Look. Anime has nudity. It's had nudity since before some of you were born. We can either pretend this site exists in some weird sanitized bubble, or we can just talk about it like adults having fun on a forum, so let's do the second one.
Sometimes it's ecchi, the whole point is the tease, no notes needed. Sometimes it's a joke, Goku running around naked as a kid isn't hot, it's just funny, same energy as every "why is the toddler naked in this photo" joke ever made. Sometimes it's characterization, Bulma using brains and body depending on the scene tells you exactly who she is. And sometimes it's just an artist deciding the body says something the dialogue can't.
Did thirteen year old me think Faye Valentine was hot? Come on. Obviously. That's not a scandal, that's just what being thirteen and discovering Cowboy Bebop was like for approximately everyone.
Quick, boring, necessary parenthetical: kid characters being naked for a joke and kid characters being sexualized are two completely different things and we're not confused about which one is which. Okay. Moving on.
Adult characters drawn to be looked at though? That's just anime being anime. We're not going to act scandalized over a Faye screenshot with a little ? next to it. Come on now.
And if you're in the mood for anime actually doing something smarter with gender and sexuality instead of just vibes, go read the Blood+ writeup. It's here. We covered it. The medium's got range.
Anyway. Nudity's part of the history. We're not weird about it. Carry on.
Sometimes it's ecchi, the whole point is the tease, no notes needed. Sometimes it's a joke, Goku running around naked as a kid isn't hot, it's just funny, same energy as every "why is the toddler naked in this photo" joke ever made. Sometimes it's characterization, Bulma using brains and body depending on the scene tells you exactly who she is. And sometimes it's just an artist deciding the body says something the dialogue can't.
Did thirteen year old me think Faye Valentine was hot? Come on. Obviously. That's not a scandal, that's just what being thirteen and discovering Cowboy Bebop was like for approximately everyone.
Quick, boring, necessary parenthetical: kid characters being naked for a joke and kid characters being sexualized are two completely different things and we're not confused about which one is which. Okay. Moving on.
Adult characters drawn to be looked at though? That's just anime being anime. We're not going to act scandalized over a Faye screenshot with a little ? next to it. Come on now.
And if you're in the mood for anime actually doing something smarter with gender and sexuality instead of just vibes, go read the Blood+ writeup. It's here. We covered it. The medium's got range.
Anyway. Nudity's part of the history. We're not weird about it. Carry on.
