If you haven't yet got the chance to experience the awesome sauce that #animestan is, let me tell you that the place it occupies in cyberspace is not blessed.
It attracts all things unholy.
It is not a place where the praises of God are sung.
The atheists and agnostics far outnumber the believers.
It is not a gathering of conformists.
It attracts the dregs of society, who might be nihilistic and anti-populist.
After running a story last August on how Hentai has supposedly become a 'rage' among the urban young in India, the weekly newspaper Tehelka carried an article a month later asking 'Are cartoon channels a fit place for kids?'
Titled 'Is Mama watching?', the article seems to focus on the Animax channel and the Anime series that form a part of its broadcasting schedule. The reporter asks if shows like InuYasha, Jigoku Shoujo and Black Cat are really appropriate for young children. The official response from Animax was that they have repositioned themselves as a channel for young adults. (Our forum members will remember that an advertising agency employed by Animax approached us for feedback for their revamp.In their relaunch, they decided to go English-only and target urban young adults.)
The Tehelka reporter claims that Animax has not done enough to properly position itself as a channel for older teenagers and young adults. However, is a TV channel expected to educate an ignorant population about the fact that animation is not necessarily for children only? As with other regular channels that have a separate slot airing programming made for children, channels airing exclusively animated content can also have separate slots to air programmes for children and for older audiences.
Removing adult oriented shows from Anime TV channels and making them child friendly is not the answer to the problems talked about in the article. Such a move would be disastrous for the growing Anime community in India. These issues could be tackled by setting up a rating mechanism similar to those followed in other countries which label programmes according to the suggested age group and leave the choice to the viewer, thus eliminating the need for senseless censorship. Educating parents about the ratings and the basic fact that animation is not for kids would go a long way in solving this problem and consequently letting older viewers watch TV without the fear of the tyranny of censorship.
If you are a parent, please remember, the power is in your hands. Give your kids limited TV time and make sure you know what they're watching. And most importantly, please educate yourself, your spouse and other parents that not all animated entertainment is produced for a young audience. Let's make the world a safer place for our children.
Welcome to Animestan, India's first Anime community!
We have been operating for three years since January 2005 as an online community forum with an additional presence on the IRC and on Orkut. Our mission has been to spread the word, on animated entertainment from Japan, in India and the rest of the Subcontinent. We have since expanded our operations to cover Asian cinema and subsequently included World Cinema in our portfolio.
Animestan is the home of the Indian Anime fan, a distinct breed of otaku, best characterised by this rangoli of Uzumaki Naruto. (Created by my dear friend Arjun. Thank you, Arjun!)
And now, in our third year of operation we have launched our website, Animestan.com, which will continue our coverage and discussions on Anime and World Cinema, bringing you news and reviews right to your desktop. We hope that our new website will further our cause and bring (subtitled, Japanese audio) Anime to the mainstream. Join us in our endeavour!
[ Animestan.com does not carry any paid advertisements. We do not support online advertising and it is our official policy to ensure that our readers are not forced to view advertisements while browsing our site. Our site will only have banners that promote ourselves, shamelessly, and a showcase space to display our favourite Anime and films. ]
