Ask John: Why Don’t Americans Respect Ero-Guro Artists?

Question:
I was wondering other than loli why does it seem American fans not want to acknowledge any artistic ability of artists who do ero guro since it is a genuine art form?

Answer:
I don’t believe that American manga enthusiasts consciously choose to refute the artistic ability of ero-guro manga artists. In fact, I don’t believe that American manga fans deny the artistic talents of even manga creators that concentrate on the Lolita fetish. The widespread American opposition to “loli” manga and anime is based on dislike of the perceived sexual exploitation theme prevalent in lolicon. When controversy arose over the possible American publication of Kaworu Watashiya’s Kodomo no Jikan manga, there was no criticism of Watashiya’s drawing or storytelling ability. The objection didn’t lie in the technical quality of the presentation; the objection was over the situations depicted in the manga and the thematic concept of the story.

There’s a difference between liking or not liking something and criticizing its artistic credibility. I can’t recall ever encountering any significant American accusation that manga creators including Toshio Maeda, Suehiro Maruo, Shintaro Kago, Henmaru Machino, Horihone Saizo, and Waita Uziga are poor artists. American manga readers just aren’t very interested in the type of manga these creators publish. For example, Central Park Media published volumes of four different Toshio Maedo ero-guro manga series in English, but none of the titles ever became especially successful. The failure of these titles in America wasn’t because American readers thought they were poorly drawn or written. Regardless of the artistic excellence of the work, most American manga readers just aren’t interested in erotic grotesque manga.