A character being an adult doesn't make sexualization suddently okay, especially if only female characters get sexualized and if they get sexualized in humiliating ways and with other characters force them.
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Japanese devs' obsession with child/child-like characters trope and how problematic it is
- Thread starter Kaivan
- Start date
A character being an adult doesn't make sexualization suddently okay, especially if only female characters get sexualized and if they get sexualized in humiliating ways and with other characters force them.
I feel this is deeply rooted in Japanese culture. Visited Japan for vacation and you see cute eyed Anime girls and stuff literally everywhere. You seriously can't escape them. You go to the supermarket and have Hentai manga in front of you. It really feels it is part of their culture and may only gradually change in the future, if at all. It's just a different culture. But you know what? I rather have Hentai in the supermarket than rifles. As someone from Europe, the US and their obsession with guns was what really creeped the hell out of me when I went there.
Pack it up boys, we're done. This man right here filled up the entire bingo card in a single post.
Well I was recently in Japan and was looking for the pokemon centre in Ikebukuro with my mate. We see this hall open and it looked like an anime artist convention, so we went in and had a look. It was just full of 10 year old looking anime girls getting fucked. It was surreal how 'normal' this was, as it was practically in Sunshine City shopping centre with no security on the door or tickets to get in.
I won't ever start a campaign against violence in games cuz I play it myself. I just see more problems in this topic than in sexualized women or girls (non in the OP is sexualized for me).
But somehow I never see an outcry for it that much and it always about...
The problem is that In isolation those teenage characters probably wouldn't be a big deal but given Japan's obsession with sexualizing underage characters you have to look at those teenagers with side eye glances.
Nobody cared before: Check.
Outrage culture: Check.
What about the violence: Check.
I'm not a pervert, you're a pervert for thinking that's sexualized: Check.
What about girls on the beach: Check.
Slippery slope arguments: Check.
I'm thoroughly impressed at the bullshit excuse to word ratio, great job.
Weird to see the "they are targeting teenage boy angle".
When I was a teenage boy, sexualized adult women was an effective way to market to me. I can't imagine sexualized children would have been more effective.
I think there is something disturbing behind this
When I was a teenage boy, sexualized adult women was an effective way to market to me. I can't imagine sexualized children would have been more effective.
I think there is something disturbing behind this
That's fair which is why I said things became murkier (as in the situation is still problematic, just not black and white anymore)
Octopath Traveler is really great for having an adult cast that doesn't portray someone who is 30 years old as being an octogenarian.
Dude. Please think critically for a minute before firing off these posts. lmao
I mean this is true, but at least for me this is referring to things like romance options. Since the main characters in these games are typically teenagers due to the demographic targeting, making their romance options adults is also pretty problematic for a whole different set of reasons
And some of us are from Europe so "I'd rather have hentai in supermarkets than rifles" is as compelling an argument as "I'd rather have hentai in supermarkets than be eaten alive by a dragon". :D
I agree and always surprised it's rather casually accepted as a cultural thing and gets a pass because... Japan!
I think it blew up with Evangelion.
I think it blew up with Evangelion.
This is Gaming; discussions about global warming belong on Etc. :)
I said less unsettling.
Being an adult doesn't make it okay/good, but it makes it less bad.
If only he mentioned boner culture then it would have been prefect.
They would need to make being an adult there not be so miserable that they pine for their comparatively simple high school days, but I don't picture anything being done about the terrible work-life balance anytime soon.
You can almost never tell age in cartoons at all. The "12 year old looks the same as a 35 year old" applies to everything from the Simpsons, Dexter's lab and studio Ghibli, to basically any art style that simplifies facial features.
"I don't give a fuck about violence, I just use it as a derail for conversations about taking away my lolis".
I have to admit you trolls are not usually this honest...
You can have depictions of children characters without having it become pedophillia, thats the point of "Splatoon and Ellie from TLOU" comparisons.
Except the games are set in Japan, where college life doesn't allow for the kind of plots Persona go for.
I appreciate the larger issues being raised in this thread vis-a-vis sexualization of underage characters. But in a lot of cases, such as OP seemingly objecting to child characters at all, or your wanting series to be college based where it makes no sense for them to be, it sounds like you're viewing everything from an entirely western-centric lens without having any understanding of the culture you're assessing. And while cultural relativism is a shitty defense for something like sexualized underage characters, as I noted, it reeks of rank arrogance when it comes to something as basic as how creators choose to tell their stories. Why is it an issue of Japanese creators want to have, say, a young cast of characters at all? As long as they handle it well? I get criticizing them for when they don't, but examples like Futaba or Veronica are absolutely out of place in a discussion like this.
Yeah, because people circle jerk about some OP's examples and avoid the real issue here.
I don't mind some children in some games playing a bigger role, but the over-sexualisation is a huge issue for me. Even when they're are adults (although women always look so young in games, also in Western games there are no nuances, you have either a granny or a 18-like/early twenty woman), I just can't take them seriously as a character, which breaks immersion and weakens the whole narrative experience for me.
But yeah, if that's Japanese culture, I find this culture weird in that regard and I'm not a fan of it, to put it mildly.
Nah, these disingenuous types normally try to keep it vaguely deniability-plausible. "Boner culture" is too obvious even for them.
... that said, he did use SJW unironically, so I don't really know anymore.
Hahaha holy fuck man, these threads really do bring out the weirdos, huh?
"B-b-but what about the west? They sexualize too! We're not above Japan!"
"B-b-but what about the violence in other games?"
"B-b-but what about western media? They sexualize all the same!"
This shit sounds more like "we're not any better in the west so don't take away my lolis".
And yes, sexualizing minors is wrong ANYWHERE, but we're discussing this topic regarding videogames, your whataboutism says more about you than the topic being discussed.
"B-b-but what about the west? They sexualize too! We're not above Japan!"
"B-b-but what about the violence in other games?"
"B-b-but what about western media? They sexualize all the same!"
This shit sounds more like "we're not any better in the west so don't take away my lolis".
And yes, sexualizing minors is wrong ANYWHERE, but we're discussing this topic regarding videogames, your whataboutism says more about you than the topic being discussed.
I got mad with the amount of hate Japanese culture gets on these forums so sorry about that. I edited this post out.
I never understood the weird hate-on people have for high school settings on this board.
I'm not saying we go back and erase previous characters, obviously. That'd be ridiculous. Just use older (maybe new) characters. Pokemon's never had you play as an adult trainer, so that could offer a new perspective to a trainer traveling around to take on the League. Didn't the devs say they almost used bunnies as the main characters for Splatoon instead of kids? Go back to that and see how it works. And Ellie doesn't need to be a child for the story to be compelling.
And again with all these: Removing a child character from the roster will not have any repercussions on gameplay mechanics.
Wait, why is your quote different from his post? What's going on? lol