Dear Daily Mail,
Earlier today I read an article on your website written by Richard Orange regarding a Swedish man who is fighting a fine for apparently possessing manga material which has been deemed to contain child pornography. While I understand that there are debates worldwide regarding any potential difference between pornographic material between real people and other representations (such as drawings), there is one statement in the article that I, as a deep enthusiast of Japanese anime and manga, am deeply offended by:
"Japan's manga cartoons, which are intended for adults, frequently feature violent and explicit sex, in which innocent young girls falling prey to demonic men."
I do not think there is a single sentence that was uttered on this day that is more wrong (even taking into account discussions in the House of Commons). Manga is a medium with titles for all ages - from young children to mature adults with titles that span every genre and target age group imaginable. A vast majority of manga is not pornographic in any way, shape or form. I have been an avid collector of manga since my teens and I have amassed over 150 volumes of material - and none of them, despite the various genres I collect, contain any pornographic material (be it between adults or otherwise). I can honestly say that I have been exposed to more scenes of violent or sexual natures through western properties, such a TV shows and films, then I have during my time being an anime and manga fan. The way you describe anime and manga is as if it is all repulsive trash - which is the opposite of the truth. For example, Isao Takahata's film Grave of the Fireflies is known by famous film critic Roger Ebert as being one of the most powerful anti-war films in the history of cinema, while Studio Ghibli has even adapted the English classics The Borrowers (Known here as Arriety) and Howl's Moving Castle into anime films, as well as making others which have been of huge inspiration to the American Pixar studio. In fact, it is because of the deep morals from some of the works in this vast medium that I have been able to get through some incredibly times in my life and it is through them that I have been moulded into the caring, loyal and good person I am today, so to say that I am deeply sickened by the statement is this article is a gross understatement.
My 77 year old Grandfather takes every word your newspaper publishes as absolute truth, so how do you think I am feeling right now wondering if at any moment, will my Grandfather come knocking on my front door accusing me of being a pervert?! This small lie has enough venom in it to potentially destroy my relationship with my Grandfather - who for 49 years was the husband of the woman who would later be my Grandmother and Godmother, who was like a second mother to me, before her sudden death in 2009. So on behalf of myself and anime fans across the country who fear this article being misread by the masses could lead them to being wrongly labelled as perverts and their hobbies as perverted by unknowing readers of your newspaper, I would like to kindly demand that the offending paragraph be removed from the article and a noticeable formal apology to be placed in your newspaper.
The paragraph in incredibly misleading, but it also has little to do with the article in itself. I also suggest that you have a word with your writers about doing their research properly. The Daily Mail is one of the country's biggest newspapers and has an incredibly larger reader base, thus a heavy influence on the opinions of its readers, so is it wrong to expect better quality controls before their articles go to print (or in this case, go live)? I don't think it is too much to ask at all.
Yours Sincerely,
Josh A. Stevens
