She’s clean. We get it already.

In Japan, there are few children’s franchises as beloved as Doraemon, the story of a robot cat from the future who was sent to help an awkward boy survive his own life. Having started as a manga in 1969, it still appeals to kids today.

However, there’s one recurring joke that a growing number of Doraemon fans would rather do without. It’s hardly unique to this series either, but from time to time the protagonist Nobita would accidentally stumble into a room where his love-interest Shizuka is taking a bath.

▼ A parody news report on the world record “1,000th time Nobita was arrested for walking in on Shizuka in the bath”

Nobita would usually then be overcome by embarrassment and receive some sort of comedic comeuppance like a face full of hot water, and that would be the end of it…until it happened again. In addition to that tired gag, there seemed to be an oddly common occurrence of scenes where Shizuka was taking a bath with no real relevance to the plot at all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iucJ6aofHM4

It’s all been enough to activate a growing number of parents, who were raised on Doraemon themselves, to start a petition on Change.org to demand that the producers of the show knock off all the bath stuff.

The petition was posted on 3 December by a person using the name Midorino Mushima and opens with:

The petition goes on to repeat that they have no intention of altering existing Doraemon works. Instead, they would like those to carry disclaimers like Gone With the Wind was given earlier this year, warning viewers of its objectionable content.

As of this writing, the petition has gotten about 900 of its needed 5,000 signatures and many comments of support.

“I cringe at the bath scenes and don’t like showing them to my daughters.”
“I absolutely love Doraemon, but I support this.”
“I personally love Doraemon and I agree with this petition because I want to show it to my four-year-old with a clear conscience.”
“I agree. It doesn’t acknowledge peeping as a crime because Shizuka’s character is never shown as being deeply affected by it.”
“The scene isn’t essential to Doraemon at all. If it’s not essential, it’s better to do away with it.”
“That always bothered me. I’m surprised they’re still doing it.”

It’s a strong opposition, but on the other hand there does seem to be a fixation about Shizuka’s bathing online. This can be evidenced by a simple Google or YouTube search which reveals that Rule 34 of the Internet is way, way in effect when it comes to Doraemon.

▼ You’ll just have to take our word for it

This can perhaps also be seen by comments in parts of the Internet other than the petition page, where people weren’t nearly as supportive of it and in some cases seem violently attached to the joke.

“Shut up and die!”
“Maybe they should cut all the violence from suspense dramas too then.”
“Why doesn’t she lock the door then?”
“It’s an uptight world.”
“Do these feminists think that everything sexual is perverted?”
“I think Gian’s violence is a bigger problem.”
“This is why TV is becoming more and more boring.”
“Boys are going to want to look in girls’ baths even without those scenes. That’s just the way boys are.”
“Do they want to cut the bathing scene from My Neighbor Totoro too?”

The petition had made it clear that this is only with regards to Doraemon, and that they don’t even want to cut anything from it. They simply want the shows and films to stop doing it from here on out, leaving their 41-year legacy of peeping gags wholly intact.

That doesn’t seem like such a huge thing to ask, but it will ultimately be up to the producers to decide and face the consequences of either continuing or ending Shizuka’s baths once and for all.

Source: Change.org/I would like to cut Doraemon’s bath scenes, Itai News
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