I wasn't talking about modelling on that post but about the whole "get Mimika into a party with other child models" bit

I wasn't talking about modelling on that post but about the whole "get Mimika into a party with other child models" bit

Except you are talking about the Japanese child modeling industry like it's vastly different from any western nation.

It's a fact that Japanese media has a lot of sexual imagery involving children, or at least teens. It's been the case for decades.

Whether or not it's acceptable, the author here, doesn't make a comment about it. They don't "explore pedophilia", they don't make a statement about sexualization of children in the media industry.

They just use a fact of life there, known to the readers, as a plot device, perfectly suited for their characterization. Nothing more.

And people saying that 10 year olds don't know what a pedophile is, makes me laugh.

Maybe they don't know precisely what it involves, but children are taught very early, especially in Japan, to be wary of suspicious people. Every elementary school children has an alarm on them, they can pull if they feel threatened. Yuzumori has one too, from chapter 1 : https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/yuzumori_san_ch01#5

last edited at Jul 24, 2017 8:37AM

And people saying that 10 year olds don't know what a pedophile is, makes me laugh.

I was using my own experiences. At age 10, we were not introduced with the word, or the concept. We were told never to go anywhere with strangers, and to avoid conversing with them if at all possible, but no one used the word 'paedophile'. And in my time internet was not a thing, so no chances of coming across it while cruising the social platforms. I guess today's kids have more exposure to all sorts of vocabulary.

And I still can not quite imagine parents or teachers saying "avoid strangers, some of them might be paedophiles".

last edited at Jul 24, 2017 11:20AM

People who enjoy the work are talking about the characters and the events and have different interpretations. Some of them are wrong. And we'll have disagreements about which ones those are. But that's all it is.

You, of all people, advocating for tolerance of disagreements.

This is somewhat ironic.

Well, normal people would see a large difference between disagreeing over whether trans women are women vs disagreeing about whether a fictional character has romantic feelings for another fictional character.

Or disagreeing about whether the people saying "interracial marriage is a conspiracy to destroy the white race" are ironic in their nazism vs disagreeing about whether a fictional child model hitting on a fictional high school lolicon says something about the modeling industry.

But I suppose if you see all disagreement no matter what over as being comparable then you and I will just have to disagree on that.

last edited at Jul 24, 2017 11:33AM

You, of all people, advocating for tolerance of disagreements.

This is somewhat ironic.

Well, normal people would see a large difference between disagreeing over whether trans women are women vs disagreeing about whether a fictional character has romantic feelings for another fictional character.

Or disagreeing about whether the people saying "interracial marriage is a conspiracy to destroy the white race" are ironic in their nazism vs disagreeing about whether a fictional child model hitting on a fictional high school lolicon says something about the modeling industry.

But I suppose if you see all disagreement no matter what over as being comparable then you and I will just have to disagree on that.

I think I'm going to quote someone wise here.

Nezchan posted :

Always remember the First Rule Of Holes: When you find yourself in one, stop digging!

Stop it, Utoptia.

Nobody needs you dragging in drama from elsewhere and inflaming things.

Nya-chan, what is your interpretation of this manga? What do you think the author is attempting to convey?

Stop it, Utoptia.

Nobody needs you dragging in drama from elsewhere and inflaming things.

Got it. Altough you'd concede me the fact conflicts are prolific and frequent enough not to need my help to happen. ;)

Back to Yuzumori-san, I'm curious to see how things will turn out. Ririha being introduced to test Mimika's love for Yuzumori and as a trial for her to lock up her lolicon drive.

I think what's interesting is the magazine that publishes Yuzumori-san isn't a hardcore otaku thing at all, publishing mostly seinen and slice of life stuff including Stretch. In fact, as far as I can see, this is the only lolicon series they publish.

So it's interesting that this is clearly not aimed at an audience for whom loli stuff is a regular thing they're used to, so it's worth asking the question of how the author wants a more general audience to respond to the work.

It's a web manga so it's not like a magazine where there's people buying the whole thing. The audience for Yuzumori-san can come from social media, visiting for free, without ever having touched anything else on the site.

themusicman500 posted:

Nya-chan, what is your interpretation of this manga? What do you think the author is attempting to convey?

In my opinion, there's no special message. It's just a romcom with a twist : one of the protagonists is an elementary schoolgirl and the other one a high-schoolgirl

The author puts Mimika in an awkward situation, where she's attracted (romantically and also sexually), to Kaede and the whole story revolves around the fact that Kaede is 10 years old, so Mimika has to suppress her urges. That's where the comedy lies. Readers watch Mimika agonizing over it, and they smile.

There's also light drama, because Kaede is very lonely and finds herself clinging to Mimika, but also "falling in love" with her to the extent a 10 years old can.

And now, the author added a rival, in the person of Ririha.

It follows a standard romcom pattern. The reaction the author wants to elicit are "It's cute", "It's funny", "Ah, Ririha is evil!! Whatever happens, she had it coming!", "Awww, I hope Mimika and Kaede get together later!".

Nothing more. None expects Mimika to rape Kaede or Ririha to drag Mimika to a love hotel. The author isn't writing that kind of story.

I think there's nothing further from the author's mind than a social comment about pedophilia or whatever. She just uses trivial Japanese cultural elements.

Nezchan posted:

I think what's interesting is the magazine that publishes Yuzumori-san isn't a hardcore otaku thing at all, publishing mostly seinen and slice of life stuff including Stretch. In fact, as far as I can see, this is the only lolicon series they publish.

So it's interesting that this is clearly not aimed at an audience for whom loli stuff is a regular thing they're used to, so it's worth asking the question of how the author wants a more general audience to respond to the work.

Big Comic Spirit is a seinen magazine. They publish adult stories, but also ecchi stories.

I even found a yuri story : http://yawaspi.com/paraphilia/index.html that would be worth translating. It looks fun (and creepy).

Yuzumori isn't really out of place there.

I even found a yuri story : http://yawaspi.com/paraphilia/index.html that would be worth translating. It looks fun (and creepy).

Oh, I remember that one. I didn't know there was a second chapter. And yeah, that was something.

Oh, I remember that one. I didn't know there was a second chapter. And yeah, that was something.

It has 14 chapters.

Mimika isn't even fazed by Ririha. So I don't get why people fear that Ririha will somehow "Seduce" Mimika since it's been made pretty clear that Ririha's "Maximum Sparkle" wasn't very effective. Now what might happen is that Yuzumori get's angry at Ririha because she thinks that Mimika is being seduced or has been put under Ririha's spell. Because at the end of the day, Yuzumori is only 10 years old, and kids at that age can make assumptions based on very little details.

I mean, it's not like Japan's the only country which sexualizes minors. Just look at that American show Toddlers and Tiaras. Granted, I never actually watched it and I just read complaints online so it's most likely not really as bad as they're making it out to be, but, still, who watches that kinda stuff anyway (other than, well, you know). This is completely beside the point anyway since we're just talking about clothing ads and all that stuff which I don't have a problem with... but, yeah, I just felt like bringing it up, maybe someone here actually watches it and can tell me more about it.

Anyhow, I admit that I was a bit grossed out at first like Tzitzimine when Ririha mentioned that she's a model, but, after some rational thinking, I realized it's not bad unless, I don't know, it's for a porn thing or something (in which case it'd obviously be horrible). The whole child model party thing struck me as a bit weird too, but I guess it's just one of those, you know, TV things or something. Mimika's reaction to Ririha's invitation was hilarious though and I think it makes it clear (to me at least) that Mimika's a legit lolicon and not just in love with one kid (I guess she'd still be a lolicon either way, but you get my point). The fact that she barely reacted to Ririha kind of invalidates my theory, but, well, it seemed to me that Mimika did not want to attend the party 'cause she knew she couldn't control herself or whatever. That's my theory anyway and probably a dumb one.

Oh, I remember that one. I didn't know there was a second chapter. And yeah, that was something.

It has 14 chapters.

Ops. Now I see. So two volumes in total. How was it?

last edited at Jul 24, 2017 2:39PM

h3x posted:

Oh, I remember that one. I didn't know there was a second chapter. And yeah, that was something.

It has 14 chapters.

Ops. Now I see. So two volumes in total. How was it?

I think there's only the first and the last chapter on the site.

The whole child model party thing struck me as a bit weird too, but I guess it's just one of those, you know, TV things or something. Mimika's reaction to Ririha's invitation was hilarious though and I think it makes it clear (to me at least) that Mimika's a legit lolicon and not just in love with one kid (I guess she'd still be a lolicon either way, but you get my point). The fact that she barely reacted to Ririha kind of invalidates my theory, but, well, it seemed to me that Mimika did not want to attend the party 'cause she knew she couldn't control herself or whatever. That's my theory anyway and probably a dumb one.

I just thought she was frightened of being dumped into a celebrity-style social gathering and being out of place.

yeah it was that

Well....shit

Ah so it's going to be a cage match.

I literally heard a 'dun dun dunnn...' in my mind

The fuck is going on here

shit is about to go dooooown LOL