My daughter was getting into anime a few years ago and even going back to the classics it's really hard to avoid the eye rolling booba jokes and upskirt shots. Maybe I'm just old now.
You are. That's fine, I am too.
I think sometimes people forget that many of these classic manga and anime are from the shonen genre, and are primarily targeting adolescent boys.
That's not to say that people of any age and gender can't watch and enjoy them, but just that they aren't necessarily made with everybody in mind. (Girls can and should enjoy shonen works, just like guys can and should enjoy shojo works.) But much like how many western cartoons were made targeting young kids and will contain jokes and stories that some adults may not always resonate with anymore, shonen manga and anime are made with literal teen boys in mind, and as a result they are mainly made to appeal to the humor, emotions and fantasies of teen boys.
Things like sex, low-brow human and power fantasies sell, in general, to many demographics. But I think that's especially true for teen boys who are in the swing of puberty and young adulthood and generally very stupid and horny.
I think Americans tend to be much more sensitive about sex while being more ambivalent to violence, while the Japanese tend are probably the opposite, culturally speaking. While there is obviously no shortage of "problematic" stuff in various manga and anime, and some creators who take things too far or glorify toxic behavior, I can't necessarily blame Japanese creators for knowing their audience and what will sell.
A classic like Dragon Ball comes to mind: there are plenty of sexual gags, panty shots, strange relationships, pervy dude, and so on. Sex is often played off for comedic value, but it'd be disingenuous to suggest that there isn't a mild horniness to it too. There's also a ton of violence and killing, and the whole thing is really one big power fantasy. We could debate whether or not any of that is a problem or whether it was all key to its success as a manga/anime, but regardless, Dragon Ball was a show that was targeting young men but has endured to the point of becoming a cultural icon, loved by people of all ages all over the world.
In other words, I think that we should expect shonen shows to be a little bit raunchy and immature at times, but some stuff manages to transcend that genre/demographic and rise above it that becoming truly iconic.
SailorFuzz@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Literally every form of media has adult content in it. You need to be the parent who is aware of and monitors what your kids watch. You cant just blame a whole genre for not being 100% safe for you kids.
“My kid likes fantasy so I let them watch Game of Thrones and was shocked!! All this nudity in a show about dragons and knights??”
NOPper@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 hours ago
Thats…not what I said lol. I was there for every one of the shows she checked out and recommended a few myself based on old memories. Sorry I apparently hit a nerve trying to add an anecdote to the conversation.
My point was frustration trying to filter fan service out of shows where it can just randomly pop up out of nowhere 12 episodes in with a surprise upskirt or beach episode in a cool giant fighting robot story or whatever.
Person: I don’t like having such a hard time curating my child’s media consumption.
You: YOU NEED TO CURATE YOUR CHILD’S MEDIS CONSUMPTION MORE