Is anyone else vaguely disturbed by Minnie May?

[Dryden-san]

No, I'm not talking about her bomb fetish. Her character concept: does anyone else find it a little... unnerving? Maybe that's the best word for it. It's not her amateur stint in the brothels I'm talking about-life treats you like sh*t sometimes, and the only way out can be damned unpleasant; it's not that. It isn't that she's an 18-year-old infatuated with a man 17 years older than her. Age differences are nothing new when it comes to anime romance, even if this is a little bit more extreme than usual. Okay, so they've been knocking boots since before she was old enough to drive: I'll chalk that one up to cultural differences. The age of consent in Japan is pretty low, even if the comic is supposed to be set in Chicago, where we would call it "statutory rape."

It is, rather, a combination of all these factors. Look, we have a young woman (who also looks far younger than she actually is) who is totally devoted to a near middle-aged man twice her age. Not only is she willing to sleep with him, she apparently has been since she was even younger. She is also, coincidentally, I'm sure, extremely skilled at satisfying her sexual partners and she has an overactive sex-drive to boot. Oh, and she's been taking drugs to preserve her adolescent good looks for her man. The point I'm trying to make is that her entire concept seems to revolve around being the ultimate Lolita-complex wish fufillment girl. Am I only one who's noticed this? I doubt it. But is anyone else just the tiniest bit unnerved by the idea?

[Butters]

In the case you put forward: then yes. I think I might take a breather from this forum until all this *talk* dies down :sweatdrop The discussion would inevitably turn here, seeing as they only made 3 OAVs :bawling:

[Black_Knight]

Well, so what? So they used a child's preporstions for Minnie… I don't see a problem with that… Than again she also made me want to hollow out my shoe so I could put a plastic explosive kit in there… :D

[Dryden-san]

Her "younger-than-she-looks" appearance and gunpowder fetish are the least of my concerns. More disturbing is her use of youth-retardant drugs to preserve her looks for Ken, to give an example. Popping pills is far from the strangest thing people do to look younger than they really are, but the thing is, she's preserving the appearance of a fourteen-year-old. Although, maybe that says more about Ken than it does about her. Building bombs for the Mob isn't the only morally questionable thing he's done.

Well, maybe I am the only one who gives a damn about this. It's just, it occurs to me that in the final analysis, Gunsmith Cats isn't all that different from Oh My Goddess.

[LunarWhirlwin]

Actually I belive initially she was taking them to look older so that Ken wouldnt feel so awkward around her but it reversed and stunted her growth... at least that's how Granny Hao makes it sound in the 'Bad Trip' arc of the manga.

In the us manga translation they aged her a year or so as a matter of fact...
I actually wrote dark horse in regards to this, the answer was american morality.

During goldie vs. Misty, Misty seems suprised that may just turned 18, but she didnt actually.
Misty was suprised that may was 17, and a year older than she was.
Misty is 16 :P

Ken and may, do go back to before she met rally...
she was about 12/13 or so... yup. However, Ken adressed that she was too young... but it didn't end up mattering.
Quite a twisted romance if I may say; but no more cutely disturbing than
the Japanese Zombie Flick Wild Zero.

[Harbinger]

after reading this thread i dont think i totally understood the series i watched 2 years ago.

and i dont think i figured out this about May, but now?....EEEEWWW! thats not right. :nono: love is one thing but this is nuts.:(

[Dryden-san]

The only time Gunsmith Cats has been animated was for a three-episode OAV, which didn't touch on any of this, which all comes from the manga. Although a good OAV in its own right, the GSC anime is fairly different in tone from the comic.

[Harbinger]

well that explains that then. I'll remember to try to advoid thinking about that topic if I am ever reading the Manga then:D

[Final_Eschelon]

Short answer: yes. The whole 'lolita' thing is something that I personally will never fully understand. Oh well; one can't know everything about the world. I gotta admit it, though: she manages to make frag grenades, of all things, seem almost 'cute' in a demented bomb-psycho kind of way. :D

Peace!

[Wolfpac]

Originally posted by Dryden-san
Although, maybe that says more about Ken than it does about her. Now I agree one this one.. Yes May can be seen as the young, egar, youthful Bomb maker but Ken caused this. You see May had a crush on Ken. That's all I would call it. When Ken first met May he though that she was a young guy. He taugh her all that she knows. But because Ken treated her like a normal person not a young teenage girl she got a crush on him. Now when May finally told Ken that she was in fact female Ken should of sat her down and told her that she was too young. But what did he do. Fu*k Her. Now because of this May's Crush turned into love. And because Ken fell in-love with her when she was young and easy going, she wants to stay that way, even if it ment doing drugs. And you know what they say, "You never stop loving your first love". So while May is May I really think that Ken caused May to be May, because without him in her life, chances are she would of had the chance to grow up.

[Butters]

Originally posted by Wolfpac
Now when May finally told Ken that she was in fact female Ken should of sat her down and told her that she was too young. But what did he do. Fu*k Her.

Yeesh. Couldn't be more blunt than that :eek:

Good to see that you're still alive. :)

[Linna32]

well i dont have a problem with sonoda's twisted imagination, the more twisted it is the better :D

[AchtungAffen]

Better Ken than the 2 guys before, the old man in the office and the long haired guy.
About the drugs, I didn't knew that. Why would she want that if she's only 17 (that's what the manga says, not 18). That's adolescent enough for me.

[Project Akira]

Originally posted by Dryden-san
The point I'm trying to make is that her entire concept seems to revolve around being the ultimate Lolita-complex wish fufillment girl. Am I only one who's noticed this? I doubt it. But is anyone else just the tiniest bit unnerved by the idea? We're talking Kenichi Sonoda here not Alan Moore. The guy is known for being a freaking pervert and fan service caterer. I doubt that the rather disturbing idea here was not at the forefront of this character when he made her. I also think that there is some "reverse Oedipus" (theres a term that I forgot) complex issues here that have not been addressed.

[death]

it you cant hack it. Just ignore it.

And i think he did it cause that because he wanted the charactor to be lik that.

In thoerwords you right. Hes a pervert.

[AchtungAffen]

would it be the Electra Complex?

[Project Akira]

Yeah that's it, I wasn't sure that was the exact term.

[Excession]

I have only recently seen the OAV, and enjoyed it very much. It was cheesy, but it knew that and reveled in the fact.

Now I read this thread, only to see that I have obviously missed some of the most interesting stories the characters become involved in.

My interest is now piqued, moving in for the kill.

[AchtungAffen]

I saw the anime first, and when posed my eyes on the manga, I just couldn't believe the things I saw.

[death]

why not?

To strange or did yourn eyes just shrivel up and burn?

[AchtungAffen]

Well, after I saw the anime, I thought that Minnie was just another cute and normal girl, whose only big difference between others like her was the explosives hability. But when I got the manga (the 8 novels at once) and started reading, after the first few pages I saw the first Minnie-fanservice (and it wasn't no nude girl, if u know what I mean). I was shocked. A few pages later I saw a second. Then she seems to calm down, but not for long, and I ended up accepting it. (note: and the staff notes Rally WOOHOO!!!)

[Wolfpac]

Yes Minne-May is a totally Orignal character, isn't she. Well I suppose you'll get that when you consider her upbringing. She was treated so much like a Guy when she was young, not wonder she turned out like one.

[Black_Knight]

Originally posted by Wolfpac
Yes Minne-May is a totally Orignal character, isn't she. Well I suppose you'll get that when you consider her upbringing. She was treated so much like a Guy when she was young, not wonder she turned out like one.


Well, she did try to pass off as a girl while she was younger in the Manga series... It was a rather tragic, yet amusing part of that story arc...

But yes, she was a prostit... Ahem... A Commerical Sex Worker when she was younger, now a person who loves explosives, God knows how many variations she's got, HE, Smoke, flash, Shrapnal, and she is one to be able to disarm as well! Nice...

[death]

What can you say but that she had a good teacher....

[Wolfpac]

Yeah got the better deal???
May or Ken???
May slept with Ken to learn about Explosives.
While Ken taught May about explosives to get her to sleep with him.

[death]

I think it was fairly mutual.

[Black_Knight]

Originally posted by death
I think it was fairly mutual.


I agree…

[DarkSilvan15]

I knew there was something wrong with May just a bit besides the bomb fetish. Now i understand and a little unnerved by it. :eek:

[Bekkichan]

I saw the anime first, then months later picked up the last manga series (Mister V), but in between I had enough interest to find online bios of May... yeah, slightly disturbing, she is. o_o; But an interesting past makes an interesting character, ne? :heh:

I knew she was a "commercial sex worker" :p in Chinatown until she hit 14 or so, but never knew she was in it with Ken for the explosives... I thought she just liked him. Eh. *shrug* And didn't she start taking the pills so she wouldn't age in appearance, so Ken would recognize her when they met again somewhere down the road, not to make her look older? That's what I'd read somewhere... :sweatdrop

I like May, messed up as she may be. And her theme song (?) is so cute it's frightening. *_*

[AchtungAffen]

"Do it Minnie May" it is

[Spike 558]

Minne Mae disturbing?
YES!

[DarkSilvan15]

Wait what she does drugs?! :confused:

[death]

Not that i remember...

[AchtungAffen]

About high time for manga reading it is, methinks

[jennwenn]

To revive an old thread, YES! I find it very disturbing. Er, do Japanese readers find it disturbing too? (I assume we're talking males here...) Cause otherwise, I'd get worried...

A lot of Sonoda's characters are...well disturbed. I can't believe they made May older in the English manga, as if she wasn't young enough!

I guess you could say, its love. At least it was consensual and Ken and May are both happy with it. May had a rough time in life, and the story of how they met is kinda cute...but I still think Ken's a pedophilic freak, even if he objected at first. Sure, he looks young and May is older than she looks, but its still wrong.

I think their relationship is up there on my list of weird anime relationships. (Number 1 is still Setsuna and his sister from Angel Sanctuary...)

Anyway, I still like the car chases, guns, and the action scenes, so I get over it.

On the topic of corrupted youth, before I read the manga, I actually recommended it to my 9-year old brother!!!!:heh: I saw cool cars so I thought of him, but boy was I wrong. Thank god my parents didn't see it. They'd think I was getting him porn or something...Well I've since confiscated them. (Actually, I just took them because I wanted them all to myself. I used censorship as an excuse heehee :D )

[princessnine]

Hey guys I don't have any problems with the age of May and Ken.

When it's ok for her it's ok for me to read it.

The only bad thing is that Sonoda doesn't show more of their "relationship":D

[AchtungAffen]

though he shows a lot about other May's 'relationships'