As someone who’s passionate about people being properly represented in fiction, I’m going to speak my mind and almost blow a fuse by the state of some web comics today. Specifically Twitter comics. It’s incredibly frustrating to see creators who were once making cute, wholesome comics suddenly turn to creating stories that feature people as mere tropes, and characters with unrealistic bodies and personalities. This isn’t me complaining about Ecchi or Hentai, don’t worry. This is about when people market poorly and claim that their obvious NSFW project is wholesome.
Welcome back to our new article series here on All Ages of Geek called, Beyond the Trope: Dismantling Harmful Stereotypes in Fiction. This is Emily who usually reviews LGBTQ+ Media and All Ages of Geek’s “I Married a Monster on a Hill” series and now I have my own series here on All Ages of Geek. On Beyond the Trope: Dismantling Harmful Stereotypes in Fiction, I will be giving an unfiltered take on stereotypes and speaking my mind on fictional tropes done right or ones that just need to simply stop for good. For the good of common sense.
Stop hiding and being coy, you’re writing NSFW
Ecchi, Hentai, Yuri, all of those are adult media who know their audience and rightfully create for their audience. Those are series marketed for adults and have a very supportive fanbase for their age groups. Some get crazy weird but to be honest it’s marketed correctly staying far away from the word “wholesome”. A lot of these series do have wholesome moments, but they are marketed for adults. What I’m talking about today is the web comics that don’t have that marketing and claim to be innocent projects when they are clearly tapping into the Ecchi market, touted as “wholesome” and “life-changing,” when they’re anything but.
At All Ages of Geek, we’ve supported several web comics, only to see some take a turn for the worse. It’s disappointing to see creators who once produced PG-rated content that was accessible to all ages now turning their works into kinky fantasies that are hardly appropriate for the average reader. I won’t call anyone out but it’s clearly a money grab for people knowing the Ecchi market works. It’s a market, let’s be honest and it grows fast.
Fan artists who do NSFW accounts have been known to make more money on commissions. NSFW accounts sometimes grow overnight. It’s a huge market, but not every artist should jump ship just because of the monetary gain. That’s cheating out the Ecchi market and also is a cheap move for your work. If you’re an NSFW artist to begin with, go you, it’s your market. You know what you like and what your audience likes. But if you only do NSFW and claim that you don’t, hiding it behind your “wholesome-only” plot, that’s just a gross move. Market yourself correctly and don’t cheat out NSFW creators.
Let me give you an example from what I’ve seen from many, many comics. Basing your comic on a Twitter creator who does NSFW photography or cosplay and then claiming your comic is wholesome or empowering hurts that user. You’re marketing outside of their market and putting them into your comic for clout. Basing a likeness on a creator just for their clout is also wrong. Yes, ask for permission, but it’s also a cheap move with so many comic creators. It’s weird and just uncomfortable to read when you say you’re writing a SFW story while featuring NSFW creators. It hurts their market. Just stop! Shows and movies make cameos for other creators or characters, which is fine. And it’s fine for comics too. But not when you’re an obvious clout-chaser. That’s when it’s wrong.
Changing your comic to be more Ecchi when you market it as all ages or wholesome is not smart for your brand and not smart for your comic overall. Honesty is the best policy and if you clearly state that you make this content you’re doing it correctly. But what’s even more frustrating is how these creators often act innocent, even after doing things like presenting women and even men (specifically in Yaoi) as one-dimensional characters while acting innocent or as a term states “owo” online. Choose a market for yourself and stop acting coy or claiming the word “adorkable” when you clearly know what you’re doing.
It’s important to acknowledge that Ecchi, Hentai, and other forms of media are acceptable, but when something is labeled as a “wholesome” story, there’s an expectation that the characters will be genuine and believable for that market. Heck, some Ecchi has more believable characters like Highschool DxD than some of these web-comics do. Want to know why? Because as crazy as the plot gets, they market correctly. They aren’t afraid to just plainly state they make Ecchi content.
Unfortunately, too many people write stories that purport to represent realistic people well, when they actually perpetuate stereotypes and fail to provide nuanced or realistic characters. It’s not enough to just claim that a story features a strong female character, a gay man or a bi character, heck even an alpha male bodybuilder- the character must actually be well-written and multi-dimensional and not just about something like “the jiggle physics”. Leave that to its market.
Make that an Ecchi, write the next Highschool of the Dead but stop claiming you’re writing a Shounen or a Shojo, when you’re writing Ecchi. Shounen has Ecchi in it at times like Dragon Ball or even Naruto, but they don’t do it like these “owo” web comics do. Ecchi is not always NSFW and SFW is not always SFW, but it’s still marketed correctly. If you mention things like Ecchi does “boobs being a pillow” you’re writing Ecchi. Just come out and say it! Stop marketing as wholesome or all ages! You’re not!
This is an issue that should concern everyone who wants to see people portrayed accurately and with respect. That and it’s a big time market issue for NSFW creators who get replaced by these “owo” sounding comics who use NSFW tactics to market themselves. Keep to your own lane please. It’s not just that these stories are poorly written or unoriginal – they’re also actively harmful to specifically women and gay men who read them. By creating female characters or gay characters who are nothing more than sexualized tropes in poorly marketed media, these creators contribute to a culture in which people are objectified and mistreated.
What’s really gross is how innocent these people act when it’s like reading a personal diary online with their fantasies to show off to the world. Just please be honest and tell the world you like drawing or writing Ecchi. What is wrong with that? Nothing is wrong with wanting to write adult media. I’ve watched tons of Ecchi, Yuri, Yaoi and have dabbled in Hentai (and would love to do reviews on them), but when things act all innocent just knowing the person’s intent it’s disgusting. Do the simple 18+ emoji in your Twitter bio. It’s not that hard.
I support 18+ artists and creators and the media space, but this type of content claiming to be a life-changing, wholesome story is just gross and laughable. Like guys, if you’re writing a wholesome story but suddenly change your script and art to appeal to an NSFW media, claiming the market for yourself, you’re hurting the NSFW market.
It’s time for web comic creators to take responsibility for the content they create. It’s become cringe to act “owo” instead of just saying you want to create NSFW content. Please just be honest, most people can see what’s going on. Make the content about characters saying “boob pillows”. Make the content about weird Ecchi. But please, in the name of all that is remaining holy to the online space, market yourself correctly.
