Values Dissonance/Anime

It probably should not come as a surprise that there can be a fair amount of Values Dissonance when Western audiences watch anything made by Japanese people and intended for a Japanese audience.

General

• Frankly, this trope could probably adequately explain a lot of what seems to be Relationship Writing Fumble in the eyes of western fans. If you are more used to more open western romances, don't realize that the Japanese are generally more shy about overt romantic affection, what the mythological themes and symbolism mean, and a lot of subtle social cues, you're probably going to be pretty lost.
• As mentioned on the main page for Stay in the Kitchen, a lot of Japanese gender attitudes come across as quite sexist to Western audiences.
• While it might be okay with Japanese audiences, the Bastard Boyfriend stereotype does not go over well with Western viewers.
• The treatment of sexual harassment is another issue that can raise more than a few eyebrows in Western audiences. In Japan, "inappropriate touching" on trains is so widespread that some stations and trains have signs warning women about perverts. Yet women are not supposed to raise a fuss about it should it actually happen to them; it's the emphasis on dignity coupled with an attitude of female subordination. The most the train stations do to prevent this is offer women only cars, thus continuing to place the responsibility on the victim to stay away from men rather than on men to not attack them. There is still great controversy in Japan over the legality of this, the lack of prosecution in all but the clearest of cases, and the lenient punishments of those who actually do get convicted.
  • In anime, the Accidental Pervert is usually a bumbling, supposedly likable character; if the "target" freaks out, her reaction is played for comedy. More serious plots may feature outright, deliberate harassment, but very often the heroine will be scolded for fighting back or told not to make such a big deal out of it. Often it's not entirely clear whether the story is on the heroine's side ("sexual harassment is bad"), or backing up society's view ("the heroine needs to accept her lot in life as uncomplaining, submissive victim"). This could be due to the fact that Most Writers Are Male. In Mars, for example, Kira, the heroine, is assaulted while at her work. Naturally, she retaliates. Her boss, however, forces her to apologize to her attacker, even though she is the victim. Later, when her boyfriend Rei shoves the attacker's head in a toilet, the boss doesn't bat an eyelash. The story is just ambiguous enough to leave the reader wondering if the author takes the manager's side or the best friend's. If you were to look at a lot of shoujo manga, you will notice that the girl is considered "pure" and more "chaste" if she just quietly and tearfully takes the groping from the molester. It is generally up to her boyfriend to call the molester on it and protect her, because a woman should never protect herself. However, most shoujo manga that indulge in this are fantasies in the vein of romance novels and bodice-rippers, so they don't necessarily reflect society's actual opinions.
  • Emiya Shirou of Fate Stay Night gives the appearance of adhering to this ideal but in actuality bends a bit further towards western views so long as you aren't looking exclusively at his anime incarnation. His attitude towards Saber in the Fate route; Shirou loudly states numerous times throughout the Fate route that Saber should leave the fighting to him despite the fact that Saber is astronomically more powerful than him even at her weakest. However it needs to be noted that Saber had been severely wounded in her first major fight and was Shirou's love interest in the Fate route. Considering what Shirou is willing to do to save Rin and Sakura from harm in the other routes and that Fate is the only route where Shirou expresses these beliefs, it makes more sense to think that Shirou is inventing reasons to keep Saber off the battlefield to prevent her from being hurt again.
  • This is changing somewhat: in the manga Keroro Gunsou, for instance, Aki Hinata, strong Hot Shounen Mom and aikido master, is groped on a train and responds by slamming her attacker to the ground. Several other writers have followed this trend, especially when dealing with strong female characters.
    • Also in the Parasyte manga, when one of the infected humans humiliates a groper, the other passengers cheer her on.
    • In one Detective Academy Q anime Filler episode, Megu and a rival DDS student are groped in a train. They actively track down and collar the groper, and proceed to demolish the carefully crafted alibi he presented to "prove" he wasn't guilty.
      • Something similar occurs in Tenshi na Konamaiki.
    • In the Beach Episode of Ouran High School Host Club the heroine Haruhi tries to take on two thugs in defense of two girls, even though she's thin and short, knows no martial arts and can't swim (she ends up in the water). It's also worth noting that she didn't even think of calling for help, even though the beach is swarming with armed private police forces. Her male friends reprimand her but the lesson they teach Haruhi is more about understanding her own limits and safety than about being a meek, submissive girl.
    • Megatokyo sort of goes in between when someone gropes Erika on the train. She is at first freaked out with a 'Wtf?" expression on her face and then returns to the conversation she was having while slowly reaching behind her and painfully snapping something on the pervert. However, being written from a American's point of view on the issue, this is probably more of an exception
    • Change 123 uses this when a pervert begins molesting main-character Motoko. She quietly takes it until she transforms into Hibiki of HiFuMi. Then she proceeds to reach down, place her hand over his, and severely break his fingers. She walks off the train, leaving the pervert on his knees in agonizing pain, surrounded by confused bystanders.
    • Sango of Inuyasha typically responds to Miroku's groping by slapping him, though the whole thing is played for laughs.
  • This is all but averted now, by the point of creating its own issue.
• The Yamato Nadeshiko trope, when exported to the West, seems a bit sexist...
  • ... but the Well, Excuse Me, Princess! and Tsundere types are, for some specific groups of fans, far more popular overseas than they are back home.
    • ...except nowadays tsundere are extremely popular on Japan, as much as in the West if not more.
  • An example of this, albeit with males rather than females, is Yuri's harem in Kyo Kara Maoh. Gentle, chivalrous Conrad seems to be the most favoured candidate for Yuuri's affections in Japan. In the West, however, Tsundere-esque Wolfram appears to have a bigger following. Mind you, this may be due to Conrad being interpreted as a father-figure by some Westerners.
  • It usually depends on the show. In a subversion, Western fans of Naruto seems to perfer sweet Hinata over tough Sakura.
  • On the third hand, presentation is everything...
  • Likewise, in Ai Yori Aoshi, Kaoru's preferred match is Yamato Nadeshiko Sakuraba Aoi for Japanese fans; but western fans prefer hooking him up with Loveable Sex Maniac and Manic Pixie Dream Girl-wannabe Tina Foster.
• Almost as if the Values Dissonance of Yamato Nadeshiko has a Distaff Counterpart, Western fans just doesn't seem to take Bishonen, Emo and Metrosexual characters well compared to the Japanese. On the other hand, rugged Badass guys devoid of any girly things are usually revered in the West as Manliness. This might be credited to the Japanese's belief that if you are a Bishonen, you are very sure that deep down you are a man, even if you dress like a girl, as well as a standard that places a high value on male androgyny as the ultimate sign of male beauty. Furthermore, the macho-men that are revered as American standards of heterosexuality are commonly used as gay stereotypes in Japanese media. In other words, each culture has the opposite concept of what is a manly man and what is a man that wants to sleep with a manly man.
  • Of course, both concepts qualify completely as Truth in Television, in both cultures. "Gay men" are about as hard to pin down as "men" period. From Japan alone we got contrasting examples in Ash Crimson from The King of Fighters, who is very popular in Japan but is hated everywhere else for being flamboyant and looking girly, and Kenshiro from the Fist of the North Star, who is universally considered to be one of the manliest man in fiction, despite (or even because) doing a lot of crying (crying Manly Tears, that is).
  • Difference in the AOC (Age of Consent) in relation to female anime characters have also caused some cultural shock among Western Audiences since the 90s. In Japan, the minimal age of consent for a Japanese girl is 13, and anything above that is fair play. Heck, in Japan, girls can already get married at the age of 16 (though recently this act has been frowned upon by modern Japanese society). And since Japanese AOC's minimum is 13, there'll be a lot of "underaged" school girls wearing painfully sexy short skirts (with emphasis on legs), tight blouses, long socks or stockings, School Sport Uniform, and off course School Swimsuit (seeJoshikousei). Fanservices are occasionally put up to placate viewers who have fetishes on these objects. Worst case scenario happens when these underage schoolgirls are treated to malicious and perverted incidents, even rape. Of course, for the Japanese, these are all normal. They don't see these characters as being sexualized or anything, they just think they're cute.
  • Strongly related to this are the ideas of Lolicon and Shotacon, since in Japan, cuteness and innocence combined with a small but still noticable amount of sex appeal is a strong selling point due to the fact that the Japanese prefer adorable, youthful looks rather than sexiness (say, like in America). Also playing into the appeal of young looks is the fact that many Japanese have very low chances of ever having a family and children as well as the population getting constantly older due to record-low birthrates, so the masses also start looking older and older and thus finding a viable, healthy partner to start a family with becomes even harder. Thus it's no wonder why young boys and girls in Japanese media are so popular, like many things in fiction they act as a good enough surrogate for the real thing.
• While Animation Age Ghetto has been quite a problem in the west, the same can also be said for the opposite. In the west, many Shounen and Shoujo are marketed towards the teenager and young adult demographics but in Japan, those titles are created and marketed mainly towards children. It doesn't help that popular titles that have shown content that is controversial towards kids in the west like Fist of the North Star, Fullmetal Alchemist and Death Note, that fans (and even non fans) find it EXTREMELY hard to believe that they are for kids.
  • The content ratings for English versions of Shonen manga often demonstrate various standards of acceptability, with many manga that younger children would be able to read in Japan being deemed for teens or older teens in America. Mai-HiME is one notable example, as while it is a shonen series, the English release contains a content warning stating that it is not for children.
    • Sure, anime like One Piece, Naruto, etc are more along the lines of what the average Western viewers deem acceptable for kids. Other Shonen like Death Note and Mai-HiME, however, are not. Again, it mostly falls on what kind of nudity and sexual taboos are present in Western vs. Japanese cultures.
  • Even those often aren't suitable for kids by western standards. They're "too violent" and "aggressive", plus they use profanity at times.
• Nudity in Japanese culture is viewed very differently. While it's also used for plain old Fan Service, it's also used to convey innocence and purity. This really causes a problem with children - a nude child or a panty shot is not intended to be sexual at all in Japanese culture and in fact, a nude child is often intended to emphasize their lack of sexuality. Consider, for example, the bathing scenes in My Neighbor Totoro (in which the father is bathing with his preteen daughters) or the numerous panty shots in Kiki's Delivery Service. This does not translate well to a pedophile-wary West, in which any instance of this is immediately branded as child pornography.
  • This wasn't always the case in America. Look at classic advertisements for Coppertone sun block from 1953.
  • Parents bathing with children, even fathers and daughters, is not uncommon in Japan, up to a certain age. Girls taking baths together is considered more a relaxing social thing than anything else, especially if the happen to be visiting an onsen, even comparing bust sizes and curves and such while in the bath. Even mixed sex baths are OK, as it's not really a sexual thing, just a chance to relax in the steaming hot water and chat with friends.
  • Communal/familial nudity isn't all that uncommon in USA either, though non-familial communal nudity is sex-segregated in mainstream culture (e.g. locker rooms, saunas). The abuse scandals of the eighties were overhyped by infotainment media, part of a larger family values conservative backlash against the relative body and sexual freedom of the 1960s and '70s; this may have made the culture more wary of these practices in the last twenty years, or perhaps just of publicly acknowledging them.
• Then there's the fact that over in SOME Western countries (like the USA but not most of Europe), cousin intermarriage is treated as almost as bad as Brother-Sister Incest, causing an aversion to cousin Unwanted Haremettes in Dating Sim games and shows based upon them.
• The important Japanese value "ganbarimasu" (meaning to do one's best) is deeply permeated into all of Japanese society. To the outside Western view, a character with the goal To Be a Master (so common in anime) or even to succeed at a small task may seem absolutely obsessive-compulsive. Elaborated on here.
• In many anime, a character will be reprimanded for laughing loudly, crying or generally showing an "excess of emotion." While this may be universally understood in certain places (such as in an important meeting, in the cinema or in a library), it can be confusing if the character is just sitting with friends or talking to their parents. It only makes sense once you realize the emphasis Japanese culture puts on dignity, and not bothering other people with your personal problems.
  • It works both ways, of course. The stereotypical American's emotional and dramatic nature, as well as the constitutional right to own a gun, is presumably surprising to the Japanese population. This resulted in "half-crazy, gun-toting American" characters appearing in anime. Examples: Leon of Pet Shop of Horrors, K from Gravitation, and most of the cast of FAKE (except Ryo, who's half Japanese). Another example happens when laws allowing citizens to own guns are passed: Bakuretsu Tenshi, for example, depicts Tokyo as slowly becoming a more rotten place than the lowest favelas of Rio de Janeiro after one of these laws was enacted.
  • France has a similar attitude toward private gun ownership, as has Britain, which introduced some of the tightest gun control laws in Europe after the Dunblane and Hungerford massacres.
  • In Akikan, the main character had to transfer to a new school after saving a friend from a kidnapper using the kidnapper's own gun. To a Japanese audience this is apparently considered horrifying and scandalous, while in an American context he would have been lauded as a hero for his actions.
  • Perhaps this can best illustrated by a story. In an unnamed show, the group consisting of two Texans, a Louisianan, a French-raised American and a Brazilian. When the protagonist of the show pulled out his personal pistol and shot a guy about to cause somebody else harm, the Texans and Louisianan applauded the action as the act of a good Samaritan. In those states, citizens didn't have reliable police services at one time and had to protect themselves from Indian raiders, and troublemakers. The French-raised American and the Brazilian were both horrified and thought they saw an act of barbarity, since the protagonist shot the guy rather than trying to talk him down.
• In Japan, the extended middle finger is seen as a harmless, meaningless gesture. Hence the reason Old Tom gives one to Star Saber in Transformers Victory, a children's cartoon.
  • Likewise with the tendencies to flip people exhibited in the mains character of the Viewtiful Joe anime and the Naruto manga (though not the anime).
  • In Great Teacher Onizuka, there are times when the titular character did the finger. Apparently, that one's a humorous case of Deliberate Values Dissonance; he's telling whoever it is "f*** you" in a "harmless" way.
  • Subverted in Lucky Star when Akira flips off the camera and her finger is blurred.
  • This sort of thing is also why Bruce Ironstaunch is loved in America, for giving Rossiu a Bicep-Polishing Gesture when he announces the arrest of Simon. In Japan it was approval. In America, it was more of a "Who the Hell do you think you are?"
  • It was however censored in Dragon Ball's blu-rays.
• As some specific examples below can show you, Japan has a...different way of dealing with bullying and child abuse than the West. In Japan, if someone is bullied at school, they're generally ignored, or told to ignore it, do what the bullies want, etc. Oh, and the victim is frequently blamed, as you're only being bullied because you're too different. If you bothered to fit in better with others, you wouldn't be bullied, so you better shape up now. Similarly, child abuse is treated as something the family themselves should deal with, and that it's no one else's business. Several series where a teacher or fellow student tries to tell someone has the speaker shot back down, told to not get involved, or worse, which is pretty much exactly what happens to them in real life; unfortunately for many Japanese children, this real-life "tradition" is putting tremendous strain on Japan's social services...
• The phrase I'll protect you in Japanese is often used in anime as a declaration of devotion and commitment - especially when said to a woman by a man - and not a petition to be her bodyguard (although that does come up now and again). It's often translated as just "I love you" in English. Because gender roles in Japanese culture are much more rigid than in other parts of the world, this is sometimes used to show a male character who has been less than macho to be stepping up as a man, and gives a tomboyish girl a chance to showcase her femininity by being protected like girls are supposed to. This can be really, really weird for Western audiences, who are left to wonder what the Hell The Hero is thinking, offering to protect his super-powered/magical/martial artist/psionic girlfriend if she's clearly capable of taking care of herself.
• Teacher-student romantic relationships are not nearly as forbidden in Japan as they are in the United States. It can be puzzling for Western readers of a series like Maison Ikkoku or Marmalade Boy, where relationships between high school teachers and students are treated not only as acceptable, but in some cases ideal (granted, in the latter the teacher had to leave his position, but he was also teaching middle school). Or, similarly, a case like with Mr. Kimura from Azumanga Daioh, who openly acknowledges his preference for high-school girls and doesn't suffer any ill effects from it, other than his female students being creeped-out by him. In the U.S., any hint of high school teachers and students going beyond friendly can get the former locked up, even if the student is above the age of consent. Even American universities often fire professors who sleep with their students (as it's seen as either the professor abusing his power or the student using sex as a bribe for a better grade).
• Japanese media attitudes about homosexuality differ greatly from Western views. On the one hand, it's a lot more common in anime, and they usually make less of an issue out of them; you'll find a lot less Gayngst and Coming Out Stories, for example. Japanese media is also more likely to emphasize the romance in these storylines, rather than the sex. On the other hand, the apparent acceptance is largely due to seeing homosexual relationships as a fancy of youth which provides "training" for "real" opposite-sex relationships later in life; this is why you see so many Schoolgirl Lesbians but not so many older ones. Westerners' attitudes toward anime portrayals of homosexuality have evolved a great deal over the years as Western attitudes about the subject have evolved. As recently as a decade ago, when worries about Moral Guardians led English dubbers to often turn same-sex couples in anime into opposite-sex couples or Heterosexual Life Partners (the North American dub of Sailor Moon infamously did both), the fact that anime had enough homosexuality to devote two whole genres to it was seen as progressive, but as Society Marches On, it gets more criticism from the West for relying on tropes like Bait and Switch Lesbians.
• In Japan, some depictions of Black people can come off as offensive or outdated, to the point where many people accuse Japan of being racist. The thing is, Japan lacks the racial history we have, as they are a mostly homogenous population; in fact, most depections of black people, no mater how they look, is meant to be positive. A good example of this is Chocolove: Aside from his name, he also has larger lips than most of the cast and wears one of those African-traditional-skirt thingies...Nevertheless, he has great Character Depth, is a peaceful and smart character, and can even come of as somewhat Adorkable.
  • Also, this could partially be America's fault as well, since most Japanese get their ideas of black people from popular culture (heck, just look at ganguro). In fact, most depictions, no matter how offensive they seem at first, are nowhere near as offensive as some of the old cartoons like the Censored Eleven (which includes, among other shorts, Coal Black and de Sebben Dwa'ves).

Specific

• Gunslinger Girl: Any Italian would find all of the relationships including between the adults to be unspeakably cold and distant as the artists, due to cultural projection, have depicted them as Japanese relationships might be, instead of as the very physical Italians would act.
  • Though that COULD be excused by thinking that they are very, very uncomfortable in dealing with those girls and it's shown this way.
• In Fruits Basket, Kisa Sohma, the Tiger of the Zodiac, is bullied by her classmates, who gang up on her because she has a different hair colour from the rest of her class. As a result, she becomes mute, and leaves school. Her teacher writes her a letter "encouraging" her to return. In it, the teacher seems aware that Kisa is being tormented, but she also seems to suggest that it's Kisa's behaviour that is causing the trouble, not the bullies'. She asks how Kisa can expect her classmates to like her when she obviously doesn't like herself, apparently skipping over the fact that it was her peers' tormenting of her that caused Kisa's self-loathing in the first place (she despised the fact that she was "too weak" to stand up to her classmates). Some have interpreted this to mean that the episode places the blame on Kisa's shoulders, saying that she should be strong enough to face the bullies alone, without relying on adult intervention. This is very different from the Western approach, which would punish the bullies first and foremost. However, Yuki says that the way to self-esteem is "to have someone tell you that they like you", i.e. outside support is a necessary condition for inner strength. So far as we know, the bullies are never punished, and eventually it's all about Kisa learning to stand on her own. But the episode still expresses the idea that it's good for Kisa to seek outside support, even if it's just emotional support.
  • Something similar happened in Sukeban Deka live-action episode 10, where Saki told the girl who was being bullied into shoplifting that she is not handling the situation properly by not saying no. She listens and says no, gets beat up, then Saki comes in and beats the bullies up. Since Saki is an undercover police agent, this could be interpreted in the Western sense of getting an authority to intervene, but only the adult ringleader (who also committed murder) gets arrested, and Saki seems to be beating them up as an example for a fellow student to follow, not as an agent.
• Compare Ah! My Goddess to Bewitched The reactions of Keiichi and Darrin to their Magical Girlfriends, Belldandy and Samantha (wife in the latter case), and their treatment thereof, couldn't be more opposite.
  • Keiichi embraces Belldandy's special status and is very gentle to her, letting her use her abilities to some degree.
  • Darrin, on the other hand, pretty much makes Sam hide her magic powers so she won't be found out. Ironic, since IIRC Bewitched was one of Fujishima Kousuke's inspirations for Ah! My Goddess!
  • The difference goes even further, in that Samantha hid her powers from Darrin until after they were married. Keiichi does have to teach Belldandy to not use her powers obviously in public, but for fear of scaring people.
  • Bewitched did address this topic on a few occasions, and tended to take care to emphasize that Samantha willingly chose a life where she hid her power to live as a mortal. An episode where she and Darrin decided to use her powers constantly threw off the status quo and greatly upset Samantha's ideas of how she wanted to live her own life. Other episodes showed that open displays of Samantha's powers could attract attention from less scrupulous people, such as a detective who blackmailed her after discovering she was a witch. Another episode showed how life would have turned out if Samantha had told Darrin about her powers before the wedding -- Darrin initially freaked out, but came back to Samantha because he loved her anyway and actually quit his job because he refused to let his boss manipulate her powers for personal greed.
    • Darrin also differs from Keichii in that he has legitimate grounds to be afraid of his wife's special abilities. Keichii knows that Belldandy is a sweet, kind, gentle-natured woman who would never hurt him, has some knack for protecting himself against magic and, at least early on, he also has the System Force reacting to keep him safe (after all, if he dies, his Wish will be broken). Darrin, on the other hand, can be kept safe only if he manages to keep his wife's good will -- let's not forget that in one episode, his father-in-law actually killed him, and he would have been dead permanently if Samantha hadn't been able to persuade her father to resurrect him. Darrin is on the receiving end of malicious, spiteful or potentially deadly magic a lot more then Keichii is, so he's naturally more leery of it.
• Raye Penber's heavy-handed Stay in the Kitchen speech to his (former FBI agent) fiance in Death Note makes his later murder less a tragedy and more an instance of Karmic Death in the eyes of many readers, especially because Naomi was much more competent than he was. On the other hand, it makes you really feel for Naomi -- which works heavily in favor of the story.
  • In-Universe (and possibly for reader) example: In Episode 23, Light refuses L's suggestion to carry a gun to assist in Higuchi's capture, citing that it's illegal for a citizen to own a gun in Japan, while L (who is of mixed ethnicity and is presumably not native Japanese) has no problem with carrying one, and neither does Watari. Similarly, earlier in the episode, Soichiro refuses to take one from the also non-Japanese career criminal Wedy, citing that he's no longer a police officer, and suggests that Wedy shouldn't have a gun, either (Aiber, however, declines to do so for personal reasons).
• Omamori Himari and the Tsundere Rinko. While at the beginning it was the normal set up of "love dovey" childhood friend it has evolved into a full abusive relationship. While at the start she was no role model (throwing a cat to a person who is allergic to them... really?) she has been shown lately to punch, slap and hit him with a baseball bat with nails until he bleeds. And his transgression? To have other girls ogle him, feel herself inadequate in the chest department or show any interest in anything that is not her. And we are supposed to find it endearing... It's like with Girls Bravo and any number of works: either the Mangakas really had no idea what is a healthy relationship, the Harem Genre is heading to its breaking point, or Japanese people are kinda insane.
  • That happens in 98% of harem-type series. Apparently, Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male and the male is loved by several girls.
• Pet Shop of Horrors, mentioned above, runs into a lot of values dissonance, as many of its episodes have an odd, twisted kind of moral to them. They often come off as Count D being a bloodthirsty bastard rather than an Aesop-dispenser. Sometimes, it's unclear if this is dissonance between Western and Japanese values, Count D's and the other characters' values, or the readers' and the mangaka Akino's values. But in most cases, we're clearly supposed to find Count D's values unconventional and shocking.
  • A good example is one episode where the man who has "vengeance" visited on him is implied throughout to have murdered his wife by pushing her over the railing of a cruise ship. Turns out she jumped, because she overheard him talking to the woman he was actually in love with. It seems that she was a huge bitch who always had to have whatever she wanted, and she decided she wanted him and railroaded him into it. She became "heartbroken" at their words and killed herself. The story still seems to treat him as if he's to blame, and his fate is treated as a Karmic Death.
  • Things get really weird in Pet Shop of Horrors: Tokyo, which starts blatantly imposing the "rules" of the animal kingdom directly on to humans. Take the first story, "Domestic": A victim of domestic violence dies, but it's treated as a happy ending by Count D because she protected her son. The pet the woman gets is not to save her, but to ensure that she fulfills her role as a woman and mother: defending her young to the last. The Count has no remorse for his actions, basically sending her to her death, because that is apparently Nature's Way. It becomes increasingly difficult to tell if this is a strategy to de-humanize the Count after he becomes notably more compassionate in the first series (which would be in-universe Values Dissonance), or whether Akino herself supports this view. Men don't get off lightly either -- see "Double-Booking".
  • Also, our very first introduction to Count D in the manga chapter "Dream": Angelique's actions were no doubt seen as selfish and overly emotional to a Japanese audience, but to Americans she seemed to be motivated by love for her pet, and her punishment came across as over-top cruel. Yes, she broke the rules. But even if she hadn't, her bird would still have been eviscerated, and Count D never even warned her.
• Transformers Beast Wars II will never, ever be officially translated into English for Western audiences. The reason? The Jointrons, who act like stereotypical Mexicans, are really lazy, and transform into bugs.
• Maison Ikkoku features a big one in the main character Godai's relationship with an annoying teenage high school girl who follows him around, insists they're "meant to be", and tries to ruin his maybe/maybe not relationship with his beloved out of jealousy. The problem everyone has is that she's annoying and Godai doesn't really lover her... not that she's sixteen or seventeen years old, and he's at least twenty. In fact, everyone acts like he just may hook up with her anyways, and they don't particularly comment about the morality of it aside from breaking the "true love"'s heart. Even worse, his "true love" had married her teacher years earlier, when the age difference was even bigger, and it's viewed as a perfect relationship.
• In Ikki Tousen, when a character is revealed to really be the incarnation of Wang Yun rather than who he had previously claimed to be, it's treated as a huge shock and evidence that he's completely evil. Wang Yun was a hero in the original Romance of the Three Kingdoms, but it seems the Japanese don't think too highly of him.
  • That was before, well, Zuo Ci (the one who was Wang Yun), actually had betrayed and manipulated his friends....
    • This was one of the more heavy plot rewrites in the anime, which was made after Wang Yun's identity was known to the reader, but before he revealed it to the characters. In the manga, while he's still manipulating literally everyone behind their backs, he's got good intentions, and is treated as a hero. Hell, even in the anime, he's mostly just setting the villains up to kill each other.
• Cardcaptor Sakura has an astonishingly casual view of May/December teacher/student relationships. Sakura's mother and father met when he was a high school teacher and she was his student. One of Sakura's prepubescent classmates has a crush on their teacher... and he returns it! But then, it's CLAMP.
• In Toradora! episode 16, Ryuji finds Kitamura sitting around with a giant bruise on his face; Kitamura reveals eventually that his father basically hauled off and punched the hell out of him because he dyed his hair (and also probably for not wanting to run for student council president); both of these were explicitly stated to be cries for help on Kitamura's part. In most Western productions, the rest of the episode would probably be about how abusive and wrong this was, both physically and emotionally. The characters don't seem to think twice about it, and Kitamura comes back to school the next day with his hair dyed back and saying he's all better now.
  • The dyed hair turns up in a lot. This also is featured in The Twelve Kingdoms where Yohko is thought to be some sort of hoodlum or perhaps prostituting herself just because her hair is red and not black like other Japanese students. This escalates to the point where her parents are called and she is cornered by teachers to stop dying her hair for the sake of her honor student reputation. Unfortunately for her, she is a natural redhead because she is from another world. Even more unfortunate is the fact when she's whisked away by the golden haired rapunzel Keiki who only solidifies suspicions of her relating with unscrupulous characters. Because, even if he's innocent, we all know Blond Guys Are Evil especially when they're foreigners in Japan.
  • Do note that Asians generally have black hair, as opposed to Westerners with varying colors. Dyeing your hair in most Asian countries usually means you're a rebelling teenager or a wannabe gangster.
• In the RSE arc of the Pokémon Special manga, one of the protagonists Ruby (10) runs away from home to compete in Contests. Eventually, Norman, his father, finds him in a ruin, and starts beating him to a pulp. He then uses his Slaking to rip out the stair his son is standing on, (almost hitting a bystander), and dangles him, over the edge of the building. His son is finally forced to start fighting back, until the floor collapses, with them both dangling over the edge, they just miss some metal debris, Ruby is knocked out, and his father stands to start battling again, before conceding his son's goal. Then we get this.
  • The incident had more behind it due to an event in the trio's common past. A berserk wild Salamence attacked a young Ruby and Sapphire in its frenzy. Ruby took a horrible scar from Salamence's attack, and his innate gift at Pokémon battling let him repulse the frenzied beast, but he felt such influence tainted Sapphire's crystal heart. He has since shunned all forms of battle and sought instead to focus on Contests, swearing never to fight in the public square again. Norman, on the other hand, covered up the incident; not only was he banned from Gym Certification for at least five years, he also had to seek out Rayquaza (Norman had developed a way to capture Rayquaza, but the Salamence destroyed it in the attack). His sacrifice made Ruby's disdain towards his training sting that much more, and the two have been at odds ever since.
  • In the Pokémon anime, Zoey/Nozomi's behavior and tone of voice toward Dawn/Hikari were changed in the dub. She acted pleasantly toward Dawn, had a sweeter tone of voice and constantly complemented her; it seemed like she had a crush on Hikari. Nozomi's original rough and tumble attitude could easily have been misconstrued by the censors as imitable rude behavior and a lack of good sportsmanship, so her overall manner was softened for the dub, adding yet more fuel to the shippers' fire.
  • Magical Pokémon Journey has two gay characters and How I Became a Pokémon Card had a Transsexual protagonist. Considering these manga were aimed at children, it wouldn't fly as easily in some places.
  • Pocket Monsters has shown the genitalia of the protagonist and his Pokemon several times.
• In Sailor Moon, the romance of the story involves a junior high school student involved with a college student. In Japan, Mamoru is the butt of a few jokes at worst -- in North America, he would be arrested. In the manga he's just a highschooler and not much older than Usagi herself. However, Japanese culture still generally approves of relationships with a gap like this despite the jokes, as the older man is seen as more capable of protecting the younger girl.
  • Also in the German dub: In the beginning of the Super S season Usagi remarks how she is now 16 years old, thus old enough for a "real love" - which implies that she and Mamoru - which age was left as it was - did not consummate their relationship yet, since Usagi was too young. In Germany the age of consent is graduated - 14 years is the age of consent with other minors. 16 for sex with adults. (and with 18 you're an adult.).
  • Furthermore, there's the lesbians Haruka and Michiru. In America, they became the cousins Amara and Michelle. But you could still tell Amara and Michelle were lesbians, making this a case of Kissing Cousins. Both lesbians and cousins being romantically involved aren't looked down upon quite as much in Japan as in the US, so...
  • Also, the fact that Sailor Moon was viewed as a children's series surprises many Western viewers. The show's sexuality did cause some controversy in Japan (including the aforementioned lesbians), which caused Toei to change Seiya into a boy.
  • Interestingly enough, with how much the gay rights movement has advanced in the U.S. in the past decade, the decisions by DiC (with Zoisite and Malachite in the first season) and Cloverway (aforementioned example) to Hide Your Gays in the American dubs are already approaching Values Dissonance. They'd still likely make the same decision now, but it would be met with considerably more controversy now than it was. With more and more gay teens choosing to Come Out younger and younger, the American idea that homosexuality is a child-unfriendly topic has been increasingly challenged in recent years.
• This contributed to the commercial failure of Detective Conan in the US. The anime is supposed to be a children's show, aired at 7:30pm Mondays for most of its televised history, and the structure of the story is along the lines of a children's show. However, the sheer amount of Family Unfriendly Deaths caused serious problems to the West, and importers were given the choice of cutting or timing out of its intended demographic... Interestingly, though, it was quite successful in Europe, at least in the German-speaking countries, where the Moral Guardians only during the last decade started to raise their voices against anime.
• Played for Laughs in Katekyo Hitman Reborn. In the Italian mafia, a subordinate kissing their boss on the cheek is not unusual. In Japan (and done to Tsuna by newly introduced Chrome), it's a Ship Tease.
• In Ponyo On a Cliff By The Sea, a mother leaves her five-year-old son alone in a typhoon in order to take supplies to elderly women in the old-folks home, who seem to already have others taking care of them. This looks like child abuse from a Western perspective, instead of dedication to her job and trust in her son's maturity as was probably intended.
• Japan definitely has a more accepting/even positive attitude toward suicide than the West, and one series in which you can see this is Irresponsible Captain Tylor. When desperate situations happen in early episodes, basically every single character bar Tylor himself start talking about dying a heroic death, and Tylor's self-preservation instinct is treated as a sign of his incompetence. What makes this weird, is that while it would be perfectly in character for someone like Yamamoto, who was The Ace until Tylor showed up to act like this, it even extends to the Marines on the ship who are the kind of malcontents you wouldn't expect to be so eager to die.
• There is a manga titled Suicide Island. The premise is that hospitals in Japan are so overwhelmed with attempted suicides that the Japanese government decides to wash their hands of this and simply send the suicidal people to an isolated island. Oh, the suicidal people are given a choice and have to sign a form if they choose to die. Of course, the protagonist, who is suicidal, does not know that when he signed the form, he was going to be put on this island, rather than be killed off shortly afterwards. The story contains elements comparable to Battle Royale, only the government is not forcing the people on the island to kill anyone. There is obviously a large amount of Values Dissonance here, but this manga is clearly examining the concept of suicide from the Japanese perspective.
• Bleach: Momo Hinamori has loved and respected Aizen even before she became his lieutenant, and he used this to manipulate her into trusting him unconditionally and essentially worship him. After discovering Aizen's (fake) corpse, she attacked Gin (of whom her childhood friend Hitsugaya had warned her about earlier). Not long after she received Aizen's last letter addressed to her in which he named Hitsugaya as the murderer. Half-crazed from pain she tried to fight him but had a breakdown in the middle of the fight. Later on, she was informed of Aizen's deceit by the man himself, who went on to stab her. Yet even after this she still couldn't accept the fact that Aizen betrayed Soul Society and believed that he was framed. American fans hate her for this and think she's a stupid, weak woman; Japanese fans think she's a woobie and love her.
  • Funny enough, her lack of air time in filler and the movies seems to imply that the anime's writing staff aren't among her fans. Even during the one filler arc she DID take part in, one scene had her own Empathic Weapon tell her that she needed to let go of her delusion that Aizen was a good man.
• An interesting case is that of Shizuru Fujino of Mai-HiME. Fan opinion on her seems divided after her Face Heel Turn over her feelings being rejected, but the image portrayed in the same scene seems to depend on background. In Japan, Shizuru is confronted for three major breaches of behavior: abandoning her position as student council president to take care of Natsuki, being a Schoolgirl Lesbian, and "taking advantage" of Natsuki as she slept. The first is a dereliction of a duty Shizuru willingly took up, which is a big thing in Japan's duty-centered society. The second is a sign of immaturity, as detailed in Schoolgirl Lesbians, implying that Shizuru is acting childishly by pursuing this kind of thing at her age. The third is both true and false: while Shizuru did kiss Natsuki while she was sleeping, the greater implication of This or That going on was incorrect and Natsuki's misunderstanding/jumping to conclusions. Nonetheless, stealing Natsuki's Sacred First Kiss without her consent is a serious faux pas. However, in many a Western market(except Italy), Shizuru's status is more ambiguous. The first charge of dereliction of duty seems rather frivolous, as most would consider saving a friend from potentially life-threatening or major injury to be more important than student council duties. The second is similarly frivolous to most, with Shizuru's biggest offense being Cannot Spit It Out. The third, again, is generally misinterpreted to imply that Shizuru actually did rape Natsuki, but the concept of kissing her while she's asleep is not considered a big deal. This ironically leads to a conflicting view of Haruka who is accusing Shizuru. Either she's being a dutiful, proper moral standard calling her rival out on her misbehavior, or she's being a cruel, oversensitive shrew blowing the whole thing out of proportion. There's her later snap and killing spree, but even that's a debate for another page.
  • If an English-speaking viewer has seen only the dub (in which Shizuru has a cultured Southern accent) one gets the impression that her descent into Psycho Lesbianism is more a result of "I'm a lesbian, and all lesbians are psychos, so that means I'm a psycho" kindof deal, with the conservative implications of her accent accounted for. Note that Japan has some slightly...dated views on homosexuality, as discussed under Schoolgirl Lesbians. Also see Mai-Otome, which takes place in a world where lesbians are much more accepted, and Shizuru is a significantly more sane character--as well as a shameless flirt.
• The final saga of the original Dragon Ball series focuses on Goku and Chichi learning to be a respectable married couple, but specifically on teaching Chichi subservience to her new husband, a trait rather out-of-fashion in Western society these days. And that's not even getting into the mountain that actively repels any female that attempts to climb it, a fact which only "bad girl" Mai seems to have a problem with.
• In Tokyo Mew Mew, one possible reason why Kisshu is the fan preferred pairing for Ichigo in the West is that his Establishing Character Moment, stealing Ichigo's Sacred First Kiss, is far less shocking to Westerners than it is to the Japanese.
• In an early scene of Grave of the Fireflies, the mother of the two main characters goes off to a shelter, leaving her son to carry his toddler sister around while the town is under attack. While Westerners would probably consider this to be an appalling act abandonment and reckless endangerment, the original intention was more likely to be that the son the man of the house since his father was away fighting and was old enough regardless, so his mother trusted him to take care of things.
  • According to the bonus material, this careless behavior was explained by the fact that previous american bombings had been relatively light and aimed at industrial sites only. "Just another raid. Nothing to be worried about. Let's do what the govenment ordered and get to the holes in the ground that have to pass for shelters." Oh boy...
• Any time Patrick "Panther" Spencer shows up in Eyeshield 21, and they begin talking about the "black man's" superior genes and body. If you tried doing something like that in Western culture, well... just look at Jimmy The Greek. Still, many of those instances are from the mouth of Leonard Apollo, who is plainly shown to be a scummy racist.
• Airmaster: Maki, the main character has a Near-Rape Experience with her Stalker with a Crush. Her friends and members of said stalker's harem immediately take her out to eat to make her feel better. Everyone else is acting normally, she spends the meal looking traumatized. Even if the emotional dissonance is meant as a joke, it's still jarring to a Western viewer as (female) rape jokes are only the realm of Dead Baby Comedy.
  • It's also because he only got as far as he did because she had no idea what was going on; once she realized it, rather than doing the typical anime heroine 'cry and tolerate' stance, she beat the ever-loving snot out of him, screamed her head off, and then came back (still screaming) to get her shoes and run off again. Since Maki is the sort of Badass who regularly takes concrete to the face and is often attacked by people she's never met before, a dinner out with her friends is probably what she needed. Notably the dinner happens after she and her best friend spend awhile crying in the rain for a bit of traumatized catharsis. Once they get it all out, it's all good.
• Papillon, a manga about a handsome guidance counselor who helps a young girl gain confidence in herself, contains quite a lot of scenes wherein he makes very sexual comments, grabs her breasts or butt, puts his head in her lap, etc. When she screams or gets mad, says that he's only joking. It's always played for laughs, and the girl is attracted to him, so it supposedly seems like harmless flirting to a Japanese reader. However, it looks like nothing but sexual harassment to a Western audience, especially because the man is one of her teachers and almost ten years older than she is.
• The general attitudes on sexuality is always a bit played for laughs in Ranma ½, but there are some cringe-worthy moments. Most notably, a short arc concerning a Stalker with a Crush named Tsubasa Kurenai, who was obsessed with Ukyo. The on-going gag was that everybody assumed Tsubasa was a girl, and 'her' lesbian crush on Ukyo was Played for Laughs. Towards the end, male!Ranma attempted to cure Tsubasa's lesbianism by asking her out on a date.
  • In his subsequent anime-exclusive appearance, when Maomolin the Bakaneko tries to take the male Tsubasa as his wife, Tsubasa declares that if that's his lifestyle, then good for him, but Tsubasa himself is most certainly not interested.
  • The anime's slightly different take on the Kasumi/Tofu "relationship" (mainly A: keeping Tofu around and thus giving him the occasional chance to pop up and be stupid because of Kasumi, and B: having Akane be a Shipper on Deck for the "couple") in Ranma ½ could be viewed in a similar fashion to the way Maison Ikkoku handled its May-December Romance.
  • Nodoka Saotome and her Seppuku pledge; a Western attitude would have been to dismiss the stupid thing on several grounds (she never agreed to it -- it was Genma who declared he'd do it and then wrote it up before running off, she really does love her son and doesn't want to have to kill him, the pledge is so ambiguous as to be impossible to live up to it). The Japanese attitude is that Nodoka is, while suffering, a good, loyal, dutiful woman to keep it alive and be consoled to murdering her own family if she decides they haven't lived up to it. Being willing to commit suicide herself after executing them is seen as romantically tragic.
  • The teenage characters given or buying alcohol (such as from a vending machine or to celebrate like how alcohol was around to party during the Orachi arc) can be Values Dissonance for places that have strictly enforced no drinking/selling to policies for teens.
• An unusual reversal with Highschool of the Dead. In the midst of a Zombie Apocalypse, the teenage protagonists learn to use guns, drive without licences, steal things to survive and essentially rely on themselves rather than authority/government figures. Not unusual to Americans, but in Japan (where the story takes place)? Definitely.
• Arashi no Yoru ni is a family film about a gay romance. ...You can guess where a truckload of Values Dissonance comes in. It also features a somewhat gory scene early on, and implications of suicide, which doesn't fair well with western audiences.
  • Whether it's a romance between the characters is highly debated by the fans, however.
• In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, Detective Delicious asks people to come into his car to talk about crimes because it's air conditioned. Most of the time though, we see one of the five kids enter the car. In the United States, kids are drilled early on to not talk to strangers, don't go into their cars, etc. Seeing as the Pedo Hunt isn't as strong in Japan, you can see where the Values Dissonance comes in. It helps that the series takes place in the early 80s.
• In Bokurano, a twenty-something yakuza member falls in love with a student and marries her.
• Godannar where the 29 year old main character, marries a 17 year old highschooler. Everyone is shocked that he got married, but no one seems to care that said bride isn't even old enough to drink.
• Maicchingu Machiko Sensei, a kids show about 8 year olds sexually molesting their teacher, who can't keep her clothing on or intact for more than a few hours. Somewhat tame to be honest, although the Parent Service is blatant, and the show completely averts Barbie Doll Anatomy -- Machiko's nipples are visible in the opening credits.
• In Doraemon, Shizuka had ShowerScenes with Barbie Doll Anatomy averted as a Running Gag. The remake added Censor Steam, which was considered a bit of an outrage on 2ch and the like due to how it instantly shed the previous scenes in a different light when they were mostly just intended as comedy.
• Young Goku in Dragonball and young Gohan in Dragonball Z both on several different occasions end up running around completely naked, Barbie Doll Anatomy averted.
• Esper Mami's main character worked as a nude model for her father throughout the anime's run. Scenery Censor was completely ignored (although Barbie Doll Anatomy came into play, except for her nipples, and in the finished paintings), and Mami, as a model, had no real nudity taboo, to boot. It did help that the finished paintings were done in a very artistic style, and the Fan Service aspects of something like that were completely averted.
• The animated propaganda film Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors has Momotaro and loads of adorable animals going to war and brutally killing British soldiers. Japanese viewers would see Momotaro as nothing short of a hero, whereas people outside Japan would see Momotaro as evil and psychotic judging from how he acts.
  • It's a propaganda film from World War Two. Most modern Japanese would cringe at this as well. The Japanese of the time, on the other hand...
• Bitter Virgin goes into the topic of Abusive Parents. Very early on, Hinako Aikawa reveals how she was raped more than once by her stepfather and was made pregnant twice. The first time she had an abortion. The second time she did not because her doctor said that she would never be able to have a child again if she has an abortion. So she gave birth to the baby via cesarian section, and gave him or her away to be adopted. Her mother was in denial over it, but after the second time, she could deny it no longer. Her mother drove the stepfather out of the house with a knife. Needless to say, Hinako has a load of issues. By Western standards, it would be considered horrible that the stepfather was apparently never punished and society seems to be mostly against Hinako. By Japanese standards, Hinako would be considered Defiled Forever, and Hinako would probably be blamed for the abuse and be unable to seek help.
• The level of independence the Wandering Son cast has can be a bit awkward to some viewers. For example a nine year old being left at home alone, told by his mother to open the door to a stranger and give them money. In the West this goes against several rules that children are taught; when left alone don't open doors to strangers and just tell them to put whatever they've brought at the door. The children are also allowed to roam wherever they please (and without telling their parents either), hang out with adults their parents don't know, and stay over at said adults places. Yuki has behaved toward Takatsuki in ways that seem like sexual harassment, or she's sexually attracted to her; her blatantly flirting with Takatsuki in their first meeting doesn't help. Her boyfriend once gave Takatsuki a Crotch Grab Sex Check when they first met, and touched her chest to confirm her sex; he's at least twice as old as her.
• A good number of Sasuke Uchiha's actions from Naruto might fall under Values Dissonance between Asia and the West. One can argue his quest for revenge falls under filial piety rather than self relief. Filial piety is a critical feature of Eastern civilizations (including Japan). It basically means honoring and respecting the parents and ancestors above all else. Hence, the only people he will ever recognize allegiance to are his dead parents and clan. He basically lives for the dead ones. The fact that he totally ignores Itachi's will can also be explained this way, because Itachi was only one among many others. Pretty much confirmed after he kills Danzo, where he rants about how good it feels to clear his clan's name by killing people, and sees it as his mission to do so.
  • Many fans groaned at a flashback showing Kurenai's father telling her to stay out of the fight because she must one day have children. While this is extremely sexist from a western viewpoint, it is somewhat different for Japan. Namely, perpetuating one's lineage is seen as extremely significant in Asian cultures, and having one's bloodline die out is seen as equal to not existing Not to mention the series' overarching theme of passing the Will of Fire to the next generation...
    • Its telling that, while the 'have a child' speech was seemingly only directed at Kurenai, there were plenty of male characters prevented from fighting too.
• In Great Mazinger, lots of people don't understand why Tetsuya feels so horribly jealous of Kouji's position as Kenzou Kabuto's true firstborn son, to the point of refusing to help him in battle at some point - which causes Kenzo's death in the end. This is because Tetsuya is an orphan, and in a society where family and stability are all, orphans are extremely looked down upon even in adulthood. Therefore, when the full-blooded son and heir of the man who raised him came in, Tetsuya was shit scared of being abandoned again and he thought that if that was the case, the still very traditional Japanese society would likely make him a pariah. It was was, WAY more complicated that mere jealousy between two adoptive brothers.
• In Oniisama e... Nanako sometimes angsts about being an adoptive child, for similar reasons to Tetsuya's (though not half as intense). Even more so, her stepbrother Takehiko (the "Oniisama") is taken away from his dad/Nanako's adoptive father when his parents get divorced and they're not in contact for years: this is because the Japanese divorce laws are very different from those in the USA, and since Takehiko's mother was the one who filed for divorce, she got full custody and Takehiko simply qas not allowed to meet with Professor Misonoo.