Anime Rating System vs. Manga Rating System

Cardcaptor Takato · Post by **Cardcaptor Takato** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 11:21 am

I know why Japanese animation has stricter ratings in the U.S. than it does in Japan, but what I don't understand is why can Japanese comics in the U.S. can get away with a more relaxed rating system than Japanese animation? For example, Pioneer rated the CCS anime 13+, but Tokyopop rated the manga A for All Ages, even though the anime and manga have the same amount of "controversial" content in it, and actually, the manga might have even more (Rika and Terada-sensei's relationship is a lot more obivious in the manga). Another example is that the Rayearth anime was rated 13+ yet the manga was rated 7+, so why does anime have such strict ratings yet manga has a more relaxed rating system in the U.S.?

Neo Dead Moon · Post by **Neo Dead Moon** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:17 am

To get kids to read more, I suppose.

Manga is a lot more accessible for children than an anime DVD (and usually one-third the price), so manga distributors have to be more careful of what they do with their releases, and what rating they give them (this has lead to certain recent manga being censored). Any kid could go on and read Inuyasha or Ranma 1/2, but they have to buy the DVDs if they want to watch the anime; you can't check it out in stores first like you can with manga that aren't shrinkwrapped (in which case you have to buy it to read it, but those are only used in series not for kids anyway, like Berserk). If they kids had to buy the manga prior to reading them, they would lose interest fast, and move on to $2.00 comic books based on TV shows or 50 year-old superheroes.

So what's the easiest manuever? Try to market manga for kids by giving them "7+" ratings for manga like the two you previously mentioned, and allowing them to read them in stores. The anime versions of some children's anime are rated "13+" simply because, well, apparenlty anything that isn't a Pokemon knockoff is considered to be aimed at a more mature auidence, although this isn't always the case (would you say DragonballZ, a 13+ title, is more sophisticated than His and Her Circumstances? Probably not). It can also be because a lot of English dubs, or in some cases, English subtitles, of U.S.-released anime have swearing; ADV and Pioneer are notorious for adding in tons of swearing in their dubs.

In the end, it's all about money. It's why all anime and manga are made, actually; whether or not the mangaka accepts this idea is for him/her to decide.

Rainbow · Post by **Rainbow** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 1:31 pm

That's kind of opposite the way it is in Japan. I've heard that anime is thought to be more for children or else for loser adults (otaku) while manga is what's read by people of all ages and social groups.

Neo Dead Moon · Post by **Neo Dead Moon** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 1:56 pm

Yes, the vast majority of anime in Japan are aimed for the children's crowd. Heck, maybe of the anime I watch are children's anime...Sailor Moon, Full Moon o Sagashite, Kodocha, Kaleido Star, etc. And in Japan, reading's a very big thing...I've heard that 40% of all paper prints in Japan are ones for manga, or manga magazines like Weekly Shonen Jump, which is read by over 3 million Japanese readers a week.

Sailorasteroid · Post by **Sailorasteroid** » Wed Apr 20, 2005 3:52 pm

It's also because in the US television is considered public media that anyone can access while for a book or a manga you have to go to the bookstore, pick it up, thumb through it, and then pay money. And there's also a tradition of treating books differently, with any attempt to restrict them being seen as censorship, while tv, as a relatively new invention, is considered fair game.