Regarding the Mature Tagging

rainchip 2025-10-18 16:37:49 UTC #1

Hey everyone! I’m new to Tapas and currently writing an anime-style zombie drama. The first four chapters are pretty clean nothing extreme but after that the outbreak hits. From that point on the tone depends on the POV. Some characters (like the MC, who’s already jaded) barely react to the violence, while others experience it in a much more raw, emotional way.

Long story short, it’s a mature story with serious themes, but it’s never indulgent or overly graphic just for shock value. I’ve noticed that most series using the Mature tag are steamy romance stories, while plenty of darker works (even indie ones, and titles like Re:Zero on the front page) don’t use the tag at all.

So my question is: how should I handle tagging my later chapters? I already mention in the synopsis that the story is rated M, but I don’t want to bury it behind a Mature filter or make readers click through the content warning if it’s not necessary.

Does that make sense? Any advice from creators who’ve handled similar dark or violent stories would be really appreciated.

kyupol 2025-10-18 17:13:04 UTC #2

I have a dark story that's not overly graphic. I mature tagged some of my episodes if it starts to push the envelope a bit...

Some examples:
(For sexual topics without graphic depiction)

(For fetish fuel but not exactly pornographic)

(For sensitive topic: suicide)

Red_Dog 2025-10-18 17:17:05 UTC #3

So far I've had quite a lot of graphic violence and nudity in my comic and I haven't gotten in trouble.
They might not let certain chapters appear on the phone app, but that's just how it is, but that only seems to be if you show any nudity, violence gets a pass sometimes.

rainchip 2025-10-18 17:34:00 UTC #4

I think I’ll keep the Mature tag on most chapters that include POVs where characters witness some pretty horrible stuff. Here’s an excerpt from the first rated M chapter, scenes like this pop up occasionally, and I’d rather play it safe than risk having the story taken down.

Haruka’s arms shook so violently the bat almost tumbled from her grip. When it finally hit the tile, the clatter cut through the ringing haze filling Midori’s ears. He followed her gaze.

What was left of Yumi scarcely looked human—her skull had caved inward like a broken eggshell, dark red pooling around fragments of white bone and hair matted in blood.

oldestcharm 2025-10-18 18:58:15 UTC #5

I buried mine. Because of the blood splatter and because of the non-sexual nudity that is to come at the end of the volume. I figure if you are working with darker themes you just have to deal with less visibility. It's not fun but it is what it is.

giamarvelousunime 2025-10-18 19:08:10 UTC #6

Hello! I normally put mature tag to almost all my episodes just because each episode handles 1 mature topic of the mature tag (Like profanities, mental health topics or even violence.) I recommend you to mature tag the episodes that have the most topics of the mature list. I think putting mature tags are good to not let kids see that topics

BoomerZ 2025-10-18 19:27:55 UTC #7

Tapas will find you one day if you put stuff in they don't like. My webtoon was on chapter 80 something and I got a detailed list, by panel of stuff that need to be changed. Everything from a bare back of a female character to blood they thought was excessive. Note: my art is very disney looking, not sexual/porn, and while some scenes were for shock value it was more to show how far the character would go. I would say (as I do in the description) it's a PG-13 comics. But I had to go back and move word balloons around and change some panels. Here's how crazy it was. One panel had a female in a bikini. There was a over line from her leg onto her crotch (an actual screw up on my part, you had to zoom in to see it.) They said no outline of the crotch was allowed and it had to be smooth. Webtoons did the same thing but they seemed worried only about nudity (once again the bare back of a female character), they never cared about blood. So you can get away until you get popular or someone complains. I would say be proactive. Error on the side of children seeing your work as that seems to be th guideline no matter what Tapas officially says.