Rating system?

[pajcat]

I was wondering about the rating system Tokyopop uses for their manga age classifications. So many bookstores and libraries rely on them for sorting and classifying manga, but I don't think I've read anywhere what the criteria is for deciding each rating. (And I realize that each publisher is probably different) Is it based on language? Violence? Sexuality? Does it/can it change volume by volume or is it decided for the entire series?

I'm curious because standards are so different in so many places across North America. Do you try to err on the side of caution or are you fairly generous with assuming your reader's maturity? I know a couple of times I've looked at a rating and thought "Really? That seems a bit young" and I'm definitely not a "save the children" type of person!

Thanks!

[PeterAhlstrom]

The following is just off the top of my head to give a general idea of the process involved, but there are intricacies I'm not going into, and you shouldn't take it as a definitive answer--

It's done more on language and sexuality than violence, unless it's gory violence. In a Y book, people might get killed sometimes, but it won't be gory, and there won't be language or sex. T books should have no F-bombs or sex, though they may have sexuality. OT books may have graphic upper frontal female nudity, but no graphic lower or male frontal nudity.

We try to classify by series instead of by book, but there are a few exceptions when necessary, and there have been a couple instances when reprints of earlier volumes have been bumped up to match later volumes. Unfortunately, we don't always have the later volumes in hand when we start the early volumes.

[AnimeDudde]

If a series that stays Y for most of the time, but has 1 or 2 instances where it may cross the boundries between Y and T, would it be edited out, or would you change the rating for the book to T? Like, Sailor Moon for example xD I havent read the manga, but its rated Y... and there seems to be somethings that I suspect would be left out? Like when Queen Beryl gets killed, or Haruka and Michiru's relationship?

[pajcat]

Thanks for your quick answer! I think I was looking for more of the subtleties involved (ie: where does something like homosexuality fall into your scale? Also dependent on nudity/sexuality or is the presence of it enough to bump it up a notch?) but thanks for the overview, it's a good start.

I find it annoying that sometimes I spend too much time thinking about these ratings when I really don't have to, but I'm a part timer in a bookstore and occasionally get to help parents pick out manga for their kids. (I also work in the library field and though I'm not in a public or school library, I see a lot of "save the children" type articles about shocked parents who are clueless about manga.) I generally try to stick to things I've read since I don't always find the ratings are in sync with what I think they should be and I'm hesitant to blindly trust them. No offense to all of you, of course. It's a complicated thing and like I said, there's absolutely no way to please everyone. I tend to fall on the conservative side when making recommendations, at least until I have a better idea of what the parents see as acceptable for their kids, or how open they seem to be.

Of course, if I find out that the little ones are allowed to watch things like the Simpsons or the Family Guy, all bets are off.

[Murasakivie]

I'd say that anything with homosexual characters would be a T rating or up, not for the gay factor but for the romance factor. The only romance title that was rated for All Ages was Land of the Blindfolded, but that was an obvious screw up. One of the main factors of the manga is the relationship with the two main characters, and there's a couple of scenes of partial nudity.

But you know, I'm not an editor so don't take my word for these things. =P

[PeterAhlstrom]

If a series that stays Y for most of the time, but has 1 or 2 instances where it may cross the boundries between Y and T, would it be edited out, or would you change the rating for the book to T?

Would get bumped up.

Sailor Moon was in the old days, so I don't know how its ratings were applied.