The Deadpool Effect on Manga

As soon as the Deadpool movie broke box office records, pundits began predicting Hollywood’s kneejerk reaction. Producer Roy Lee announcing that the prospective American Death Note movies will definitely be rated R seems ridiculous to me. The three Japanese live-action Death Note movies were not mature-audiences-only features. The anime TV series was (Japanese) all-ages accessible. And lest plenty of people forget, Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata’s original manga was published in a children’s magazine. Ohba & Obata’s Death Note manga serialized in Weekly Shounen Jump next to comic series including Katekyo Hitman Reborn! and Majin Tantei Nogami Neuro that have received kid-friendly anime TV series adaptations. There’s no logical reason or need for Death Note to be provocative enough to warrant an R rating.

Then there’s the fresh announcements out of Hollywood that The Wolverine 3 will be rated R, and the eventual home-video release of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice will be rated R for violence. But those two productions aren’t manga related, so I’ll set them aside for now.