P.S. Someteen is absolutely right. artistic value & plots are essential to comprehend the series.

[deep breath]

OK, now that I’ve climbed down from my moral hysteria and returned to thinking rationally, I realize once again how much I hate being in America and other places heavily influenced by America’s self-righteous ignorance and hypocrisy. Listening to an anti-loli rant from an anime fanatic is like listening to some fat, wide-stance Republican who often employs male prostitutes going all Old Testament over those evil queers and sodomites on the floor of the Senate when gay rights comes up for debate.

Just to stir up the moral outrage some more, I’ll point out that I used to be an elementary school teacher, and when reading the manga and watching the anime for which this blog post is named, I remember often thinking to myself “Yep! Been there; done that.” and “Wow! So true!” There is nothing at all far-fetched or unrealistic in the story.

What never ceases to amaze me is just how few adults realize how sexual children are. You’d think that everybody that’s older than ten would have had to spend at least a year being ten. A whole year; a tenth of their lives up to that point! You’d think that maybe they’d remember something of that period in their lives a decade or so on, but no… If you listen to their claims, most Americans have their first sexual thought on their wedding night!

Ah, denial! It’s why you have to take that pill or drink that booze or go to that church or that shrink… and why are you Americans all so hung up about sex in the first place? Face the fact that YOU, the prudish one, are the one with the disease and armed with that knowledge, try to protect the children from yourself. Let the children play… and if that includes dry humpin` their teacher… oh well!

Second, they call it ‘exploitation’ because it looks as though people who give into their hormones and twisted lusts are the ones who’ll buy this mousepad and such, and give a bad name to the overall genre.

Third, don’t complain about the “right-wing” when the “left-wing” has its faults too, and you won’t complain about those. The “left-wing” seems to support lack of putting responsibility of a person for their own actions as justification for misbehavior. The wellcare systems, for example, are being exploited by lazy people who can’t get off their own butt to go legitimately try to get a job and get back on their feet.

Fourth, the writer didn’t say that mildly erotic merchandice was disturbing. It was made pretty clear that this person is okay with some hentai and ecchi materials, though it seems that the person who posted this is an “everything in moderation” kind of person. The worry was that Kodomo no Jikan would be mis-represented, and that the entire media of anime altogether would be considered something that is pornographic and therefore evil, hence blowing everything out of proportion.

Fifth, with Feminism, the definition of a feminist is “someone who believes in the total equality between the sexes in opportunities and all other aspects of life.” In essence, equal, fair treatment and respect. Don’t diss someone who’s reasonable to stand up for regarding females as equal to males in every aspect and so forth. Not every “right-wing” or “feminist” is an idiot. Some of them are remarkably intelligent, and are very knowledgable in what they talk about. In expressing a dislike of feminism, you expose yourself to be a person to believe in male superiority. I disagree with that. (Surprising that I’m male, isn’t it?)

Sixth… I’m a fan of the series. Yes, this is very tame in comparison to where other outlets of media go. Some other outlets of media (like certain doujins) seem more like an insult to the original story and such, rather than any display of appreciation. Personally, I like the plot that the story carries and that it tries to balance the fan-service appeal with the plot, to keep things interesting and to build up the drama in the story.

Seventh, you don’t seem to be a bad person. You just seem rather peeved from the post above, and haven’t quite thought it all through. This happens to everyone. We all get angry at times and anger often clouds our judgments. Let’s move on and be reasonable. I thought the post made an effort to be fair, and I think it didn’t completely succeed, though at least it paid some respect to the genre and tried to pay respect to the series itself.