Anime is a medium-full of things that from the outside, look a bit strange. Whenever anything anime-related comes up with my friends that are not weebs of any sort, one of the biggest thing they like to poke fun at, is the age of the characters. And to be honest, it is a bit hard to defend.
Age is a funny thing in anime, it’s something most weebs gloss over and never talked about. Kirino Kosaka is one of my top tier waifus, I absolutely adore her. But when other anime fans learn of this what is it they attack? That she is an entitled brat of a tsundere? Sometimes. That is is abusive to her friends and family? Sure. The fact that she is an older brother loving brocon? Oh yeah, but one thing that isn’t mentioned, the fact she is FOURTEEN YEARS OLD.
Alright the FBI hasn’t kicked down my door yet, proceed with caution.
Among the anime community, there seems to be this mutual understanding that age, concerning the medium, is irrelevant. Now from someone outside looking in, this would be bizarre for sure. I mean most of us have some sort of figures, Dakimuras or some sort of anime-themed wallpaper. And of those anime themed items, the average age is no more than 16 years old. So this leads to two questions, why is the age as it is? And why does the average weeb, literally give zero fucks?
So to answer the first question I think we need to look at the age group anime is pointed to, and more importantly what other mediums also try to favor that same age group. Rather it is shows, movies, books, or games. High school age characters are not that rare in respects to all mediums. The Young Adult base they try to appeal to is looking for something relatable, easier to digest, and simply something that will fill a void that exists.
Now different people, naturally different voids. Some are into fantasies, leaving this world all together while I am personally a sucker for a whimsical romance. Now there is a rather large group of Young Adult fans that continue to find joy within the genre years after leaving the teenage age group. When looked at in this way, it makes sense high schoolers will be teenagers, and even in fantasy stories like Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake, there is no school, but the sisters are still rather young.
So now that is out of the way we tackle the much more complicated side of that question, why weebs just don’t care.
I mean could it be because Shinobu Oshino is over 500 years old?
What about 14-year-old Simon or Yoko from Gurren Lagann?
Movie fan? Hina from weathering with you being 15 instead of that college student she pretended to be?
Love Domestic Girlfriend? (We know I do) What about the fact the two biggest taboos of Hina and Natsuo being together is that she is his teacher and step-sister, not that she is 22 while he is 16.
Living on the high of Tonikakyu Kawaii, Tsukasa is 16 when she married Nasa, 18.
Dare I say let us peer into the violent fantastic world of Demon Slayer where Tanijiro is 13
The point of all of this is simply that in context to storytelling, even more so in the anime medium, age literally doesn’t matter. Yoko looks 20, Shinobu is the ever cursed vampire loli, their ages mean nothing as far as the story is concerned.
And that counts even when one is choosing the ever so fabled waifu.
Age in anime has become what lolikirs and other weird tropes that are here to stay, a meme. Most weebs have accepted it and a large amount of us have dove headfirst into it. It is a strange part of the anime world most don’t even pay attention to, I mean for fuck sakes we made ships and guns into waifus does any of this matter anymore?
I MEAN REALLY NONE OF THIS MATTERS WHY AM I TRYING TO RATIONALIZE THIS
Otaku Post 