AQ : Rantings and Ravings

The following article has created more reaction than any other rant we have ever presented on this page. Not even the SOS rants produced as much email as this one! Most of the email did come from HentaiFREE members, and most of those were against what was said in the rant. Many did take the time to at least present us with well thought out comments supporting their side of things, rather than flaming us. We thank those people for taking the time to do this.

We also received a lot of email from those outside of HentaiFREE, and most of those people supported the rant. Many were offended, like JunJun, at HentaiFREE's mission statements and introductions. This all combined to create an interesting debate on the subject.

Now for the update; as of last night, HentaiFREE updated it's mission statement and index. It is a vast improvement over the old one. It is clearer, and non-offensive and now we can agree with some of the things HentaiFREE is about. As for those things we do not agree with, we can now at least respect and understand their views.

I also made some further suggestions for improvements to HentaiFREE. One these suggestions was for them to add a link to A Parent's Guide To Anime. This site contains reviews and ratings of anime, by parents for parents. HentaiFREE will be linking the site, and encouraging parents of young children to visit the site to make their own choices about what anime their children should be watching. This clears up the other main problem we had with their site: they provided no warnings to parents or children that some of the sites they list, represent anime that may not be suitable for young children.

Now that all being said, feel free to still read the original rant below. We still do not fully support HentaiFREE, but we feel many of the problems that we, and others were having with their site have been taken care of.

I also would like to say anyone who does not like the below rant, or even likes it, please do not email us anymore about it. You may email us about this update, but not the older article, as the issue has now been resolved and it would be pointless to comment on it.
(July 20th, 1999)

What's more prevalent than S.O.S. logos?

What's one of the hottest trends in Sailor Moon webpages?

What's more powerful than a locomotive, faster than a speeding train, and able to leap high buildings with a single- err, scratch that last one.

What gives you an eye-sore everytime you load up a SM page- or nearly every time?

Want to look cool? Want to up your self esteem? Want to make it look like you belong to the elite group of proud, young, Bible quoting, smut fighting Moonies? If that blows your lid off, look no further! Yes, step right up! JunJun's got the scoop on the latest, newest logo to spice up your page...

[ Insert drum roll, trumpets, fanfare, Cere's guitar music here ]

Yes! With a hentai FREE logo on your site, you announce to the world that YOU are a decent, moral person, unlike the rest of us smucks, who won't stand for the disgustingly indecent crap out on webpages!

What IS hentai FREE though, you may ask? Good question! Directly quoting from their webpage, hentai FREE "is a club for hentai HATERS - those of us with a sense of morality and decency, who don't want kids or other innocent victims stumbling on what we believe to be perverted, disgusting junk! If you dislike hentai, are proud to have a clean website, and want to work towards a cleaner internet for everyone, please join!"

Yes! God forbid these kids' parents should install some sort of Internet protection program to clean out the horrible, horrible junk that is hentai! God forbid that the Internet be a place that already IS for everyone, kids and adults alike! And God forbid that if you actually LIKE hentai, you should join!

Nope! This "club" is for the elite only with such sparkingly clean records and morals (dontcha just want to make them saints right now? I know I do!) that clearly says on their Join page: "IF YOU LIKE HENTAI, DO _NOT_ APPLY!!!!!"

Like a friend pointed out, if you happen to be one of those immoral freaks who LIKES hentai (oh no!), even if you want to join such a worthy, worthwhile, useful, helpful cause (and especially those freaks who use Adult Checks on their webpages too to help prevent kids from seeing what no child should ever see, no, not until they're at least 25, married, and on their wedding night, the never-been-kissed-type of course), you're the scum of the earth, remember? You like hentai! You've been touched by Satan! Blessed by the devil! Kissed with the kiss-of-death! You ain't comin' into THIS club, no sirree!

But what does this club do anyway? Well, according to the front page: "hentai FREE is a 1998 Bronze Mongoose Designs production, not intended to cause large hemorrages of the brain, but merely to irritate the pervys out there and stand up for a worthy cause."

Yes, darn those pervys to ever-lasting hell! Wow, that statement just makes me want to get up and sign up for hentai FREE right now! I mean, gosh, I get to be a part of this grand, grand organization that will annoy all the pervys on the Internet by getting them to see that pages that wouldn't have hentai in the first place are proudly toting the hentai FREE logos! I'll annoy them by bashing them, calling them names, acting like the 12-year-old never been on a date, never been to a rated R movie, never been kissed by anyone but my mother type that I probably am, all the while holding the attitude that I am better, I am superior, I am making a difference in the world. Who knows? I might annoy the pervys soooo much that they get rid of their perversion, as if cleansed in holy water while looking up to the heavens, and praying to God that I may be a born again Christian.

Wow. *whistles in admiration* I mean, geez, what with so many disclaimers on webpages before you get to the hentai that say: "If you are under 18, do not enter now", I'm amazed at how many "unsuspecting adults" could be so "unsuspecting." And on search engines, what with the so-obvious porn words and descriptions, I'm astonished that so many of these adults are still "unsuspecting". Color me red, I'm embarrassed now.

And "a cleaner, kid-safe internet." Golly gee, I hadn't realized the Internet was only for kids. But by showing how proud we are that we're hentai FREE, we'll eventually triumph over evil, and that means YOU pervys!

Yup, yup. And when people click on the link back to the page, they can also see hentai FREE's mission statement- to show that everyone who has joined hentai FREE is a lot more moral and decent than those indecent, devil worshipping, child-rapists-in-training. I mean, I could have a million anti-shrines to every single Sailor; steal a million images, info, and set-ups; call Naoko Takeuchi a "lesbien" with a sick mind for coming up with "lesbiens" in her manga; and I could still join since my site is "clean".

As for the Bible-quoting portion yours truly mentioned above, on their mission statement page, hentai FREE says: "Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed." - 1 Peter 3:13-14" Join me right up, I know now that since you read the Bible, you must be pure, clean, moral, and decent!

And take a look at all those sites that have joined and the logos made for different anime. Wowee! So much anime! Fushigi Yuugi has noooo sex or nudity or rape or anything whatsoever, not a lick! And we've NEVER seen girl-type Ranma with her shirt off, nor any naked girls in the bathhouse, nor is Happosai anything but a sweet, grandfatherly type who sweetly gives gifts to young children as he romps through lush, green grass. Ditto for Hino Rei's grandfather from Sailor Moon- don't you wish he was YOUR grandfather? And there's no nudity in Sailor Moon either- none at ALL, especially in the manga, where there is no hint of sexual relationships between Usagi and Mamoru. Evangelion? That deserves to be there as these is never any scene focused on a cup while you hear Kaji and Misato having sex in the background, and that supposed Shinji masturbation scene in one of the movies? Pure lies, I tell you. Devil Hunter Yohko? Well, maybe I was dreaming what happened in the first OVA to Yohko, naked, on the bed. And none of the other anime listed have annnyyy nudity, sexual innuendos, or references at all to sex, hentai, or the like... (sarcasm off)

You know what? Now I'M riled up. Maybe I should start a club just like hentai FREE! Instead of no hentai, how about no violence? Getting rid of the violence in anime and on webpages would really clean up the web. Of course, there'd be like two anime (if any) on my list, but still, I'll be making a better place for all the kids. Who cares about the adults? They're sick bastards for wanting violence anyway!

"Flamers please note: if you can't be reasonable and intelligent, your email will go in the electronic round file and all you will have accomplished is giving me a good laugh." I totally agree. I mean, can't any of you flamers be reasonable, like us? We're so reasonable and mature and intelligent that we call anyone who likes hentai a "pervy". We're so accomplished for making the web a better place by doing nothing in particular but make all the joiners feel like they're in a special organization above the filth and garbage littering anime sites.

Yes, there are anime porn sites. Yes, there is hentai. But unless you go out of your way to look for hentai, how many times do you actually come across it? Maybe once or twice accidentally, maybe you see a picture on a site that is from a hentai doujinshi but the owner can't recognize it for what it is, maybe you can recognize the warning signs before you "stumble" across anything. There are programs invented to protect children from coming across porn; there are adult checks; there are programs where you have to pay to see anything; there are passwords; there are disclaimers from people concerned about legal suits warning you about certain content.

But I think the real question is why is hentai so bad? Why does liking it make you such an evil person? A lot of people in this world think "sex, perversion, tentacles, scantily clad, large chested, long legged women" when the words "anime" or "Japanese animation" come to mind. Does that mean they're right? No, it just means they are ignorant. There are many types of anime, and like that, there are different levels of hentai.

I'm not saying that if you dislike hentai, you're wrong. If you think making a banner saying that your site is free from hentai is a good idea, more power to you. But I think that people in hentai FREE need to actually stop and think about what they're supporting. They are saying, in effect, that they know they aren't doing anything constructive, that all they are really doing is joining an organization and placing a logo on their page that says: "No hentai content on my site". But by joining hentai FREE, they are also agreeing with the statement: "I don't like hentai, I don't like any of the gross people who like hentai, I believe hentai and the likers of it are indecent folk while I am morally superior."

Even the organization itself admits it has no method, has no purpose, other than to "quiet[ly] protest" the "indecency and lack of morality". You need to realize that you are not having an effect on anyone who hasn't already decided for themselves that hentai is 'wrong'. Maybe you'll influence some of the younger webpage owners who basically don't know anything to join your cause, but that's about it. You're not going to change the minds of those who like hentai, particularly NOT with your childish mission statements and claims. Raising yourself on a pedestal built upon morality, ethics, decency, and religion about something I believe you really don't know anything about is ridiculous. The owner of hentai FREE at one point said she started the organization because she found a few hentai pics and was disgusted- she had no prior experience with hentai, and I don't think she has learned anything since. I don't even think she or the members know anything about it, haven't bothered to educate themselves in any way, hasn't even tried to understand one of the basic concepts of human nature- sexuality- before creating the site. How can anyone respect an organization that has been created on practically no knowledge and with no purpose?

I would hope that at least some of the members of hentai FREE will rethink their joining the organization; if they still value their membership into an organization with no valuable, worthwile purpose; plenty of hypocrisy; and enough proclaims of moral cleanliness to last me a lifetime, good for them. In the meantime, I'll wait for them to grow up.