This week's poll is from residentgrigo. It's a bit long-winded, but the scenario we're talking about is a series you are already reading (and hopefully like), then suddenly it brings up a topic out of left field that makes you wanna drop the series. Does this happen to you?

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: Your favorite manga is being adapted into an anime. What are you most worried about concerning the upcoming anime?
Choices:
Poor animation - votes: 374 (6%)
Art style won't transfer well to animation - votes: 240 (3.8%)
Poor voice acting decisions - votes: 207 (3.3%)
Storyline or character changes - votes: 1484 (23.8%)
Filler content - votes: 238 (3.8%)
Censorship - votes: 250 (4%)
Rushed story and/or skipping chapters - votes: 1779 (28.5%)
Bad quality in general - votes: 1469 (23.5%)
It's not the "original," so it's automatically worse - votes: 200 (3.2%)
There were 6241 total votes.
The poll ended: August 11th 2017

Wow, 3 choices got most of the votes

________________
A just ruler amongst tyrants

No topic offends me on principle. I wouldn't be able to read as many alternative manga as I do if that were the case, anyway. Even the most offensive topic can be handled well/interestingly; on the other hand, typically inoffensive things can go anywhere from "irritating" to "deal-breaker" in the wrong hands.

No topics offend me on principle. Even if netorare makes me want to kill someone, I can still handle it and read through it. For me, the biggest deal breaker is a crappy character. Someone so annoying, such a gigantic hypocrate or such a big asshole that I can't stomach reading the story anymore.

Topics may be controversial, hard to talk about and ugly, but if they are done well, with believable and somewhat likeable characters, it may turn out to be a really surprising and good story.

My choice: There's many topics that would stop me from continuing a series
oh boy here it comes my rant: i hate incest (i really don't understand how can you do that; i'm an only child but i have a lot of cousins that people say they are good looking, but i don't see them attractive at all, it makes me puke only thinking about it);
i hate relations between young girls (minors) and older man, i hate it even more if the man is their teacher (i don't understand why is so popular this subject in manga).
i hate if a character suddenly turns gay (there is yaoi for that; i don't want to see straight characters suffering for gay characters)
i hate in harem manga when keep appearing a bunch of new characters just to make the manga longer (ain't nobody got time for that!).
of course i hate pedo, lollicon, shotacon, sadism, masochism (any weird shit like this)
or if the main character becomes annoying, obnoxious, insupportable, insufferable...etc.
if any of this subjects appears on a manga i'm reading, i drop it immediately (sometimes the only thing that kinda makes me continue is if the art is beautiful)

Last edited by LazyCat3 at 4:46 am, Aug 12 2017

No topics offend me on principle but it´s pretty easy to derail by trying to be relevant or edgy. GTO for example managed to age badly in parts, even in the first and still good half by touching on stuff that a mass market kids book just can´t get into. Persona 5 did the same recently, as the game immediately turns a 180% after dipping a toe into tropics as rape or suicide. It´s just that none of that comes to pass and a happy endings get forced all around. Catherine did the same too, as both needed to carry a teen rating in Japan.
Do. Or do not. There is no try.

I wonder if actual phobias as arachnophobia will show up.

________________
I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

Its mostly how a topic is handled. Most topics if handled seriously it doesn't bother me. On the other hand, let's say its something like rape and the manga author is obviously using it like fan service that ticks me off and I'm likely to drop it.

Depends on how the content matter is presented. If it's done badly or for reasons just to make the manga "darker and edgier", I'll probably drop it. I have a few topics that will make me skeptical, and can drop on a dime if it's not presented well.

I like how this topic is "New Poll - Eating Apples". Way to add humor to a more serious poll I guess.

Yeah, mainly because of how it's phrased ("offend" me), overall I'd have to go with option one....certainly there are topics/themes/subject matters that I don't like very well or, by far, less than others, but "offend" to the point of an immediate drop? No, I really don't think that's reasonable either.

Frankly, to me what you're describing really falls into the area of just plain bad writing or some decision on whoever's part (author or publisher) to change the focus of the story for whatever reason. Yeah, I've encountered that more than a time or two, but in most of those cases it was more of a gradual shift where different elements/characters were gradually introduced which moved the story away from what was initially its theme.........and yeah, x amount of chapters later, you're left wondering just where the story you started with went and if it'll ever come back >_<

I have to say I don't have any. The whole "tastefully" caveat is the real deal breaker for me... Pretty much any horrible thing can enhance a story if done right imo, especially if the story aims to be realistic.

Finding manga series that can handle topics like incest, pedophilia, and rape well is another issue. .-. I'll drop a series in no time if any of those come across as fan service-y.

This happened to me quiet a few times... Where it started off ok, but then it kinda spiraled in a way I wouldn't want it too... Most of the time it is excessive uncalled for gore or suicidal topics. Though I suppose I can remember only a few series but it is most of the time something like that. I fine with gore if it fits into a plot well, but gore for the sake of gore without explanation or for self-gratification of some sadistic bastard is not my cup of tea, so I drop most of the series where such sadistic bastard or entity shows up and stays for long... Also suicidal as I said, but those kind of things are rarely suddenly introduced, so I can avoid suicidal mangas to begin with.

________________
I am envoy from nowhere in nowhere. Nobody and nothing have sent me. And though it is impossible I exist. © Trimutius

I don't have any topics that offend me on principle, because I have seen many topics "tastefully" done. If a topic that was not originally in the story is suddenly featured, I would drop it. I don't read an action story for some werid sci-fi twist or a romance for gore and blood; unless I knew originally what I am getting into.

________________
Internet Lurker At Heart

Nothing really offends me on principle. Sort of. There are fetishes that I'll drop things for, but topics like homosexuality and bigotry, abortion, incest or rape don't really affect me that way. So, with story themes and discussions, no, but yes if I'm reading it for reasons other than the plot.

It's rare that a topic will completely ruin a series for me. However, one that comes to mind is suicide. That is a very difficult and painful topic to read about. It completely changes the entire story and it's difficult to get any more happy moments afterwards.

For me it's mainly harems. I don't shun it completely but it is the only tag that I have truly explicitly dropped series or avoid a manga altogether. I don't have much patience/tolerance for them. Especially reverse harems. Rarely if ever written with originality.

No topics offend me on principle.

Although, of course, it depends on how the topic is handled. There are at least a dozen topics that are almost immediate red flags due to how manga tends to handle them generally (eg. rape is usually downplayed and characters fall in love with their rapist in yaoi and ecchi manga. Racism/sexism/homophobia is almost always treated as a joke, often justified by the main "good" characters, in manga targeted to younger readers).

To be honest, I'm more thick-skinned and resistant to being offended by manga and anime than I used to be. At the end of the day, you have to realized that the material is coming from a completely different culture with different values. It's actually been a really long time since I've dropped a manga because of insensitive handling of sensitive topics, which says more about me than I'd like... -_-

For truly sensitive topics, I won't drop a manga just because it has:
- rape/pedophilia when it's a necessary part of the story-line, not drawn in for pleasure, portrayed as the horrible crime it is, and the offender is punished. (the line for what constitutes as rape is fuzzier in my head than it should be. I have to stop reading poorly-written yaoi... but pedophilia portrayed as love is always a deal breaker!)
- incest/age-gap romance as long as it's realistic and there was no power difference and no one had the opportunity to take advantage. Basically, no parent/child (ugh!) uncle-or-aunt/child, and siblings with 3 yrs or more age gap (because imagining a 12 year old starting to get "like-like" feelings for their 9 year old sibling is seriously disturbing
- characters opinionated about suicide or abortions. The authors are entitled to their opinions, and they will never change mine
- BDSM is great as long as all the characters are 100% consenting 100% of the time
- gore for the sake of gore. I know it should bother me a bit, but it really doesn't...
- mental illness and suicide, unless it's really portrayed badly. Mangaka should do their research, especially on sensitive topics, but they don't have to have PhD's in psychology

Last edited by Dahlia1112 at 12:26 am, Aug 13 2017