Forum - View topicREVIEW: Koikimo
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whiskeyii
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I feel like the illegality of it all *has* to be a part of the appeal (maybe like how incest anime has the same appeal with its taboo nature?) It's not like we don't see this dynamic elsewhere between adults with major success (hi there, Fifty Shades!), but in that case, it's a power dynamic of literal power via wealth. Though if I had to guess, it's prooooobably because there's no clearer distinction in power than that between a child and an adult, and that feels less stark between two adults (even though it does exist in real life), and to create one between two adults would mean you'd have to put in the extra work to actually acknowledge that power dynamics between ages actually exist first, which kind of starts breaking down the fantasy of "dating an older man" in an uncomfortably realistic way. |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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Or maybe it's because 1. being in high school is a mostly universal experience which makes it much easier for readers to relate to and/or process than university, 2. it's much easier to write too, what with applying the usual high school tropes and shorthands, instead of having to put effort into a character navigating university life, working, perhaps living on their own for the first time, etc. 3. high school girls are basically the default character types in such stories anyway, and 4. a large part of the target demographic is in fact high school girls. Really, I don't see the point in trying to analyze it, I'd bet money that the mangaka didn't really put a whole lot of thinking into it. |
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battle-arc-fan
Posts: 24 |
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All right, I did defend Koikomo from the lambasting that it received during the episode previews. At the time I pointed out the difference between "fantasy by and for adult women" (Koikomo) and "fantasy by and for young men" (Higehiro) and stand by it, and this was even before I knew that Koikomo was going to be completely without fanservice targeting the 17 year old females Ichika and Rio (which I thought they were going to do for the sake of multi-demographic appeal).
With that being said, the comparisons between Higehiro and Koikomo are deeply unfair, particularly the claims of "bias" for liking one and not the other. In both works, you had teasing and implications - though granted not depictions - of a sexual relationship between an adult man and a minor girl. (Incidentally, "age gap romance" and "relations between an adult and a minor" are two very different things.) But in Higehiro, the attempted romantic initiator - the aggressor if you will - was the minor girl. In Koikomo, the aggressor was the adult male. That is a huge difference. Yes, I have gotten my "Red Pill for MGTOWs" newsletter this month. I know that females can and do harm males. But good grief, if you can't tell the difference between a 26 year old male being targeted by a homeless runaway trying to survive and a 17 year old female being stalked and harassed by an obsessive adult male then that is simply choosing not to exist in objective reality. Which one is far more likely to end up as a statistic? As for the "cultural differences/age gap romance fantasy" thing ... seriously? We had a GREAT age gap romance show in spring 2020 with "Sing Yesterday for Me" that was sadly mostly overlooked. But in that show A. the youngsters were high school graduates and B. there was no stalking, harassment, manipulation, abuse or anything of the kind (beyond the normal "love triangle" drama). So with Koikomo, even had Ichika been Ryou's age the stalking would have still been illegal. And even had Ryou never stalked Ichika, for an adult to enter a relationship with a minor is still frowned upon and in most circumstances illegal. People for whatever reason - actually I guess we KNOW the reasons - love to cite the "Japanese age of consent laws", but in Lucky Star when Konata suspected her father of chasing after high school girls, she warned him "don't get yourself arrested", OK? It explains why Ichika was horrified to be receiving Ryou's attention in the first place. Koikomo depicted an adult man stalking and harassing an underaged girl. My only point in defending the show previously was to make the point that it being stalker titillation aimed at males and a romcom fantasy for females were two very different things and that the show should be analyzed accordingly. It is still going to alienate a lot of people outside the target market - and a number of the people in it - for very legitimate reasons. Playing "gotcha" games with that fact doesn't help. |
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