Japanese Doll Culture (possibly NWS)

[Z/Sb]

There's fuck all wrong with "hentai" - no matter how extreme and vile some think it is. The reasoning behind hentai is that it is purely unreal and fantastical. It may depict stuff which could happen in the real world, but like any other fictional media whether it is violent computer games or Chris Morris' darker sense of humour, it should be taken with a pinch of salt.
Also, like most stuff beyond various persons' capabilities of understanding where they jump to an obvious & wrong conclusion, hentai should be avoided by those easily offended.
Let's remember this main thing: Hentai is made purely for a Japanese audience and they're not really intended for Western eyes. The people behind this stuff (especially the real extreme shit) often prefer Westerners not to go near it because of their conservative attitudes & common failure to understand that it is just fictional entertainment. The manufacturers often don't allow imports of hentai stuff themselves to avoid trouble with certain Western authorities and often block Western IP addreses from entering their websites.
Of course, a lot of hentai is widely available and licensed in the US (often with edits made) voiced by US porn stars and is also widely available in European countries like Germany, specifically in places like Hamburg's Reeperbahn sex shops.
Unless they're edited to some degree like Urotsukidoji (the Overfiend series) and Adventure Duo (originally Adventure Kid but was changed to avoid Western people thinking it was a kids cartoon), you're not likely to see the more far out hentai in the UK due to the strange British censorship laws. Same goes for some US states who have outlawed hentai altogether (probably Texas!).

[9]

Are we finished sayinghow whacky and different they are yet?

Well excuse me for taking an interest in a foreign culture... I'll not make that mistake again. *reaches for Steptoe and Son DVD"

[Deadman97]

1   2quote]

Wow, that is one headfuck of a ride. I've got a friend who'd kill for that kitty-kar.
The obsession (and as that car shows, obsession is the right word) with those stripped-down cartoon images baffles and delights me no end. I'm pretty sure we percieve art in a totally different way to the Japanese, but loads of it is so aesthetically simple but BURSTING with character that I can totally understand the appeal. Take this fella for instance-
Kogepan
He's a piece of black-bean bread that was the only one in his batch that got burned in the oven of the bakery. He ran away, and now spends all his days wandering about, sighing, being depressed and drinking milk, which has the same effect on him as beer. Everyone takes the piss out of him, he's a milkaholic and he has no friends. I'd cover my truck in him, he's lovely.

[Ambient Sheep]

1) Don't the japanese have an age of consent of 12? hence schoolgirl fetish being not as taboo. And also pretty obvious that compensation dating would occur.

Allegedly not.

Where two ages are shown it is because sexual activity is legal at the lower age unless the younger person subsequently complains, or we cannot confirm a codified age.  In certain countries, persons below the minimum age shown here can participate in sexual acts under certain conditions without either them or their partners necessarily committing a criminal offence.

Japan 16/18

However just to be confusing, glancing at the detailed page on Japan indicates either 13 or 18, depending upon circumstances (I only skim-read it, concentrating on the bits helpfully(!) highlighted in bold).

Seems to me their sex laws are even more confused and screwed-up than ours used to be, they need to do something about it I reckon.

[Smackhead Kangaroo]

Oh well. had to be shot down eventually, my paedophile hopes and dreams gone in a puff of legislature.

Sounds more like they tried to legislate the grey area close to the age of consent that people aren't too bothered by here, and it's been abused and worked around, as strict rules tend to be.

Pointing and yelling "OI FREAKY" isn't 'taking an interest in something.

[Suttonpubcrawl]

I've got a book called 'Cruising Kingdom' by Kyoichi Tsuzuki, it's basically loads of photos of the Japanese phenomenon of Truck Art. I suppose it's a similar mindset to that of a British yoof adding a bodykit and alloys to his Vauxhall Nova, but it's been taken to the nth degree - the level of obssession lavished on being part of the particular 'scene' is quite bizarre,  you just can't imagine it going quite as far in any other country.

Actually, that looks fairly similar in some ways to the sort of stuff you get with vehicle enthusiasts of all types over here. The difference is perhaps only in taste. Japanese people do different things with the vehicles and so it looks very outlandish to us but in reality it's probably fairly similar. I mean I know that you get lorry competitions or something like that over here and the lorries are very extravagantly decked out.

[9]

Pointing and yelling "OI FREAKY" isn't 'taking an interest in something.

And at what point in this thread did I say anything resembling "Oi Freaky"? Take the chip off your shoulder and stop being such a dick.

[Deadman97]

Pretty convincing study here-
http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/online_artcls/pornography/prngrphy_rape_jp.html
Seems (from a skim) to reckon there's no correlation between age of consent or availability of mentalist porn to incidences of rape or child molestation...

Several other explanations have been offered to account for the decreasing and low incidence of sex crimes in Japan. Abramson and Hayashi (1984) attribute the low incidence of rape in Japan to internal restraint which is part of the Japanese national character instilled by the tight society. While that might be so, it is difficult to imagine that restraint stronger in the 1990s than it might have been in the more conservative environment of the 1970s. Kutchinsky (1973b) credits the reduction in sex crimes associated with the high availability of SEM in Europe and Scandinavia to "most of the population became familiar with pornographic literature: but very quickly the point of saturation was reached, mainly because the interest was based on curiosity rather than a genuine need." We believe this to be a partial answer.

... so if it aint broke, don't fix it I reckon. Just because I don't get it, doesn't mean I can't dig it.

[Z/Sb]

Pretty convincing study here...

Similar, in-depth & intelligent information found in this excellent book which, in my opinion, is not only the best Western book about hentai ever written but also the best Western book about Japanese anime in general. A pocket sized, budget-priced treat (although quite a big pocket is required!) - perfect for reading at airports (which I have on many occasions whilst waiting in Arrivals...)

[Consignia]

Is 'this sort of thing' socially acceptable in Japan?

It's not really socially acceptable. You wouldn't really admit to this sort of thing. It's popularity is somewhat a myth spread by it's international fans.

[terminallyrelaxed]

Yes loads of them all flipping through books of this stuff on the train is a bit of a stereotype isnt it? Or isnt it?

[gazzyk1ns]

Similar to the debate(s) about fox hunting, my main annoyance here is the dishonesty of people on both sides of the argument. I don't think there's anything wrong with watching Hentai but let's not beat around the bush, if you watch a 15 year-old being raped in a cartoon and find it entertaining on whatever level, then no amount of "Ooh ooh but it's fiction" and "oooh but the whole story and atmosphere of this genre is..." will distract me from the fact that you find simulated rape with a 15 year-old entertaining viewing matter. Let me be clear, I do think that the fact that it's a cartoon makes you innocent of wanting to genuinely degrade any real person, but a lot of the girls in Hentai are clearly meant to be 13/14/15, and the viewer knows it.

I'm really not sure where I stand, of course I see 14/15 year-olds in real life who I find sexually attractive but that's completely natural. It's completely different to seek out cartoon video clips of girls of a similar age being shagged and sometimes raped.

Let's remember this main thing: Hentai is made purely for a Japanese audience and they're not really intended for Western eyes. The people behind this stuff (especially the real extreme shit) often prefer Westerners not to go near it because of their conservative attitudes & common failure to understand that it is just fictional entertainment. The manufacturers often don't allow imports of hentai stuff themselves to avoid trouble with certain Western authorities and often block Western IP addreses from entering their websites.

"So, Mr. Jones, would you like to explain to the court how these images of child pornography came to be on your home computer?"

"...But... you just don't understand, nobody understands us! Those aren't meant for the eyes of most, you don't understand!"

[Ambient Sheep]

I'm really not sure where I stand, of course I see 14/15 year-olds in real life who I find sexually attractive but that's completely natural...

BURN HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[splattermac]

I'm with gazzy on the no smoke without fire school of thought so don't put me on jury duty if you are a grown man defending Hentai art.

A curious browse over such subject matter to familiarise yourself with the style and content then fair enough, but if you are wanking off to the stuff :/

'cuz that's what the rest of us are thinking (is that what we are thinking?)

[TraceyQ]

Yes, that is what I am thinking.

(I will be PMing you in a matter of moments, splattermac, be ready.)

[9]

Yeah, as open minded as I am, I don't  buy the explanation that people who are upset by Hentai just don't understand it. Some of the images I've seen are frightening, and you've got to wonder about the effect it has on people.

Plus I wouldn't consider Hentai as art.

[splattermac]

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