The off-topic topic

[Markgway]

"Oniichan... can I suck your cock?"







OK, I just made that one up.

[HungFist]

That's very creepy

"Oniichan... can I suck your cock?"

Mark just managed to be more creepy

[Markgway]

Mark just managed to be more creepy

[brooce-leroy]

Man, sorry if i am out of line, but that onichiwan stuff is some sick shit! whats all this big brother, can i sleep with you stuff?

[HungFist]

The interesting thing with original Japanese stuff is that it tends to bring the worst out of foreigners. You can hardly show a film with girls wearing school uniforms without foreign viewers getting instant paedophilic thoughs, usually disguised as critisism...

[brooce-leroy]

The interesting thing with original Japanese stuff is that it tends to bring the worst out of foreigners. You can hardly show a film with girls wearing school uniforms without foreign viewers getting instant paedophilic thoughs, usually disguised as critisism...

I am asian.

[HungFist]

The interesting thing with original Japanese stuff is that it tends to bring the worst out of foreigners. You can hardly show a film with girls wearing school uniforms without foreign viewers getting instant paedophilic thoughs, usually disguised as critisism...

I am asian.

Whoa, lucky me I used the word "foreigner" and not "westerner". Almost got onwed here

Where you from?

[brooce-leroy]

The interesting thing with original Japanese stuff is that it tends to bring the worst out of foreigners. You can hardly show a film with girls wearing school uniforms without foreign viewers getting instant paedophilic thoughs, usually disguised as critisism...

I am asian.

Whoa, lucky me I used the word "foreigner" and not "westerner". Almost got onwed here

Where you from?

My father and mother are from China and Malaysia respectively. I was born in the UK so am sort of a westerner depending on how you look at it.

[HungFist]

My father and mother are from China and Malaysia respectively. I was born in the UK so am sort of a westerner depending on how you look at it.

A bit like my ex-girlfriend then. One day she was Japanese, the next day Chinese, which ever suited her best

[Shingster]

The interesting thing with original Japanese stuff is that it tends to bring the worst out of foreigners. You can hardly show a film with girls wearing school uniforms without foreign viewers getting instant paedophilic thoughs, usually disguised as critisism...

Yup, coz it's us foreigners and not the japanese who have a problem with adult men paying schoolkids for sex...... Saying that though, I have a friend who thinks Totoro is perverted because you can see Mei's nappy when she's running around the countryside!

[HungFist]

The interesting thing with original Japanese stuff is that it tends to bring the worst out of foreigners. You can hardly show a film with girls wearing school uniforms without foreign viewers getting instant paedophilic thoughs, usually disguised as critisism...

Yup, coz it's us foreigners and not the japanese who have a problem with adult men paying schoolkids for sex...... Saying that though, I have a friend who thinks Totoro is perverted because you can see Mei's nappy when she's running around the countryside!

hehe, it's a creepy product for sure. But I can see it also (as in in addition to) as an innocent part of otaku culture. Some people keep cute cats, some (had) tamagochi, some teddy bear (in fact, everyone in Japan adores teddy bears). I could actually easily label this dvd in the same category. That's not to say it doesn't (intentionally) fall to "other" categories as well

However, what disturbs me more than some japanese otaku and beyond products is the instant paedophile alarm that they cause in the west. Your friend is an example. No offence to him, but I get seriously worried when sexual thoughts pop up in someone's head when they see Totoro. It's amazing how easy it seems to be to make a "westerner" have "paedophilic thoughs", even if they are "critical thoughts".

Am I being naive? To a certain extent. But so is the world where this this stuff comes from. Understandably there is quite a culture clash when this stuff comes to the attention of "foreigners". The sheer extent of "kawaii" culture is unbelievable, and even took me by a surprise when I was living in Japan (and I knew quite a bit about the topic forehand).

over-use of quotation marks, sorry

EDIT: Native Japanese and spiritually Japanese (me ) people can sometimes seem a bit "original" to outsiders. Hell, I regularly follow the [url=mms://center3.ntt-fukushima.com/n-jraizu]live stream[/url] from Aizu-Wakamatsu

[gasteropod]

I have a friend who thinks Totoro is perverted because you can see Mei's nappy when she's running around the countryside!

Well they're a drongo then, Totoro is the most charming film I've ever seen

[Yi-Long]

Here in the west we're extremely overreacting when it comes to kids and 'sexuality'. It's just gone beyond the ridiculous and is actually now quite scary.

You see a father going into the bath with his own children (in Totoro), and there will be people 'shocked' about it. Nowadays, male teachers are affraid to comfort a crying kid and put it on their lap, or take the kid to the bathroom when it needs to go... out of fear someone will think he'll be molesting the kid. Go sit in a park on a parkbench near a playground, and before you know it you're accused of wanting to kidnap some infants.

Western society has gone completely batshit crazy.

[brooce-leroy]

Talking about this paedophiliac association in movies, a lot of people have a problem with Stephen Chow flicking a child's penis in King of Comedy. Whilst it is completely "out there" in terms of doing it for humour, when I first watched the movie, it never ever occurred to me that there was anything sinister about it. Maybe its some sort of cultural thing, but to me, it is an innocent scene, and I never thought any more about it. I didn't know that anything more was made about it until I read stuff on the net.

[Markgway]

whats all this big brother, can i sleep with you stuff?

Like we all haven't slept with our sisters...? Just the other day my little sis (she's 15) crawled into my bed and asked for a rubdown. No harm in that.

Talking about this paedophiliac association in movies, a lot of people have a problem with Stephen Chow flicking a child's penis in King of Comedy. Whilst it is completely "out there" in terms of doing it for humour, when I first watched the movie, it never ever occurred to me that there was anything sinister about it. Maybe its some sort of cultural thing, but to me, it is an innocent scene, and I never thought any more about it. I didn't know that anything more was made about it until I read stuff on the net.

I did find that a bit creepy... if only because there wasn't a sufficient context. It was just a grown man touching a child's penis for no reason. Maybe nothing sick... but a bit 'off' to say the least.

[Shingster]

Talking about this paedophiliac association in movies, a lot of people have a problem with Stephen Chow flicking a child's penis in King of Comedy. Whilst it is completely "out there" in terms of doing it for humour, when I first watched the movie, it never ever occurred to me that there was anything sinister about it. Maybe its some sort of cultural thing, but to me, it is an innocent scene, and I never thought any more about it. I didn't know that anything more was made about it until I read stuff on the net.

Of course it's totally innocent and a genuinely alarming and laugh-out-loud visual gag (iirc he doesn't actually touch the boy himself does he? He uses a twig?), and if anyone has even the remotest bit of problem with that shot.... well, it says much more about their own warped mindset than the people who took the scene for what it is. The boy is too young to be sexually aroused by what Chow is doing and there is clearly no sexual intent on Chow's part at all. It's absolutely no different to if he was flicking the child's nose ffs.

However, what disturbs me more than some japanese otaku and beyond products is the instant paedophile alarm that they cause in the west. Your friend is an example. No offence to him, but I get seriously worried when sexual thoughts pop up in someone's head when they see Totoro. It's amazing how easy it seems to be to make a "westerner" have "paedophilic thoughs", even if they are "critical thoughts".

I'm gonna chalk that statement up to you probably not finding the right term in English to use here, as the idea that Totoro is bringing up any kind of sexualised thoughts in Westerners like my friend is utterly ridiculous. The attitude of my friend, and many of the westerners out there, who have problems with scenes like the bathing scene in Totoro has nothing to do with any deep-rooted paedophilic tendencies in themeselves and everything to do with the plain old ignorance and arrogance of us British people: Ignorance of another culture that may view communal bathing or the site of a child in nappies as a completely innocent thing, and the arrogant certainty that their own narrow values are the the "correct" or less morally dubious ones.

[HungFist]

However, what disturbs me more than some japanese otaku and beyond products is the instant paedophile alarm that they cause in the west. Your friend is an example. No offence to him, but I get seriously worried when sexual thoughts pop up in someone's head when they see Totoro. It's amazing how easy it seems to be to make a "westerner" have "paedophilic thoughs", even if they are "critical thoughts".

I'm gonna chalk that statement up to you probably not finding the right term in English to use here, as the idea that Totoro is bringing up any kind of sexualised thoughts in Westerners like my friend is utterly ridiculous. The attitude of my friend, and many of the westerners out there, who have problems with scenes like the bathing scene in Totoro has nothing to do with any deep-rooted paedophilic tendencies in themeselves and everything to do with the plain old ignorance and arrogance of us British people: Ignorance of another culture that may view communal bathing or the site of a child in nappies as a completely innocent thing, and the arrogant certainty that their own narrow values are the the "correct" or less morally dubious ones.

Yes, it is a cultural and ignorance related thing. But the outcome is still the same: someone is watching Totoro and somehow manages to question whether what he is seeing is right or wrong (I didn't mean paedophilic tendencies, the word choise was a bit provocative and inaccurate, and in quotation marks for that reason). But such questions shouldn't come to your mind in the first place. If you see a naked kid, and your first reaction is "Paedophile Warning, Ban that sick movie!"... well, that's what disturbs me.

Actually, I think we have the church to blame on this in most countries. In Finland, thankfully, we've always had Sauna to put some common sense into people's heads.

[saltysam]

Wow..Christophe Gans just bought a dvd off me.

[grim_tales]

The Christophe Gans?
Which DVD?

[Markgway]

Wow..Christophe Gans just bought a dvd off me.

Ah, sorry. That was me.

I use the pseudonym Christophe Gans.

Hope I didn't mislead anyone...

[grim_tales]

I didnt know.

[Markgway]

I was joking..........

[saltysam]

He bought an old Sherlock Holmes dvd from me.when i saw his name and then his address i messaged him and asked was it the same Mr Gans who made Crying Freeman & Brotherhood Of The Wolf...he replied saying "glad you enjoyed my work"

[Yi-Long]

He bought an old Sherlock Holmes dvd from me.when i saw his name and then his address i messaged him and asked was it the same Mr Gans who made Crying Freeman & Brotherhood Of The Wolf...he replied saying "glad you enjoyed my work"

Woah... seems like Mr Gans enjoys jumping to conclusions....

[luckystars]

He bought an old Sherlock Holmes dvd from me.when i saw his name and then his address i messaged him and asked was it the same Mr Gans who made Crying Freeman & Brotherhood Of The Wolf...he replied saying "glad you enjoyed my work"

Woah... seems like Mr Gans enjoys jumping to conclusions....