It's not a really closely guarded secret that the mainstream media just doesn't understand nerds. Since nerds and geek chic are one of those odd subcultures that lies just outside of the media's comfort zone, any attempts to report about them often seem like their reporting from bizarre overseas country, where they've just finished talking to the locals and more or less learned the customs. It's not really their fault, since no one in the mainstream culture really cares about it, and since the arrival of the internet, it's no problem at all, since there are now sites run by nerds for nerds about stories they understand. So while the mainstream media doesn't provide up-to-date accounts in the latest Star Wars news, it's all right, because there are at least 15 websites dutifully dedicated to stalking George Lucas's every move, run by people who actually understand what the words Alderaan and Sarlacc mean. (Note to the uninitiated: Wikipedia is your friend.)
But every now and then, someone in the mainstream media gets an adventurous feeling and decides to head into the depths of Nerditania to assess the landscape over there in a way that most people can understand. This usually comes as great amusement to the locals, who relish in watching others struggle to grasp their customs and learn the trms. Which brings us to the topic of this post, a sex column on MSNBC.com about sexually explicit anime and manga. Through the course of this column, he tries to explain the inner dealing and fetishes of "otaku" (a recent Japanese term for nerds that has somewhat gained acceptance in Japan and the US subcultures), and had almost did a good job of it. Almost, though comes into the fact that a number of oversights and misstatements which make it obvious to anypne who knows anything about anime that this reporters has little idea of what e's talking about, if any at all.
The main line that gets nerds laughing is this beauty:
But sexually-suggestive and explicit anime like "Gurren Lagann" and "Legend of the Overfiend," is finding an eager audience of adult Americans who are drawn to the post-modern, almost post-human mash-up of playful, blurry morality found in the genre.
Now, for the uninitiated, there might not seem to be any problem here. But any anime fan who reads that line is likely laughing themselves senseless right now, and here's why: Gurren Lagann is not, in any way, a "sexually-sugesstive and explicit" anime. Gurren Lagann (short for Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann) is a recent - and highly critically aclaimed - anime about giant robots fighting in a dystopian future. With no sex. Maybe a couple dirty jokes and fanservice, but nothing in the realm of the pornographic. Not only is this oversight by the reporter embarassing, but it is impossibly easy to correct - just look up the show on a anime news source like Anime News Network, or even look it up on Wikipedia. It's a simple mistake, but a massive one that kills any credibility with anime fans that the reporter has done any research at all.
While no other mistake is as damning as that one, other lesser missteps don't help the reporters cause. For Instance, he writes a good five paragraphs about adult anime and otaku and naghuty tentacles before mentioning that, oh yes, "...not all anime and manga is overtly sexual — a lot of it is meant for children". Two problems here: One, "A lot" should be replaced by "the vast majority of", as adult anime comprises, at best, 10% of the total anime library. And two, not all the rest are aimed at young children, but that doesn't make them porn. Seriously, you'd think 10 years of South Park and 4000 seasons of The Simpsons would teach people that just because its animated doesn't mean it's for kids.
The other point is that he never distinguishes between the clean anime and the adult ones, Possibly because the reporter never bothered to look into it. The actual accepted term for adult anime and manga - hentai - is mentioned all of once in the entire piece about adult anime. This can only be understandable if we assume that the reporter believed that the two terms were interchangeable, which is just not the case. Yes, Gurren Lagann and Legend of the Overfiend are both examples of anime, but in the same way that The Matrix and Debbie Does Dallas are both examples of film. They just happen to be in vastly different genres, and unless that is explained, then the audience won't understand or will get an inaccurate image of the subject - something journalism is supposed to prevent, not create.
Really, the bad part about this article is that so much could have been improved with simple research. Talk to the editor of Anime News Network or one of the sources you used to make sure that what you are writing is accurate. Maybe talk to a few industry insiders to get a better picture. Or really, if it comes down to it, always remember - Wikipedia is your friend.
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