I think that the norm is becoming more kid-friendly and what is considered 'for kids' is what i would consider 'for todlers' a few years ago.
Final Fantasy is a great example of how much tighter we have gotten about what is acceptable for young children. FFVII was 11+ (in the UK) and contained violence, blood, swearing, you name it. FFXIII contains only one of those things, Violence, and yet is a 16+.
The anime has also become less hardcore (not that it ever was) in an attempt to prolong childrens naivety. In the early series we had very violent fearows and pokemon hunting, among other (albeit rather unexplored) themes such as the use of pokemon for food. it was kid-friendly for the time, today that would probably be an 18+ for show only after midnight. The villainous teams in the games have become increasingly more far-fetched. Team Rocket seemed a bit like a threat because their goal was plausible. To go from a lust for money or whatever to wanting to make the sea larger to wanting to reshape space and time makes the games more cartoony, and more light-hearted as a result. Even the rivals have become less threatening, Silver looks nowhere near as menacing as in Generation II, and Petrel (the rocket executive) looks about as threatening as a bathroom sponge.
Yet we have rappers and R&B singers bragging about their money and their boy/girlfriends and themselves in a rather sexual way, yet they don't have one of them sticker things.
To be honest, its not the rating that affects me, i make my own judgement about TV and have done since i was about six. It's when companies change things that were once good to fit these stupid guidelines. What im trying to say is that the bbfc or OFCOM or whomever should lay off a bit, and let parents and children make their own judgements, because they're more responsible than what they get credit for
