Ask John: Why Does Almost All Anime Have Nudity?

Question:
Why do most anime have nudity? I love anime but I can’t watch most of it because of nudity and sex. And why do they always show what’s under their skirts?

Answer:
There are two different answers to this question that need to be addressed, or more accurately, the answer first needs to be defined before it is addressed. Anime covers every genre imaginable- from comedy to romance to horror to science-fiction to drama to sports. Anime is also created for all audiences. I don’t mean to say that all anime is family friendly but that some anime shows are intended for pre-teen children; some anime are intended for young adult women; some anime are intended for young males; some anime are intended for mature viewers; and some anime is pornographic in nature and intended only for interested adult viewers. Therefore it would be fair to compare the anime industry to the Hollywood film industry. Many Hollywood films include gratuitous nudity, violence, and sex while many others do not. In the same way that it would be a gross overstatement or generalization to say that “almost all” Hollywood movies include nudity, it’s not exactly accurate to say that “almost all” anime include nudity. It would be impossible to compile a list of which anime include nudity and which do not, but please take my word for it that there are numerous anime series that do not include any graphic nudity. While it may be taken for granted that some family and children’s shows like Detective Conan, One Piece, Rave and Pokemon do not contain any nudity, there are examples of even relatively mature, adult oriented films like the Cowboy Bebop movie and the second Vampire Hunter D movie that do not include any graphic nudity or any sex.

The anime that’s available in America may seem to be rife with sex and violence, but significant domestic releases such as the films of Studio Ghibli, the nearly 100 episode long Rurouni Kenshin, Ah! My Goddess, Gundam Wing, the nearly 80 episode long Card Captor Sakura, the nearly 80 episodes of Slayers, the nearly 50 episode long Orange Road and nearly 100 episode long Maison Ikkoku, just to name a few, do not include any nudity. The list of anime available in Japan that do not include any nudity could include thousands of titles. It may seem as though “everything” has nudity, though, because it’s natural for domestic translating companies to want to import anime with a heavy exploitation quotient because, after all, sex sells.

This, of course, is the answer to why anime includes so many “panty shots.” To a large degree, anime is intended for male viewers, and with the amount of anime that’s available in Japan, it’s understandable that producers and animators would want to include an occasional “hook” in their anime productions to catch the attention of male viewers. Keep in mind that this sort of “innocent” titillation isn’t held in nearly the same degree of taboo in Japan as it is in America. While American culture has developed with a strong sense of shame about nudity and things sexual, Japan is a culture that has developed with socially accepted mixed public bathing and pornographic ukyou-e woodblock printing a cherished form of cultural high art. To minimize Japanese history and culture into a pillow book is of course, absurd and not my intention. These are but two isolated examples taken out of context that, nonetheless, support my point.

It’s not exactly appropriate to say that “almost all anime” has nudity as there are more examples in Japan than I can name which do not contain any nudity. Just within the past few months of television anime Fruit Basket, Final Fantasy: Unlimited, Sugar, Tenshi no Shippo, X, Hikaru no Go, Kokoro Toshokan, Rave, Prince of Tennis, and Cyborg 009 are only a handful of examples of series with no nudity. Anime is Japanese and is made to appeal to Japanese fans and reflect Japanese cultural values, expectations and standards. It’s unreasonable to expect Japanese or any culture and its art to compromise itself to suit the tastes of a viewer from a different culture. I can only suggest that if you are offended by nudity and sex in anime, you may want to be more selective in what you watch.