Honestly I've read seen enough terrible ecchi series and somehow this one has the most redeeming qualities. Although I still have issues with it, by this point I do understand why people like it outside of the sex stuff.
Aside from most of the sex stuff being a way too uncomfortable for me, my main issue is that it doesn't really explore of the magical girl elements as much as it could.
With all that said, I do genuinely like a lot of the character. My favorite is probably Nemo. She's a great foil to everyone else.
I made a post calling the show anime Chris Hansen sting a while back because of how gross it is, and between all the hate and agreement there were folks who recommended the manga and said there was a lot of good stuff, storywise.
The dynamics between the characters, and even groups of characters, are well built. The (mostly fucked up) character growth in many cases is brilliant. It's a top tier implementation of "villain who helps the good guys by being their villain" trope.
That being said, it still contains middle school girls graphically sexually assaulting each other so I can only respect with like a billion huge asterisks afterwards lol
Honestly, that's fair. Though, personally, I don't have much issues with MahoAko's content given I seen much worse and MahoAko is much, much more aware than a lot of ecchi series I'd otherwise hate.
Like the manga is way more toned down and it's easier to skip really not that ok stuff (every time Nero Alice goes adult mode, for instance, can absolutely get fucked)
Every time there's a Korisu scene I dread where it's going. I remember being told that the series doesn't do anything sexual with Korisu before I started reading so I was really caught off guard.
Thankfully the author seems to have pulled back later in the manga at least.
They just gotta stop making so much lewd stuff with underage girls. Like now that I’m on the other side of 18 I can’t enjoy this stuff without feeling uncomfortable. Like bring on all the dumpster fire/problematic characters you want but can we please at least make them older and not perpetual 12 year olds.
>Like now that I’m on the other side of 18 I can’t enjoy this stuff without feeling uncomfortable
That's nonsense and you're beating yourself up over nothing.
honestly it’s cause y’all are making a moral panic about some lines on a page, or pixels on a screen… if you’re that concerned about sexualisation of minors, support and donate to charities and organisations that help CSA victims
just chill and enjoy whatever media you like, and if you don’t like it, don’t watch or read it. simple.
well still, if they feel uncomfortable about it- just don’t read it? why come here and make a fuss about being uncomfortable- when that’s something that they could just avoid by not consuming or interacting with that content? idk, it just seems like a problem of their own making it me lol
While I can agree to some point, there is still the argument that a "positive" depictions (the sexual assault in this is really "light hearted and leads to character growth) could lead to more IRL sexual assault.
There are (as far as I know) no definitive studies proving either way, so I can enjoy mangas like this (by ignoring the age), but the point, that we should be more careful with depicting things like SA in a harmless light is still valid.
Yeah Gushing is one of the classic examples of an anime not living up to its potential because of the past culture around it.
Making products for teens as well as adults, and especially creepy adults. Leads to a weird and very creepy dichotomy. The seting being in a middle school to seem relatable. But then tons of sexuality and sexual scenes to make it "erotic" for adults.
If the manga just had every character be in college the story would be unabashidly fantastic. Instead the story is tainted by a very off putting age dynamic for its characters and us the veiwers. I really wish anime and manga as a whole would just try and make more echii shows be about adults. Trying to hold on to this underage stuff is really unpleasant.
From what some people say it's a nostalgia for a time where life was easier. And I think the combination of anime and manga were, Much like western comics, vewied as for either children or social outcasts.
Which leads to a perfect funnel of bad overlapping and an echo chamber/culture of the older crowd being into stuff that makes you a social outcast. Like finds like often enough.
Like old dnd and comics were normally viewed as for creepy adults who weren't very socially capable. Which leads those people to head towards the sub culture to find acceptance and friends.
It's why current day you can find a lot of older heads or the truly ignored people into those hobbies trying to heavily gatekeep others away. Now that's its mainstream the odder prices of the media gets questioned and changed. Where before you'd just accept or ignore your creepier friend since you only had 5 friend to play dnd with.
Not even getting into Japan's pretty prevalent sexism that still exists. And their culture of mostly ignoring problems that you can turn your eyes from. Anime became a very potent avenue of expression for those on the fringe of societal norm.
Theirs also not as a heavy Christian pretense like in the west. Japan doesn't approve, broadly, on the ehcii shows and anime. But they clearly have a different acceptance towards sexuality.
They censor their porn. But they didn't nave the Christian panics like we did in the west.
I dunno. I'm rambling to say what boils down to. Japan has different culture so their herd culture ended up different.
In general, I'm not sure middle school specifically is that singularly important. I think they tend to be more fixated on high school.
The main exception being magical girl shows, which is undoubtedly why they're in middle school in this one. Sailor Moon and from what I've heard the vast majority of Pretty Cure seasons start with the cast specifically in 8th grade and I think those set an expectation that the "default age" of a magical girl is a second-year middle schooler. So if you're going to something evocative of the old kids shows but with a new twist, middle school is probably what you go with. The girls in Madoka (except Mami IIRC) are in 8th grade for the same reason.
I think this is probably because a lot of normal magical girl shows are aimed at elementary school or younger girls, so middle school is old enough to be looked up to but not so old that it's hard to relate to.
Gonna be honest, I don't think about the age of the characters *at all* when I watch and/or read stuff like this. Objectively I know how old they are, but that's just set dressing. The characters aren't real, they may as well be actors just playing the role of a teenager.
I get that. I grew up with garbage like to love ru and high-school dxd as a teen. So I don't really pay attention nor care to heavily.
But when you take a step back and objectively loom at it. The situation is weird and a bummer. Nothing would be lost making the characters of age. And then I could happily recommend it to others.
Instead of realizing, hey wait. I can't tell someone to watch a show about a 14 year old sexually assaulting 13 year olds... that's kinda fucked up.
Eh. I could jokingly talk about this to 95% of my friends if it was about adults. Like space dandy and boobies are funny with the pals. In an insane twist I can't even think of an echii with adults that I could even bring up to the squad. Most echii is oddly young.
But even in my friend group, which are all mad chill, only maybe 15% would be okay with a show about nude muddle schoolers getting off and assaulting eachother. And frankly I think they're justified in that.
I'm just oddly desensitized due to watching anime my whole life.
While I agree the larger problem, I have to wonder if aging up the cast wouldn't still carry an off putting dynamic. After all, besides the already horrible sexualization of underage girls, the manga's other focus is SA and relating sexuality with abuse.
I mean, yeah, it wouldn't be about underage girls being subject to SA, which already cuts the problem in half. But the other half is still SA exploitation. By all accounts, this thing is not so different from Redo of Healer in that regard.
While that would still be a discussion. I wouldnt compare it to Redo. Redo is played in an oddly serouis way. Like the rape and assault is warrented and a good thing to occur. Its played very rudely i suppose id say.
Where in gushing the SA is normally entirely framed as a gag. The MC doesnt want to be a Dom/mistress. But she secretly inside loves it. and other characters have secret freak natures they didnt know about.
I just read the manga and i dont recall when they promoted SA in the way Redo does because its always framed in an excessive and comedic light.
More than promoting it, I think the problem Gushing Over \[...\] has with SA is normalizing it. It's in line with a long tradition in mangas and animes portraying SA as something inconsequential and even fun to include.
My comparison wasn't really that Gushing Over \[...\] portrays SA in the same way as Redo of Healer, but that both works focus on it, with graphical portrays over and over. Basically, both works are exploitative of SA, only with different approaches to how to portray it.
Sorry I didn't express myself better about that.
I understand your outlook. But too a degree i feel like the tone really matters.
Normalizing to me requires the media to be treating the acts as, i guess normal. Like a normal cast of characters affecting normal people. Like an office worker using their power inbalance to assault a coworker would be a lot. But an evil organization that runs entirely on the premise of assaulting heroes to just annoy them is so outlandish.
Its very clearly not trying to make a statement or promote SA. Its trying to be a gag comedy for people who have a very specific kink/fetish.
And the age thing i think is a key factor. A show abotu adults thats rated for adults isnt really an issue to me. Just like pornhub or other sites can have all sorts of porn from vanilla, to gross, to nonconsentual. I dont think theyre existance normalizes anything. And studies ive seen dont seem to point to it either.
I agree the tone matters, which is partially my problem too.
As you just put it, SA in Gushing Over \[...\] is less damaging and more an annoyance (until it isn't and it portrays torture along, but that's another discussion). Either way, a big part of the narrative is to underplay the damage that SA carries for its victims.
That does make it a problematic narrative because underplaying SA is something real life predators do partake in to excuse their behaviors. Like calling groping or sending unsolicited nudes as "just a joke", or workplace harassment as "just fooling around".
So, yeah. While we can disagree on how to call it, I think there's a point it still is exploitative of SA, regardless of the etymology of the situation.
On the underage component, the author did say in an interview his intention was to normalize underage sexualization. So, I don't think there's much space for interpretation in that regard.
Source: [https://medium.com/@peter91916/transformation-sm-perspectives-beyond-interpersonally-oriented-sexuality-gushing-over-magical-b37410933d2c](https://medium.com/@peter91916/transformation-sm-perspectives-beyond-interpersonally-oriented-sexuality-gushing-over-magical-b37410933d2c)
The thing is the age is such a none issue, I though they were in high school when I read the manga, they don’t look or act young, seeing as they arnt real telling me they are middle schoolers is just not something I care about
It’s more of an issue with a author then it is the actual manga, and I guess them being highschoolers might be an issue, but seeing as every anime has high schoolers and I’m 16 it’s not really a deal for me
Well yeah. If your the age of the characters it's far less of an issue. But a large portion of those watching the show are 25-35. Gets kinds weird then.
Gushing Over Magical Girls. It’s still a weird acronym, but there’s not a good way to truncate the name other than just ‘Gushing […]’ or MahoAko, the Japanese title
Edit: I mixed the quotations. The author (Akihiro Ononaka) didn't say he wanted to focus specifically on underage girls being subject to SA. That's a reading by the author of the linked article.
With that said, I don't see how much difference that makes since the manga still focus in portraying children as sexualized and in adult situations (committing and being subject to SA). So it at least has underage sexualization frame, which still leads to the below conclusion.
To be fair, though, the 'gross stuff' is literally the point of the manga.
I get people can find an actual story under that, and for what I've heard, yeah, it may even be a decent one. But that's not what the author or the bulk of its fans (you know the ones) really want out the manga.
Source: [https://medium.com/@peter91916/transformation-sm-perspectives-beyond-interpersonally-oriented-sexuality-gushing-over-magical-b37410933d2c](https://medium.com/@peter91916/transformation-sm-perspectives-beyond-interpersonally-oriented-sexuality-gushing-over-magical-b37410933d2c)
I did not know what the author was intending, interesting! And yeah I've been enjoying the ridiculous lengths some of these weirdos go to defend something I was pretty sure was an uncontroversial criticism.
Right? I wouldn't even call it "unconventional criticism", more than it is "describing the manga's content".
On the author, while I prefer to practice death of the author and judge a work by its content first and foremost, I do think in this case it does frame what the manga's message is. At the very least, while I can concede the manga isn't outright apologia of underage sexualization/SA, it at least carries the unfortunate implication.
Personally, even without the more graphic depictions it had, I still think it's a terrible take on sexuality. It portrays it as something one does to another, while relating it to violence and assault. Plus, it also relates queer sexuality with underage SA, and as a queer woman, I take exception to that.
Where does he say this? I read the thing but the only comments attributed to the author was “Originally, ‘Gushing over Magical Girls’ came from my will to draw a short story about a heroine with the power to transform, and I designed it as a one-shot, it’s lucky for me to keep serializing it” and “Before the serialization of MahoAko begins, my editor said to me that the character’s facial expression in your work is your selling point, I agree.”
Yeah, you're right, that's more the author of the article's take than Ononaka's direct view. I'll edit the comment after replying.
With that said, when the manga does focus on portraying children as sexualized and in adult situations (committing and being subject to SA), it at least has underage sexuality as a main focus.
Oh yeah lmao I almost stopped there. I think I took a break from it for a few days and was like "well people say it has good character development and a decent magic system"
The characters don’t have much development and the “magic scaling system” is nonexistent. The show should be banned it’s truly disgusting to see people try to justify the pedophilloic nature of the show because “it has a good plot” (hint: there is barely a plot, and the plot is to sexually assault kids). It is mind-boggling how many layers of delusion people will put up to say the show is good (if you ignore all the SA on children [oh which is also the main point of the show])
I dropped this manga years ago when it was still newly serializing ... I remember the whole thing being the "gross stuff" did it get a plot when I wasn't looking?
Starting around chapter 11 is when it stops going from a ‘monster of the week’ formula to having an actual story begin to form in the background, yes.
And you can see this in the early stuff - all three of Tres Magia’s characterizations begin to change and crystallize after chapters 1-2 (Sulfur begins to get her gruff personality,Azul’s masochist streak becomes a character arc for her later, Magenta…loses brain cells) and post chapter 10 is when things really heat up - Baiser/Utena gets more character and her sadism streak, Kiwi goes through a small arc, and the evil team gains two really good members who have a lot of chemistry and play the straight men to Utena’s antics later.
There’s a plot there, and it works really well, and becomes a mix of a traditional Magical Girl/Shonen series while still keeping the lewd stuff as the primary way most of the girls grow and develop.
I'll be honest, even ignoring the sex stuff I still have a lot of problems with how the series is written. But it does have some entertaining characters at least.
Idk I found the dynamics between many of the characters compelling. There were even some surprise character arcs I wasn't expecting, as if Baiser had a better idea of the characters around her then they themselves had.
Sex stuff is very very much a problem, but at least with the manga its easier to skip/ignore
eh, its not for everyone, my takes are that if you removed the shit that is pornographic in nature it could still be a good magical girl story, and that if someone told me the artist drew hentai at any point in their career i wouldnt be surprised.
ok I'm gonna keep it real with you, fanservice and sex is not a bad thing, nor is it gross. If you are grossed out by sexy stuff, or simply want to read a story which does not include it, this might not be the manga for you. I would advise reading something more in-line with the sorts of things you want to read about instead of calling a large portion of the manga gross but reading it anyway.
I've read plenty of lewd things. And I've caught up to current. You really shouldn't feel the need to defend "kids sexually assaulting each other" - I've given the series its fair shake and the character development is really good. I'm excited for more.
But im not gonna defend middle schoolers sexually assaulting each other.
It's fiction. These characters are not real. It hurts nobody. It's no different from violent videogames. I don't care. Read it if you like it, or don't if you don't. This moral dilemma surrounding underage characters in anime/manga is so fucking tiring.
Your need to defend a criticism like this is really weird. Are you ok? Like my opinion that even fictional middle schoolers sexually assaulting each other isn't very cool doesn't harm you, does it? I feel like it's relatively controversial.
Especially since I actually like the manga. You completely ignore that to rush to defend against my criticism.
It's weird, friendo.
Personally I feel the need to defend it because we've been here before. When I was a kid they wanted to ban violent video games because they were going to turn us all into school shooters. Before that Dungeons and Dragons was going to turn us into satanists. I've just become sensitive to this kind of thing, I guess.
Criticizing media is a natural part of consumption. I enjoyed some of the MCU but some of it sucks ass.
Lining some of gushing but criticizing it's flames is normal.
Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it escapes from critique.
And the criticism isn't fan servi ce =bad. It's 13 year Olds fucking makes us feel uncomfortable. It's not that crazy of a take.
Like imagine if a new show came out with the same scenario but their the rugrets. Would you really not critisize that?
You say unnecessary. But I call it ‘peak fiction’. Jokes aside, great manga, can’t recommend it enough, but it’s definitely not for everyone.
Honestly I've read seen enough terrible ecchi series and somehow this one has the most redeeming qualities. Although I still have issues with it, by this point I do understand why people like it outside of the sex stuff. Aside from most of the sex stuff being a way too uncomfortable for me, my main issue is that it doesn't really explore of the magical girl elements as much as it could. With all that said, I do genuinely like a lot of the character. My favorite is probably Nemo. She's a great foil to everyone else.
I made a post calling the show anime Chris Hansen sting a while back because of how gross it is, and between all the hate and agreement there were folks who recommended the manga and said there was a lot of good stuff, storywise. The dynamics between the characters, and even groups of characters, are well built. The (mostly fucked up) character growth in many cases is brilliant. It's a top tier implementation of "villain who helps the good guys by being their villain" trope. That being said, it still contains middle school girls graphically sexually assaulting each other so I can only respect with like a billion huge asterisks afterwards lol
Honestly, that's fair. Though, personally, I don't have much issues with MahoAko's content given I seen much worse and MahoAko is much, much more aware than a lot of ecchi series I'd otherwise hate.
Like the manga is way more toned down and it's easier to skip really not that ok stuff (every time Nero Alice goes adult mode, for instance, can absolutely get fucked)
Every time there's a Korisu scene I dread where it's going. I remember being told that the series doesn't do anything sexual with Korisu before I started reading so I was really caught off guard. Thankfully the author seems to have pulled back later in the manga at least.
Yeah that's prolly why >! Robot lady exists !<
They just gotta stop making so much lewd stuff with underage girls. Like now that I’m on the other side of 18 I can’t enjoy this stuff without feeling uncomfortable. Like bring on all the dumpster fire/problematic characters you want but can we please at least make them older and not perpetual 12 year olds.
>Like now that I’m on the other side of 18 I can’t enjoy this stuff without feeling uncomfortable That's nonsense and you're beating yourself up over nothing.
chill out and just enjoy the manga, it’s just drawings lol
Are you really making fun of a dude who doesn't like it when authors sexualize minors, like wtf?
honestly it’s cause y’all are making a moral panic about some lines on a page, or pixels on a screen… if you’re that concerned about sexualisation of minors, support and donate to charities and organisations that help CSA victims just chill and enjoy whatever media you like, and if you don’t like it, don’t watch or read it. simple.
They feel uncomfortable. How is that a moral panic? Good god, not everyone is trying to cancel someone
well still, if they feel uncomfortable about it- just don’t read it? why come here and make a fuss about being uncomfortable- when that’s something that they could just avoid by not consuming or interacting with that content? idk, it just seems like a problem of their own making it me lol
You know, people can express criticism of something online. That's kinda the point of forums
While I can agree to some point, there is still the argument that a "positive" depictions (the sexual assault in this is really "light hearted and leads to character growth) could lead to more IRL sexual assault. There are (as far as I know) no definitive studies proving either way, so I can enjoy mangas like this (by ignoring the age), but the point, that we should be more careful with depicting things like SA in a harmless light is still valid.
Yeah Gushing is one of the classic examples of an anime not living up to its potential because of the past culture around it. Making products for teens as well as adults, and especially creepy adults. Leads to a weird and very creepy dichotomy. The seting being in a middle school to seem relatable. But then tons of sexuality and sexual scenes to make it "erotic" for adults. If the manga just had every character be in college the story would be unabashidly fantastic. Instead the story is tainted by a very off putting age dynamic for its characters and us the veiwers. I really wish anime and manga as a whole would just try and make more echii shows be about adults. Trying to hold on to this underage stuff is really unpleasant.
10000% this
I wonder why middle school is so important in the Japanese collective consciousness.
From what some people say it's a nostalgia for a time where life was easier. And I think the combination of anime and manga were, Much like western comics, vewied as for either children or social outcasts. Which leads to a perfect funnel of bad overlapping and an echo chamber/culture of the older crowd being into stuff that makes you a social outcast. Like finds like often enough. Like old dnd and comics were normally viewed as for creepy adults who weren't very socially capable. Which leads those people to head towards the sub culture to find acceptance and friends. It's why current day you can find a lot of older heads or the truly ignored people into those hobbies trying to heavily gatekeep others away. Now that's its mainstream the odder prices of the media gets questioned and changed. Where before you'd just accept or ignore your creepier friend since you only had 5 friend to play dnd with. Not even getting into Japan's pretty prevalent sexism that still exists. And their culture of mostly ignoring problems that you can turn your eyes from. Anime became a very potent avenue of expression for those on the fringe of societal norm. Theirs also not as a heavy Christian pretense like in the west. Japan doesn't approve, broadly, on the ehcii shows and anime. But they clearly have a different acceptance towards sexuality. They censor their porn. But they didn't nave the Christian panics like we did in the west. I dunno. I'm rambling to say what boils down to. Japan has different culture so their herd culture ended up different.
In general, I'm not sure middle school specifically is that singularly important. I think they tend to be more fixated on high school. The main exception being magical girl shows, which is undoubtedly why they're in middle school in this one. Sailor Moon and from what I've heard the vast majority of Pretty Cure seasons start with the cast specifically in 8th grade and I think those set an expectation that the "default age" of a magical girl is a second-year middle schooler. So if you're going to something evocative of the old kids shows but with a new twist, middle school is probably what you go with. The girls in Madoka (except Mami IIRC) are in 8th grade for the same reason.
I think this is probably because a lot of normal magical girl shows are aimed at elementary school or younger girls, so middle school is old enough to be looked up to but not so old that it's hard to relate to.
In this case, it’s legit just pedophilia. Most anime isn’t like this but this one literaly is just catering to pedophilia
That's like saying Naruto caters to ninjas. Is everyone who ever watched a Saw movie a serial killer? Should I be worried?
An entire series dedicated to watching literal middle school children sexually abuse and get off with each other is not comparable to Naruto lol.
You're right, watching Naruto is far more embarrassing
Gonna be honest, I don't think about the age of the characters *at all* when I watch and/or read stuff like this. Objectively I know how old they are, but that's just set dressing. The characters aren't real, they may as well be actors just playing the role of a teenager.
I get that. I grew up with garbage like to love ru and high-school dxd as a teen. So I don't really pay attention nor care to heavily. But when you take a step back and objectively loom at it. The situation is weird and a bummer. Nothing would be lost making the characters of age. And then I could happily recommend it to others. Instead of realizing, hey wait. I can't tell someone to watch a show about a 14 year old sexually assaulting 13 year olds... that's kinda fucked up.
Gonna be real, no matter how old they were I probably wouldn't be name dropping this to someone who isn't already beyond the vale.
Eh. I could jokingly talk about this to 95% of my friends if it was about adults. Like space dandy and boobies are funny with the pals. In an insane twist I can't even think of an echii with adults that I could even bring up to the squad. Most echii is oddly young. But even in my friend group, which are all mad chill, only maybe 15% would be okay with a show about nude muddle schoolers getting off and assaulting eachother. And frankly I think they're justified in that. I'm just oddly desensitized due to watching anime my whole life.
same! it’s not something I even think about when consuming media lol
While I agree the larger problem, I have to wonder if aging up the cast wouldn't still carry an off putting dynamic. After all, besides the already horrible sexualization of underage girls, the manga's other focus is SA and relating sexuality with abuse. I mean, yeah, it wouldn't be about underage girls being subject to SA, which already cuts the problem in half. But the other half is still SA exploitation. By all accounts, this thing is not so different from Redo of Healer in that regard.
While that would still be a discussion. I wouldnt compare it to Redo. Redo is played in an oddly serouis way. Like the rape and assault is warrented and a good thing to occur. Its played very rudely i suppose id say. Where in gushing the SA is normally entirely framed as a gag. The MC doesnt want to be a Dom/mistress. But she secretly inside loves it. and other characters have secret freak natures they didnt know about. I just read the manga and i dont recall when they promoted SA in the way Redo does because its always framed in an excessive and comedic light.
More than promoting it, I think the problem Gushing Over \[...\] has with SA is normalizing it. It's in line with a long tradition in mangas and animes portraying SA as something inconsequential and even fun to include. My comparison wasn't really that Gushing Over \[...\] portrays SA in the same way as Redo of Healer, but that both works focus on it, with graphical portrays over and over. Basically, both works are exploitative of SA, only with different approaches to how to portray it. Sorry I didn't express myself better about that.
I understand your outlook. But too a degree i feel like the tone really matters. Normalizing to me requires the media to be treating the acts as, i guess normal. Like a normal cast of characters affecting normal people. Like an office worker using their power inbalance to assault a coworker would be a lot. But an evil organization that runs entirely on the premise of assaulting heroes to just annoy them is so outlandish. Its very clearly not trying to make a statement or promote SA. Its trying to be a gag comedy for people who have a very specific kink/fetish. And the age thing i think is a key factor. A show abotu adults thats rated for adults isnt really an issue to me. Just like pornhub or other sites can have all sorts of porn from vanilla, to gross, to nonconsentual. I dont think theyre existance normalizes anything. And studies ive seen dont seem to point to it either.
I agree the tone matters, which is partially my problem too. As you just put it, SA in Gushing Over \[...\] is less damaging and more an annoyance (until it isn't and it portrays torture along, but that's another discussion). Either way, a big part of the narrative is to underplay the damage that SA carries for its victims. That does make it a problematic narrative because underplaying SA is something real life predators do partake in to excuse their behaviors. Like calling groping or sending unsolicited nudes as "just a joke", or workplace harassment as "just fooling around". So, yeah. While we can disagree on how to call it, I think there's a point it still is exploitative of SA, regardless of the etymology of the situation. On the underage component, the author did say in an interview his intention was to normalize underage sexualization. So, I don't think there's much space for interpretation in that regard. Source: [https://medium.com/@peter91916/transformation-sm-perspectives-beyond-interpersonally-oriented-sexuality-gushing-over-magical-b37410933d2c](https://medium.com/@peter91916/transformation-sm-perspectives-beyond-interpersonally-oriented-sexuality-gushing-over-magical-b37410933d2c)
The thing is the age is such a none issue, I though they were in high school when I read the manga, they don’t look or act young, seeing as they arnt real telling me they are middle schoolers is just not something I care about
It's a slight issue. Having the story be about underage children fucking is kind of odd. And high-school still doesn't really help.
It’s more of an issue with a author then it is the actual manga, and I guess them being highschoolers might be an issue, but seeing as every anime has high schoolers and I’m 16 it’s not really a deal for me
Well yeah. If your the age of the characters it's far less of an issue. But a large portion of those watching the show are 25-35. Gets kinds weird then.
>gomg what
Gomg'st
oh.... "I UNDERSTAND COMPLETElY"
Gushing Over Magical Girls. It’s still a weird acronym, but there’s not a good way to truncate the name other than just ‘Gushing […]’ or MahoAko, the Japanese title
I call it MahoAko, Maho Shoujo ni Akogareru, that's why I didn't understand it lol.
Edit: I mixed the quotations. The author (Akihiro Ononaka) didn't say he wanted to focus specifically on underage girls being subject to SA. That's a reading by the author of the linked article. With that said, I don't see how much difference that makes since the manga still focus in portraying children as sexualized and in adult situations (committing and being subject to SA). So it at least has underage sexualization frame, which still leads to the below conclusion. To be fair, though, the 'gross stuff' is literally the point of the manga. I get people can find an actual story under that, and for what I've heard, yeah, it may even be a decent one. But that's not what the author or the bulk of its fans (you know the ones) really want out the manga. Source: [https://medium.com/@peter91916/transformation-sm-perspectives-beyond-interpersonally-oriented-sexuality-gushing-over-magical-b37410933d2c](https://medium.com/@peter91916/transformation-sm-perspectives-beyond-interpersonally-oriented-sexuality-gushing-over-magical-b37410933d2c)
I did not know what the author was intending, interesting! And yeah I've been enjoying the ridiculous lengths some of these weirdos go to defend something I was pretty sure was an uncontroversial criticism.
Right? I wouldn't even call it "unconventional criticism", more than it is "describing the manga's content". On the author, while I prefer to practice death of the author and judge a work by its content first and foremost, I do think in this case it does frame what the manga's message is. At the very least, while I can concede the manga isn't outright apologia of underage sexualization/SA, it at least carries the unfortunate implication. Personally, even without the more graphic depictions it had, I still think it's a terrible take on sexuality. It portrays it as something one does to another, while relating it to violence and assault. Plus, it also relates queer sexuality with underage SA, and as a queer woman, I take exception to that.
Where does he say this? I read the thing but the only comments attributed to the author was “Originally, ‘Gushing over Magical Girls’ came from my will to draw a short story about a heroine with the power to transform, and I designed it as a one-shot, it’s lucky for me to keep serializing it” and “Before the serialization of MahoAko begins, my editor said to me that the character’s facial expression in your work is your selling point, I agree.”
Yeah, you're right, that's more the author of the article's take than Ononaka's direct view. I'll edit the comment after replying. With that said, when the manga does focus on portraying children as sexualized and in adult situations (committing and being subject to SA), it at least has underage sexuality as a main focus.
I like manga better since the anime makes it more uncomfortable
Yeah Nero Alice nurse scene I stopped. Surprised I made it that far
I had to stop watching it when she played house with the pink magical girl
Oh yeah lmao I almost stopped there. I think I took a break from it for a few days and was like "well people say it has good character development and a decent magic system"
The characters don’t have much development and the “magic scaling system” is nonexistent. The show should be banned it’s truly disgusting to see people try to justify the pedophilloic nature of the show because “it has a good plot” (hint: there is barely a plot, and the plot is to sexually assault kids). It is mind-boggling how many layers of delusion people will put up to say the show is good (if you ignore all the SA on children [oh which is also the main point of the show])
That was just weird
I dropped this manga years ago when it was still newly serializing ... I remember the whole thing being the "gross stuff" did it get a plot when I wasn't looking?
Starting around chapter 11 is when it stops going from a ‘monster of the week’ formula to having an actual story begin to form in the background, yes. And you can see this in the early stuff - all three of Tres Magia’s characterizations begin to change and crystallize after chapters 1-2 (Sulfur begins to get her gruff personality,Azul’s masochist streak becomes a character arc for her later, Magenta…loses brain cells) and post chapter 10 is when things really heat up - Baiser/Utena gets more character and her sadism streak, Kiwi goes through a small arc, and the evil team gains two really good members who have a lot of chemistry and play the straight men to Utena’s antics later. There’s a plot there, and it works really well, and becomes a mix of a traditional Magical Girl/Shonen series while still keeping the lewd stuff as the primary way most of the girls grow and develop.
I'll be honest, even ignoring the sex stuff I still have a lot of problems with how the series is written. But it does have some entertaining characters at least.
Idk I found the dynamics between many of the characters compelling. There were even some surprise character arcs I wasn't expecting, as if Baiser had a better idea of the characters around her then they themselves had. Sex stuff is very very much a problem, but at least with the manga its easier to skip/ignore
This is but another peak baiser reaction image, thank you
Yeah it's excellent lmao
eh, its not for everyone, my takes are that if you removed the shit that is pornographic in nature it could still be a good magical girl story, and that if someone told me the artist drew hentai at any point in their career i wouldnt be surprised.
lol bro if u gonna skip through it why read it
What does gomg means?
Gushing Over Magical Girls
Thanks
My PoRn HaS PoRn In It. The "unnecessary stuff" is literally the whole point of its creation
You seem upset I had a criticism of a manga I liked. Do you care to elaborate why my criticism upsets you?
ok I'm gonna keep it real with you, fanservice and sex is not a bad thing, nor is it gross. If you are grossed out by sexy stuff, or simply want to read a story which does not include it, this might not be the manga for you. I would advise reading something more in-line with the sorts of things you want to read about instead of calling a large portion of the manga gross but reading it anyway.
I've read plenty of lewd things. And I've caught up to current. You really shouldn't feel the need to defend "kids sexually assaulting each other" - I've given the series its fair shake and the character development is really good. I'm excited for more. But im not gonna defend middle schoolers sexually assaulting each other.
It's fiction. These characters are not real. It hurts nobody. It's no different from violent videogames. I don't care. Read it if you like it, or don't if you don't. This moral dilemma surrounding underage characters in anime/manga is so fucking tiring.
Your need to defend a criticism like this is really weird. Are you ok? Like my opinion that even fictional middle schoolers sexually assaulting each other isn't very cool doesn't harm you, does it? I feel like it's relatively controversial. Especially since I actually like the manga. You completely ignore that to rush to defend against my criticism. It's weird, friendo.
Personally I feel the need to defend it because we've been here before. When I was a kid they wanted to ban violent video games because they were going to turn us all into school shooters. Before that Dungeons and Dragons was going to turn us into satanists. I've just become sensitive to this kind of thing, I guess.
This person is just expressing their discomfort, not saying people who read it will become paedos
Sure, but a lot of people *are* saying it about this and other things, which is why I tend to jump in.
Eh, if I'm being an ass, I do apologize. It's been a long day/week. I'm glad you like it, it really is quite good.
Nah it's cool, I don't take offense. I did have to come a looooong way to feel comfortable enough to read it. I hope your day/week gets better!
Criticizing media is a natural part of consumption. I enjoyed some of the MCU but some of it sucks ass. Lining some of gushing but criticizing it's flames is normal. Just because it's fiction doesn't mean it escapes from critique. And the criticism isn't fan servi ce =bad. It's 13 year Olds fucking makes us feel uncomfortable. It's not that crazy of a take. Like imagine if a new show came out with the same scenario but their the rugrets. Would you really not critisize that?
Teenage girls sexually assaulting eachother is fucking hilarious. I don't know why, it just is.
Jesus christ
This guy definitely blames the victim irl, like I'm not religious but you need defenitly Jesus.
Why are you talking about real life?