Forum - View topicAnswerman - Why Are Age Ratings On Anime So Inconsistent?
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Vaisaga
 Posts: 13224 |
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In Canada's case ratings boards vary by province and are not run by some federal body. Generally we're a lot more relaxed with our ratings, with films like Kickass 2 getting an R in the states but a 14A here. |
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GATSU
Posts: 15296 |
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BTW, the only difference between Akira and Princess Mononoke is tits. [Which you can also see in Titanic.] But one wasn't distributed by Di$ney or FOX, so guess which one got the R-rating, and which one got the PG-13?
Well, I just saw Skull Island, and it's as gory as any R-rated Resident Evil movie. But they only gave it a PG-13 for 'intense sci-fi violence', even though there's no effing sci-fi element whatsoever. So the people who complain about these things are damn right this stuff is arbitrary. Last edited by GATSU on Fri Aug 18, 2017 12:45 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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SailorPluto1313
Posts: 118 |
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Yeah I've been surprised on a few titles myself. I definitely agree that using the internet is so much easier. In fact, my favorite age rating website doesn't put categorize things by their standard, but rather has users contribute instances of inappropriate scenes in 5-6 categories.
For example, in the language category words like stupid or dumb will be noted as well as more hardcore words and the amount or frequency they are used. I like this system because everyone has their own ideas on what's appropriate or not, so instead of basing it on one person's idea, the site just puts it out there and lets parents or others to choose if it's something that they, or their children want to watch. Anyway, long story short, I guess my opinion is that age rating systems aren't really accurate and don't represent what everyone may think is appropriate not only for anime but tv and movies as well, making internet sites much more valuable in choosing what to watch. Age rating systems are good (in my opinion) for grouping out the things that clearly aren't meant for some children. Great article as always 
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maximilianjenus
Posts: 2862 |
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same in mexico, the example is pretty fun for me as the street fighter ii movie had mutiple versions in the usa, the censored one that was only for teenagers, he "uncensored one" that was still missing a bit of nudity which was rater R, and the one with chunli breasts which was not even officially released in the usa back then. mexico got the R+ version (complete with chunli breasts ) released as AAA, which is basically the softest rating you can get there, pretty much an equivalent children only; for reference the less As you got the older the children that watch the movie are supossed to be, with B being 13 plus and C being an 18 plus (almost an equivalent of an R rating but a bit more lenient).
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Nyren
Posts: 702 |
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I've honestly stopped caring about ratings when it comes to just about anything. I'll judge something by seeing it myself. That being said, when it comes to certain anime series or films, I always look for the TV-MA/R/NR on the store listing or the packaging to ensure that it's the uncensored version I'm getting. Of course, that's also what frustrates me about the ESRB rating system for games. There is a dedicated rating for games that could technically be considered pornographic(AO), or 100% uncensored, but most developers, if not all, refuse to make games that would get that rating since no brick and mortar stores will carry them(Whatever happened to having a corner of the store, or the backroom, with a big "18+" sign? Hidden away from the view of children.), and the big digital storefronts refuse to carry them(Steam games get around this by releasing optional DLC that restores the content in question.).
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TheAAA
Posts: 59 |
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In my experience most US anime releases these days get a fairly appropriate rating using the TV rating system. That said, I have seen a few f ups. My Hero Acadenia has a TV14, which seems a bit high and may only be because All Might says "Shit!" in the first episode and that's hard to get away with on broadcast TV.
Then there's To Love ru Darkness, which also has a TV14 iirc. And that's WAY too low lol. To be fair, its the kind of thing a 14 year old would love. Probably not the kind of thing they should be watching though if you ask the average suburban parent. |
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FLCLGainax
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I noticed this with Paprika, which got an R here but the back of the DVD cover also has a Canadian Home Video rating of PG. |
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Takkun4343
 Posts: 1498 Location: Englewood, Ohio |
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A single rating for an entire show is ridiculous. Individual ratings for each episode are where it's really at. Hell, I've made an entire hobby out of it.
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relyat08
 Posts: 4125 Location: Northern Virginia |
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I think a rating for at least an entire set, if not the whole show, is always going to be more valuable practically. Unless you have a habit of watching stand-alone episodes of things, and rarely watching an entire show, I don't really see the point in having episode-by-episode ratings. When you buy something, you should be able to see a rating on the box and generally have a good understanding if it'll be acceptable for the audience that you plan to show it to. |
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2442 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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I've always enjoyed cases where the same show gets different ratings on different platforms. I've seen a few shows get TV-MA on Hulu, even if the DVD or iTunes release of the same show might be TV-14 or even TV-PG.
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Codeanime93
Posts: 599 |
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Especially after watching Casshan Robot Hunter OVA recently. I honestly think episodes 1 and 4 would be rated MA and the rest TV- 14 because 1 and 4 have female nudity from Luna at two points brief that it might be but it is detailed. Meanwhile 2 and 3 only have violence to them and it isn't even really that bloody. Then again the DVD decided to just not rate itself at all, so that was fine. Edit: Another case would be Lupin the 3rd Part II episode 1 would carry a MA rating for a single bit of Fujiko naked in the shower. The second episode would have a lower rating. And Funimation really is odd about Aquarion as the first show carries a TV-MA rating on the box but Evol apparently is TV-14 material. Though I'm guessing there's a reason for that downgrade in the ratings. Last edited by Codeanime93 on Fri Aug 18, 2017 2:26 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Doing so is our modus operandi! The BBFC charge by the minute to rate our anime, and there are no discounts offered to smaller distributors. (Full disclosure: my office is near their headquarters. Its interior is tellingly plush.) |
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Alan45
 Village Elder Posts: 9835 Location: Virginia |
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Given the internet, keeping kids away from inappropriate content by a rating system likely works as well as keeping the cat off the couch by yelling at it. It may work as long as you are right there and paying attention. Probably won't though.
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Codeanime93
Posts: 599 |
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That's true. |
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WingKing
Posts: 617 |
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This question about ratings becomes an issue for me when I'm selecting videos to show my anime club for teens, because I'm required to abide by a strict "no R-rated/no TV-MA" rule in what I can show. And that generally works fine when we're talking about American TV and films, but anime ratings are so random and arbitrary that it's really weird sometimes what's in bounds or out of bounds. For instance, looking at a handful of magic/supernatural school anime from the past decade or so:
not rated: Anti-Magic Academy, Mahou Sensou TV-14: Mahouka, Asterisk War, Trinity Seven, Rosario + Vampire TV-MA: Absolute Duo, World Break, Chivalry of a Failed Knight, Maken-ki So technically Rosario's topless scenes would be within the rules to show at my meetings, but Maken-ki's aren't, just because they're rated differently. And I still can't figure out how Chivalry of a Failed Knight ended up MA when it has no actual nudity (unlike Rosario) and a lot less blood and violence than many TV-14 rated shows, like Attack on Titan. Anyway, with unrated anime, or questionably rated anime like Rosario, I generally end up going with what I call the "parent test." That is, I ask myself if a reasonable parent of a 12 year old walked into our meeting to pick their kid up at the worst possible moment while we were watching this show, what's the likelihood that they'd complain to my boss about it? Maybe I err on the side of caution sometimes, but it's worked so far, since I've never had a single complaint in six years of doing this. |
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