| I was going to ask this question in the "7 Secrets" thread but thought this deserves more than a one liner. One thing I have notice a lot is the use of young kids (ages 12-17) in either the military or secret agencies in anime. It's not just regulated to one or two. I'm watching "Full Metal Panic" and Sousuke is 15? 16? Then Naruto and his contemporaries are in thier mid-teens. Blue Submarine No. 6 had a female character who was definately in her mid-teens. Also it seems that only kids/teens are the ones who are able to operate/control a mecha in a variety of animes (Macross, Gundam, Code Geass to name a few). I really don't understand why the use of putting kids in mortal danger in anime. Even worse, they seem to glorify it. We can go into factual histor of kids being used like with Hilter Youths, US Civil War, etc. But that can't be used to justify it for entertainment purposes. Discuss..... (mods: I apolgize if this topic is a repeat....I couldn't find the original) |
| What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about? |
| Because otaku like their lolis doing stuff. Just look at Strike Witches. |
 |
Wasabi said: ...Except 60-90% of the characters in question are male. What about them? Are they just fangirl bait, or is there a better reason for using young male characters?Because otaku like their lolis doing stuff. Just look at Strike Witches. |
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flygon250 said: Wasabi said: ...Except 60-90% of the characters in question are male. What about them? Are they just fangirl bait, or is there a better reason for using young male characters?Because otaku like their lolis doing stuff. Just look at Strike Witches. So the audience has someone to empathize with. I am sure the average Japanese anime viewer is a 17 year old male, or at least, for the kind of shows with this sort of protagonist. It's definitely not "fangirl bait." |
Plate said: flygon250 said: Wasabi said: ...Except 60-90% of the characters in question are male. What about them? Are they just fangirl bait, or is there a better reason for using young male characters?Because otaku like their lolis doing stuff. Just look at Strike Witches. So the audience has someone to empathize with. I am sure the average Japanese anime viewer is a 17 year old male, or at least, for the kind of shows with this sort of protagonist. It's definitely not "fangirl bait." I agree, I think they make the protagonists in action shows young so that kids can relate to them. Western entertainment does this too, just look at how popular "Spy Kids" was. Kids love seeing people their own age do cool action-y things. This kind of stuff might seem subtly disturbing to adults given the history of child soldiers etc, but it definitely makes money. Personally I think it is a bit creepy when the characters are younger than, say, 17. I think they should stick to older teens/ early 20s for this type of thing, but then the 13 year old fans wouldn't relate as well I guess. |
Plate said: flygon250 said: Wasabi said: ...Except 60-90% of the characters in question are male. What about them? Are they just fangirl bait, or is there a better reason for using young male characters?Because otaku like their lolis doing stuff. Just look at Strike Witches. So the audience has someone to empathize with. I am sure the average Japanese anime viewer is a 17 year old male, or at least, for the kind of shows with this sort of protagonist. It's definitely not "fangirl bait." This. May also be intentional for it to be more disturbing and "wrong" (well, at least that's why Gundam's people are always kids - so far). It's because we find we creepy that the moral objective of the show, if it has one, exists and takes part. |
 Waratte Oemashou Sore ha Chiisana Inori |
ladyxzeus said: Plate said: flygon250 said: Wasabi said: ...Except 60-90% of the characters in question are male. What about them? Are they just fangirl bait, or is there a better reason for using young male characters?Because otaku like their lolis doing stuff. Just look at Strike Witches. So the audience has someone to empathize with. I am sure the average Japanese anime viewer is a 17 year old male, or at least, for the kind of shows with this sort of protagonist. It's definitely not "fangirl bait." This. May also be intentional for it to be more disturbing and "wrong" (well, at least that's why Gundam's people are always kids - so far). It's because we find we creepy that the moral objective of the show, if it has one, exists and takes part. They aren't kids all the time in gundam, Shirow Amada was over 18, I think he was 20 and the lead in 0083 was over 18. But yea it's mostly because they are trying to capture demographic, but it's not like it doesn't happen in real life. During world war two a good amount of infantry where under 18 cause they lied about their age when they enlisted. Also during world war two I think general enlist for japan was 16. For long time in japan at like 16 you where pretty much an adult. |
| It doesn't think, it doesn't feel, it doesn't laugh or cry..... All it does from dusk till dawn is make the soldiers die. |
ladyxzeus said: And I don't mind it if it is done like in the first Gundam, at least they explained that the war had taken such a toll on the populations that both sides were forced to admit steadily younger people to the front.May also be intentional for it to be more disturbing and "wrong" (well, at least that's why Gundam's people are always kids - so far). It's because we find we creepy that the moral objective of the show, if it has one, exists and takes part. Another good example is in NGE, where they also manage to excuse the use of kids as pilots in the story. I do dislike when ti is obviously just happening to appease the demographic or throw in some lolis in a otherwise normal series. Obviously, Strike Witches doesn't count as it is all about lolis, while it does get rather retarded when you see a 12 year old girl supposedly being a elite mecha pilot like in Code Geass. |
tizara said: Here's the rub, no Joe off the street can pilot a military jet. Almost all modern pilots has to have a minimum of a university degree and then they go through a series of physical, psychological and intelligence tests just to become an officer. So somehow a 17-20 year old can fly a Gundam similar jet?Plate said: flygon250 said: Wasabi said: ...Except 60-90% of the characters in question are male. What about them? Are they just fangirl bait, or is there a better reason for using young male characters?Because otaku like their lolis doing stuff. Just look at Strike Witches. So the audience has someone to empathize with. I am sure the average Japanese anime viewer is a 17 year old male, or at least, for the kind of shows with this sort of protagonist. It's definitely not "fangirl bait." I agree, I think they make the protagonists in action shows young so that kids can relate to them. Western entertainment does this too, just look at how popular "Spy Kids" was. Kids love seeing people their own age do cool action-y things. This kind of stuff might seem subtly disturbing to adults given the history of child soldiers etc, but it definitely makes money. Personally I think it is a bit creepy when the characters are younger than, say, 17. I think they should stick to older teens/ early 20s for this type of thing, but then the 13 year old fans wouldn't relate as well I guess. Here's a site where I found for requirements to be fly a military jet. Commercial as just as strict, but not as much. |
| What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about? |
sbyrstall said: ]Here's the rub, no Joe off the street can pilot a military jet. Almost all modern pilots has to have a minimum of a university degree and then they go through a series of physical, psychological and intelligence tests just to become an officer. So somehow a 17-20 year old can fly a Gundam similar jet? Here's a site where I found for requirements to be fly a military jet. Commercial as just as strict, but not as much. Oh I'm not saying it's realistic to have them be 18, it's just a bit easier to accept somehow. I mean, 18 is young but 14 is REALLY young, 14 year olds really are still children. But I guess in most of these shows the societies are vastly different from ours, and it's assumed that these kids either start training earlier or have special abilities that allow them to pilot without as much training (like in SEED...not that I liked it all that much) Baman said: I do dislike when ti is obviously just happening to appease the demographic or throw in some lolis in a otherwise normal series. Obviously, Strike Witches doesn't count as it is all about lolis, while it does get rather retarded when you see a 12 year old girl supposedly being a elite mecha pilot like in Code Geass. I thought that was kind of dumb too and just thrown in for the fanboys, but I don't think she was a pilot solely on her own merit- her body was possessed by the soul of a master fighter pilot, I interpreted her piloting skills as resulting mostly from that. |
tizara said: sbyrstall said: ]Here's the rub, no Joe off the street can pilot a military jet. Almost all modern pilots has to have a minimum of a university degree and then they go through a series of physical, psychological and intelligence tests just to become an officer. So somehow a 17-20 year old can fly a Gundam similar jet? Here's a site where I found for requirements to be fly a military jet. Commercial as just as strict, but not as much. Oh I'm not saying it's realistic to have them be 18, it's just a bit easier to accept somehow. I mean, 18 is young but 14 is REALLY young, 14 year olds really are still children. But I guess in most of these shows the societies are vastly different from ours, and it's assumed that these kids either start training earlier or have special abilities that allow them to pilot without as much training (like in SEED...not that I liked it all that much) Let's not forget child labor laws, esp. with animes based in what seem to be the present (late 20th, early 21st centuries). |
| What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about? |
sbyrstall said: I was going to ask this question in the "7 Secrets" thread but thought this deserves more than a one liner. One thing I have notice a lot is the use of young kids (ages 12-17) in either the military or secret agencies in anime. It's not just regulated to one or two. I'm watching "Full Metal Panic" and Sousuke is 15? 16? Then Naruto and his contemporaries are in thier mid-teens. Blue Submarine No. 6 had a female character who was definately in her mid-teens. Also it seems that only kids/teens are the ones who are able to operate/control a mecha in a variety of animes (Macross, Gundam, Code Geass to name a few). I really don't understand why the use of putting kids in mortal danger in anime. Even worse, they seem to glorify it. As others have pointed out it is to appeal to the majority of the people who watch those shows.which are 12-17 years old. Most anime is aimed at teenagers. If these shows were mostly aimed at a older audience then the main characters would be older. A anime aimed mostly at someone my age the characters would all be in the late 20s to early 30s. Most of the female characters would range 18-45 years old. The loli character if any would be replaced by the jailbait character, which is between the ages of 13-17 years old. The main setting would be a office,college,army base/barracks, or factory. The recreational activities that the male lead and his best friend would do is go to a strip club, bar, casino, drag races. There would be nudity instead of bra and panty shots. I would watch it and so would other people my age, but would the people who make up the bulk of the anime watching audience(12-17) watch it? We can go into factual histor of kids being used like with Hilter Youths, US Civil War, etc. But that can't be used to justify it for entertainment purposes. Discuss..... (mods: I apolgize if this topic is a repeat....I couldn't find the original) Actually you do not have to go that far into history to look at the use of soldiers under the age of 18.It still happens today.Most likely it is some of the middle eastern,south American and African countries, maybe in some of the European and Asian countries.But they are probably nowhere near as organized as a professional army or a rich nation and people grow up a lot faster in many different parts of the world. |
ezikialrageJan 9, 2010 1:07 PM
sbyrstall said: tizara said: Here's the rub, no Joe off the street can pilot a military jet. Almost all modern pilots has to have a minimum of a university degree and then they go through a series of physical, psychological and intelligence tests just to become an officer. So somehow a 17-20 year old can fly a Gundam similar jet?Plate said: flygon250 said: Wasabi said: ...Except 60-90% of the characters in question are male. What about them? Are they just fangirl bait, or is there a better reason for using young male characters?Because otaku like their lolis doing stuff. Just look at Strike Witches. So the audience has someone to empathize with. I am sure the average Japanese anime viewer is a 17 year old male, or at least, for the kind of shows with this sort of protagonist. It's definitely not "fangirl bait." I agree, I think they make the protagonists in action shows young so that kids can relate to them. Western entertainment does this too, just look at how popular "Spy Kids" was. Kids love seeing people their own age do cool action-y things. This kind of stuff might seem subtly disturbing to adults given the history of child soldiers etc, but it definitely makes money. Personally I think it is a bit creepy when the characters are younger than, say, 17. I think they should stick to older teens/ early 20s for this type of thing, but then the 13 year old fans wouldn't relate as well I guess. Here's a site where I found for requirements to be fly a military jet. Commercial as just as strict, but not as much. They are Newtypes, they can do anything. Also, they are Newtypes and that's enough justification to use them even when they are tiny (vide ZZ? I tend to mix them all) On any case, what happens with Gundam also happens with naturality in many others. Give the kids some special power and it's immediatly approved. |
Waratte Oemashou Sore ha Chiisana Inori |
| Answer is already repeatedly stated in page 1. May this go further? On a side-note, the few possible realistic factors that ever exist in anime is perhaps the depiction of human emotion, since there really isn't a "wrong" way to depict a huge array of rational and irrational decisions made on the human conscious. Now stuff like age of certain protagonists in certain organizations, well, now. Let's not even get started on facial structures. |
TachiiJan 8, 2010 6:38 PM
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