Please Keep Anime alive! [help me help my friend]

[akiratakako]

:!:  i'm definately sure u all have like gotten the news by now.  :x  

my friend from the Star Newspaper (M) wants to write an article on the matter. as an avid fan of all types of anime, my friend -Royce Cheah wishes to gain some help from all of you in giving ur points of view about this matter.  (i hope i'm not out of topic) Please help him to rid of the nonsense that Kosmos! has written. All answers and point of view of this subject please send it to royce.cheah@gmail.com. Thank You!!!

he wrote to Jeff Ooi on this matter too. Jeff Ooi's Blog

"Royce Cheah (E-mail)" <royce.cheah@gmail.com>
Subject :  Help!
 
Hi everyone,

Probably shocked to hear from me? Anyway, get over it. I need your
help for something and you're going to give it to me!

It goes like this, Kosmo!, a malay tabloid today (Sunday) reported on
its frontpage about pornographic animation that is sold in Low Yatt
Plaza and Imbi Plaza (Malaysia) and the fact that kids could openly
buy it. Whoopdedoo. We all know it goes on, but i'm not faulting the
story about its social awareness, however - one part got me really
angry because I am a huge anime fan.

The Kosmo! story explicitly said:
"Tinjauan KOSMO! kelmarin mendapati, animasi seks yang lebih popular
dengan panggilan Anime..."

Translation: "Kosmo!'s visit the day before (to imbi/lowyatt) revealed
that animation with sex, which is more popularly known as Anime..."

The story then goes on to keep calling animation with sex - anime.

For those who are anime fans, shocking? Yes, it was for me too.

It is very misleading AND inaccurate. Its saying animation with sex is
popularly called anime. It like saying movies with hardcore sex is
popularly called movies.

The correct term is Hentai. Hentai means pornographic anime.

And so by using the writer's logic and his sweeping generalisation -
what he is saying is that all the innocent anime (like pokemon, sailor
moon, etc, which has a much much larger fanbase than the smut
material) = pornographic anime.

HENTAI DOES NOT MEAN ANIME.
Hentai is a sub-genre within anime.

Anime has a much wider scope that has many many good sci-fi, romance,
fantasy and themes that deal with real social issues. Hayao Miyazaki
and his string of successful anime movies such as Princess Mononoke,
Nausicaa, Spirited Away, Totoro, is one example. (I.e. Disney bought
over rights to screen his movies in English because of their
popularity).

So by the writer's logic, are these movies (since they are anime),
also animation with sex?

Anime also has a huge fanbase in Malaysia, Asia and around the world.

What about the parents who read the Kosmo! story? When their kids say
they want to buy anime, the parents wouldn't know better and might
deny them good
wholesome entertainment.

So yeah, I just feel it is grossly unfair to generalise animation with
sex as anime. It is very very wrong.

What I need now is: if you feel strongly enough to voice your opinion,
please do so. You could also pass this email around to those whom you
know are hardcore anime fans.

And in order for me to write a story to set the record straight is
your opinion about Kosmo's! claim that animation with sex is anime.
Two to three lines will do. It would also help if you could add what
your parents think about anime.

Additionally I need: Full names, age, occupation, where from and how
many years into anime. I need all this ASAP. Thank you

Thanks everyone,

--
Royce Cheah
Journalist
The Star, Newsdesk
019-3355177

p.s. i contacted the writer of the story and he refused to listen to
my rationale. we
ended up arguing.

[DayDreamerz]

*shakes head in disbelief*

Ok, sending a short email over...

[ganchan]

If any forumers here writes decent malay, please start a letter writing campaign to the editors of the Malay media, including KOSMO, protesting the mislabelling of anime as porn and demanding a retraction. we need to fight this together!

[Alec-Sects]

Finally.

[fellowhoodlum]

Jeff Ooi really gets sanctimonious at times.  Most of the time, he's just preaching to the converted.  

[piano_cello_conducting]

Quote from another forum:

This is Royce here, the reporter from the star.

I read with great interest about everyone's passion for anime. As you know, I am also a huge fan. And I'm trying the best I can to be objective about the issue. Clearly it is one mistake - calling animation with sex anime.

TO be fair - here is how the story progressed for Kosmo!
It was a three day frontpage series.
First day (Sunday) - the 'expose' about hentai DVD/games being sold at imbi and low yat.
Second day (Monday) - they got the mayor of KL to say they would crackdown on shops selling such things
Third day (Tuesday) - Report on a successful raid by the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry on shops in the 2 plazas.

On Sunday and Monday they kept calling animation with sex - anime. And this in itself gives the uninitiated the completely wrong idea. I wonder if the mayor or the government knows the difference?

The report on Tuesday however was completely different - it did not use the word anime to describe animation with sex. In fact, it is the first time the word hentai is used to describe it.

So some questions to be answered:
1. When the raid took place, was anime (that you and i are familiar with), also taken? Or was it only the hentai type? That I will try to find out tomorrow.
2. If this raid sets the precedent, will other genuine shops like Animetech, etc be raided because of the wrong understanding that all anime is animation with sex?

You ponder.

I spoke to the writer on Sunday itself. And we ended up arguing for about 5 minutes. He refused to understand my point, and he also claimed he knew the real word was Hentai but decided to use the word anime because he said, "anime is hentai". In fact, he then became very unprofessional and asked me what my background was and how long I have been a reporter. He then spewed some pretty unsubstantiated stuff saying he had spoken to my seniors about my supposed 'background'. I have no idea what he was talking about, but it was rather annoying.

Anyway the conversation ended like this:
Him: "you're wrong, you're wrong. the conversation ends here."

But to get back to the point.
If you guys really are serious on having your say. Organise yourselves and provide me the following information:

1. Estimates on the number of anime fans in Malaysia.
2. Send me one letter with thoughts/comments about the issue that is agreed upon by everyone. (and include roughly how many people participate in this forum)
3. Send one letter in Malay to Utusan and Berita Harian.
4. Malays who also enjoy anime, please write to me with your thoughts. I'm sorry I mentioned race, but that's the way we work. We have to be fair by getting a fair representation of the country.
5. If you know of any parents who advocate or are into anime and encourage their children to enjoy it, point me their way please.
6. Whoever wrote to the Kosmo! writer, please send me your conversation with him!

I'm at royce.cheah@gmail.com
Thank you so much if you made it this far.

[piano_cello_conducting]

And this is what that reporter of Kosmo!, Faizal said in one of his e-mails (note carefully his tone and his biasness):

Terima kasih membaca Kosmo! Saya maklum mengenai 'H rated' yang saudara
maksudkan. Saya membuat keputusan untuk menggunakan nama amnya dengan niat
ibu bapa tahu apa yang anak-anak mereka minati, secara am.

Saya fikir, saudara ialah seorang rasional yang penuh warna warni jiwa muda
tetapi ada jalur agama dan kegelapan nafsu yang harus diberi garis pemisah
yang lebih jelas.

Bagaimanapun, saya yakin lebih ramai yang akan mengenali apa itu anime yang
pelbagai genre dan dasar pandang ke timur bukanlah satu perkara yang
semuanya baik.

Wassalam,
Faizal.

[nouru]

ok... thats IS a major misinterpretation of words...
maybe i can try something, but i need  the article that they put up in kosmos. *this is a reason why i dont read malay tabloids. most of 'em sucks!!!* i DO nedd to understand the whole thing they wrote b4 i can start hammering on their heads

im in a middle of nowhere and the only 4 papers available here are utusan, berita harian, nst and star. so if anyone can get me the article, pls do it. anyone knows the email of the writer or editor of kosmo?

[darklord]

Try spam post at all the anime sub-group & adult swim fan forum,lets see what they will react to it.The writer is a dodo,doesn't know what anime is & I wonder if he ever watch or own anime at all.He making anime fans & cosplay fans look like some some kind of preverting sex starve group  :evil: .Then how he will explain Naruto & other anime shown on TV  :shock: .I think Mr.Cheah should try asking him that,let see how he explain that.

[stormy001_m1a2]

Kosmos needs sensationalism to sell their papers. But this is way too wrong to do about it.

[akiratakako]

i hope more ppl can help to post this msg up. Let everyone else know about this. it's unfair to the anime community.

KOSMO! u're a lame-arse gossip magazine. Do your research before posting rubbish-like articles. Anime is not Hentai. its short for animation. stupid. LOL.

translation Bahasa Melayu (my bm sux so bare with me) Word for Word.
KOSMO! majalah gossip kamu adalah yang paling teruk sekali. Buat lah kajian kamu dengan betul-betul sebelum menulis artikel tentang 'anime' nie. 'Anime' tu bukan sama maksud dengan 'Hentai' lah. Ianya kata pendek untuk Animasi. Bodoh!

LOL!!!..
okok sorry for posting this lame joke.
thanks for helping out. Keep the post up. we need to let the whole world know about it.  :lol:

[eek-1]

They better also blame RTM for showing 'porn' on morning weekends.

[mafutu]

even on national TV also they call them anime.im actually quite suprised a magazine publisher like kosmo can call anime hentai.......
shows how crappy kosmo is......
i bet the japanese ppl will be like super angry if they found out about this.......

[DayDreamerz]

Ok, merging this with the other thread that Cloud created which has the same content.

According to http://www.jeffooi.com/ and http://www.jeffooi.com/archives/2006/01/anime_the_dumb.php


For whatever that KOSMO! reporter Faizal Zakaria had erred by wrongfully profiling and equating anime with animated sex, his colleagues make amends.

In the January 10 edition of KOSMO!, such sexually-explicit animated movies are now referred to by reporters Nurul Izza Rosly and Megat Ramli Raof as 'hentai'.


If a reporter like Faizal Zakaria has a stamp-sized brain, how about his editor who approved his frontpage story for KOSMO! Ahad yesterday?

* copied from www.jeffooi.com


Have a look,  Here is the quote

Tinjauan KOSMO! kelmarin mendapati, animasi seks yang lebih popular dengan panggilan Anime dijual secara berleluasa dengan harga RM15 sekeping. [...]

Selain memaparkan animasi alat sulit lelaki dan wanita dengan jelas, Anime turut menggayakan teknik seks berbeza seperti meliwat, rogol, seks berkumpulan dan seks oral.

Walaupun Anime telah lama berada di pasaran, keupayaan teknologi komputer berjaya membawa unsur ghairah baru termasuk pergerakan alat sulit dan suara ghairah ketika aksi ranjang sebenar. [...]

Tambahnya, Anime lebih digemari golongan pelajar memandangkan ia dijual secara terbuka selain keseronokan yang mengghairahkan.

Hey! if this is true, Goverment and Malaysia Board of Censorship IS promoting "animasi seks" a.k.a hentai in the past 5 years. intresting ya?
(Pokemon, doremon, gundam etc.etc.)


well, it is not a bad thing that journalists start hounding porn DVD peddlers in Plaza Low Yat and Plaza Imbi but making anime = hentai is.... (well, guess that is what we called nuts)

Related forums/sites:
http://www.comicfiesta.com/forumz/index.php?showtopic=9208
http://forum.lowyat.net/index.php?showtopic=237515
http://www.dustyhawk.com/2006/01/10/anime-is-pr0n-ii/
http://www.livejournal.com/~fatcatlim/146294.html
http://www.jeffooi.com/archives/2006/01/anime_the_dumb.php

A Star Newspaper Journalist Royce Cheah wishes to gain some help from all of you in giving ur points of view about this matter.

Please send your point of view about this subject to royce.cheah@gmail.com. Thank You!!

"Royce Cheah (E-mail)" <royce.cheah@gmail.com>
Subject :  Help!
 
Hi everyone,

Probably shocked to hear from me? Anyway, get over it. I need your
help for something and you're going to give it to me!

It goes like this, Kosmo!, a malay tabloid today (Sunday) reported on
its frontpage about pornographic animation that is sold in Low Yatt
Plaza and Imbi Plaza (Malaysia) and the fact that kids could openly
buy it. Whoopdedoo. We all know it goes on, but i'm not faulting the
story about its social awareness, however - one part got me really
angry because I am a huge anime fan.

The Kosmo! story explicitly said:
"Tinjauan KOSMO! kelmarin mendapati, animasi seks yang lebih popular
dengan panggilan Anime..."

Translation: "Kosmo!'s visit the day before (to imbi/lowyatt) revealed
that animation with sex, which is more popularly known as Anime..."

The story then goes on to keep calling animation with sex - anime.

For those who are anime fans, shocking? Yes, it was for me too.

It is very misleading AND inaccurate. Its saying animation with sex is
popularly called anime. It like saying movies with hardcore sex is
popularly called movies.

The correct term is Hentai. Hentai means pornographic anime.

And so by using the writer's logic and his sweeping generalisation -
what he is saying is that all the innocent anime (like pokemon, sailor
moon, etc, which has a much much larger fanbase than the smut
material) = pornographic anime.

HENTAI DOES NOT MEAN ANIME.
Hentai is a sub-genre within anime.

Anime has a much wider scope that has many many good sci-fi, romance,
fantasy and themes that deal with real social issues. Hayao Miyazaki
and his string of successful anime movies such as Princess Mononoke,
Nausicaa, Spirited Away, Totoro, is one example. (I.e. Disney bought
over rights to screen his movies in English because of their
popularity).

So by the writer's logic, are these movies (since they are anime),
also animation with sex?

Anime also has a huge fanbase in Malaysia, Asia and around the world.

What about the parents who read the Kosmo! story? When their kids say
they want to buy anime, the parents wouldn't know better and might
deny them good
wholesome entertainment.

So yeah, I just feel it is grossly unfair to generalise animation with
sex as anime. It is very very wrong.

What I need now is: if you feel strongly enough to voice your opinion,
please do so. You could also pass this email around to those whom you
know are hardcore anime fans.

And in order for me to write a story to set the record straight is
your opinion about Kosmo's! claim that animation with sex is anime.
Two to three lines will do. It would also help if you could add what
your parents think about anime.

Additionally I need: Full names, age, occupation, where from and how
many years into anime. I need all this ASAP. Thank you

Thanks everyone,

--
Royce Cheah
Journalist
The Star, Newsdesk
019-3355177

Quoted from http://www.comicfiesta.com/forumz/index.php?showtopic=9208&st=45

Took sometime to read whatever I can about “Kosmo!” putting an equal sign between anime and “animation with sex”.

As a Malaysian and an anime fans that watched anime for more then 15 years I am disappointed on how irresponsible and stubborn a Malaysia journalist can go by not realize the mistakes he has made by assuming and still pretend that he was right.
From my POV, that journalist and the editor didn’t do his job correctly by doing assumption on what they think and didn’t do any proper research on the topic they are working on.

Of course, it is not a bad thing that journalists hounding on porn or illegal DVD peddlers that is around Plaza LowYat and Plaza Imbi. But misrepresenting false vocabulary to the major public because of an assumption is something seriously not right.

It is very wrong to generalize “animation with sex” as Anime. To make it understandable, Anime is commonly referred as Japanese Animation. As for “animation with sex” also as know as Hentai Anime, X-Rated Anime is one of the sub-genres of Anime

An Anime is a very good education source and let’s have a look on some common example, most of the Gundam Series have strong anti-war message, Doremon brings creativity imagination to kids, Hayao Miyazaki’s animation films have great morals for both kids and adults.

And yeah, I know that there are violent, nudy other contents in most of the recent anime that are not recommended for younger audience but almost all of that has already been ‘carefully’ tagged for Age 15+ audience in Japan or Age 16+ in the US if not mistaken.  

It’s late, I have write what I think it’s time to get rest >_<.

Dear Club Anime,

 I am Lau Yi Ching & it is very nice to see you!I also a fan of ACG(Anime,Comic & Game).Speaking of Anime considered as a pornography?
That is crazy! Everybody know that Anime is Japanese version of animation!

 It is also considered a blindness of knowing what is anime! Nobody seems to know that easilly. I mean, there were some prejudice about Anime & Manga. Some are bring misconception about Anime, others think that Anime are"just for kids".
And this is absolutly making everyone in the world angry!

 Most anime consist some movie elements like, action, romance, legendary folktale, comedy & any other elements.I never seen any hentai products along the marketplace & video shop! Because it is a  banned product! If anime considered as pornography, then anime already banned for years ago! Most people think that anime are bad for kids just because there are some Ecchi sence on it. People may think dirty upon it after see something like that!

 If that reporter thinks  that anime = pornography, then I prove it strictly wrong! Most otakus(ACG fans) inspired anime not only good story line, but also some thing unique about every story element including the character Anime. I take my sister as an example.She is an otaku to Cardcaptor Sakura, Fruit Basket, Naruto & of course, Gudam Seed & Destiny. She love those but in her mind there are no negative thoughts about it. Because anime is for the public! Only Hentai is for adults! If that reporter thinks in that way upon anime & giving a miscoception about it, then my sister is already having teen pregnancy! This has decleared that Anime always given many wrong point from the people who don't know much of them!

 I hope that thing will never happen in our life!
If there is another misconception about ACG (especially Anime & it's genre), I am absoluetly against it so hard! When the public know deeply about anime & how do they ever think about that deeply? Anime not equals Hentai! :x

 That all I can say, thank you.


__________________
Cloudtee: putting red text in a black background is too hard to read. changed to white. Sorry for any Inconvenience.
__________________

Dear Ching,

nice to meet you too,

first of all i know this case is very frustrating and i am very unhappy with it(as i going to detonate a nuke  :twisted: ).

thanks for your support to local ACG communities.

You are all preaching to the converted. Please direct your wrath to the appropriate party.

When "Saint Seiya" out from Malaysia market arround 1988~1990,. These is a report on newpaper said this is a voilent cartoon. And another report on hentai cartoon which accidently bough by a child.............

Thing just repeated again and again..........


By the time I saw those hentai anime can be bough EASILY at Low yat . I do feel that it will cause trouble.........

On my working place, my college just want to borrow hentai anime from me. They just want hentai ONLY. Age of them are 30 and about...........I will not blame them. and I did not borrow any single one to them. I know it will create a bigger problem because they know my hoppy is watching anime.

I cannot do anything to stop or prevent it. What I can do is recomend good anime to my frind and my college.

I feel I had done a good job in Sibu because I convert a lot of good anime into VCD. And these VCD had been rent out on a comic shop in Sibu. That boss do sell and rent a lot of VCD to his customer. I hope that boss don't do business on hentai anime.  

anime is anime
hentai is hentai

how come they can mix up :?

anime is anime
hentai is hentai

how come they can mix up :?

Argh! That KOSMO! article is irritating me! Ah, why on a day b4 my birthday (mine's on 13th Jan)... everything made me mad today from this topic to thesilly printer in the library! They ought to be told 'Hey mister, do you really have an idea on what is anime anyway!?' That article clearly shows that the Malaysian media are still in the dark about all those stuff. They should know that anime is a Japanese word which literally means 'animation'. It's as simple as that. Basically animes are as the same as the average TV dramas with a little bit of fantasized story elements, except that they are animated. If they were to blame anime for hentai, why not they condemn the 18++ films found in retail shops!? They have more explicit content! Even the Japanese control their productions from all those. Not even mangas are spared, too, remember there was a publisher who was fined for producing a hentai manga in Japan? Well, I don't remember the details much, but if the KOSMO! continue to perceice manganime using that idea, probably they will lose quite a few percent of their readers nationwide.

SOMEBODY HAS TO CORRECT THEM!!!  

phew... finally quoted everyone from the other thread. (no thanks to the lack of merging tools available... *nudges cloud*)

[raging_burning_blazing]

There's no doubt about it, what I'm going to tell my parents if they ever read that article?