Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

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DonZ
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Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by DonZ » Fri Feb 14, 2014 2:33 pm

As the title says, i mean for a Shounen series (for 13+) it really is too much. showing Goku's penis, Bulma's tits uncensored (WTF) i can understand that Goku is a little child, but what's up with Bulma ?! it's definitely too much considering it's rate. but i've read that the censorship was pretty free at the 80s and pre 80s comparing to now or in the 90s. maybe that's the reason why DBZ, YYH, One Piece, Naruto..etc, didn't get to be as pervert as the original Dragon Ball.

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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Gyt Kaliba » Fri Feb 14, 2014 2:40 pm

Honestly, I don't really mind it. Other than how disturbing Roshi hitting on certain characters can be if you think on it too much, none of it is really meant in a...well, yeah, it is sexual in nature, but it's also pretty much always played for comedy. The two full frontal shots we get of Bulma involve Yamcha freaking out from it, and then Roshi nosebleeding and that saving Yamcha in a fight, rather than it being there for titillation. And as for Goku running around naked, it's a little much considering his actual age, but considering his mentality and how old he appears to be...well, I dunno about other places in the country or outside the US, but where I live kids try to run around naked all the time when they're little. My cousins had the hardest time keeping clothes on one of their kids when he was 2. It's just something kids do.

Overall I think it's a little weird how sexual stuff is treated as a such a huge problem compared to violence by most people anyway. But I realize my opinions on stuff like this is pretty weird compared to most.
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Blade » Fri Feb 14, 2014 2:41 pm

I think the more risque elements of humour in Dragonball fail to translate very well to the counterpart age demographics of Western Countries that have a more reserved sensibility regarding sexual themes and nudity.

In Japan there's a stricter separation between fantasy and reality when it comes to fiction, which from a Western perspective can merely come across as lax censorship when viewed without a greater cultural understanding of how works of fiction are consumed and regarded.
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Darknat » Fri Feb 14, 2014 2:49 pm

I don't consider them too much, I have been watching the series since 1989-1990 and at that time I was 6-7 years old and those scenes didn't affect me at all. They were just comedy.

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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Gaffer Tape » Fri Feb 14, 2014 3:43 pm

I think western culture is far too prudish about nudity. To a certain degree I can relate to the stuff with Blooma because she is a teenager, and it's played for sexual comedy and titillation. But with Goku and Gohan's penises? That should never, ever be classified as a "sexual theme" or a "perv moment". It's just completely innocent, harmless nudity.
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Fizzer » Fri Feb 14, 2014 3:55 pm

The only thing that might be a bit much is Roshi's sexual harassment. Personally, I think it's fine because he never gets away with it and it's played for comedy.

When it comes to nudity alone, there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Some people have a problem with it, but the problem is 100% in their heads, it's subjective. The mindset that certain parts of the body are so intrinsically evil that they shouldn't even be looked at is a big problem in Western society, and it originates with the fact that the laws, morals and culture that we've inherited generation after generation are fundamentally based on a literal interpretation of the Bible, even they have adapted a little bit over time. If you spend all your life being told you should be offended by something in dozens of subtle ways, you probably will be brainwashed into being offended by it.

If you'd spend all your life being told not to show people your ankles, being told that people don't want to see ankles and don't want their ankles to be seen, noticing that films that show ankles have a higher "age rating", getting in trouble for looking at ankles on the internet, being threatened with a prison sentence if you did show someone your ankles and so on, then you'd think of ankles in exactly the same way as your currently think of genitals.

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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Wibbs » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:00 pm

I don't think it's all bad, besides when you do see Bulma's breasts it's normally involved in some sort of joke (like with Yamcha). So it's not like it's outright trying to be erotic or perverted.
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by KentalSSJ6 » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:02 pm

Cultural differences. Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt the age of sexual consent in Japan around 13-14?

I personally dont mind the nudity at all. If anything it sometimes lends to the comedy.
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by hleV » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:03 pm

DB should've had more of those.

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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Gyt Kaliba » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:04 pm

Fizzer wrote:If you'd spend all your life being told not to show people your ankles, being told that people don't want to see ankles and don't want their ankles to be seen, noticing that films that show ankles have a higher "age rating", getting in trouble for looking at ankles on the internet, being threatened with a prison sentence if you did show someone your ankles and so on, then you'd think of ankles in exactly the same way as your currently think of genitals.
That's a pretty good point since I believe it was in the Victorian times (I could be wrong on that timeframe though) that it was considered tawdry for a woman to show her ankles. And yet the dresses could have bosoms popping out all over the place. Go figure.
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by DonZ » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:05 pm

hleV wrote:DB should've had more of those.
It's not like i don't want, moments like that are so hilarious :lol: just want to discuss weather it was too much or not.
Last edited by DonZ on Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by DonZ » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:13 pm

So you guys basically saying it's okay to allow nudity in a manga which is published mainly toward teenager audiences, in the Japanese culture. so why don't we see that in the current mangas and animes ? i think it's mainly due to the less supervision they had back in the 80s. i'm not sure about it, but it does make a lot of sense to me.
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Wibbs » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:16 pm

DonZ wrote:So you guys basically saying it's ok to show nudity in a manga for teenagers, in the Japanese culture. so why don't we see that in the current mangas and animes ? i think it's mainly due to the less supervision they had back in the 80s.
Yeah censorship is a little tighter nowadays, like when they did Kai they removed all the nudity with Gohan (from the front anyway).
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by DonZ » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:18 pm

Wibbs wrote:
DonZ wrote:So you guys basically saying it's ok to show nudity in a manga for teenagers, in the Japanese culture. so why don't we see that in the current mangas and animes ? i think it's mainly due to the less supervision they had back in the 80s.
Yeah censorship is a little tighter nowadays, like when they did Kai they removed all the nudity with Gohan (from the front anyway).
So how does that makes it exactly "okay" if they censorship it ?

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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Gyt Kaliba » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:23 pm

I think it's more to do with changing times in Japan than it is with them having been less 'supervised' back in the day. In a way it's both a good and a bad thing, IMO. They could stand to be a little tighter with what material kids get, but I sure don't want it to become as prudish of a land as the US is. That and this tighter censorship has unfortunately gutted the shonen romance genre from what I can tell - doesn't seem like too many teen/pre-teen boys are interested in that kind of storytelling unless there's fanservice involved.
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by KentalSSJ6 » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:25 pm

DonZ wrote:So you guys basically saying it's okay to allow nudity in a manga which is published mainly toward teenager audiences, in the Japanese culture. so why don't we see that in the current mangas and animes ? i think it's mainly due to the less supervision they had back in the 80s. i'm not sure about it, but it does make a lot of sense to me.
Actually, Bleach has a nudity shot a few months back when Ichigo's father is explaining how he met his mother.

Theres also stuff like Nana to Kaoru that gets published in Young Animal (I think thats the name). It all depends on the publisher.
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by DonZ » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:28 pm

Anyway, when i mean perv moments i don't usually mean the nudity itself, as much as the way they used it. Bulma would basically sell her body for anyone just to get what she want. that is pervert even by the standard of people who think nudity is okay.

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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Gyt Kaliba » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:35 pm

Yeah, that is a little disturbing, but again, it's all played for laughs. If you notice, the only time people ever respond to Bulma's sexuality is the people she doesn't try it on and wouldn't want them anyway, like Roshi, or those Red Ribbon Soldiers (now that's a pretty creepy moment in retrospect). But when she tries to be all coy and sexy on someone, like say young Goku, Yamcha when they first meet, or General Blue? Failure every time. I'd imagine whether the failure negates it is a matter of opinion, but it does for me.
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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Mystic Buu » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:39 pm

DB is a gag-manga and all that moments are probably made for fun and entertainment.That's all.

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Re: Do you think Dragon Ball had too much perv moments ?

Post by Fizzer » Fri Feb 14, 2014 4:42 pm

DonZ wrote:Anyway, when i mean perv moments i don't usually mean the nudity itself, as much as the way they used it. Bulma would basically sell her body for anyone just to get what she want. that is pervert even by the standard of people who think nudity is okay.
One of my favourite things about Bulma is her "I'm promiscuous - what about it?" kind of attitude. It's like she's fully in line with the anti-slut-shaming movement that's just becoming properly big in feminism a few decades later. She's before her time.
Gyt Kaliba wrote:I think it's more to do with changing times in Japan than it is with them having been less 'supervised' back in the day. In a way it's both a good and a bad thing, IMO. They could stand to be a little tighter with what material kids get, but I sure don't want it to become as prudish of a land as the US is. That and this tighter censorship has unfortunately gutted the shonen romance genre from what I can tell - doesn't seem like too many teen/pre-teen boys are interested in that kind of storytelling unless there's fanservice involved.
Well, the cultures of first world countries are quickly becoming a homogeneous mush due to widespread access to the internet. Information travels so fast that these cultures are starting to bleed into one, and this may be an example of Japan becoming more like the West.
Gyt Kaliba wrote:or those Red Ribbon Soldiers (now that's a pretty creepy moment in retrospect)
But it's not unrealistic, right? That was meant to be a threatening situation for Bulma, and I doubt the soldiers would attack her without motive. It also allowed for the comedic lines such as "I don't suppose you mean playing the Famicom?" and "You mean things that you can't do in a gag manga for good boys and girls" or whatever the exact lines were.

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