Ecchi Under Fire?

An impassioned rant by Chaotic Thinker.

[Note from Wizard:  Today I wanted to share a guest opinion column written by Chaotic Thinker regarding the unfair treatment the ecchi genre often receives in the anime community.  Opinions expressed are his alone, but I think he makes some good points particularly in regards to supporting companies that license ecchi in the West.]

Hello there, I’m Chaotic Thinker and today I wanted to talk about the culture of ecchi: both for how it has generally been difficult to find support for, and how it is so popular to bash.  And ultimately, why it is important we the fans stand up for it.

I came over from Sankaku Complex, migrated to this site for many reasons (gifs and few images, that’s all Sankaku is good for these days).  Over time I’ve grown into becoming a fan of ecchi anime, yet I have never really found a place to converse about these particular kinds of shows.  Even before I’d venture to places like Sankaku I’d flip through many hundreds of ecchi pages on Facebook, looking for what to watch next or maybe talk to some people or just steal some dank memes.   Eventually I tried Instagram, Twitter and Tumblr.  But I couldn’t really get into it.  Then one day I found a site dedicated to ecchi “culture” – and I’m speaking about FapService here.  It is quite refreshing to hang out with like minded individuals that like the good stuff or maybe have different kinks.  (Here’s mine.)

While at Sankaku I met some good folks on occasion.  But the general majority were highly negative types who mostly talked shit to many pro-ecchi commentators.  And since everyone is anonymous, there is no control over anything on there.  It’s the internet in a nutshell, really.  A great deal of these people were those annoying people that pop up any time ecchi stuff is mentioned- the pseudo intellectuals elitist types that cry foul at anything with tits or sexual content in general. They don’t propagate what they like or find amusing and often suggest that the fandom that sponsors Ecchi, Moe or Harems should pay for tarnishing their idealist view of anime. I’ve seen this over and over again and for a while, I have turned a blind eye to this.  But lately it has gotten out of hand.

Ecchi fandom is often insulted or used a the butt of the jokes on many forums.  But more than that, ecchi fans are stalked everywhere and can’t discuss anything without these pseudo intellectuals turning up and bitching about how much they wish other people didn’t enjoy themselves.  Up on high in their ivory towers, no consideration is given that some people might actually love the shows they hate.

We have tolerated as much for years because Ecchi anime keeps being made and it gets licensed here on the US by FUNimation or Sentai Filmworks.  I think sometimes it’s easy for us to take these companies for granted while they are doing their small part to help support ecchi shows.

I know many of the Ecchi community can’t afford to buy the blu-rays or DVDs, but I think it is about time we addressed the elephant in the room. Licensing companies have been harassed for our sake for too long a time, be it on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube. The same crowd of people who spew the vitriol of puritanism on how we the ecchi community shouldn’t get their / our fix” licensed.

We have talentless YouTubers (Misty Chronexia, The Anime Man or Mothers Basement to name a few) who resort to attacking us simply because the ecchi community is low hanging fruit. Here is one such example:

 

 

However there are a couple of things that bother me far more.  The first is the bickering that exists within our community on the ranks of our fellow men. There are some of us that like mindless boobies and booties, some don’t like the MC to Male and want a Yuri ecchi instead. Other tend to be ashamed and declared themselves to like ecchi with plot to calm down the rabid dogs that insult our way of life in a constant manner.

This bickering that I found everywhere on Sankaku is spreading and often encourages attacks on licensing companies for the crime of catering to US!

I’ve discussed this issue with Wizard at length and I think it is time for us to show our appreciation towards the licensing companies that stick out their necks for us and maybe spread their message whenever they acquire a title, or decide to do a home release for the North American consumer base.

(Note below, the bolded links lead to sexy gifs, primarily girls I favor)

I’m sure you all know Sentai Filmworks right?  The competitor of FUNimation. Although they both license titles, those of us who have been watching ecchi for a while know that Sentai has always licensed the hard core stuff when it comes to ecchi.  They Licensed The Qwaser of Stigmata while FUNimation in the other hand got Heaven’s Lost Property – a show with no nudity whatsoever both seasons if I may add.  Sentai also added High School of the Dead, Hyakka Ryouran both seasons and then our Beloved To Love-Ru series* and then Triage X after that.

(PS:Momo Belia Deviluke is BESTGIRL and TRUE GODDESS.)

Take note that all of this has been going on, while many “Ecchi Top 10” rack up millions of views but we decide to remain silent when they bash us, what we watch or the companies that make it possible to buy any series cheaper than the Japanese do and stick out their neck for us in the mission of spreading the gospel of Anime throughout the west.

In 2015 we saw Prison School arise, To Love Ru Darkness 2nd Season, Monster Musume and other goodies like two seasons of Testament of Sister New Devil. Since they have the series licensed already, Sentai took To Love-Ru as expected, but their newest acquisition was Monster Musume and Funimation took Prison School. A year later we had other ecchi like the glorious, At least to my taste Masou Gakuen HxH or Heart x Hybrid Magias Academy Ataraxia, My Wife is the Student Council President and then we had Keijo which FUNimation also licensed for us.

I honestly expected Sentai Filmworks to license Testament, HxH and Student Council. Imagine my shock. when I realized that after years of coming through, Funimation would take them instead. I’ve noticed that Sentai is distancing themselves from ecchi anime. They’re only keeping “Food Wars,” a non-nude ecchi show.

My Wife is the Student Council” was taken up by Media Blasters to my shock as the company has been laying low for years but I think is good news to see that they want to step up their game. Last year they released Ladies x Butlers with a surprisingly good dub (at least in my opinion) especially when taking into consideration that Media Blasters also licenses Hentai under Kitty Media.

Sony having acquired FUNimation was no small thing.  Whether it will have a positive impact remains to be seen. Sony also owns Aniplex –  such a move put the fear of God into many because they feared rising prices among other things. Although Sony and FUNimation have stated none of that will happen and that Sony Music is another realm from Sony Pictures.

Moving back to FUNimation vs Sentai Filmworks on the ecchi charts. you can make the argument that FUNimation only took the titles Testament of Sister New Devil, Heart x Hybrid Magias Academy Ataraxia and recently announced Hundred because of their partnership with Crunchyroll but even then, FUNimation had already begun to step up their game with the licensing of “Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid”, something that is out of character for FUNimation to do given their usual focus. Anyone that takes a look at their roster of Ecchi quickly realize they’re filled with safe Ecchis titles with the exception of DxD, Maken-Ki and Heaven’s Lost Property that stick out from the rest of your standard low tier ecchi.

So you’re wondering what’s my plan? My plan is to spread news whenever a Ecchi Title hits the west, either if someone purchases the goods and makes a review, spread their trailers and maybe discuss they voice actors.  Just do a little something positive to show these companies how much we appreciate their work for us.

I’ll be writing up articles later on making Ecchi of the Day and disclosing the licensing company that may interest you. Thanks for the reading and I hope I am welcomed here as well get along with other writers whom I’m sure some may have disagreements with me. Everyone has an opinion after all.

On a bit of a side tangent, I make a call for Truce for the different kind of Ecchi fans that come to this page, So far I’ve noticed three kinds.

1. MC Male with Harem of girls who he either can handle or is very oblivious
2. No Male MC just Yuri Ecchi
3. People who want extensive plot with good old Titties and Booties.

Personally there is giant bulldozer of a misunderstanding on how anime works with any of the three, they’re all based one single consumer and there are notions in there I’ll address in later articles.  I ask the fellow Ecchi brothers and sisters (because I’ve spotted girls believe it or not that love Ecchi) that we put our differences aside because when there is inside fighting then the others outside don’t respect anyone and it’s an open invitation for them to just shove their nose on other peoples business. But at the end of the day, we are all people of Culture and we have to stick together.