15 - Awesome and Great                   29/06/07 Party with Henati (sic(k))   It's not easy trying to coax people to read your comic, and some techniques must surely work better than others. The strangest plug that I have ever seen for a comic began with the words: "Warning - this comic does not contain any henati (sic), ecchi or yiff." Advertising a comic on the basis of what it doesn't contain is definitely a new one on me, especially when the three items listed are all synonyms for the same thing: porn. Now, before I get too snarky, I should point out that I can see how such an introduction could come about. There is sometimes a tendency, particularly when dealing with anime-styled material, to worry that people will assume the worst of it. There are people, even today, whose knowledge of anime and manga encompasses hentai and little else, and I can well remember taking my first faltering steps into anime fandom, explaining it to my family with phrases such as "But, you know, it's none of that rude stuff." Which isn't a great way to introduce any medium. It's like saying "I've started going to the opera... but not those sexy operas." There are sexy operas, right? There should totally be sexy operas. Back to the subject in hand, I do think that anime fandom is, as a whole, too sensitive about being labelled as perverted by association. This inevitably leads to overcompensation, like that dreadful fad a few years back where sites would label themselves "Hentai Free!!!" This had absolutely no practical value, and quite often had a nasty whiff of smugness about it. And this is the problem: it's a very small step from disassociating oneself from hentai to claiming moral superiority... and that is something that will put me off. If you have content that is potentially objectionable, putting up a warning beforehand is an excellent idea. If you don't have any such content, then advertising the fact is at best pointless, and at worst makes you seem like a smug git. And just to prove my oneness with the perverted, hellbound masses, here's a suitably perverted comic that I simply have to recommend. Well, it's been described as hentai (whoops, henati), but if you can overlook a naked demon and some cheerfully yuri overtones, it's a delightful read. And if you can't overlook those things... well, frankly, I'm amazed you're here. The comic is called, rather wonderfully, Pawn, and is well worth a look.           Headmaster, sir. Good evening, sir. Come to give me a caning, sir? Would you like that, sir?

© George Hutcheon 2007