Well, you've got a point, but I don't believe that the readers of yaoi are kids. At least not outside the internet xD
Yaoi is supposed to be geared towards responsible adults. I'm sure something as trivial as this won't influence older readers to take up smoking. A younger audience though ... (￣∇￣")
Are you serious? Kids are not supposed to be reading this. This is for adults.
#－.－) ...more shocked by a smocking character than 2 guys getting on in the heat of summer.... ╮(￣▽￣)╭
don't mistake me,2 hot guys is my daily pleasure of my fujoshi life (づ￣ ³￣)づ
Especially after one passed out from heatstroke. That seems a bit irresponsible to me. But it was hot so I overlooked it.
It might be a problem if this was a kids manga. In any case, smoking in Japan isn't as big a deal as it is in the West.
It is getting a big deal in Japan too, these days. But I guess we must realize most of these manga have been drawn and published several years ago, when smoking was still allowed and considered cool everywhere, just as it was in America and Europe...
Still, I hate just looking at it. Yuck :-{
I think they are merely being reflective of Japanese culture.
Smoking is still pretty popular in Japan despite recent anti-smoking successes.
If they consider it part of their identity, it seems judgemental to say they shouldn't be able to depict it in their literature, art, etc...
Don’t agree. Saying it's wrong to display a very hasardous habit in your art and depicting it as cool, isn’t being judgmental, it's just saying it's wrong. It's not like Japanese, Chinese & Koreans don't know smoking is bad for public health! When I was a kid, just after WW2, youngsters had no idea. They saw Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable smoke in the movies, and imitated them. That caused everyone to get addicted. It took lawsuits to make the tobacco industry admit they knew about the toxicity of cigarettes all along and still made adds for it, for mere profit (remember the "come to Malboro country" adds?) They had to pay the actor who played the "cowboy" in that add, who was dying of lung cancer, millions of $$. That’s a long time ago. It's not like this has to be "rediscovered" in each country separately! Everybody knows it's toxic and addictive, not just in America, where the law suits took place. Influencing young people to smoke by making their manga heroes do it, keeps the myth of “smoking is cool” alive, and therefore leaves the mangaka complicits in the crime of giving their public a lethal disease.
So no, I don’t feel guilty when I mutter against stupid mangaka drawing characters huffing and puffing stinky fags.
And btw, it’s not part of Japanese culture anymore than it is of ours, since tobacco was introduced into Japanese society same time as it was in Europe: in the 16th century. Besides: bad things that are part of culture shouldn’t be maintained merely because of that! I can think of more than one “cultural” tradition nobody wants to be maintained or reintroduced, such as witch burning and flogging and slave trade and Inquisition… Culture is no excuse to revert or stop progress. (crusader mode off)
So? The heat of summer never gave anybody lung cancer or a heart disease!
no, it isn't. It's meant for young girls and young woman, many of which are under 18. Besides, since when have over 19-year-olds become immune for bad influences?
It is aimed towards 18+ adults in Japan... Just because a younger audience read it as well does not mean that it is geared towards them. It is also widely accepted that older people have more sense in terms of not being influenced by things such as smoking as seen in this manga.
Yeah... do you really believe what you've just said? About +18-year-olds being having more sense than younger ones? :-P
Just look at their voting behaviour and think again...
Reading it won't make me wanna smock !!It's not really life and moreover yaoi is not for under aged people (as for cigaretts of course). I don't think it's a such a problem to have a smocking character in manga, just my opinion.
Reading it maybe won't make YOU smoke, but you're not the only person in the world. Plenty of people aren't as stong-willed as you consider yourself. And don't forget that mangaka not only draw yaoi but tons of other manga, among which a lot that are aimed at younger people. You don't think it's such a problem? Tell that to people who's loved ones have died or are dying of smoking-related diseases! Underestimating a problem doesn't mak it go away... that has never worked.
Obviously you have some personal history that makes smoking a hot button for you; however, you fail to recognize that it is a legal drug, just like coffee, that some people choose to use, despite knowing the risks. Consequently, it's perfectly reasonable that mangakas would opt to include it in their work without intending any deeper meaning to it.
It's so telling that you are fixated on smoking when there are many unhealthy behaviors portrayed in mangas; of which, it is but one and nowhere near the most dangerous or offensive.
Seriously, why are you more worried about smoking that unprotected sex, sexual violence, drinking, etc...? All of which appear in yaoi mangas with alarming frequency.
Honestly, if we force artists to remove any reference to anything even remotely unhealthy, the stories won't just come across as unrealistic, they'll be boring as heck.
That is besides the point haha voting has nothing to do with this. With the UK voting to leave the EU a larger percent of people voted to leave because those people collectively thought that we would do better outside of the EU than in it. That is the UK's and its peoples choice. Smoking is a personal choice. It is up to a single person if they smoke or not. The author should not be blamed. It is not their intention to encourage young people/any people to smoke (Once again Yaoi IS NOT aimed at a younger audience). The author just wants to spread Yaoi goodness. If you are so impressionable to even consider smoking because of this manga ... Welp you need to reevaluate your life choices.
You guys are all missing my point by a mile. Maybe you only watch yaoi, to each his own; but manga come in all genres, including kid's manga. So whoever yaoi is aimed at, is irrelevant; I'm talking about ALL manga. Kids' manga included. And the rest, about it being a "choice" to smoke and all that, is just nonsense. It's an addictive drug; your own 'choice' gets annihilated: that's kind of the whole idea of an addiction, duh... and you can't deny it's causing deadly diseases, a lot more than some other drugs, includig illegal ones! Nobody can deny it. All you can say is " there are other things that are bad too..." but that is irrelevant in the topic as well. The existence of other bad things doesn't make one bad thing good.
I don't have any personal history regarding smoking; it is just my experience that whenever you mention some dissaproval over smoking, you immediately face a mile of dispute and discussion. Funny phenomenon, that.
Talk about "missing the point"...
No one here is advocating for smoking, they are merely advocating for personal and artistic freedom.
And as far as smoking "annihilating" choice, that's simply ridiculous.
Nicotine addiction does not magically rob anyone of free will.
When I was younger, I smoked for a while. Then I got sick of the smell and the expense, so I quit. I know some people have difficulty quitting, but I didn't. I decided I didn't want to smoke anymore, so I stopped. It was literally that easy. Moreover, even when people have difficulty quitting, they can make the choice to keep trying until they find a method that works for them.
More importantly, we are not talking about a genre aimed at kids, which is a very critical point.
Yaoi is aimed at adults, the vast majority of whom can handle being exposed to subjects and ideas that might be considered unhealthy, dangerous, and/or controversial without being adversely impacted by them.
Perhaps the real problem here is that you are not one of those adults.
This is well-drawn, but I hate all these guys smoking so much. I can almost smell their stinking cigarettes. Don't mangaka know they shouldn't make kids want to do as their rollmodels in the manga?