Mexico It is quite a diverse country, not only in terms of gastronomy and culture, but also in terms of opinions. Over the years, society in Mexico saw their opinions controlled by the content they watched on television, to the point that they began to call it the “idiot box.”
And while streaming services and cable TV finally put a stop to the “control” that public television had over popular opinion, there was some damage that had already been done that would take many years to be “healed”. One of the main ones was an attack on the Anime industry in the late 1990s.
Television stations in Mexico, such as Canal 5 and Azteca 7, included Anime series among their broadcast schedules. constantly in that already distant time. However, little by little these contents were disappearing and were being replaced by western cartoons of Nickelodeon, cartoon Network and even Disney. Why did this happen? There is no concrete answer, especially since it was not an issue that aroused the curiosity of researchers, however, In popular culture, the blame is attributed to a report made by the program “Hablemos Claro” of Televisión Azteca, and presented by Lolita de la Vega. This report generated something that some know as the “Vegan Effect“.
The extensive video above was considered the “attack” on Anime by public television in Mexico. Lolita de la Vega, accompanied by a panel of experts, discredited the industry of Manga, Anime and comics in general, projecting them as dangerous hobbies and even of a satanic nature. This put an end to the boom that Anime was having on public television in Mexico around the year 2000.
Several broadcasts of Anime series were suspended when they began airing at that time, such as Ghost Sweeper Mikami: Gokuraku Daisakusen!! and slam dunkand there were even public burnings of articles related to Pokémon or the demonization of the mere name of Pikachu. Now do you understand why so many mothers said that “Pokémon was from the Devil”?
Returning to the video, Lolita de la Vega begins by showing a hentai magazine and pointing out that it is child pornography. Did you hardly think that this trend had started recently? No! It’s been mentioned for decades! Watching the video, one can easily laugh at all the barbarities that the presenter mentions, such as: «We have another here, which talks about Evangelion, humans against their creator. A very clear reference to satanic practices” either “I think the strategy that Satan is using in the cartoons is to sear and kill the conscience of children, so that they cannot distinguish between good and evil.».
As you can see, the “expert panel” was made up of people involved with the Catholic religion. And it is that in those times it was common to involve religion in public television content, something that fortunately has fallen into disuse today. In short, the panel is full of atrocities and a level of ignorance so great that it goes beyond ridiculous and surprising. Nowadays, such a report would become the joke of the entire Internet and no one would take it seriously, but the people of those times based their opinion on what they saw on television, and this report was surely the trigger for the decline of the Anime industry in Mexico and that lasted for several years.
Anyway, let’s leave this bitter swallow and read some comments:
- «Both Christian researcher and no one knew how to explain the end of Evangelion».
- «“Pikachu means mightier than God,” I burst out laughing.».
- «I can only thank my mom for ignoring this bunch of ignorant people and letting me play with Pokémon, and having a happy childhood even when the gossip lady down the street criticized you.».
- «In retrospect: This is when there is a clash of cultures and you are afraid of the exchange and that you prefer different products to the ones that were offered to you. Mexico until 15 years ago was even more “conservative.” When I was a child, they made me watch that program live, it came out at night. But really they are people who do not want society to open up to a world that at that time was filling everything instead of the novels and programs they made for children.».
- «They say that today’s generations complain about everything, if only they saw videos like these!».
- «Am I the only one wondering how those “devil magazines” mysteriously fell into their hands?».
- «The Anime is not bad it just depends on what Anime you are watching because that is hentai».
- «Because of this program my mom threw away my Pokemon and Digimon stamp albums. Those traumas are not forgotten».
- «When I was a child at school they forbade me to watch Anime because of the content, but I didn’t even care, they are series created by respectable Japanese cartoonists and seeing this the net makes me laugh at what that lady said. The day I am a mother I would let my children be what they want to be without being judged and I love Anime and I will not stop watching it».
- «How ironic that the woman is called Lolita».
- «At that time I was about 9 years old and I am grateful that my mother was not as closed-minded as most of the assholes of that time and she never restricted me from the series, since she and my father always told me that it was mere fiction. But at that time I had to see how other friends were prohibited from drinking mugs and watching Anime and even video games. fucking ignorant journalism».
- «It is good that in these times television is losing the relevance it had, they were discrediting themselves with the garbage they broadcast, ruining the minds of those who really swallowed that “information” with potatoes and spoiling the enjoyment of those who were interested and entertained the animes broadcast at that time. Luckily that damage is already happening and even animes provide better content and entertainment than what television provides.».
- «I remember very well. That night my mother was so stupid that she bought all of it. It was difficult to explain to him how hentai works and is achieved as well as the ratings these series had and how hentai also promoted fan stories or doujinshi. I remember that the discussion was strong, my mother wanted her to no longer watch Anime or gringo series like The Simpsons. Anyway, this old woman was only part of a plan to fuck up the Mexican dubbing».
- «The first criticism is passable, although if you buy hentai you won’t find content for children, but it shocks me that they say that it has “satanic” references and apart from that I don’t see any relationship with what that guy said about the children going to the darling. I think they could make a more constructive criticism and with more logical bases and not from God».
- «The funniest part is that if we look at today’s society, most of the otakus are fully functional people and we could say almost exemplary people, good school level, clear goals, desire to excel, etc.».
- «This woman belonged to right-wing groups. The right wing in Mexico arrived with Vicente Fox and the PAN in the year 2000. They had power, that is why there was no Anime or almost none in that decade in Mexico».
Fountain: Geek Jerry Querétaro on Facebook