Kimagure Anime Blog

Once again I come out of hibernation to talk about something that is likely left alone and forgotten. The issue with things like this is that they should not be forgotten. For some time I’ve heard about the lolicon debate and the promiscuity of the aforementioned manga. I read the articles, the letters, the ANN forums (not all of the posts), and the controversy behind this title is pretty darn thick. So, as with anything controversial, I made plans to buy the manga when it came out. Those plans were dashed when Jason DeAngelis from Seven Seas killed the title in a hurry. Welcome to the internet age where scanlations suddenly popped back into existence with seeders galore offering up the title for perusal. So I read the first five chapters, plus two extra magazine chapters.

Let’s qualify a few things first:

That said, from my reading of the first bit of this title, here’s what happened:

Jason DeAngelis claimed that he could not read the manga before deciding to license it. His second claim was that events in the the third volume caused him to reverse his defense of the material. What I have to say about that is simple. Jason DeAngelis is a coward and an enemy to this medium. More so than CMX’s censorship of Tenjo Tenghe was harmful and poor precedent to the industry. In my opinion, Seven Seas should close its doors and leave the industry. I know that’s harsh, but I have reasoning for this. As a business, Seven Seas did the right thing. If a soccer mom got hold of this book and read it, which I’m sure she wouldn’t truly get past the first page’s naked panty shot of Rin, she’d go nuts and call [Insert preferred conservative watchdog group here] and they would be run out of business anyway. So Mr. DeAngelis was right from his business’ stand point. The one thing that John DeAngelis is not, is a marketing magnate. Tell me how a title named “Nymphet” is going to attract the right kind of eyes? I mean Kodomo no Jikan, means “A child’s time”. The name Nymphet handily defeats Chibi Vampire in the, “I named the manga stupid” category.

So what does this come down to. One of my statements earlier said that this manga was relevant. Like any satire, this one is full of truths and relevant points. In the first five chapters and the extras that I read, here’s what I found relevant to society (US or Japanese): Self Hate, Self Esteem issues, Sexual Promiscuity, Self Mutilation, Teachers having troubled students, Student blackmail, and what it’s like for a girl to grow up. That’s in 7 chapters. The event that happens in the third book is so trivial in comparison to the above societal issues, it makes me want to puke. It’s a comedy, and yes some joker will get turned on by Rin in her panties, but that’s his/her problem, not the entire manga loving community’s cross to bear.

Shortly after the cancellation of Nymphet, I went to the mall. And gosh darn, the mall made Nymphet look tame. Eight year olds dressed with thongs hanging out, and I don’t even want to talk about the 12-14 year olds. So why is this title so terrible? I can’t see it, and I’m sad that Jason DeAngelis couldn’t see it either. To be honest, it’s our loss, if he would’ve taken the time to get past the pictures and actually read the material, he might have found the same relevance I had, but he didn’t, and instead caved under the pressure. It’s too bad, I think this controversy would’ve sold a lot of books.

At the same time, LiveJournal had its cancellation debacle. Coincidence…Kimagure doesn’t think so.

For the decision making three pages of Kodomo no Jikan, see Matthew’s Anime Blog.

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