Birth Years: Which Do You Prefer?

[yumachan]

Do you prefer characters to have official birth years, or do you think it's better not to specify them?

As I get older, I sometimes feel a little sad when I realize that the age gap between me and the characters keeps changing. Characters who used to be older than me eventually become younger than me.

I never thought about this when I was younger, but lately I've been thinking about it more and more. If a character was older than me when I first met them, I want to stay forever younger than them.

That's why, personally, I'd actually be happy if their birth years were officially given. Even if I get older, I can still think of them as older than me and keep that feeling of being forever younger.


My first fictional crush was an adult man. But now, I'm older than he is.
A character I fell in love with when I was 14 is still 14, while I've been an adult for quite a long time now.
(Back then, I felt like we were living through the same moment in our lives and falling in love at the same time. Now, though, the age gap between us makes me feel a little awkward about openly saying that I still love him.)
But because their birth years are established, they're technically still my seniors in life, so to speak.

It might just be a matter of how I choose to think about it, but I'd still be happy to have it as an option.


What do you think? Do you like knowing a character's birth year, or would you rather leave it unspecified?

 

[yumachan]

It might be an eternal dilemma for those who fall in love with 2D characters.
It's an older anime, but I can finally understand how Haruka from *RahXephon* felt.

 

[enren]

I'm choosing the - Nay - option.

With the power of imagination age is irrelevant.
No matter how old you may be in real life.

 

[osanajimimi]

It's okay for me. It's a date to celebrate, in reality their age does not increase, one of my favorite characters was 14 just like me at that time, now we are far away in age, and I still like him for his mentality.

In my case, the age of the character vs visuals makes a bigger difference, but in general it doesn't turn out to be something that affects me as the time passes (¿)

 

[yumachan]

>>enren
Your comments give me courage.
In the rural area where I live, people are very particular about age, and there is a deeply rooted belief that romance is a privilege reserved only for the young; perhaps my own thinking has been influenced by that mindset. You're right; imagination is important. It was nice talking to you.


>>osanajimimi
Thank you for sharing your experience!
I'm sorry, but I didn't quite manage to translate part of your comment correctly.

Just to clarify, what I was asking about specifically was their birth year—the year they were born. I wasn't saying that I don't want characters to have birthdays. Of course, a character's birthday is something to celebrate, and I'll happily celebrate it to the fullest!

Sorry if there was any misunderstanding!

 

[SmallEagle]

Knowing their birth year doesn't really matter to me, I tend to be more influenced by at what time in my life I met them.

I can still play the routes if characters that I met when I was a teenager without feeling werid about the age gap tha now exists, because, I still feel them as older than me.

However, I do feel awkward with new characters, so in those cases I just don't self-insert and treat it more as a movie or a book.

 

[osanajimimi]

[COLOR=rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.87)]>>osanajimimi[/COLOR]
Thank you for sharing your experience!
I'm sorry, but I didn't quite manage to translate part of your comment correctly.

Just to clarify, what I was asking about specifically was their birth year—the year they were born. I wasn't saying that I don't want characters to have birthdays. Of course, a character's birthday is something to celebrate, and I'll happily celebrate it to the fullest!

Sorry if there was any misunderstanding!

Now I understand it better thanks for the clarification

I don't think my answer will change much, but I understand why some may find it that way