This week's poll is from our member tom32403. Do you think bullying has a role in manga and is worth showing? I guess the degree and form of bullying can vary in terms of physical and emotional hurt, but some people here have probably experienced bullying in real life, so this could be a touchy subject to read about in manga.

You can submit poll ideas here (and try to keep them manga/anime-related)
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: Favorite Pokemon movie
Choices:
Pokemon: The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back - votes: 3344 (34.2%)
The Power of One (Pokemon: The Movie 2000) - votes: 1026 (10.5%)
Pokemon 3: Spell of the Unown - votes: 285 (2.9%)
Pokemon 4Ever: Celebi - Voice of the First - votes: 180 (1.8%)
Pokemon Heroes: Latios and Latias - votes: 318 (3.3%)
Pokemon: Jirachi Wish Maker - votes: 79 (0.8%)
Pokemon: Destiny Deoxys - votes: 77 (0.8%)
Pokemon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew - votes: 205 (2.1%)
Pokemon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea - votes: 90 (0.9%)
Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai - votes: 90 (0.9%)
Pokemon: Giratina and the Sky Warrior - votes: 27 (0.3%)
Pokemon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life - votes: 40 (0.4%)
Pokemon: Zoroark - Master of Illusions - votes: 28 (0.3%)
Pokemon the Movie: Black - Victini and Reshiram - votes: 18 (0.2%)
Pokemon the Movie: White - Victini and Zekrom - votes: 10 (0.1%)
Pokemon the Movie: Kyurem vs. the Sword of Justice - votes: 16 (0.2%)
Pokemon the Movie: Genesect and the Legend of Awakened - votes: 28 (0.3%)
I hate them all - votes: 720 (7.4%)
I never watched a Pokemon movie - votes: 3184 (32.6%)
There were 9765 total votes.
The poll ended: October 4th 2013

Now if we could match that with how many people only saw the first movie... And I decided not to do the favorite Pokemon game poll for a couple of reasons. One is that it seems it'll just have a backlash with a bunch of people never playing a Pokemon game before. Another reason is because it'd be more fair to have X and Y as options, as initial review impressions say it's quite good. Comes out October 12 for the Nintendo 3DS.

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

A poll on bullying in manga? Seriously?
Lolicon, sword fights, guro, rape, violent deaths, genocide, battles, guns, incest and all the other stuff manga is full of aside, we're going to fret about "bullying" and whether it should be in manga?

No, every single manga should have 3.5 panels devoted to anti-bullying messages per chapter, all battles will now be fought with hugs, and biannually there should be "a very special chapter" where the MC kills and eats a bully.

hahaha to the guy above me.....

I was looking for the "it's unrealistic and cliched" choice. Although the first thing that popped into my head was shoujo manga bullying.... Really? I seriously doubt that normal middle or high school girls go around pushing pots out of second story windows or surround one girl and cut her hair off. Not to mention those ridiculous ones where the bully tries to hire someone to RAPE the protagonist.....

If the bullying was done more realistically or if the bullying was more a manipulative psychological attack, it might be more interesting to read and could prod character development. (Cyber bullying anyone? Why can't I recall any manga with that?) More often than not, it's used to prod the plot along instead.

I think shounen manga does it slightly better or maybe I just gloss over that part. But again, kinda boring. Been there done that.

Abuse in any form usually isn't realistically portrayed and it becomes glaringly obvious when the person who suffers from chronic abuse suddenly gets over it in two chapters with the help of their new soul mate and "rehabilitates" the bully into best friends forever!!!

Sorry for any disjointed thoughts (and long post)... It's like 3:30 in the morning and I'm currently running on fumes.

I second this! I actually went here to say the same thing.


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A just ruler amongst tyrants

I find bullying in manga unpleasant, but it's ok as long as it was relevant to the plot.

I don't care much about it as much, actually fanservice disturb me more
it really depend on the author, sometimes bullying is needed in a plot and often used to show how weak the MC is. It's a symbol of weakness in manga.


Black Haze is a recent manga/webtoon I read who use bullying, then give us a satisfying feeling to see the bullying crushed. *grin* it feels very good to see it.

It feels very cliched and bad story writing 99% of the time.

Maybe a few practical jokes are okay, but I find outright violence to be unrealistic, specially ones that take place out in the open orz. That's usually what I find in mangas. In my previous school(and most schools I presume), incidents like those most often than not result in expulsion. A vote to "Too unrealistic and cliche" from me

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If it was done well it could be used as a plot device but it's usually done so poorly. So I went with unrealistic and cliche.

It's unrealistic and/or cliche in many series, but it almost always adds to the character development. Therefore, I feel it has a place in manga. It happens to many people every day and usually affects the way people act. Just because some people find it unpleasant doesn't mean it shouldn't be depicted in manga and other outlets for entertainment. That's like pretending it doesn't happen. One may as well say, "I don't like fighting, so I don't think it should be in manga."

I can't believe people actually chose "It's unpleasant, so don't show bullying." Must bring back bad memories for those people. Bullying, to a degree, is needed in society. Many people push it too far, but there's always going to be a pecking order in life. Get used to it.

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-No longer do I quote great scholars, the famous, etc. Kids feigning wisdom ruined it.
--I wont type a post like a college report. If you don't read it just for that reason, you don't have to post why your hoity-toity ass refused to. I swear, so many people on this site are so full of themselves. A lot seem to think they always have an "intelligent and/or logical" point or show signs of a superiority complex. They never admit they're wrong. Maybe partially, but excuses abound! :\
-Stop mailing me about my comments. I don't read them.
/sigrant

i like when it's handled well like in koe no katachi, but generally it's not used to a mangas benefit

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Reads far to much Manga

I don't mind bullying in mangas honestly it's a 50/50 love/hate thing for me.
Sometimes it really is unrealistic and cliché, but other times I find it adds more depth to the story.
I only seem to like the bullying in mature mangas because that's where the pain and suffering from the bullying seems more realistic.

I don't really like any of the choices I agree with
Generally I feel like it's forced in some stories, but in the ones that aren't I love them.


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Yes yes, I know I make longwinded comments, but that's just me >.<
I should proof read my comments more, but I won't...
So keep in mind I'm filled with typos

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This... is a really interesting question. A lot of people seem to think that bullying in shoujo manga is "unrealistic and cliche". But as scary as it is, such things do happen in real life. Girls getting hit/punched, thumbtacks on seats, in shoes or on the table. ...Ok, maybe not the rape. But everything else... is more less possible. And the bullies that I know of never got their asses expelled either. God knows what the school's administration is doing. -.-

That said, I'll go with the "helps with character development" option. Since most authors do have a reason for including bullying scenes. It could be because they want to show an aspect of the MC's personality, or to get the MC's personality to grow in a particular direction. Although, I would admit that many bullying scenes are over-dramatised and not executed as well as it could have been... *shrugs*

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for me is a must, depending on the manga, regretfully in many of the mangas i have read the topic of a bully is more inflicted than developed in a fullfiling way that leads to situations with many cliches and whatnot, in spite of that i belive that it is a necessity.

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