Do you think the K-ON movie should have been a 12?

Joshawott

Joshawott

Monsieur Monster
AUKN Staff
With the recent release of the K-ON movie, I sat down to watch it with my 9 year old brother and was absolutely quite gobsmacked that the BBFC rated the movie as a 12 certificate - putting it at the same level as Strike Witches. Considering how light and inoffensive K-ON is, I was surprised and upon looking up the rating on the BBFC website, I saw that the reasoning was for "moderate innuendo" and I actually emailed the BBFC about this. Today, I received this response:

Dear Josh,

Thank you for your email concerning our classification of K-ON! Movie. I am sorry to hear you disagree with the 12 classification we awarded. I have discussed the matter with the examiners who viewed the film.

Whilst the characters in the film are aged around 16/17, and the references are relatively infrequent, we felt that some scenes within the film, such as those you describe of schoolgirls discussing their panties and the implied attraction of one character to another, could be interpreted as containing sexual references. We felt that those references were most appropriate at 12, as our Guidelines at 12 state "Sex may be briefly and discreetly portrayed at 12 or 12A. Verbal sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers."

The Season 1 episode which you refer to - in which the character Mio trips on stage - does not show the underwear when Mio trips, and we felt that the emphasis was more on the character's embarrassment then presenting her as sexual in anyway.

As K-ON! Movie has now been fully classified I am afraid we cannot now amend the decision.

I hope that is helpful.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Evans
Senior Information Officer
BBFC
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While I still disagree with the decision, I have to say I was quite impressed with the reply. Only part the BBFC got wrong was that the ages are 17/18 as Azusa said she was 17, so the others must have been 18.

But yeah, do you think the instances cited, with jokes about Mio's panties and Azusa thinking Yui was in love with her, were enough to give it a 12?
 
Joshawott said:
With the recent release of the K-ON movie, I sat down to watch it with my 9 year old brother and was absolutely quite gobsmacked that the BBFC rated the movie as a 12 certificate - putting it at the same level as Strike Witches. Considering how light and inoffensive K-ON is, I was surprised and upon looking up the rating on the BBFC website, I saw that the reasoning was for "moderate innuendo" and I actually emailed the BBFC about this. Today, I received this response:

Dear Josh,

Thank you for your email concerning our classification of K-ON! Movie. I am sorry to hear you disagree with the 12 classification we awarded. I have discussed the matter with the examiners who viewed the film.

Whilst the characters in the film are aged around 16/17, and the references are relatively infrequent, we felt that some scenes within the film, such as those you describe of schoolgirls discussing their panties and the implied attraction of one character to another, could be interpreted as containing sexual references. We felt that those references were most appropriate at 12, as our Guidelines at 12 state "Sex may be briefly and discreetly portrayed at 12 or 12A. Verbal sex references should not go beyond what is suitable for young teenagers."

The Season 1 episode which you refer to - in which the character Mio trips on stage - does not show the underwear when Mio trips, and we felt that the emphasis was more on the character's embarrassment then presenting her as sexual in anyway.

As K-ON! Movie has now been fully classified I am afraid we cannot now amend the decision.

I hope that is helpful.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Evans
Senior Information Officer
BBFC
Click to expand...

While I still disagree with the decision, I have to say I was quite impressed with the reply. Only part the BBFC got wrong was that the ages are 17/18 as Azusa said she was 17, so the others must have been 18.

But yeah, do you think the instances cited, with jokes about Mio's panties and Azusa thinking Yui was in love with her, were enough to give it a 12?
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I'm somewhat impressed they are able to respond referencing specific parts, even if it was in response to your e-mail. Clearly they make some detailed notes about what caused a specific rating
 
I don't really have an opinion as K-ON is a show that doesn't appeal to me, but the BBFC's reasoning seems pretty solid on this one. As Rosencrantz says, it's impressive how much detail they went into on their response.
 
Feels so weird to have it with the same certificate rating as Strike Witches season 1 (how was that a 12?!). I can understand season 2 of K-ON! being a 12 due to some of the language used in the dub (I think it was Ritsu calling Yui a "spaz"?) but the movie really felt like it could have even been a U, with the scenes the BBFC mentioned pushing it into a PG. I personally felt that the only scene that was remotely sexual in nature was the one with Yui and Azusa in the hotel room, where Azusa was starting to think that Yui had feelings for her, but that was, what, only about a minute long? And even then, it was no different to the other scenes where Yui jumps for Azusa is anything but Azusa's reaction.

I dunno, the 12 certificate has always been an iffy one with me.
 
The existence of the 12 certificate has always been a bit odd, It seems like PG and 12 should largely be the same. I've even heard a few parents argue that PG should mean anyone under 16 shouldn't be able to buy it despite the fact that the 12 rating is technically higher.

In the long run I doubt a 12 rating will affect the movie in the slightest
 
Joshawott said:
I dunno, the 12 certificate has always been an iffy one with me.
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The 12 certificate strikes me as your equivalent of the MPAA's PG-13 or, in South Africa, the FPB's 13 rating. It's sort of like the most commercially viable of the ratings: tame enough for the tweens but racy enough for the adults. At least that's the theory.
 
Shiroi Hane said:
I remember when there was no 12, only PG and 15.
there was a need for a classification between PG and 15, due to an increasing number of films which were considered too graphic (either visually or verbally) for very young children, but which might well be suitable for young teenagers.
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http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/592516/
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Fun fact: You can thank Spiderman (one of the first films to gain a 12) for that matter.
 
I despise the 12A because it was introduced during the year I turned 12.

Lawrence said:
Rather than questioning why K-ON has been rated a 12, perhaps you aught to consider why Strike Witches has been rated a 12? Comparing them, is however, unfair since they are two very different beasts.
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How the hell was that a 12?
 
NormanicGrav said:
Shiroi Hane said:
I remember when there was no 12, only PG and 15.
there was a need for a classification between PG and 15, due to an increasing number of films which were considered too graphic (either visually or verbally) for very young children, but which might well be suitable for young teenagers.
Click to expand...
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/592516/
Click to expand...

Fun fact: You can thank Spiderman (one of the first films to gain a 12) for that matter.
Click to expand...
Batman actually ;) It wasn't quite a PG, and wasn't quite a 15, thus the 12 was born! Why it took 5 years to come to video as well as cinemas is beyond me...

As I was growing up, I really hoped that films would pass as 12 and then subsequently 15 so that I could watch them. Then as soon as I turned 18 it all changed, I wanted films to get a higher rating to keep noisy brats out of the cinema :p

As for K-ON, I haven't seen it but the BBFC's reasoning seems sound. They've always been open about their decisions and reasoning whenever I've contacted them. They've come a long way.
 
Ath said:
Fun fact: You can thank Spiderman (one of the first films to gain a 12) for that matter.
Click to expand...
Batman actually ;) It wasn't quite a PG, and wasn't quite a 15, thus the 12 was born![/quote]
It is actually mentioned on the page I linked before:

So in 1989, the BBFC experimentally awarded Madame Sousatzka (d. John Schlesinger, 1989) a 12 certificate in London, and Batman (US, d. Tim Burton, 1989) was the first general release title to feature the classification.
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Spider-man one of the first to get a 12A.
 
I remember Spiderman getting a 12A, my brother was 10/11 at the time and he shouted 'OMG! They let me in even though I'm not 12" as soon as we showed them our tickets.
 
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