TW: Why are age gap otomes between an adult and a minor common?

[plipplopcountess]

TW Grooming

My most recent otome game I played was Days of Memories: His and My Hot Summer. One of two SNK KoF otome games. And I just can't wrap my head around drastic age gaps between adults and minors. I played Terry Bogard's route first, since he was the only character I was interested in pursuing because I was morbidly curious on how they would execute his route. And yup, it was exactly as I feared, a 35 year old man gets with a 16/17 year old girl. I spent the entire route giggling like an idiot and grimacing because of how absurd the whole thing was.

I just want to know why minor x adult pairings are so common in otome games. I am able to separate reality from fiction, and I also understand the fact everyone has different preferences, but even me who enjoys a good age gap (between adults) can be rather uncomfortable at times. For stuff like this and in Nightshade I am able to pretend she is of age, but I will just straight up drop an otome if the protag is a child and the LI are adults.

I just want your guys/girls/non-binary lads' opinion and I want to try and understand.

 

[orionsbestie]

My guess is... Just because. (???)

There is merit to the idea that fiction affects reality/people's behavior (not 1:1, but it really does), but... It's still fiction, and it's riddled with tropes that appeal to different people for different reasons. Like personally, I'm sometimes uncomfortable by some of these age gaps too lol but in my specific case it's the ones in modern settings— even the hakuoki SSL teacher AU guys make me squint and go,,, ok imma pretend I'm not seeing this for a second, but it's a trope at the end of the day.

If we consider the idea that the main target audience of otome are younger women in their teens and early twenties, a fantasy that's common is that of the older, mature and (often I believe) responsible man taking interest and caring for you, because you're just that special

lmao think of it this way, I think that's how these things can be more easily understood. The heroine is the player's avatar, and the player goes to an otome game for a romantic fantasy. A relationship with a mature, competent man who likely has his life together while you, target audience in the younger side projecting onto the main character role (even if you don't selfinsert, like I said, fiction affects reality and human behavior to certain degrees and audiences are drawn to *interactive first person romance* for a reason...) possibly don't have it a sorted out sounds like it would tick all the boxes for some people.

Of course, there could be some debate about why it's specifically this type of relationship being prevalent in some female-oriented media and that would also be worth thinking about, but I feel like it's not *that* deep in this particular context. Whoever wrote the teacher routes in the tokimemo gs games or the teacher roles for half the shinsengumi cast in SSL probably didn't have some secret evil agenda beyond ticking off the teacher trope off the bucket list, for example. The same people surely expect the audience to have the brains to know dating a teacher as a student is just... Not okay. And if they don't knowx games are not educational sources and, while they could double as such in specific cases, the medium as a whole shouldn't be expected to turn into civics lessons just because the actual educational sources and support systems for impressionable (young and otherwise) audiences are failing to guide and protect them.

I believe more recent big name games don't have these gaps though? The last I remember is Benkei in Birushana, but I hardly blink at that considering the context (and that I like bro, his route made me swoon more than I expected ngl) and that we're also voluntarily throwing ourselves to war at the same time that's going on. Still, it's fine if you feel uncomfortable, we all have different perspectives and sensitivities. It's also fine to question the media we consume with a critical eye, so this type of question is fun to think about too.

 

[plipplopcountess]

My guess is... Just because. (???)

There is merit to the idea that fiction affects reality/people's behavior (not 1:1, but it really does), but... It's still fiction, and it's riddled with tropes that appeal to different people for different reasons. Like personally, I'm sometimes uncomfortable by some of these age gaps too lol but in my specific case it's the ones in modern settings— even the hakuoki SSL teacher AU guys make me squint and go,,, ok imma pretend I'm not seeing this for a second, but it's a trope at the end of the day.

If we consider the idea that the main target audience of otome are younger women in their teens and early twenties, a fantasy that's common is that of the older, mature and (often I believe) responsible man taking interest and caring for you, because you're just that special

lmao think of it this way, I think that's how these things can be more easily understood. The heroine is the player's avatar, and the player goes to an otome game for a romantic fantasy. A relationship with a mature, competent man who likely has his life together while you, target audience in the younger side projecting onto the main character role (even if you don't selfinsert, like I said, fiction affects reality and human behavior to certain degrees and audiences are drawn to *interactive first person romance* for a reason...) possibly don't have it a sorted out sounds like it would tick all the boxes for some people.

Of course, there could be some debate about why it's specifically this type of relationship being prevalent in some female-oriented media and that would also be worth thinking about, but I feel like it's not *that* deep in this particular context. Whoever wrote the teacher routes in the tokimemo gs games or the teacher roles for half the shinsengumi cast in SSL probably didn't have some secret evil agenda beyond ticking off the teacher trope off the bucket list, for example. The same people surely expect the audience to have the brains to know dating a teacher as a student is just... Not okay. And if they don't knowx games are not educational sources and, while they could double as such in specific cases, the medium as a whole shouldn't be expected to turn into civics lessons just because the actual educational sources and support systems for impressionable (young and otherwise) audiences are failing to guide and protect them.

I believe more recent big name games don't have these gaps though? The last I remember is Benkei in Birushana, but I hardly blink at that considering the context (and that I like bro, his route made me swoon more than I expected ngl) and that we're also voluntarily throwing ourselves to war at the same time that's going on. Still, it's fine if you feel uncomfortable, we all have different perspectives and sensitivities. It's also fine to question the media we consume with a critical eye, so this type of question is fun to think about too.

You bring up some great points on the fantasy of the more mature love interest. I do tend to play in a more third person perspective and treat the protags like their own person, but putting myself in the mindset of a self-insert, the gaps makes more sense.