Ask John: Why do Viewers React to Anime Sex & Violence Differently?

Question:
After finishing three hyperviolent anime: Mirai Nikki, Elfen Lied, and Deadman Wonderland along with some of the most gruesome OVAs such as Violence Jack, Apocalypse Zero, or Genocyber I started to become curious about why anime genres such as moe, lolita, and ecchi are so reviled in the western fandom. For all the complaints about moé, lolita, and ecchi used as a crutch for lack of competent narrative, the same could be said of hyperviolent anime. Yet not only is hyperviolent anime in the western fandom tolerated, but it is celebrated. Isn’t that a double standard? On top of that, children in Violence Jack and Genocyber were brutually slaughtered and I never heard any complaints. Yet when moe or lolita elements are projected onto a child there is moral outrage. What’s with these double standards?

Answer:
A variety of factors contribute to the seeming bipolarity of American reaction to grim and violent anime versus romantic, comic, and sexy anime. Exposure makes a significant difference to viewer perception. Japanese viewers have always been more partial to lighthearted, fanciful anime than dark, oppressive, violent anime. So especially in the contemporary era of anime heavily preoccupied with commercial viability, moé, bishoujo, comedy, and risqué anime far outnumber and overshadow morose, violent anime. American viewers that aren’t instinctively so used to and preferential to happy anime respond to their sense of overexposure. We condemn moé because we’re overwhelmed by it, and because there’s so much of it available for relative comparison that we’re easily able to distinguish the outstanding from the mediocre. At the same time, we relish and respect bleak anime because it’s relatively rare. With less available to compare to, even weak or mediocre gloomy shows seems better than they may actually be because viewers overcompensate, coloring the shows with their own grateful sentiment. For example, Higurashi no Naku Koro ni is a fan favorite because it’s a relatively unique bishoujo psycho-horror. Yet objectively the show really isn’t especially good. A contemporary show like Makademy Washoi has far better production values but isn’t remotely as well respected because it’s perceived as just another bishoujo anime is a sea of siblings. It’s reliance on marketable kemono-mimi characters is dismissed as a marketing gimmick while the killer girls of Higurashi are actually no more or less a marketing gimmick. The applicable difference is exposure and viewer familiarity.

Viewer familiarity also affects the reception of certain types of anime content. Americans are used to violence in animation. We’ve watched animated characters inflict pain upon each other in Looney Tunes, The Flintstones, and South Park for literal generations. However, the sexualization of children has never been prominent in American animation. Even though Americans have seen such fetishization in imported anime since the beginning of the American anime boom in the 1990s, it’s still a foreign and unconsciously offensive idea to typical Americans. We praise the inclusion of intense violence in anime because its presence validates animation as being more legitimate, adult-oriented literature than mere children’s cartoons. To varying degrees, we oppose or reject anime that sexualizes children because such fetishization opposes indoctrinated American morality. Countless critics and observers have recognized the American tendency to tolerate and even glamorize violence in popular media while marginalizing and obscuring nudity and sexuality. The very same tendency affects American’s perception of Japanese anime. For Americans, imagery of violence is more tolerable than imagery or suggestion of sexuality while the opposite seems to be the case for the Japanese.

Simply put, the double-standard revolving around the American reaction to violence versus sex has always existed. It affects American anime fans and viewers whether they consciously realize it or not. Rational, receptive anime fans consciously recognize the instinctive preference and should try to restrain it in order to fairly evaluate and react to each and every anime watched, in order to judge anime fairly on their own merits and attributes rather than automatically favoring, or more importantly disparaging, certain anime just because of their tone, genre, or thematic emphasis.