AliMifu ( the alina Mifuyu ship if it wasn't clear)
AliMifu.
While one side of the fandom argues it’s problematic because Alina is a child and Mifuyu is a fully grown adult, the other side of the fandom is arguing that it’s problematic because Alina is Mifuyu’s boss and therefore it’s a “workplace violation.” I think both of these extremist sides are ridiculous.
First of all, they have a three year age gap. If you think it’s creepy to prey on a sixteen year old, but not creepy to prey on a nineteen year old, you are indeed the problem. Don’t get me wrong, I completely believe it’s atrocious for a nineteen year old to date a sixteen year old in real life. However, my morals lie with the idea that no person under the age of 25 should be in a relationship with anyone who has an 3+ year age gap with them. These people’s morals are solely based on the law, meaning they think the moment someone turns 18, they are an adult and can date anyone they want. The irony here? Most of them live in America, where Romeo and Juliet laws apply up to thirty six months, aka three years. Therefore, Mifuyu and Alina’s age gap would be seen as completely acceptable in the United States of America. (The absolute audacity of these Americans to call Japan “gross,” when these are the laws of our country are hilarious, especially since Japan had a higher age of adulthood than the USA until 3 years ago.)
On the other side of the debate, we have a group of people who don’t understand what the word ‘nuance’ means. Yes, I am of the opinion that fiction SHOULD explore dark topics. Hell, when I was groomed, one of my coping mechanisms was to write a revenge fic. Even though I don’t believe writing a story in which there is an age gap between fictional characters is immoral, downplaying the seriousness of the age gap to justify shipping the characters together IS immoral. Saying that Alina has more power over Mifuyu just because she’s her “boss” is obscene. Touka and Nemu are also technically Mifuyu’s boss, and she is eight years older than both of them. I highly doubt that anybody would be arguing they have more power over her, so why is it being argued that Alina does? The only valid argument I’ve seen for this take is that technically all three of the Magius are incredibly powerful magical girls, so if they wanted to, they could force Mifuyu into complicity with their strength. That, however, is a completely separate point from “Alina is Mifuyu’s boss.” If my boss is a 15 year old, does that mean they have more power than I do? No!
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As for the ship itself, we all know how fucked up it is. (Mifuyu is the biggest issue in my opinion, she should be rejecting Alina’s advances.) Nobody asked me, but frankly, the most problematic part about this ship in my opinion is that Alina fat-shames Mifuyu in her swimsuit costume story. Alina would NEVER do that, she’s an artist who has a keen eye for all things considered abnormal by others. For the writers to imply that she would is problematic, because it’s an insult to my intelligence.
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If you made it to the end, thank you for reading. Anon, thank you for requesting.
