i feel like whenever people discuss hatsune mikus age its always either "hatsune miku is literally 16 you cant treat her like an adult" or "hatsune miku is a piece of software with no thoughts or feelings you can do whatever" but never the imo more interesting "hatsune miku is a marketing mascot designed to be a virtual idol, what does it say about the idol industry that the people involved considered 16 to be the perfect age to assign her. why do so many vtubers played by adult women have 16 on their profile. why are so many idol anime about highschoolers. can we talk about the contexts and implications please please please please-"
and this isnt a "japan bad lol" thing theres so many characters out there who are functionally treated as adults but designated to be in their late teens. i think the oldest (official) disney princess is like. 21. its a feature of how society at large treats 16-25 as the only viable window of attractiveness yknow. the dicaprio problem. its everywhere once you look for it unfortunately and even characters i love are not exempt from reflecting the bias.
