The story has explicitly thematized characters looking and/or acting older and/or younger than their physical ages, which is precisely what I recall about the first year of high school—some people looked like they were about ready for marriage while others (probably me among them) looked like they were only recently allowed to cross the street by themselves. And everyone, big and small, fairly crackling with adolescent hormones.
I just find it quite hard to believe that anyone could read this series in its entirety and think that anything objectionable is going to happen between Omichi and Rin.
I'd also like to add that it's rather clear reading this, that Omichi was not attracted to Rin because she's a child, but quite the opposite, because Rin is possibly the most mature character in this entire manga.
Look, I've got no skin in the moral outrage game on either side, but I have to disagree with you on the point of Rin's maturity.
Sorry, what kind of falling in love with a random older girl who helped you once, only taking no for an answer in word, but still wanting to find out who they liked so you could "beat" them, and only giving up once you saw that other person was similar to you, makes you think Rin is "the most mature character in this entire manga".
People keep saying she's mature, but to me, that looks like a childish crush.
Edit:
Maybe that's what this is, not that Rin is mature, but that Omichi is so immature she's on the same level. They both had the same kind of "have an admiration moment for this person you just met and think it's feelings of love and you have to date them."
The reason she comes off as mature (rightfully so, imo) is that she's highly considerate, well spoken and thoughtful. Her feelings may be immature and she's clearly too inexperienced to understand and contextualize them fully, but her approach to- and analysis of them are quite advanced and eloquent.
By contrast, Omichi's own expertise is more technical knowledge and less analysis and deeper thinking despite being older, which makes her come off as childish by comparison. (Which is entirely realistic actually, some people really are just late bloomers and Omichi is only about 12)
IMO, it seem clear that the thing which attracted Omichi to Rin romantically is how maturely, honestly and deeply she analyses, approaches and lives by her feelings. On the "physical" attraction level, there seems to be some level of "Moe" appeal to the concept of a small child displaying maturity and wisdom beyond her years at play, which is a very Japanese culture thing that it's not entirely fair to analyze from a purely western viewpoint.
Still, I maintain that the dominant factor to Omichi's feelings is not Rin's age but rather, her mature and considerate personality. Omichi herself rationalized that what provoked her emotional attraction was how much she felt that Rin deserves to feel loved after all the hard work and thoughtfulness she puts into her feelings.
The only character I'd say is arguably more mature than Rin in the story tbh is Hino herself, but that's debatable since she very much treads the line between being deeply thoughtful and considerate of Koguma versus childishly indulging in a LOT of immature shenanigans on a daily basis.
last edited at May 3, 2023 6:30AM
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