I had mentioned in a previous post here oh gXp that what people are fans of is of no business to me… so long as it doesn’t hurt others. I mean, far be it for me to criticize or deride what another person has an appreciation for. I mean, I like cosplay, I like LARPing, hell, I even like seeing the occasional furry cosplay – without it going into the darker aspects of that fandom. But there are some anime fandoms, that while I do not reject or condemn, I certainly do not understand. Sexual furries is one of them, futanari is another fandom I don’t quite get; but I think that the fandom that I least understand is the loli fandom. I get that in anime there is a penchant for drawing characters or featuring characters that are of the younger variety. They even feature characters that are older than they appear as a prominent aspect of some anime. I am okay with that. But it is when you have a loli character, with all of the traits that loli characters are known for, that are the age they are depicted as being.
I don’t get the glorification or sexualization of characters that are far younger than the acceptable legal age of consent. I can understand why some fans may fantasize about characters as those featured in anime series like Love Live!, IdolMaster, Highschool of the Dead, Fate/stay Night and others that feature characters that are in high school. They may not be a legal age but I understand that, 1) these are fictional characters, and 2) a high school aged girl is close to the age of consent. I am not saying it’s right, but I understand it. I can already feel that some people are uncomfortable with this notion, and I understand that – like I said, I don’t condone these kinds of thoughts, I just can understand that mentality. But what I don’t understand in any way is why someone would find a character that is clearly depicted as younger than the age of 15/16 sexually attractive in any way. It just seems so odd and, well, twisted.
But this seems to be a real kink in some anime series. To take these young characters and feature them in scenarios and settings that are for more mature kinds of characters. One of the series that really seems to take this loli trope to task is the Fate spinoff series, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, with its depiction of characters that are just older than the age of 10 and placing them in some pretty mature situations and even more mature and sexual items of clothing. As much as I enjoy the Fate series of novels, games and series, I just can’t quite understand the appeal of this series. I tried watching it, but as some of the loli action in the series got a bit lewder it completely lost me as a viewer.
What I understand even less is the new 2-in1 collectible figure by Hobby Japan that features the characters of Illya and Kuro from the Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya series and has them in some rather questionable beach attire. The beach attire is, as I said, questionable enough, but did the characters have to be featured with the straps of their bikini tops and bottoms undone and falling off? This is taking being lewd for the sake of being lewd to a whole new low. And while I admire the detail and craftsmanship of the figures as they were designed, as I said before, I don’t get the appeal of this. I get what appeal there is in eroge and cast-off figures, I get the appeal of figures featuring ecchi or hentai characters or attributes; hell, I even get the appeal of those life-sized figures that some fans go crazy for, as cringing as it may be… but I just don’t understand the appeal of young loli characters. That is beyond me and my grasp. If that’s what you’re into, have at it – but please, wow – let’s keep this kind of fandom relegated to anime/manga and not permeate into real life.
