Shonen manga

[vegetaslegacy15]

Shonen manga are usually aimed towards children correct? So technically Dragonball is a kid show since it is from the Shonen format. Right? lol

[Makaioshin]

Yes, Dragon Ball is a cartoon/comic aimed at children.

[Ryuman]

Yes, it is a Children's series. More specifically, Shonen is Japanese for Boy in the young sense.

[Zenkai]

Yeah, shonen is aimed at children/teens. Mainly boys.

However, I would NOT let young children watch the earlier episodes of Dragon Ball (and some other episodes) uncut because of the nudity, sexual jokes, etc. In fact, I don't even want to watch those parts.

[rereboy]

Yes, unlike works of fiction which are obviously meant for an adult mentality, Dragon Ball's goal as a work of fiction is younger audiences. Of course, that doesn't mean that an adult can't or shouldn't enjoy it. After all, when a product is branded something like "+13 years of age" for example, there is never an upper limit of age, just a lower. This is so because an upper limit of age doesn't any sense on any level.

[Big Momma]

The target audience of a show doesn't, nor should it, limit who enjoys it.

[vegetaslegacy15]

It is just because a lot of people get angry when I mention that is in fact aimed at kids. I still love the show either way. But a lot of people are always saying things like "some of the violence shown in the show could not possibly be aimed at kids" blah blah blah. But don't the Japanese few what is appropriate for children a lot differently than the western world"

[Big Momma]

It is just because a lot of people get angry when I mention that is in fact aimed at kids. I still love the show either way. But a lot of people are always saying things like "some of the violence shown in the show could not possibly be aimed at kids" blah blah blah. But don't the Japanese few what is appropriate for children a lot differently than the western world"

They're a bit more lax in the violence/sexuality department ,from what I've heard. But it seems like they've gotten a bit more strict recently, seeing how even the "uncut" Kai was censored, and the dumbing down of shows like Toriko and Hitman Reborn, compared to their manga counterparts.

[Michelle91]

I could care less if the series is for kids. Yeah the show does have blood and nudity in it, but Japan's censorship is much different then ours. Kids in Japan are used to blood and gore since kids movies and shows like the Godzilla movies and the Ultraman shows from the 70's had a fair amount of blood in them. I could careless if Dragon Ball is for kids since most of the franchises that I like are targeted for kids.

[Cold Skin]

Dragon Ball is definately a shonen manga aimed at young children, at least in its original country.
For the rest of the world, it is debatable: the fact that there's a need to have a censored version on specific versions of the manga or specific channels for the anime proves that not everybody in the world agrees that it's for kids.

What we can say for sure is that the original material aimed for its original country is indeed aimed at kids (manga or anime).
But each country and each publisher has their own point of view as to whether this is meant for kids or not, and the fact that some media targetting kids need to modify the work to deem it "NOW meant for kids" shows that it's pretty subjective in the end.

There are some peculiar cases.
For example, in France, the old dub showed in a kids show was heavily butchered, and today Kai will air as the Nicktoons edits on kids channel but as the unedited version on more generic channels (with a "forbidden to those who are not 10 years old" sign on the screen).
Yet still in France, as far as the manga goes, there was never ever any kind of censorship. It is apparently okay to show the original nudity and violence to kids if it's in a book format.
So ultimately, in France, the show that is toned down compared to the manga was always deemed as a show not meant for kids, but at the same time, the more sexual-jokes and violent manga was deemed meant for kids without any modification needed...
Go figure...

But yeah, originally, Dragon Ball is meant for kids AND MORE (that's what you have to get from the Shonen style, it is meant to be equally enjoyable and fascinating to grown-ups too, I'm pretty sure not all adult Japanese guys read Seinen manga) .
Just like rereboy or Big Momma implied, it's not because a game or a movie is "+13" (and therefore "meant for teens") that an adult won't enjoy it for example!

[Brodes]

It is just because a lot of people get angry when I mention that is in fact aimed at kids. I still love the show either way. But a lot of people are always saying things like "some of the violence shown in the show could not possibly be aimed at kids" blah blah blah. But don't the Japanese few what is appropriate for children a lot differently than the western world"

It's because a lot of people really struggle with the idea of enjoying things aimed at children if they aren't themselves. Seems to be the biggest problem for 'younger' (teens and older) fans who want to seem grown up and mature, so they latch onto the idea of some blood and nudity as "for adults".

However, I would NOT let young children watch the earlier episodes of Dragon Ball (and some other episodes) uncut because of the nudity, sexual jokes, etc. In fact, I don't even want to watch those parts

Any particular reason? I'm just curious as it's not sexualised nudity at all; it's pretty harmless and wouldn't be a bad thing if you watch it with them explain the context if it troubles them. Plus I don't a couple of seconds of tiny Goku dick doesn't seem as potentially scarring as other, more focused upon parts of the series, I guess.

[Zenkai]

Any particular reason? I'm just curious as it's not sexualised nudity at all; it's pretty harmless and wouldn't be a bad thing if you watch it with them explain the context if it troubles them. Plus I don't a couple of seconds of tiny Goku dick doesn't seem as potentially scarring as other, more focused upon parts of the series, I guess.

I'm not talking about Goku's, err, thing. That isn't what bothers me because, just as you said, it's not sexual. I'm talking about nudity involving Bulma or other women. Those scenes are involved in sexual jokes, which are not appropriate for children (or anyone else for that matter).

[Brodes]

Any particular reason? I'm just curious as it's not sexualised nudity at all; it's pretty harmless and wouldn't be a bad thing if you watch it with them explain the context if it troubles them. Plus I don't a couple of seconds of tiny Goku dick doesn't seem as potentially scarring as other, more focused upon parts of the series, I guess.

I'm not talking about Goku's, err, thing. That isn't what bothers me because, just as you said, it's not sexual. I'm talking about nudity involving Bulma or other women. Those scenes are involved in sexual jokes, which are not appropriate for children (or anyone else for that matter).

Sexual jokes aren't appropriate for anyone? But people getting killed, blown up, skewered is? What..?

I haven't seen Dragon Ball itself in pretty much forever, but aren't the number of sexual jokes that 'cross the line' into something visual countable on a single hand?

[Zenkai]

Sexual jokes aren't appropriate for anyone? But people getting killed, blown up, skewered is? What..?

Violence is different than a nude female.....

I haven't seen Dragon Ball itself in pretty much forever, but aren't the number of sexual jokes that 'cross the line' into something visual countable on a single hand?

Yeah, from what I remember, but there may be more.

[Bussani]

Violence is different than a nude female.....

How so? Some places are more okay with violence than nudity, and others are more okay with nudity than violence. It's kind of subjective, so you can't assume that what's obvious to you is also obvious to others.

[Brodes]

Sexual jokes aren't appropriate for anyone? But people getting killed, blown up, skewered is? What..?

Violence is different than a nude female.....

I also have to ask 'how so' I'm afraid?

[Zenkai]

Violence is different than a nude female.....

How so? Some places are more okay with violence than nudity, and others are more okay with nudity than violence. It's kind of subjective, so you can't assume that what's obvious to you is also obvious to others.

Extreme violence wouldn't be right either, but Dragon Ball's violence isn't that extreme.

I'd rather have my children (if I had any) watch Spider-Man or any movie with moderate violence than a movie with naked women. Do you disagree?

[Brodes]

Violence is different than a nude female.....

How so? Some places are more okay with violence than nudity, and others are more okay with nudity than violence. It's kind of subjective, so you can't assume that what's obvious to you is also obvious to others.

Extreme violence wouldn't be right either, but Dragon Ball's violence isn't that extreme.

I'd rather have my children (if I had any) watch Spider-Man or any movie with moderate violence than a movie with naked women. Do you disagree?

Nobody said anything about extreme violence, which you're now equating with naked women. I just want to know why?

[Zenkai]

Nobody said anything about extreme violence, which you're now equating with naked women. I just want to know why?

We were discussing the inappropriateness of nude women and you brought up violence. I said extreme violence would be inappropriate, but moderate violence isn't.

[Brodes]

Nobody said anything about extreme violence, which you're now equating with naked women. I just want to know why?

We were discussing the inappropriateness of nude women and you brought up violence. I said extreme violence would be inappropriate, but moderate violence isn't.

No we weren't. We were discussing Dragon Balls (rather limited) sexualised jokes and female nudity, which you equated with violence, to which I asked for clarification on why you are okay with violence but not (specifically) female nudity.