I did not plan on writing about Ishuzoku [Interspecies] Reviewers again so soon but it is impossible to avoid right now. After the show was dropped by Funimation people have been talking about how far is too far. I was going to write a separate post about it but Peter Payne of J-List has already done a good job of covering it. Let me summarize a few key points.
Many western anime companies now license series before production begins based on concepts. This can mean sitting in on the early pitch meetings in Japan. Being involved in the early stages of production allows them to get English releases out faster. It appears that Funimation and others were under the impression that Ishuzoku Reviewers was not going to push as many boundaries as it did when they licensed it…
Funimation was not alone in this. When a certain not safe for work website [let’s call it f*pservice.com] did their winter preview they rated the “Service level expectation: Some nudity but not a ton (unless they take liberties)”. When I saw this I flipped through some scans of the manga and learn there was indeed little nudity. Needless to say, liberties were taken! The third episode brought in full R rated sex scenes bordering on X! The line between ecchi and hentai was so blurred even I thought to myself, “has Funimation ever license a show like this before?”
This is going on much longer than Cat[girl]urday normally does so let’s try to wrap this up. It seems no one thought Ishuzoku Reviewers would push the limits on sexual content this much. Not only has Funimation dropped it but so has Tokyo MX! It might all be miscommunication during preproduction but the controversy has only made the show more popular. Fans are now upvoting it on MyAnimeList where it is currently the 2nd highest rated anime of all time! With at least seven more episodes to go, I’m sure this is not the last time I’ll write about this controversial anime…
So what do you think?