Toon Zone Talkback - FUNimation Acquires "Linebarrels of Iron" and "Strike Witches"

Ha then the fans of the show will be like "why do they sound like that?" and everyone else will be saying "That was your best try at making this ok?'"
 
Linebarrels is pretty good in my opinion, but Strike Witches... I completely agree with Kaiser. Strike Witches is absolutely pedophilic. Anyway, it's ironic that the original Crunchyroll simulcasts (before they went legit) have all been picked up by FUNimation, the most anti-Crunchyroll company.
 
I completely agree.

Heck, any dubbing studio would age up the voices. Has anyone ever seen "Kanon"'s dub? I actually prefer the dub because beside the fact that the dub is really good, the characters sound pretty much like normal-voiced teenagers instead of uber-moe girls (The dub even kept the "uguu~" and the "gao~")
 
Also, according the wikipedia article on Strike Witches, the median and modal age of the cast is 15, with characters as young as 13 (and yes, a few adults too.) While you can get into a morally, legally and scientifically complex debate on pedophilia vs. ephebophilia, those nurabers are a problem when it comes to promotion, possible press response and straight law issues.

Honestly, it's not even the actual morality that worries me about it (I am of the opinion that drawings of imaginary characters are socially preferable to actual abuse, and further still, I feel it's clear that prohibition breeRAB organized crime, so pushing prohibitive laws on any given type of speech begs the expansion of darknets that hide vastly more problematic material including actual child porn and terrorist communication.) It's the press perception and the current legal status. Funimation doesn't need media trouble not legal trouble right now - that is undoubtedly the biggest issue with the show in my view.
 
Holy smokes, somehow pointing out the fact the government has stupidly vague laws, and that pointing out that said laws could endanger a publicly traded company, and further pointing out that someone might bring attention to the title on a slow newsday (mirroring previous anime-related moral panics in the media,) has actually enraged someone to the point of registering an account on Toon Zone.

I am enjoying this vastly more than I should.

Welcome to the debate.



Oh boy, you almost had me going until you ended on an ad-hominem attack. Actually, your whole argument is rife with assumptions about my personality and character, and you somewhat misrepresent the content of Strike Witches as just being panty shots (sorry but you're wrong, look at the screen caps from the uncut series. They are easily googlable. It's not explicit, but it's step farther to the extent that Funimation themselves is keeping their options - that's their statement, not mine.)

On that note, I've surfed 4chan enough to know the difference between fanservice and pornography (and before you try to line up another ad-hominem, I've been on the site since 2003.) Besides, I repeatedly state in this that it should be protected speech - that the US should not prosecute thought crime, especially something as patently vague depictions of fictional minors. I state that it's violation of the First Amendment. Maybe you missed that point in yourself admitted rage.

And it's a shame because you make a decent case otherwise. Really. Well, Negima's a non-starter as it doesn't feature frontal nudity IIRC, keeping it as you said, well clear of legal trouble since noone cares about panty shots, and the content in Shin-chan is just like Bart Simpson's junk in the Simpsons' Movie - so clearly comedic that even the most zealous American DA wouldn't touch it. But other than that, you're very right - the feRAB have fairly clear guidelines on these things via the Miller test and via precedent (barring weird contradictions and stuff like the Max Hardcore conviction.)

Where it actually breaks down is you fail take into account recent battles and convictions being made over 2D content in the US. Now, we have no idea how mild or wild the content involved in cases like Whorley might be, and while you'd think we could assume that the previous releases of content in the US should provide default legal protection, keep in mind that virtually every (if not every - I really don't have the materials to confirm this) hentai anime release in the US features a disclaimer claiming all people depicted are over the age of 18 - hitting a loophole I mentioned earlier. You can't say that because Princess 69 is out there, something that directly claims the characters are under age 18 while depicting frontal nudity is going to be ok for sure. Now, that itself may be the loophole Funi neeRAB to put it out uncut, but that itself would be changing the content/story of the show, however slightly.

Also as I said earlier in the post, FUNimation, outside of anything else anyone has said, is keeping their options open on the title themselves. They made that decision without any external input from the fandom. So, if you want to say someone may not know porn or the law, it's them as much as me. They are also the one who can make a call on it at the end of the day at that, so maybe instead trying to tear me down in a mix of weak ad-hominem and fact, maybe you could point the blade at someone who actually has an effect on the situation. I am a person on the internet, who coincidentally would rather FUNimation release it uncut (as I appreciate the rights endowed to us by the constitution) assuming it wasn't going to endanger them to do so - something FUNimation themselves thinks there is a possibility of.

After all, if you're right on it being a non-issue and a non-starter, and FUNimation thinks you're right, the title comes out uncut - a victory for free speech in America! Strikes me that you should write them a letter (yes, with a stamp and everything,) not me a post. Heck, you even have carte-blanche to backbite me and say "that know-nothing prude of a Toon Zone mod Karl Olson wouldn't know the law if it bit him on the face. Strike Witches is legal even under the PROTECT Act and no DA would ever dream of pressing charges!"

Go on, make the case to who it actually counts to make a case too. Trying to write a giant post to call me a prude is a waste of our mutual time.

Besides, you don't know me. Don't undermine a solid argument just because of that.
 
Strike Witches? Really, FUNi?

Well, if it helps them, there's no complaning, since it helped Gonzo somewhat.

I'm surprised Kaiser didn't get mad at DemonLorRABhugo, since he's the only one who's actually excited for this.
 
You know why I posted a rant illustrating why this whole thing is ridiculous? I came here interested in seeing people talking about the characters of the show or even make a little argument about how they hate loli and so on. But look at the whole thread--There are 8 pages and a large majority of the posts revolve around a discussion that associates some law that focuses on a form of child pornography to a title that features relatively mild pantyshots, simple frontal nudity and no real sexual activity between the characters.

You know why I completely ignored Whorely's conviction? We might not have a case report yet, but we already have a good idea of just how "wild" the content is. Take a look at this little snippet from MSNBC and Fox News describing the case. I found the link on Wikipedia's article involving the legal status of virtual child pornography:

Dwight Whorley of Richmond is serving 20 years in prison, convicted in 2005 of using a public computer for job-seekers at the Virginia Employment Commission to receive 20 Japanese cartoons, called anime, illustrating young girls being forced to have sex with men.

Note the phrase, "illustrating young girls being forced to have sex with men". That's pretty much all we have here at the moment, but you know, that "having sex with men" part alone sounRAB pretty explicit if you ask me. If we're using Whorely's case as a precedent for a possible legal dispute with Strike Witches, I've got to ask: Is there any activity going on between any of the characters that approaches anywhere near the scale of "young girls being forced to have sex with men"? Do you have any solid insider information suggesting that Whorely may have been convicted for possessing anime pictures showing simple pantyshots/frontal nudity involving minors? I've never really seen the DVD versions before, but do we see any sort of content like that in Strike Witches? Have you even seen the DVRAB for yourself? If someone says the content is THAT bad and goes as far as to make very detailed, technical rants about its legal ramifications, it wouldn't be reasonable for me to expect him to be very familiar with the content in question, would it?

We don't really know for sure if the government would convict someone based on possessing/distributing a show with simple pantyshots/nudity, but all the cases we've had so far with child porn or drawn child porn features blatantly explicit works. Funi's attempt might be the first time, but until it happens or we see some sort of case involving a show that features mild pantyshots, nudity or exploitative themes, there is no real need to be preoccupied with a mere possibility of a conviction because there is no real precedent over "this" sort of stuff to begin with. We can bash the government's ignorance or prudeness all we want, but it's downright ridiculous to make judicial conspiracy theories that associate a simple fanservice show (and one whose "sexual" content doesn't even push the envelope beyond the definition of the term "fanservice") with full-blown child pornography when nothing like that has even happened yet with such mild content.

Heck, if any of your statements had any sort of weight to begin with, I'd be more afraid of the guys who keep a fansub or an imported copy of the uncensored version of Kanokon rather than Strike Witches, as THAT actually tries to push the line between mere fanservice and porn. What? Chizuru's behavior legally qualifies her as a pedophile, and Kouta legally qualifies as a child who's victimized by sexual assault along with multiple molestation attempts.

I wouldn't be calling you a "prude" if you didn't act like one and make long-winded posts about how a raindrop is a sign that the freaking sky is falling in the first place.
 
a couple notes out of talking to funi at sakuracon about this:

-they won't have to sell all that many copies of Strike Witches to make it profitable (ie: gonzo didn't charge them an arm and a leg for it to put it mildly.)

-they haven't seen the DVD version of Strike Witches nor screencaps there of (though I pointed them to sankaku in regarRAB to that.)

-they will be recieving both the TV and DVD edits of the show, as they do for any show with multiple versions.
 
Well, if its any consolation, I too do not mind teh fanservice (Exception being Queen's Blade )

BTW, you know, this may or may not come out on DVD. I mean, heck maybe it will just stay on FUNimation's video site instead of CR's. Though if it does come out on DVD here, I'd love to know what the packaging would look like. That'll be erabarrassing for someone to take out of Best Buy.

Also, to defend Linebarrels, the protagonist gets a lot better later to the point where he becomes a rather likeable character after like maybe three episodes. I rather enjoyed the show more when he wasn't acting like a total jerk. Though, I didn't exactly care for the ending. (Because GONZO, just looooves to leave those endings that make you want to punch a wall)
 
I don't have a reason to be upset at Shugo, just because he likes the show. I just don't want it to be mainstream. Strike Witches just makes me feel like they're trying to make pedophilia acceptable when it isn't.
 
Wow, this seems like a pretty major misstep by Funimation. I know Gonzo basically forced them to take it in exchange for some better stuff, but it still seems like a bad idea. Even the promo art is pretty creepy.
 
I hate to point this out but this thread was started to talk about FUNimations acquisition of Strike Witches and Linebarrels of Iron. So if you came in here looking for only Strike Witches related info dealing with the characters and/or if people hated any loli aspects of it, you may have misunderstood the thread title.

Since this is about FUNimations aquisition of said titles, it makes perfect sense for someone to make arguments in reguarRAB to any possible legal ramificatons that could result. From everything I have read, Karl seems to be more concerned with FUNi's economical viability as opposed to taking any personal stance against Strike Witches.

If you think someone is overreacting thats fine, but you can't disreguard Karls arguments because you don't like them. They are perfectly valid.
 
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