Well since someone already worded it as I see it over at OB, I'll just borrow from them:

Sad really and in my opinion, being smart or not smart enough to know better probably doesn't really play into this. Yes most adolescents understand the concept that death is permanent, universal, and inevitable. However, a predominant theme in adolescence is feelings of immortality or being exempt from death.

I imagine it never crossed their minds that someone really could die. At least not for something like this. Yes it was stupid, but that's part and parcel of being a kid, you do stupid things. Only most of the time they don't end with someone dying as a result.

That sums up what I think as well. I feel bad for the parents. >_< To lose your kid to an accident like that is just sad.

@SomeGuy:

Yeah, I'm sure some of people who didn't even know the kid will use him as it was said here, as martyr just because they're anti-anime or just because they woke up and feel they should.

That's exactly what I said in my presentation today. Nobody has fault on this, specially the companies that produce shows with violence. Shows and anything that contains violence nowadays are labelled in big letters that says it contains that.
What I do believe is, I'm pretty sure this wasn't the first time this child did something like this. Usually they keep doing it, even if its small silly things. So I think the parents should have tried harder to teach him that he is not invincible and he could really get hurt by doing something similar as that because my parents did that to me and I got it so he would get it too.

Thats when I think being grounded actually works and should be done more often than it is now. But I'm not sure if he was like that so this is merely suppositions of mine.

"Death by misadventure" just seems wrong when you use it to describe kids. But that really was what happened. It's a horrible ending, but yeah, there's not a lot of blame you can really throw - if anything, the people involved are probably blaming themselves more than anything else right now.

Anyway, I heard the parents had no intention of bringing charges against Viz Media or anyone like that, so they seem to understand what's going on. Really, that concludes any concerns that angry fundies'll start doing dumb things regarding this.

I mean, they still could and we'll all have headaches, but they've less reason to now, we'll say.

@:

2Short, you do have a point. This was a series of unfortunate events that transpired, but there was still a great deal of stupidity involved. Most children are taught, or should be taught, that at the first sign of any kind of trouble, find an adult. Maybe they did, and they didnt recognize the danger immediately. But still, the parents should have been watching them, even if from inside the house. Let them roam and play, but keep an eye on them.

Hey, I just looked this up on AOL News, and they didn't mention that the show was an anime at all. In fact, the Associated Press brilliantly spelled it "Narutu".

@Katana:

From the reports I've heard, all the adults were in the house and the kids were playing in the sandbox unsupervised.

As to what position the kid was in to get his head buried, I don't think they've said yet.

@Ryo:

The govenor of Arkansas also tried to keep black kids from going to Little Rock High during the Civil Rights Movement. See how well that turned out in the end for him? Anyone who tries to stir this up is screwed.

@TimeChaser:

By the mere title of the page - "Boy Buried Headfirst In Sandbox Dies" - I can't help but go 'No SHIT, Sherlock'. Call me insensitive, but honestly...burying your head in a sandbox is not the way to go.

...Though this has also left me wondering just how the heck he did it. Did he, like, do a handstand or something? But you know, whatever the case, it seems rather odd that the parents didn't notice it sooner. "Why, my child is currently burying their head in sand. I see no risk whatsoever." Seriously, wtf?

This also reminds me of the violence of video games. If incidents like this keep happening it will only be a short time before the gov. intervenes. I know that may sound a tab bit far-fetched but I can see it happening.

They are setting up a memorial fund and from what I read in the animenewsnetwork posts, the parents are giving his organs to a hospital.

It doesn't look like any viewer responses are visible on the new channel's website, but here is the link. The page has the video as brodcast:

http://www.local6.com/news/15563301/detail.html

Since I cant reply to everyone, Ill just say:

Everyone, as so many stand-up comedians, my favorite being George Carlin, have stated that when one or two children die of something so inane as immatating cartoons, the overprotective conservatives will no doubtedly be up in arms.

Listen, there used to be things as "Survival of the fittest", Darwin said so himself. But because this society in general is so protective of stupid kids, we have to in turn put up with stupid adults. Those morons are those aformentioed stupid children that were by some stroke of luck able to make it into adulthood. There used to be a time, that when little Ricky chocked to death when he trid to swallow some marbles, people said "Its tragic." Now, its "Lets sue someone and outlaw marbles!!! They're Dangerous!!!" In my opinion, it was little Ricky's idiot brother who grew up, became oversensitive, and spazes out whenever something happens like this.

Now I grew up with a twin brother. Did we wrestle? Hell yes. Did we box? Hell yeah we did. Did we pretend to fight like our favorite cartoon characters like the Ninja Turtles, of course we did. But when we did something incredibly stupid, Mom and Dad were both there TO MAKE SURE WE DIDNT DO IT AGAIN!!!

Because of kids like these, toys have warning lables the size of billboards, stuff gets outlawed all the time. Im still waiting for scooters and bikes to be banned. Why not, kids die on those everyday. The seem to as unsafe as LAWN DARTS! Lets face it people, we are the products of an overprotective society.

I seemed to have rambled a bit, but that is what this damn world is for!

Damn, thats a lot from me, but what the hell do I know.
- Schultzie -

@Nehszriah:

Ah, lawsuit-happiness...God bless America. ;D

@Nehszriah:

I couldn't say better myself.

People are people and some are damned to be stupid. Its mean to say but its the truth.

@ShadowLight:

Yeah, we'll get harassed for having common sense, while the rest of the population demands warning labels be put on everything. You shouldn't let the ineptitude of others get to you like that, dearies. Just because some people are total failures in the brains department doesn't mean we have to conform to what they want.

For instance: coffee should be hot, rat poison will kill you (along with the rat), sharp objects will stab you and, um, taking more than the reccommended dosage of medicine does not mean it will work faster and/or harder. Somehow, in this lawsuit-happy giant that is America, stupid people are able to blame their follies on there not being warning labels, thus getting monetary compensation for being total morons. What could they possibly do for Naruto though?

"Warning: This show may lead to obssesive thoughts, delusions of grandure, ninja-themed daydreams and a generally lost grip on reality in general"?

*sarcastic laugh*

Yeah, right.

@Katana:

I agree with you. We were going to be labelled as, insensitive and probably we were going to be accused of being the ones responsible for making kids get killed like that.

@TimeChaser:

Interesting. I was thinking about that today during school - IE, I wonder if my news stations would air this despite my living in Chicagoland.

Despite that, I'm curious as to what the e-mails responses are to be. They going to be people spazzing over the show, or are they going to be people using their common sense?

(Random thunk: Whatever the case, I'm certain that if people were to read the comments here, then we'd get our asses lambasted for being "insensitive". Yes, a kid has just died, which is not cool no matter how you look at it, but the circumstances were so ridiculous...Etc.)

One of our local news broadcasts just aired a report on all of this, including footage from Naruto.

They aslo asked viewers to e-mail their responses to the story. I'll check the news site later to see if any of those responses are visible. I'm curious and a bit anxious to see what people might say about it.

Well since most people already told what I was going to, I'll just simply say that I lived with two older brothers until I was 5 years old (after that my younger sister was born, I started to play with her more with girly things, ya know dolls and such), we used to watch The Turtle Ninjas and later on Dragon Ball and we were really into it but we never ever considered to actually do the fightings against each other (well except the kamehameha move)and we had the same age as that boy. We just knew that even if it was cool to watch Goku and all the others fly and such we KNEW we couldn't do it ourselves.

Maybe the problem is related to how the kid was raised and the family/friends environment he was at. Or maybe it was just a bet between him and his friends. We will never know exactly.

@SomeGuy:

Communism and Nazism? Those are like... two totally different things! Ew! You do have to admit though, television programs and films tend to alter and stretch reality in order to rake in ratings. It's amazing what lengths they'll go to.

I grew up in a family of boys too. Whenver we would go over to our one cousin's place, we'd all watch WWF with him and he had the little action figures and everything. The thing is, my cousin has never actually wrestled physically with anyone, even to this day. It's sort of oxymoronic now, concidering how much of a peacemonger he is. Then again, it really is a miracle that most men live to the age of twenty-five. Along with select girls, some of the stunts that boys try to pull are... well... frightening.

If this kid had never seen Naruto, he probably would have ended up throwing himself off a building, trying to shoot webs out of his hands. After all, if after the first few breaths inhaling sand he still thought it was a good idea, he was the kind of child that was going to find a way to bump himself off.

It's tragic, but many factors were involved as many of you have pointed out, and in the end, it shouldn't have any lasting repurcussions. Some youths simply can't think straight.

@SomeGuy:

I grew up watching Looney Tunes, but I never tried to drop anvils on my siblings' heads, or launch them from ACME catapults.

By the same token, I'm pretty sure I would have figured out that doing any "sand-based attacks" was pretty damn impossible, and I also would have been rather averse to burying myself headfirst in sand.

I say blame the kid for being stupid, blame his friends for not thinking "this is stupid", and blame the parents for not training him to be other than stupid.

Granted, he may have been a little mentally immature because of his age, but even so.

And Someguy, this is the Watercooler. There is no "off-topic".

Two quick off-topics based on what Nehs' has already said:

• Textbooks can often be pretty bad too - like, I had a textbook that kinda bashed Spartan culture compared to Athenian because Athens was the Democracy and Sparta showed the beginnings of (and I kid you not) both communism and Nazi Germany. But yeah, your main point about how movie history only gets so far is still valid and I've no beef with it (though I really liked Kingdom of Heaven, for the record)
• I always find it really ironic with people who watch 300, a movie about a group ridiculously well-physiqued men who wear nothing but capes and leather speedos . . . and it's Xerxes that they see as gay. Always loved that.

Anyway . . . I grew up in a family of boys who all watched wrestling. And we never killed ourselves. It's likely someone'll latch onto the anime thing, use that as the excuse, and we'll have an upsurge of angry parents who want Naruto/anime off the air. But really, it's the same old song and dance that happens for pretty much anything and everything. Ultimately I don't think it'll affect too much except for possibly a month or three of some amazing internet drama, and then we'll find something new to be upset about.

I personally feel that most 10 year olds are conscious enough to know that breathing doesn't work with your head buried in sand, and that this is absolutely a horrible misadventure on the boy's part. It's a true shame, my feelings go out to the family, and ultimately any work in trying to find who to blame still comes down to the fact that a kid made a really bad choice, and none of his friends thought any better until it was too late.

@TimeChaser:

This was one of those kids who didnt have his "reality vs fantasy" filter switched on.

Yeah... ever watched a historically-based film? They are never right. That's why we have people watching things like "Kingdom of Heaven" or "Titanic" and take those stories as the whole truth. They may hit some points, but nothing beats a textbook. Television may be a good short-term alternative, but it obviously can kill in the long run. (No pun intended.)

...and I swear, the next fanboy who whines about "that fag Xerxes" is gonna get it. *cracks knuckles*

What people need to understand, before anti-anime rallies happen and watchdog groups seek to remove it from television, is this:

Children and teenagers are still developing mentally. They have this perception of invincibility, that they can do anything and not get hurt. The concept of consequences doesn't enter into their minds because they are unable to look ahead and weigh outcomes. This is what leads to a lot of accidents and deaths. It's not really the show's fault at all, it's because this one kid didn't have the cognitive ability to realize what he was doing was a really, really, really stupid idea.

This was one of those kids who didnt have his "reality vs fantasy" filter switched on. Every day many people watch anime and other TV shows and movies and know that it's a dumb idea to attempt what they see on the screen. What's wrong is when people go overboard and punish the rest of us (under the guise of protecting kids) for something one person out of many did.

Call me sadistic, but that child is probably an excellent contender for winning this year's Darwin Award.

I think that this is only going to make things temporarily worse for those who truly like anime, making them a bit more alienated (Narutards in particular). It is my opinion that casual fans may look at this and begin to stray away. Anti-anime groups will use the child as their martyr. Frankly, I doubt it will have that much of an impact in the end. The parents should have been watching their child more closely, or at least what the boy had watched on television. My seven-year-old brother watches Naruto with me and he knows that the show is purely make-believe ninjas doing things we cannot ever do in the real world. Why? How about: BECAUSE I TELL HIM IT IS. Why can't parents talk to their kids? I bet it could solve many problems in the world, anime-related or not.