Edutainment finally comes to Shonen Flop!
David and Jordan give their first thoughts on manga Sex Ed 120%. Listen in as they give an overview of the first chapter, where they think it will go from there, and ultimately their “power word” to describe the series so far. They also dive into some listener questions.
Show Notes:
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Credits:
• Manga by Kikiki Tataki (Story) Hotomura (Art)
• Shonen Flop is hosted by David Weinberger and Jordan Forbes
• Additional editing assistance by Dylan Krider you can find his podcast, Anime Out of Context at animeoutofcontext.com
• Assistance with pronunciation, translation, and other miscellaneous research done by Tucker Whatley and MaxyBee
• Thanks to Kalalla for being our social media manager
MAL Description:
While she is just a physical education teacher at Sakuragaoka Girls' High School, 23-year-old Naoko Tsuji has another job to do. With an increasing number of people who are engaging in sexual activities at a very young age, Naoko feels that the stigmatization of sexual education in schools is pushing this problem to its extremes. Vowing to utilize her hobby as a sex education specialist, Naoko is determined to spread proper information on the subject.
With her most responsive students being the fanatic Shun Matsuda, the cautious Hikari Moriya, and the curious Kashiwa, every class is filled with interesting new things to learn as Naoko comes closer to her goal of promoting healthier and more enjoyable high school lives.
[00:00:00] Welcome to Shonen Flop Chibi, first impressions mini episode where we talk about the first chapter of the series we'll be covering in depth next week with our guest Sarah, the official series letterer. I'm Jordan and with me today as usual is my co-host David. Say hi David. Hi David. What series we're covering this week David? We're covering sex ed 120% because we always give 120%. That's right, especially on sex exams. God, I don't want to get into that. Not in today's society. I got an S plus on my sex exam. The S
[00:00:29] stood for sex. Yeah, so who made this Maka Jordan? This was drawn by somebody just named Hotamura and was written by Tataki Kiki. I like that name. No relation to Wataki. That means it's Tataki Kiki. God, he really fumbled it with Thor Love and Thunder, didn't he? Taika Waititi? Yeah, I didn't see it. Yeah, you shouldn't. Shout out to the two different people that texted me about how a ceiling collapsed during the new Captain America. But since the theater was
[00:00:59] was empty, no one got hurt. Yeah. I hope Marvel movies die finally so we can move on. But yeah, so this ran from January 14th, 2020 to February 10th, 2021. 22 chapters and three volumes. Yeah. Yeah. What a good run. And I was surprised how short this first chapter was. Yeah, this was pretty quick. I mean, I guess it makes sense. This is kind of the definition of edutainment. It is the final frontier of Shonen Flop. Edutainment. There's like five or six series like this should have been edutainment. At last. Like Haku Kaku.
[00:01:29] Haku Kaku. Yes. And that's what it's all about. But I also. Which is different from Haku Taku. I could not give more of a shit about that series. That is okay. So Jordan, why don't you tell us about what happened in this chapter? All right. So here's the thing, David. Japanese society has a problem with sex. Some people are having sex too early, while other people aren't having sex at all. That feel when. Yeah. Despite this, schools do a really bad job teaching sexual education.
[00:01:56] Suji, a gym teacher, is about to change this for her first sex ed class. Because as we all know, the gym teacher is the one who's qualified to teach sex ed, you know? Average American education. Let's not bring in somebody who's actually trained in this. It's just, I don't know, our least qualified teacher you fucking teach. Isn't that pretty common, though, that the gym teacher teaches health class? It is. And it's not good. That's my point. That shouldn't be the case. That's just how it is.
[00:02:23] Yeah. That's fair. But yeah, for her first sex ed class, she decides to talk about, quote unquote, how to initiate sex, which pretty much seems to come down to asking somebody to help you test out condoms. Yeah. Popcorn David. One girl imagines two boys testing out condoms, while another imagines her cat tearing it up. Another girl is a lesbian, so Suji tells her about dental dams. Well, it's not so much like, hey, you're a lesbian. Let me tell you about it. It's more like, this is pertinent to me. Yeah. The school nurse comes in the class to tell Suji to stop.
[00:02:50] Suji asks her if she wants to test out a dental dam with her and is decisively rejected. She ends it by saying, not to worry, because less people are having sex than you think. Yeah. So Jordan, what were your thoughts on this? Like, it was only 25 pages, so this may be a very short chibi. So first of all, I am glad a series like this exists. It's, I feel like this is literally the first time, with the exception of maybe, what, killing me or something, where it's, oh no, this character's a lesbian.
[00:03:15] I'm feeling it's like Doron Doron that had a character that just offhand said they had a girlfriend. Like, there was just like a very subtle lesbian in one of the series we've covered. Doron Doron, um... Something we covered, there just happened to randomly be a character who was a lesbian. So if anyone remembers, please drop a comment. Yeah, I don't remember that. I guess I tell Su, you know... She was bisexual. She was bisexual. Actually, probably pansexual. Yeah, it was more criminal sexual. Yeah. It didn't have anything to do with your gender. It had to do with if you were committing a crime or not. She was into it.
[00:03:44] It's sexist. I tell Su. What a manga. Yeah, no, this is like the first one where it's just like, at least in like a very long time, where it's just like, no, this character is a lesbian and she has a girlfriend. You know, this is addressing her sexual education needs. You also gotta respect that this series starts out explaining dental dams, which is something that I think a lot of people don't understand. And she went right into analingus. She did. She immediately started talking about tongue in that ass.
[00:04:13] And you gotta respect a series that eats ass. That's how you know this was written by millennials. But yeah, you think it is fucking... The art is solid. Yeah. Which is really needed for a series like this so they can actually make sure the anatomy, if they show it, is drawn properly. Yeah. Yeah, edutainment finally recovering it. So we'll see if my... I keep saying this area should be edutainment, so we'll see if edutainment actually is an interesting topic. And I think as the actual structure of this series, the pacing was really disjointed.
[00:04:40] I feel like it may be like champagne where they just have a topic and then they write it around it and it feels very unnatural. But they're trying to think of like, how do we still have a plot while just talking about like the edutainment we wanted to cover in this chapter? Yeah. Here's the thing. First of all, to give it to this over edutainment, this is an inherently more interesting and important topic than fucking champagne. So I will give it that. If it just explains its topics in a similar way, it will still be inherently more interesting. But on the flip side, I do have a couple of questions.
[00:05:09] First of all, what the fuck is up with that girl and her cat? Yeah, that was weird. Is she trying to fuck her cat or something? It was very confusing. I don't understand what they were going for. Did she want to test out her condom with her cat? What the fuck does that mean? Was she just thinking about her cat? Like, I genuinely don't understand what that was supposed to be. I don't either. It was really weird. It was very strange. And then her cat rips up the fucking condom. And then she wants condoms because she thinks that her cat might like to eat them. What the? Okay.
[00:05:39] The whole thing was super fucking weird. It was very strange. I mean, the other one is that like she, Tsuji, basically like sexually harasses the nurse in front of her entire classroom. She's like, hey, school nurse, we're in front of a bunch of kids. You want to have sex? You want to test out this dental dam? Dude, you're fired. I don't know what to tell you, man. I do appreciate at least that the nurse was like, hey, you just sexually harassed me. Yeah. I appreciate that the series had a teacher just be like, that's not great that you did that.
[00:06:08] I was actually thinking about this unrelated, but have you seen the sexual harassment humongous video from like 15 years or 10 years ago? No. So it's from H3H3 back before they got controversial where there was like a guy talking about like an issue. And I think it was Seattle politics. Maybe it was like drug funding for like anti-drug stuff. And I forget how it happened. But this woman was talking to him and she's like, what's your name? And he says, my name is Hugh. Hugh Mungus. And she starts screaming how he's sexually harassing her by saying that. Oh, my God. Rain will think about that video like last week. Lady, that's a little far, right?
[00:06:38] If he was like, I don't know. I'm humongous like my dick. That's one thing. Yeah. It's like saying his name is Frenchie Toast. Yeah. I mean, I would say like humongous. Like I could see how she was like, oh, he's talking about his dick. As far as I understand, I haven't seen the video. I'm assuming he didn't say humongous dick. No, he just said his name was Hugh Mungus. Yeah. It's clearly a little sexual, but it's like I don't think anyone really I would say it's probably inappropriate, but not sexual harassment to say your name is Hugh Mungus.
[00:07:06] I do want to say, though, that the series is very sex positive, which is nice. Yeah. It feels like it's trying to actually authentically teach you about sex and it's not just do abstinence or make it seem terrible. It's trying to say that having a teenage population that fully understands is going to be the best approach to this topic. And it's actually interesting. There was a big controversy. The series, I think, had like an 18 plus rating when it came out in America and everyone was like, what? This clearly needed to be like a 16 and up series because that's the whole point of the topic of this. Yeah. So people were very upset because of the series just because it's about sex. It's not it's not hentai.
[00:07:36] Yeah. It's funny because staff has started watching Love is Blind, which is like Rachel loves that show. Yeah. Well, they have a Japanese version. And it's interesting because the sexual attitudes and stuff are very different over there. Like there's just like this very romantic idea of it. Like a lot of them just seem to not have any experience. So it's interesting to see this series talk about that. Yeah. Yeah.
[00:08:03] This is the first time I've really seen any sort of sex ed education come up. Same. I was shocked to see a Japanese series that wasn't like super shaming about sex, you know, like that was actually like positive about it. Granted, you know, it's not like we're getting like a full breadth of Japanese media. We are primarily reading shonen manga. So, I mean, that's probably not representative of Japanese culture or media as a whole. But I mean, like based on the stuff that we read on a whole, I just noticed I said that. Ha ha ha.
[00:08:31] Anyway, but for what we read, it was kind of surprising. Like, oh, great. Awesome. Cool. Yeah. Good. Yeah. And then Jordan, though, would you read our 10 chapters of this? Yeah. Mostly just curious to see like where the series like like what they do with this. I agree. And then Jordan, what do you think will happen next? I think that there will be a trans character and I don't think it's going to be a big deal. Trans rights. Trans rights. You know, if any series is going to do it, it's going to be this one. I think that the teacher also sexually harasses men.
[00:09:01] You think the teacher is bisexual? Yeah. Maybe that's my guess. My guess is that the teacher is bisexual and the series will never actually address whether or not that girl is or is not sexually attracted to her cat. All right. My guesses are I think there will not be any actual nudity. You will never see like you'll never actually see a penis in the series. Can I just say really quick? I really love how they basically censored the vagina and anus in this chapter with the two parentheses and the line in between it.
[00:09:30] And then there's an asterisk for the butthole. I thought that was funny. That is pretty funny. I was like, all right. Yeah, I think in an attempt to make a plot, there's going to be some weird sex rumor going around the school that she's going to have to like myth bust. And that'll be very educational. It'll be like, whoa, I saw a hentai where a guy stuck his hand into a girl's ass and jacked himself up. Can you get pregnant off of VR porn? Can you get pregnant off of VR porn? My boyfriend kissed me. Do I need to get an abortion?
[00:09:57] Just like so many things with people reading hentai and being like, is this possible? Can I do this teacher? God. And then my final guess is the series slowly starts to play it safe with how direct is in the content because it finds that it's having issues being published and it's you have to tone it down and it kind of defeats the purpose. And maybe that's why it got canceled because it wasn't educational anymore because it had to censor itself too much or just ran out of topics that cost. Yeah, maybe it covered everything related to sexuality. We'll see. And then Jordan, what's your power word?
[00:10:24] Safety, because this series is about safety. I like it. And mine is positive because this series is very sex positive. And I felt like I gave the first chapter a positive reception. Anyway, let's get in the Q&A. I want to say a big thank you to people who submit their questions on the discord. We always give priority to those who haven't asked the question before, had a question answered in a long time or our patrons starting with Kermit the Grog. If you had to make a producer style musical out of a flop manga from jump, what would you pick and why? Gut reaction. Super smartphone. Super smartphone. I feel candy flurry. I don't know why, but I just feel like that'd be fun.
[00:10:54] And then you can throw candy at the audience. The idea is you make a shitty musical. Fuck, you're right. That was actually a good idea. Yeah. No, super smartphone would be like the most boring shit. It's just, yeah, I'm Googling things on my super Google on my phone. Yeah. Hold on. Let me just sit here. Hold on. Let me Google things. Well, Cypher Academy, because no one would know what the fuck is going on the entire time. Yeah, I suppose. But even that would, I don't know, like. Or Family Secrets, where you just feel like your entire time was immensely wasted in the
[00:11:24] second and third act. I just feel like those have like too much drama to them. Like there's a surrealist quality to Family Deadly Secrets. But like, because it's true, you need something that's bad, but not so bad. It's good. What about Chameleon Jail? That could be all right. I just again, it's just like Super Smartphone is so mundane and so uninteresting. Like there's a mundanity to it. What about Wizard Soul, where you just watch people play card? Oh, OK. Yeah. And you don't actually see the cards they're playing. Yeah.
[00:11:54] You just see them react to them and you don't understand how the game works. And it's just like. And they don't explain the game mechanics. They don't explain the game. That would be pretty good. Yeah. All right. OK, let's get on to the next one. From Red Blade, you talk a lot about waifus, but what manga character would you call your husbando? And I think Jordan, it's got to be Orpheus, right? I was going to say Orpheus. It's got to be Orpheus. Orpheus is definitely the character I would most want as my actual husband. It's Orpheus. He's a good guy, a good dad. And man, he, you know, that big dolphin man.
[00:12:24] OK, from Spubby. If you don't know if this has ever been asked, so I might as well ask anyway. What would you rather fight? A hundred duck-sized horses or one horse-sized duck? One horse-sized duck. I think I'd rather fight a hundred ducks because it's like, it's kind of like a... Well, a hundred duck-sized horses, David. Because like, horses are actually fairly fragile creatures. So you really just like, one good kick because it's not like, they have like a center of gravity. I think you could just really just plow through them. It'd be like a muso game, you know? Where you just like barrage, but like a giant duck. And I assume we're not taking into things like the square cube law where probably the
[00:12:53] physics of how a duck's body would break down at that scale. But like, for instance, like, people have had their arms broken by like swans hitting them full force with their wings. That is actually an old wives' tale based on long debunked British tabloids and hearsay. While swans are strong enough to do some massive bruising, they are not strong enough to actually break your bones without breaking their own wings. According to John Huston of the Abbotsbury Swanery in Dorset, England, they might get aggressive and hiss and flap their wings, but the danger is overrated.
[00:13:22] And it is a myth that they can break your arm or leg with their wings. They're not that strong. It's mostly show and bluster. However, it is true that swans are incredibly aggressive. And if you are caught on the water with a swan, they will drown you. Stay the fuck away from swans. But going by like, would I be able to crawl up the duck's anus and then make it explode that way? You know what, Jordan? You're so right. I didn't think about the ability to reach into the animal's anal cavity. Thank you. I don't know what to do with that information.
[00:13:52] You gotta think about this stuff. That's how you beat Thanos. You know what? I'm not going to. Cool. That's why I win this anyway. Okay. That's why I'm beating the horse-sized duck. Yeah. Next up, these three questions are from Marty. What's the difference between two space-femed series, the Shonen but canceled series Stars and the sending manga Space Brothers? One is set in space and one is about brothers. Yeah. One has an and in the title. True. What is your reaction to High School Family getting canceled and are you disappointed by it? Especially that it didn't get an anime adaption. Yes. I'm sad and yes.
[00:14:22] If Actosh was never canceled, if the co-author of the series never committed a scandal and the offer continued drawing the series, how many story arcs, volumes, and years will the series run and will there be an anime adaption to be released alongside the stage play that never happened? At least seven. And probably yes. Okay. And that's all the time we have for today. Thank you everyone for submitting their questions. Just around you can support the show and get the best prices on manga at mangamart.com slash Shonenflop. Manga Mart's a family owned store offering 20% off manga with free shipping over $100. Jordan, thank you so much for all your hard work on the show. Thank you for everything that you do on the show, David.
[00:14:52] Thanks to Dylan for assistance with editing. You can find his podcast Anime Out of Context at animeoutofcontext.com. We're actually going to go record an episode with them right after this. Yeah. Thanks to Tucker and Maxi B for assistance with pronunciation, translation, and other miscellaneous research. Thanks Kalal for being our social media manager. Find us on bluesky slash exit Shonenflop, Tumblr Shonen-flop, and our website Shonenflop.com. We're on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, wherever else you get your podcast. If you want more weekly David and Jordan, you can find us every Friday on the Chainsaw Minute where we talk about the latest chapter of Chainsaw Man.
[00:15:20] Find it at csm.lipson.com or wherever else you listen to Shonenflop. Come join the Shonenflop Discord. Open to everyone, Patreon or not. Hang out with us and talk about anime games, whatever else is on your mind. Even have a manga book club and movie nights. Find a link to it in the show notes or on our site, Shonenflop.com. And if you've been enjoying the podcast and want to help us keep going, subscribe to our Patreon at patreon.com slash Shonenflop. Along with that warm and fuzzy feeling of helping us out, you also get access to monthly bonus episodes, including the Shonen Drop, where Jordan and I look back at the previous month's episode and open the mystery box. Jordan, what was our bonus episode this month and what did we talk about in the mystery box? David!
[00:15:50] We covered the first three volumes of Undead Unlock. Hell yeah. The series translator, David Avalon. That was a lot of fun. Yeah. Batman has a lot of wisdom about that series. He has hugged the author. It's true. And Jordan, what was in the mystery box? Well, David, we're covering the pilot for Fabricant 100. I'm sure it will be fabulous and 100. She literally looks like Lady D. And if that's not enough, other perks include picking a manga for us to cover in a main episode, episodes up to a week in advance, and behind the scenes content like warm up audio or recording notes.
[00:16:20] I want to read off some of our wonderful patrons. Starting with the Dolphin Ed tier, we have my wonderful five, Rachel. I hope she's having a great time at the beach. Moving on down to the Ravuli tier, where I had a game night and Ravuli had so much fun saying hi to all her best friends. She took a big nap afterward. We have Chris, Eva, Jeanette Davis, Justin, Matt, Scarlet, T, Tiffany, and Trevor. Moving on down to the King of the Forest. We have 090Z, Bandit Stoof, my girlfriend, Brad, follow AOC on Blue Sky, Ivan, Kirbymon, Marty, Riley, Sarah, and Tommy Boy. Moving on down to the Galactic Ball Federation officers. We have a deep, sexy voice. It says, relax.
[00:16:50] Mid-sized to Dan. Ages. Andy. Aura. Biza. Blahmumu. Brandon M. Cole. David. Dennis. Dingo. Don't Dox Me. Drago. Drew. Nigel. Fax. Flash Cardman. Funky Green Overdrive. Ian. Jacob. Jason. Kalal. Keanu. King Solamander. Kino. Lay. Liam. Matty C. Manly P. Hall. My dad. Matt. Max. Mecca Scott. Mike. Obscure reference. Anyone for this one, Jordan? Man. Wild what happens after the first section of Dragon Quest V, man. That's some brutal shit. Sure. Rem. If I send you an R-Penguin plushie. Resident War Hermonerd. Savia. Sybil. Silly Rookie. Simping for our Senpai Ash. Staghorn.
[00:17:20] Taper Clip. Tucker. Vera T. Yeltsinian. A-N-ZZ Digital. I beg thank you to our beast children as well. Yes, thank you. I love you all very much, including whoever that was that David could not pronounce their name. Yulissian? Is that who that is? Sure. Jordan, anything you want to toss in? Those who know about that part of Dragon Quest V, they know. But also, listen to Miss Ignition. All right, thanks so much for listening. Tune in next Monday as we give our full thoughts on sex at 120%, featuring the official series letter, Sarah. Yes! And this has been Jordan. This has been David.
[00:17:49] And you've been listening to Shun and Flop. David Say it. Keep on flopping, floppers. Bye.