Is Dragon Ball REALLY a Kid's Show?

Sun_Wukong · Post by **Sun_Wukong** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:11 am

Anything in Shonen Jump is aimed at 12 and under. Shonen = young boy. Does this mean you have to be a kid to like it? No..

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 3:54 pm

omae no kaasan wrote:
It always seemed like common sense that pokemon for instance was certainly aimed at a younger audience than dragonball. There's a huge difference between the two.
I was wandering around Kawasaki City the other day while waiting for my girlfriend to get out of work when I stumbled upon the equivalent of a Fatality regarding this particular topic.

http://www.thegrandline.com/jp2006/dbpk.JPG

And yeah. There you have it. The 'difference' being one is on the right, and one is on the left.

Well I could live with that. There's quite a difference between the two though, from what I've seen Pokemon doesn't have full grown characters or women that are drawn unreallistically attractive. It also doesn't have have as much gore and the plot is a lot less sophisticated. I've also seen a huge difference between fans concerning the two. Around here the Dbz fans were people ranging from 12 to 15 and for Pokemon the audience was way younger and more girls liked it too.

Sun_Wukong wrote:Anything in Shonen Jump is aimed at 12 and under. Shonen = young boy. Does this mean you have to be a kid to like it? No..

Shonen indeed refers to boys, but are you sure this stops at age 12?

m121akuma · Post by **m121akuma** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:25 pm

Sun_Wukong wrote:Anything in Shonen Jump is aimed at 12 and under. Shonen = young boy.

I always wondered how the hell JoJo's Bizarre Adventure or Hokuto no Ken made it into Jump. I certainly wouldn't want my kids reading those...

Big Momma · Post by **Big Momma** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:37 pm

Hmmm....the only reason I found it hard to believe this(A while ago) was because of the occasional nudity.

It is a lot different in Japan than here(America). I have recently talked with someone who lived in Japan and she said that seeing naked-ness isn't like it is in the US. I don't know why, but everytime people in the US think of nudity on television, they usually relate it to sex(Should I censor that word???

) or something. I guess the US is perverted...

I heard that the Japansese see the naked body as what it is, just a naked body. It's only natural.

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:51 pm

Big Momma wrote:Hmmm....the only reason I found it hard to believe this(A while ago) was because of the occasional nudity.

It is a lot different in Japan than here(America). I have recently talked with someone who lived in Japan and she said that seeing naked-ness isn't like it is in the US. I don't know why, but everytime people in the US think of nudity on television, they usually relate it to sex(Should I censor that word??? ) or something. I guess the US is perverted...

I heard that the Japansese see the naked body as what it is, just a naked body. It's only natural.

It's quite ironic though how their porn is censored.

Sun_Wukong · Post by **Sun_Wukong** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 5:59 pm

Its kinda like comics in general over in America. Comics have always had a stereotype as being "kids stuff". In reality its not the kids who are reading the comics, its males 25-40, people who grew up with them. The kids of this generation are reading the manga.

Big Momma · Post by **Big Momma** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 6:08 pm

I never thought of it that way, Sun_Wukong.

R.I.P Captain America, R.I.P...

omae no kaasan · Post by **omae no kaasan** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:14 pm

I've also seen a huge difference between fans concerning the two. Around here the Dbz fans were people ranging from 12 to 15 and for Pokemon the audience was way younger and more girls liked it too.

The question is not "What is Dragon Ball in America?"

The question is, "Is Dragon Ball really a kid's show?"

The answer, is yes.

And for the record, girls in Japan love Dragon Ball too.

Shonen indeed refers to boys, but are you sure this stops at age 12?

Yes, then you're in 十代 or teens, also known as 'teenager'.

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 9:20 pm

The question is not "What is Dragon Ball in America?"

Europe!

Yes, then you're in 十代 or teens, also known as 'teenager'.

That proves it then.

It's fun to know girls love it too in Japan since the shonen jump is made for boys. I guess Dragon Ball lived its own life.

Gaiash · Post by **Gaiash** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:18 pm

TriforceCaptre wrote:you'll never hear Spongebob call someone a bastard or shout damn

Though he will make those Dolphin sounds, that foul mouthed spounge.

But yes Dragonball is for kids, it just happens to be freaking awesome.

laserkid · Post by **laserkid** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 11:53 pm

Of COURSE its a childrens show. Sure it gets violent and has some non pornographic nudity scenes.

But that doesn't make it any less a children's show. Do I need to point out that old american 80s toons reffered tom demons constantly (and Thundercats went as far to call Mumm Ra a demon priest!)

Or how about FUCKING CARE BEARS reffering to their villains as Demons? These days they'd get christian groups at you for demonology. Back then no one cared.

I rest my case.

Mystic Jack · Post by **Mystic Jack** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:29 am

It's quite ironic though how their porn is censored.

I think you'll find that in dragon ball at least it's Funimation doing the censoring of the big bad private parts.

Super Sonic · Post by **Super Sonic** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:42 am

Don't forget Transformers was aimed at kids, but has fans of all ages. And though I haven't seen it in over ten years, I believe the movie was rather dark and got complaining parents.

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:01 pm

Mystic Jack wrote:
It's quite ironic though how their porn is censored.
I think you'll find that in dragon ball at least it's Funimation doing the censoring of the big bad private parts.

I'm talking about real porn, where the roles have turned.

laserkid · Post by **laserkid** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:04 pm

The movie did and was, yes. The TV show while quite good, rarely crossed the lines of violence, but often enough did thought provoking episodes (among the most famous, God Gambit, where an Autobot is mistaken for a god of some kind and they have to convince the people he's not a god. THAT one pissed off parent associations pretty bad).

The movie had rampant death and destruction in its opening, killing off far too many beloved characters to name,. They fought what is more or oless the transformers version of the devil, and there were even some curse words in it. All this in a childrens cartoon movie.

You want the REAL kicker in this whoile thing? Not that I'm actually abdicating watching either movie, but mvoeis of girls shows ALSO were often quite dark back then. Take a look at the My Little Pony movie and see many "Little Ponys" assumed dead by asphyxiation by a blob. Or the Rainbow Bright movie where our "hero" Rainbow Bright is captured, brutalized and put into a slave camp.

Anbd these were childrens animated movies, no adult would ever think they were aimed at them, they were clearly aimed at children, that does not mean though that they have to stoop to retarded levels of nonviolence and nonthought. As the great Stan Lee once said of children (in reffrence to reading comics) - if you say a word they don't understand in a medium they're interested in, they'll LEARN the word. Children are best motivated top learn through something aimed at them.

So is it any real surprise that DBZ goes above children's heads sometimes? Tht was exceptionally common for 80s childrens shows here in America. Why should it be any diffrent in Japan (in terms of being over their head at times, cultural diffrences ran in what way)?

JAPPO · Post by **JAPPO** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:34 pm

To answer the threads originally question, yes. This isn't a bad thing. The age group they aim for is probably around 8-16.

Sun_Wukong · Post by **Sun_Wukong** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 12:51 pm

omae no kaasan wrote: Yes, then you're in 十代 or teens, also known as 'teenager'.

8-12 is considered "pre-teen". 13-19 is "teen"

MajinVejitaXV · Post by **MajinVejitaXV** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:02 pm

Sun_Wukong wrote:
omae no kaasan wrote: Yes, then you're in 十代 or teens, also known as 'teenager'.
8-12 is considered "pre-teen". 13-19 is "teen"

...Did I hear an echo?

Mr. Context wrote:
Shonen indeed refers to boys, but are you sure this stops at age 12?
Yes, then you're in 十代 or teens, also known as 'teenager'.

-Corey

caejones · Post by **caejones** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 1:06 pm

Death is natural. Nakedness is natural. These are things that everyone, with no regard for age, are affected by. <passive voice alert!>. The reason porn is different is because it is natural... but with discrimonation based on age, in nature.
I'd venture a guess that seeing as schoolkids can still get crushes, references to hitting on attractive people are not necessarily porn in nature.
And violence... kids that never lay eyes on a violent cartoon may swing at someone that pushes them over the limit, or may have to defend themselves from bulleys or something.

So yeah. It's a kids' show. Genetils don't change that.

Rugrats wrote: *everyone except Chuckey takes off their clothes because Tommy thought it'd be a good idea*.
Tommy: Umm, Lil, can I ask you a question?
*Stew notices that they're all naked and freaks out*
*Tommy eventually learns that there are times when clothes are necessary*
*they all live happily ever after. Until the next episode. Or... some other episode, where Chuckey's pet bug dies. With heavy addressing of death.*

MisterFlashdude · Post by **MisterFlashdude** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 2:35 pm

To further clarify the differences in culture, some Dragonball releases (namely, the Viz manga) were given a Teen rating in America. So, State-side... some of the things in Dragonball are considered inappropriate for children.

As stated, Japan has different views on some of these issues, which I won't elaborate on.

Kanzenshuu

Is Dragon Ball REALLY a Kid's Show?

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