Make no mistake—Sugiyama is no fan of the comics. He said he did not watch them, but would defend what he called the rights of those who did. He went so far as to compare people who like such manga with suppressed minority groups such as LGBTQ people in Japan, and blamed the “rise of feminism” in the country for the growing pressure to ban the content.
And were that true it could still be said that they weren't perfect but by virtue of assigning cultural legitimatacy to female pleasure and same sex activities they would be more progressive than most of america today.