It's the Mislabeling That Gets Me Most.

Over a year and a half ago I really got my nose bent out of shape over cartoon nudity. It was in the span of one weekend where I watched episodes of Family Guy and American Dad that had exposed wiener hanging out all over the place. Then there was an anime based off a manga I liked. I was expecting a bunch of female nudity and got none of that and instead was treated to tons of male nudity. (I promised never to talk about that series again. Here's a hint: It's about a foxgirl trying to be a “dog-god.”) I took to this blog and ranted all day about it. In the ensuing hissy I glossed over a couple of important points.

The first one is that while I would rather not see nudity or have cursing in my cartoons, I don't mind it as long as I'm warned ahead of time. Picking up a copy of UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie complete collection I flip it over and read the back. Runaway alien princess crash lands into a boy's bathroom and they become emotionally entangled and engaged to be married. (Where have I seen that before?) With the corresponding pictures that leave nothing to the imagination and a “TV MA SL” rating I give it a try. It was cheap enough. It was in the discount bin, for good reason. Overall I had no problem with the nudity because I knew it was coming. The thing that scared me most was the fact it was originally made by Kaishaku.

The second point, and I think this is the most important one, is when things are mislabeled. I have found so much of this I don't know where to start. Well, I mentioned American Dad earlier. It does say uncensored and contains language and parental discretion. Right above that is the letter “G.” One would assume for general audiences. I remember there being a few F-bombs and it does contain the episode in which Stan's pud falls out of his PJs. (It also has the one which a couple of chicks take their tops off.) That would confuse any parent. It gets worse. Pani Poni Dash. Ten year old child genius Rebecca Miyamoto goes to Japan to teach a high school class of eccentrics. With an over your head stream of anime and manga references from the 60's and 70's this is rated PG. How does it get that with the nudity?

Galaxy Angel has been my guilty secret this year. I have put forth great effort in acquiring as much of the series as possible on DVD. That has proved to be incredibly difficult. Unfortunately I came to this series too late. I may be in luck, there seems to be a Blu-ray complete set available only in Japan, I hope it does come out over here. Galaxy Angel is cute, funny, and just a blast to watch. One of the more surprising elements were a few episodes dealing with wounded warriors. Even given the ten minute limit, they were exceptionally well done and told a great story. However (Probably saw that coming the moment you saw the words “Galaxy Angel”) there is an episode with nudity in it. The box says suggested for ages 13 on up.

I talk to all kinds of people. It runs the gamut from religious fanatics to anti-religious fanatics. Most parents agree they don't want that kind of thing in their households. They don't mind it personally, we've all read Playboy and Penthouse, they don't want their kids watching and taking it to school.

Sometimes I'm asked about a series. If I have watched it, like To Love Ru, I'll say: “Runaway alien princess crash lands into a boy's bathroom and they become emotionally entangled and engaged to be married. (Where have I seen that before?) To Love Ru is pretty generic story telling and breaks no new ground at all. Motto To Love Ru and the OVAs are not much different. To Love Ru Darkness has much improved writing and storytelling. It is rated TV 14 D for sexually suggestive dialogue. I guess because there wasn't much talking in that scene in episode one where Lala is totally naked and Rito had his hands on her breasts.”

If I hadn't watched a series they asked about? I'll direct them to YouTube.

Excel Saga. This was buy one get one free. For a dollar. Like Pani Poni Dash years later its sub focus was parodying just about everything. Fortunately most of the jokes were from the 80's and 90's so I was able to get them. The animation blew me away. This was made in the late 90's. Compared to what we get today, most of the 90's doesn't really hold up all that well. I think that had a lot to do with what was being ported over at the time. Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon's animation quality can't hold a candle to Animaniacs. (Toei to this day looks twenty years older than everybody else. Compare Air the TV series to Air the Movie.(Imagine if Sailor Moon had been made by J.C. Staff?))

I watched this two times in a row. First the English dub which was one of the best I ever heard. Then again Japanese dub with subtitles and ADV Vid Notes. (Not as prolific as Pani Poni Dash, but still a big help. (I call it Pani Poni Pause because I do that a lot since they are on screen for only a second.)) All the time I was scratching my head wondering why Excel Saga was rated 17+. There was no nudity. Sure there was cursing. Which was completely necessary. It wasn't in the original Japanese dub. So why put it in the English version? This could have been rated PG-13. Opens up a much larger audience. People complain all day and night about the restrictions put on the movie industry by the rating board. These individuals obviously haven't ever looked at the box office receipts for rated G, PG, PG-13, and R. Rare is the rated R movie that scores big.

Then there was the final episode. Yes, I was very disturbed by this episode, but there was a warning on the box, and a warning in the previous episode's review for the next episode. Therefore I gots nothing to complain about. I was warned. Though I wondered why this episode couldn't have been packaged with Puni Puni Poemy. Would have been a perfect fit. (Sailor Moon made a split second cameo in this series. She looked much better than any episode made by Toei.)

Mislabeling goes both ways. Some get labeled most harsher than they need be, some get labeled much softer. What's a parent to do? Here is a site your kid told me about where you can watch and download anime and manga for free.

In closing: I would rather not have the nudity and bad language, but If the cover says it's in there, I won't bitch. Hasting ain't taking money out of my pocket and leaving behind copies of TV MA Rosario Vampire.