a hot topic so im tucking it away into this status and not a thread bc id rather ramble to myself
in regards to the idea of characters looking too young based off age i often wonder if people can also realize that a young/teen aged character =/= doesnt mean bad? like we can have teens in media and have it be fine? i feel like there is always a tricky line to draw between a character just being allowed to be young versus a character that was clearly designed to be exploited ya know, and thats been a conflict in recent vocal synth releases/announcements. like the first vocaloids to come to mind as young/teens but are like Normal and not done weird is Matcha and Asuki (who i dont see official ages for but they are noted to be "school girls" and i have to assume thats ya know, high school). like, we have all kinds of media with teens and there is nothing inherently wrong about that! but then we go over to a voice like Fee, who was underage and clearly described in ways that was gross. i assume or hope people realize that is the focus of criticizing age and appearance. it feels like its hard to win when instead of thinking "lets stop making adults who look like babies" and say "well if they look like a teen and are a teen that makes sense"- it is hard to win, mostly when the fans' intentions can be worse than the company's
in the end its not just the age, its not just the design. its the culture that has normalized the stylization of girls in ways to attract people- be it through skimpy clothing or youthful teen appearances. not every designer is out to make this a problem on purpose, not everyone is actively creating a problem, i wouldnt point a finger at anyone specific because its not possible. and having young characters isnt inherently bad nor is young looking characters, but there is still always a trend to analyze imo because its such an active problem in eastern animation media. i would gladly welcome high school aged character and voices if they take after the idea in a totally normal way and i would equally welcome young looking adults if it didnt always feel like they were picking up a look that was strangely inappropriate for the age they're trying to look like
the important thing to always remember though, is no matter how respectfully it may be tackled there will always be gross people in the world who look at the teen or look at the teen-looking adult and see something worse to do. that cant be avoided ever, no matter the critisisms made on these issues. its hard to be aware when its such an un-fun topic but ive been around anime since i was a child, its hard not to see the issue in things when you've been directly affected by such a fandom culture.
(and like i know talking about being baby-faced irl has been brought up as like a reason its not a big deal bc it happens in real life but i have genuinely faced some odd and disgusting shit for many years due to looking like a teen... like im not gonna go into it but i wouldnt say being baby-faced irl doesn't have its issues too aside from ppl asuming you're not 21, people can be gross and speaking up about any of this kind stuff is important to me due to that. plus you living a simple normal life while looking like this isnt relevant at all to art work and concious choice to design characters like that. anyways yes watch me leave this here and not open vvn for days <3 understandably this is just a rough topic for me lol)
in the end its not just the age, its not just the design. its the culture that has normalized the stylization of girls in ways to attract people- be it through skimpy clothing or youthful teen appearances. not every designer is out to make this a problem on purpose, not everyone is actively creating a problem, i wouldnt point a finger at anyone specific because its not possible. and having young characters isnt inherently bad nor is young looking characters, but there is still always a trend to analyze imo because its such an active problem in eastern animation media. i would gladly welcome high school aged character and voices if they take after the idea in a totally normal way and i would equally welcome young looking adults if it didnt always feel like they were picking up a look that was strangely inappropriate for the age they're trying to look like
the important thing to always remember though, is no matter how respectfully it may be tackled there will always be gross people in the world who look at the teen or look at the teen-looking adult and see something worse to do. that cant be avoided ever, no matter the critisisms made on these issues. its hard to be aware when its such an un-fun topic but ive been around anime since i was a child, its hard not to see the issue in things when you've been directly affected by such a fandom culture.
(and like i know talking about being baby-faced irl has been brought up as like a reason its not a big deal bc it happens in real life but i have genuinely faced some odd and disgusting shit for many years due to looking like a teen... like im not gonna go into it but i wouldnt say being baby-faced irl doesn't have its issues too aside from ppl asuming you're not 21, people can be gross and speaking up about any of this kind stuff is important to me due to that. plus you living a simple normal life while looking like this isnt relevant at all to art work and concious choice to design characters like that. anyways yes watch me leave this here and not open vvn for days <3 understandably this is just a rough topic for me lol)