are both natural occurrences and extensions of the setting. The degree to which this sexual abuse is depicted graphically is a matter of artistic choice made by the animation director.

At least as common, if not more so, sexual abuse is used in anime as a dramatic catalyst or turning point. From Greek and Roman mythology to the essays of Alice Walker and music of Tori Amos, sexual abuse and rape have been a basis for treatments of character reaction, maturation, break down, and empowerment as a result of sexual abuse. In Berserk and Fushigi Yuugi, rape is presented as a horrific, life altering event that changes and molds the personality of the victim. In these examples, the rape is revealed in flashback well into the series and is used to explain the character’s personality. In Perfect Blue, rape is used as a contribution to mental breakdown in a film about mental collapse. In Macross Plus, a potential rape is used to influence a character’s personality through repression and sublimation. Vampire Hunter D and Wings of Honneamise use the situation of rape to condemn the act. The male aggressor is shown to have mastered his primal, uncivilized instincts by repressing his desire to rape.

Excluding pure hentai anime, sexual abuse may be common in anime, but it’s common in relative proportion to similar subjects that Westerners especially may consider controversial in animation, including nudity, sex, violence, death, juvenile delinquency, and crime, and proportionately relative to anime such as Dragonball, Sailormoon, Gundam, Ranma, Tenchi Muyo, and a massive number of other anime programs that don’t include any suggestions of impropriety. Furthermore, once again excluding hentai anime, sexual abuse in mainstream anime is virtually always included because it has a direct relevance to either the story or artistic development of the anime in which it’s included. There are numerous anime programs intended for children and suitable for all audiences, both old and current, including Hime-chan’s Ribbon, Mahoujin Guru Guru, Tonari no Totoro, Hare Nochi Guu, Hamataro-kun, Pokemon, Shin Shireyukihime Pretear and Space Time Genshi-kun. There are also numerous anime, as this treatise has proven, that are neither suitable for nor intended for all or general ages audiences. If particular anime series or films get a bad reputation among mainstream American viewers, I can only suggest that this is not a fault on the part of the anime but a misconception on the part of the viewer.