I think a lot of people misunderstood why I said that the "age gap" between Oyuki/Atsu was problematic. The problem isn't age gap itself, it is -> Oyuki was a young adult when the family of Atsu was awfully killed, when her mother was hanged.
Thus, I think the community is split in half (I do not include the anti woke frat bro with 1 brain cell, f*** them🌈) : Oyuki is a spiritual "mom" for Atsu vs Oyuki may be a potential love interest.
First, I had to admit that I was more on the 1st team at the beginning. In term of story, I feel like this is how it was written : Oyuki did nothing to save Atsu's mom and her ultimate redemption is to fullfil her role as a mother figure. But. There is a but yes.
Their interactions, especially Atsu -> Oyuki, are CHARGED. Like of course there is :
But it is not the only one AT ALL.
The raw emotion in Atsu's voice.
If I had to stop being delulu : I think Atsu's feeling toward Oyuki are waaay more complex than what the fandom is thinking. It makes me think of the "passionate friendships", quite common in Japan (especially much later with the democratisation of education) between one young Maiko and a famous Geisha for example. It was often a mix of admiration, love and friendship.
Whever it is sexual or not is not important, it is pure affection and sincere love.
This is what I liked about Ghost of Tsushima too. Jin and Yuna are never "too much", we can think of them as friends or lovers : the subtext exists so that those who want to see get to feel it and the others do not.
This part of the writing is subtle and it deserves to be considered as such.
