Inspired by the recollection that Ninja Scroll made us doubt the mental health of a whole nation, it’s time to take a hard look at anime that’s just danged creepy. I’m sure there are those of you who actually like hentai (I won’t judge you), but I suspect that most of us, if we don’t actively avoid the creepy stuff, are embarrassed enough that we don’t lend Schoolgirl Confinement Vol. III to friends we’re trying to evangelize, but rather hide it under our Collected Works of Plato when they come over.

Specifically, since I avoid the hardcore stuff myself, I want to look at a few series that are both mainstream and pretty good, but that are also rather creepy if you stop to think about them.

Negima (Ken Akamatsu)

What is Ken Akamatsu’s deal? I’m not referring so much to his outrageous penchant for fanservice as to how irresistible his work is nonetheless, and ultimately, how innocent it seems. Negima upped the ante from Love Hina given its cast of fourteen-year-old girls, but given its prepubescent hero, it never rises above the level of playful sensuality.

Ichigo Mashimaro [Strawberry Marshmallow] (Barasui-)

Although the manga has been translated, this series isn’t nearly as big over here as Negima. This is possibly because it is the Loli-est thing you ever saw. If you thought fanservice from fourteen-year-olds was bad, you’ll never see more of a ten-year-old’s underwear than between the pages of a volume of Ichigo Mashimaro, unless you are perhaps the parent of an actual ten-year-old. What makes it excusable? Well…nothing, really; except that the intention is obviously comic rather than erotic. The anime version (which I don’t think has been translated) removed much of the creepiness and sadism; in others words, everything that makes it great.

He Is My Master (Mattsu/Tsubaki)

The less said about this one, the better. How does it get away with being so creepy? Because it was drawn by a girl, making it clear as nothing else could that the intent is comic.

Finally, my favorite example of this syndrome is a series that isn’t the least bit creepy: Azumanga Daioh. My theory, which I will one day make my doctoral thesis, is that the pervert Mr. Kimura eases the reader’s anxiety by displacing their own perverted urges.