I don't think any of you will fully understand how this made me the happiest little girl. You might have an idea, but not all of it. Once again this year, our little Yes, It Can Be Done becomes "Yes, It WAS Done!"
And what better to do it than in such a landmark of western animation like Samurai Jack. The backstory that you need to know is that it's animated show from Cartoon Network that it was the closest to art the network ever did. It got cut mid-run without an ending for 13 or so years, but it got brought back by [adult swim] for Toonami just this year as a 10-episode mini-series. But this wasn't some Family Guy, South Park, Robot Chicken "cram as much vulgarity as possible in thirty minutes" adolescent toon. The show had a lot of violence, yes, but it used it with purpose, like how the hero, Jack accidentally makes his first human murder using the sight of blood to horrify the audience, then uses blood to create striking visual images of a wounded Jack, and delves into the discussion of whether killing in self-defense is justified, complete with a blood-soaked flashback to Jack's childhood to drive the message home.
Most of the time when the series delved into mature content, violence was the big one, but their usage of nudity was just as thematically appropriate, too.
The secondary character is a brainwashed girl named Ashi, and I say "brainwashed" not with mind control, but that she was raised terribly and to become a child assassin to kill Jack. Her mother and instructor basically tortured her throughout her childhood, like crushing a beautiful ladybug right in front of her eyes, or teaching them not to help each other lest they be seen as weak.
To further drive that point home, we previously assumed that black thing that matched her skin was a catsuit, but the real reason is horrifying. When she was a child, Ashi's mother stripped her naked, then forced her into a pile of hot coals to toughen her up, that stuff on her not being a catsuit but charred flesh.
This is a brilliant example of using child nudity in a thematic way. Ashi's mother's brutality is shown by inflicting torture on a vulnerable child. The act highlights just how much Ashi suffered through her childhood, as well as highlighting how vile her mother is by how she inflicts horrific abuse to a little girl, her little girl. The act makes Ashi more sympathetic and makes the audience hate her mother, justifying Ashi's eventual killing of her in the next episode.
It's one thing to just use gratuitous child nudity for some sake, but this is on a whole 'nother level. The usage of child nudity is used to service the storytelling and develop character, being worked organically with the story. This is even better than a gag, because it actually ties in with the themes of the season, and gives the whole thing a mature tone.
How much we've changed from censoring Dee Dee to telling a good story. We're going in good places!

Reposted from arcroyale