#shugo chara was great but the weird pervy stuff was not it

[selene-moonie]

I have dreams of Tsukiyomi Ikuto falling in love with someone his own age instead of creeping on the 11 year old while he was 16.

[tavrosian-disaster]

Looking Back At Anime I Enjoyed As A Middle Schooler

Hoo boy, I’ve been re-watching some old anime in my spare time and I’ve come to see a lot of bad stuff in anime I used to love. Time for me to look and whine about things in anime that I used to enjoy. There’s a lot of stuff I didn’t quite understand or realize were bad as a kid and then there’s just stuff I looked over.

So let’s see how my old favorites have fared. (Why am I even doing this?)

Soul Eater

Wonderful; Still love the characters, still love the plot, still love the animation style. However, something I used to look past: the absolutely unnecessary nudity. Sure, it’s kind of censored and never explicit, but it doesn’t need to be, it’s bad enough. Can we please have less random naked underaged girls? Seriously, in nearly EVERY EPISODE there is some scene involving an UNDERAGED GIRL seen partially naked and/or portrayed in an overly sexual manner. And don’t even get me started on Blair. I know she’s not underaged, but it doesn’t make it any less upsetting that she is naked 99% of the time and also a little too comfortable flaunting herself off to an underaged boy.

Angel Beats

Yeah, I still cried. A little less engaging than I remember it and a little mediocre too, but it’s still enjoyable and I still love the premise and the characters are fun. Music is lovely, as always. Nothing really negative though! Pretty solid!

Sailor Moon

Yes, I watched the old English dub as a kid, and while I realize it messes a lot with the more mature and serious tones and even censors thing unnecessarily, I will admit, I kind of enjoy the voices. I’ve seen it in Japanese and the story is much better told through it. Regardless, the show is just as fun as I remember, albeit, the fillers got really annoying after a while and I just wanted to get back to the plot. Ignoring this fillers though, the show was still great and very nostalgic and lord, I really do love the art style and aesthetic of the show, still to this day!

D. Gray Man

Man, I don’t know what to say, this show is still REALLY FREAKING GOOD. My opinion has not changed on it, though the ending feels a little weird and wonky to me, but this might just be because the mange was on hiatus before it could finish. Still an okay ending though. I love the characters so much and I just love the story and action and I just LOVE THIS SHOW!

Black Butler

Ugh... I don’t know what to say, I’m really conflicted on this show, which is sad, because I still have nostalgic feelings for it, but, it really does have it’s fair share of flaws. Quite a few.

Right off the bat, yeah, the oddly sexual parts are disturbing, but in it’s setting, it fits well enough to not be too bad. However a lot of it is still bothering to me. Now, while I am not sure about the rumor that Black Butler was originally intended to be a pedophiliac yaoi (there’s never been any real reliable sources and most of the quoted sources are vague and could easily be misinterpreted) but regardless, there are still scenes that clearly aim to please fans who ship Ciel and Sebastian, which, being a pedophiliac ship, is just bad. It’s bad.

I still love the characters and I love the gothic themes and aesthetic. I really do love this show. But... I can’t help but see it in a dirty light now. It’s upsetting to me.

Shugo Chara!

HEY LOOK IT’S MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE MAGICAL GIRL SHOW! (It’s still problematic as heck though.),   

This show was my first anime that I got into in middle school and also the first manga (excluding the Zelda manga). This show is actually where I got my blue spade motif from (Miki was my favorite chara.)

Shugo Chara is still extremely fun and full of wonderful characters and great lessons about life and how to stay true to your heart and become be your very best self! It’s cheesy, but in a very fun manner and it’s a fresh take on Magical Girls! Mostly because the issues are very down to Earth, which sounds weird, but it makes it more fun. Also, I love that there are magical boys in this too, that is practically NONEXISTENT in anime. Albeit, very repetitive and full of fillers. THe manga is much more condensed. Not to mention the later seasons are just... awful. Season 1 is the best, Season 2 is fun and okay, but from there? Don’t bother.

Issues? The main ship, Amu/Ikuto is kiiiiiinda a nasty ship, looking back on it. Ikuto is 17 and Amu is 12. Ikuto is far too friendly with Amu right from the beginning and it is honestly, very gross and pedophiliac.

I didn’t really think this was weird as a kid. After all, it’s just a 5 year age difference, the same as parents. Know that I’m older, I realize that there is a BIG difference being a couple being 20/25 and 12/17. It’s not right and it’s gross.

THIS ship is what I find really icky about this show and it’s a shame that it’s so prominent in it. 

Oh, and there’s a one sided relationship thingy where Utau has a weird crush on Ikuto, her big brother. It’s played off as her being overly protective and loving of her brother, but... nah, miss me with that shit.

Durarara!

Still a great show. Weird, kind of philosophical, and above all, oddly intriguing. It’s just as good as I remember, if not somewhat less engaging. But that just may be because the narrative is one better enjoyed the first time around. Nothing bad here though, solid work!

InuYasha

Reeeeeeeally contrived plot that drags out waaaaaaay too much, but still enjoyable regardless. Gets very repetitive, and this even applies to the later episodes that I skipped way back when. However, I still love the characters and it’s a fun show and very nostalgic. Has some of the typical anime issues involving sexual content; “pervy” scenes that involve a guy making gross remarks to a girl and/or accidentally seeing a girl partially nude and getting blamed and hit for being a perv. I suppose you could argue that much of it is due to the brutish nature of the many feudal Japan enemies, but there are plenty of scenes that can’t be defended by this.

Oh, it’s also a very fun show to playfully make fun of with friends while eating junk food and binge watching, lol.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica

Yooooooo this show is still wildly as heeeeeeeck man!

I love this show, love it’s characters and love it’s twist on the magical girl genre. I was really expecting to see some gross theme I missed before or find it boring, but it was just as fun as I remember.

A nice bonus, too, is it’s length. It’s a perfectly paced show, not too long like many other anime.

Still a dang solid show!

Lucky Star!

Nostalgic, buuuuuuuut...

BORING. Opening heckin’ RULES and is damn CATCHY. But that’s it.

Next.

Fruits Basket

Eh, kind of the same as Lucky Star.

It’s... boring. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s still a funny show, but the romance is a lot more lackluster than I remember.

Also, there’s more weird incest stuff (mostly one-sided crushes, but, still...) and a couple of pedophiliac things every once in a while.

Overall, it’s just... kind of boring now. Meh.

Ouran High School Host Club

OH OH OH OH!

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND! THIS SHOW!

LORD HOWDY, guess how much I love this show!

It’s absolutely hilarious, has lots of genuinely cute and almost romantic scenes and a whole cast of fun characters! It’s got some issues, but it’s still a piece with some takes that I haven’t seen in anime without usually being annoying.

There’s the issue of the twins fake “forbidden, incestuous love” routine, but, while I’m 99.99% certain it’s made to be fanservice, the show and the twins themselves also make fun of the very people who enjoy that kind of stuff.

I really like the gender positivity that this show presents, even if it does kind of stick to typical gender roles. Haruhi is pretty obviously comfortable being seen as both a guy and a girl and her attitude about gender is refreshing for a romance anime such as this. She’s not a typical romance protagonist and I like that. And there are characters such as her dad who enjoys cross-dressing and, while relatively stereotypical, are not presented in a joking manner and the characters respect them and treat them as normal human beings.

It’s just a really fun show and I don’t think I’ve seen another show quite like it! It’s definitely the one anime I’ve re-watched the most, as it is also short, only 12 episodes, and doesn’t drag on.

Fullmetal Alchemist/Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood

Oh come on, why am I even doing a look back on this, it still heckin’ rocks and it’s the best shit I’ve ever seen, full stop.

Don’t even ask me questions, thank you for coming to my TEDTalk.