I think Kousaka made the right decision to move away. After what she'd done, eliminating all contact was the most responsible course of action. However, I don't think we can judge her too harshly. When Jinno was a child, her judgment was that of a child. But now she's an adult (23 probably, assuming she moved to Tokyo for university), and this is how she views what happened:
I felt happiness in loving earnestly, and pleasure in being loved earnestly. When it all came to an end, I felt sadness. I felt anger. I felt hatred. And I felt pain. But now all that remains are good memories.
I've known people who pursued relationships with adults when they were 14. Now that they're adults, I can hardly tell them they were victims of sexual assault if they don't feel that way. You cannot trust a child's judgement in these matters, that's the whole reason for age of consent laws: children are not equipped to make these decisions. But adults are capable of making their own decisions, and it's never a good idea to try and tell someone else how they're supposed to feel. Clearly Kousaka was in the wrong at the time. She seduced a child. However, just like I respect a friend's opinion of something that happened to them, a reader should respect Jinno's opinion of what happened to her.
However, that's all just diegetic analysis, when perhaps the more important question is about the author. What is the author's purpose in telling this story? I dismiss out of hand any argument that this is a subject that cannot or should not be made into stories—after all, it's something that happens in real life, and thus is a fit subject for analysis, and thus a fit subject for art. But what about this particular example? This isn't really the story of a predatory adult taking advantage of a child. It's the story of a girl's sexual awakening. I think it's obvious from the structure that the author was focusing on the latter. For one thing, the story is entirely from her perspective, and the ending frames the work as the musings of an adult looking back on a formative incident in her childhood. For another, it's meant to be sexually arousing. The sex scenes are drawn very sensually, and in great detail. Also throughout, there's a major emphasis on the differences between children and adults, both in the Jinna's yearning to be an adult, and in Kousaka's obsession with girlish innocence.
In fact, what I find most curious about this work is that the author never even addresses the fact that this is a story of an adult seducing a child. The ethics or legality of Kousaka's actions are never mentioned. I'm not really sure what to make of that. It's like the author didn't even realize that this would be an issue that readers would think about while reading this work. In the end, my only conclusion is that this is not a serious piece of art. It's a semi-pornographic work in a medium known for its endless supply of mindless pulp. I don't think the author is a criminal, or a pedophile. They're just careless.
last edited at Aug 27, 2019 11:37PM
