| | The Naruto Shippuuden Movie ends with a proposition. No, I don't mean a preposition. I mean that having saved both the girl and the world, Naruto stands on a ledge with her to discuss the future. The girl gets a coy look on her face and explains that her powers are passed down from generation to generation . . . and she'd like a little help with that, too, if he's up for it.
"Sure," he replies. "I don't mind."
Cue credits.
This is really an excellent indicator of the Naruto marketing strategy. While Naruto's initial audience was preteen and prepubescent, the darker themes and older age group in Shippuuden mean that slightly risque references are age-appropriate. Really the reference is entirely tame by international standards, and it winds up passed on as a bit of "the main protagonist is an idiot" humour, but the fact that it was included at all is not something that would have been thinkable with a 14-year-old main character in the first series. The inclusion of innuendo - however simplified - is therefore sign that the fanbase of Naruto is expected to be slightly older now.
It is also an indicator of why, in culture-specific terms, Naruto has to be a male character. If we briefly imagine a female character as forward, brash, reckless, and tactless as Naruto, we can easily see that she might be doing just this sort of thing - propositioning people in straightforward fashion when her impulses take her there. While this sort of thing happens all the time in real life, in the reserved air of Japanese cinema such a thing would be unthinkable as a defining characteristic of a female hero in a kid's show. (The more seasoned viewer may recall a nod to shota-cons in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex where Motoko Kusanagi suggests she doesn't mind if the boy she shares a hotel room with wants to explore her body.) By way of contrast, male protagonists (such as the ones in Outlaw Star) often pursue exaggerated attempts to "make it" with ladies that inevitably lead nowhere, further exaggerating their status as everyday men or average boys. It says a lot about modern Japanese culture (and by extension, the Western culture that informs its public morality) to note that this is seen as perfectly acceptable while the reverse is not.
There is, of course, a lot said about sexuality in series aimed at older audiences. Many leading characters are defined by their sexual appetites or lack thereof. For Naruto, however, the issue is neatly resolved by his cluelessness: though his lechery is evident, it is for the most part an impersonal and santized force that does not enter into his personal life or threaten to control his actions unduly. There is one instance where he has to be warned off from peeking at Sakura in the bath, but this is utterly tame: compare it to Full Metal Panic, where Sasuke has "unspeakable" and vivid thoughts of what might happen to Chidori if she is captured, and where they dedicate virtually an entire episode to the gag of a commando raid to peep on her in the bath.
Most importantly and most tellingly, there is no sense of danger or loss of control due to these urges. This contrasts dramatically with how sexuality is portrayed in series aimed at even a slightly older population. To again take the example of Full Metal Panic, a stalker is the object of ridicule when he runs around forcing ponytails on school girls - but the episode nonetheless contains a shadow of what real stalkers do to real girls. Though in a sense the tension of possible rape is played for laughs when contrasted with what really happens, the very fact that it is used in this fashion means that specter of violation is a threat not to be taken lightly. Indeed, in the first season there is a near-miss scene as well, when a girl waits for Sasuke for hours and eventually is beset by a small gang of delinquents. Their rough dialogue to beware "men like them" leaves little doubt as to what is at stake.
As a kid's show, Naruto cannot function in this fashion. The viewer cannot be wondering, every time some ninja is at an enemy's mercy, whether some form of sexual torment or humiliation will follow. That would completely destroy the harmony and focus of the show and turn it into a horror anime. And yet as their audience grows, Naruto is forced to acknowledge the sex issue as something that occurs in peoples' lives. They aren't ready to do so fully - mentions of male/female relations inevitably always come as part of a joke - but they can't go on avoiding the topic forever.
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| | Posted 4/28/2008 6:42 PM - 7649 Views - 12 eProps - 8 comments
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