According to MSNBC’s recent article on anime and otaku culture, not only is anime NOT KIDS’ STUFF, but apparently lolicon is short for “lolita + comics.” Oh, and Gurren-Lagann and Urotsukidoji can be mentioned in the same breath with ease.

The writer makes some valid points, such as the division between 2d and 3d among a portion of the otaky population, but It does no one any favors when a mainstream news service such as MSNBC posts an article full of logical leaps so astounding they’d have taken the gold at Beijing. Students of all ages eager to write their school essays on anime, or even relatively inexperienced academics trying to examine fandom from a broader scale might actually take this article seriously. And if anime-related academia on any scale is ever going to improve, we need to not have yet another “BAM! POW! COMICS AREN’T JUST FOR KIDS ANYMORE”-type article, no matter how dressed up it is with hipper, modern references like Gurren-Lagann or Akihabara.