Difference in the AOC (Age of Consent) in relation to female anime characters have also caused some cultural shock among Western Audiences since the 90s. In Japan, the minimal age of consent for a Japanese girl
is 13
(though all provinces have laws that counter the national AOC and up it to at minimum 16), and anything above that is fair play. Heck, in Japan, girls can already get married at the age of 16 (though recently this act has been frowned upon by modern Japanese society). And since Japanese AOC's minimum is 13, there'll be a lot of "underaged" school girls wearing painfully sexy short skirts (with emphasis on
legs), tight blouses,
long socks or stockings,
School Sport Uniform, and off course
School Swimsuit(see
Joshikousei).
Fanservices are occasionally put up to placate viewers who have fetishes on these objects. Worst case scenario happens when these underage schoolgirls are treated to malicious and perverted incidents, even rape. Of course, for the Japanese, these are all normal. They don't see these characters as being sexualized or anything, they just think they're cute.
- Its most famous and well-talked about example is Sailor Moon when it first aired in the West during the 90s. The show's emphasis on female sexuality and fanservices were particularly loved by male audiences. However, things went downhill when Western viewers learned that many of the female characters whom they have been jacking off to were in their teens. The main character, Sailor Moon, who was given so much visual focus, was 14(!). It caused an uproar in America at that time, and networks broadcasting the show changed Sailor Moon's age from 14 to 16, and made some frowned upon changes in its format as well.
- Strongly related to this are the ideas of Loli and Shota, since in Japan, cuteness and innocence combined with a small but still noticable amount of sex appeal is a strong selling point due to the fact that the Japanese prefer adorable, youthful looks rather than sexiness (say, like in America). Also playing into the appeal of young looks is the fact that many Japanese have very low chances of ever having a family and children as well as the population getting constantly older due to record-low birthrates, so the masses also start looking older and older and thus finding a viable, healthy partner to start a family with becomes even harder. Thus it's no wonder why young boys and girls in Japanese media are so popular, like many things in fiction they act as a good enough surrogate for the real thing.
- In another form of dissonance, America tends to react more harshly to this than other Western countries, as due to SoCalization most media treats the age of consent over there as 18, while several other Western countries (and some other US states) have it at 16, and find it very strange that America reacts so objectionably to sexualization of teenagers.
- The age of consent is however also changing in the Western world as well.Belgium for instance has decreased its age of consent from 16 to 14 (keep in mind that those in between 14-15 still only can have consent with those in between 14-1
because they felt that their new growing nation of children already developed sexual feelings at a very young age (whether it is hormones in water or better life conditions is left to interpretation).