Current Events > I found out recently that the girls in Sailor Moon are suppose to be 14.

(+) Yeah! (+)

The fuck? All this time I thought they were in college.

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This is EXACTLY the type of topic I expect to see on CE.

And I don't mean that in a good way.


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That's, like, 19 in anime years.

Whatever age you think anime girls are, take away 10 years.

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Kitt posted...

The fuck? All this time I thought they were in college.

Just Darien/Mamoru in the anime.

Which makes it really creepy.

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I'm watching Yu Yu Hakusho and they are in middle school

Sunhawk posted...

This is EXACTLY the type of topic I expect to see on CE.

And I don't mean that in a good way.

Man, that's a high compliment coming from you; the king of shit topics himself.

[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Like, I know anime/cartoons take some liberties with character design and anatomy, etc. But the fuck kind of 14 year olds look like that? lol

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ImAMarvel posted...

I've always felt like a magical girl show where they lead characters are in college would be ideal. I've actually been working on developing a concept like that for the past few years now.

That sounds cool. Blue Reflection comes close but the girls are still only 16. I mean, at the end of the day it's not magical woman, I guess

I'd also like to see college Persona or something Persona like, maybe even just adult I guess

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In Avatar, Azula is apparently supposed to be 14-15 as well

She is not drawn like a 14-year old at all

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ImAMarvel posted...

There's a lot in these early kinds of shows that's really creepy. IIRC, Cardcaptor Sakura is even worse.

how tf is cardcaptor sakura creepy???

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Time to delete some partitions on my hard drive

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Yea, Japan really likes younger aged characters despite the appearance. Apparently it's to relate better with the intended younger audience I guess.

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I think this should become an officially-recognized phenomenon / trope of self-realization called the 'Wait wait, Misty's HOW old?!'

ROBANN_88 posted...

In Avatar, Azula is apparently supposed to be 14-15 as well

She is not drawn like a 14-year old at all

Paying homage to the anime style right down to the smallest details.

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masterpug53 posted...

I think this should become an officially-recognized phenomenon / trope of self-realization called the 'Wait wait, Misty's HOW old?!'

I remember one of the many reasons I hated that show Bleach was because the main guy looks like he's in his mid-20's and yet; he's suppose to be 15. Anime is really weird about that lol

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Hell, Jin was 15 in Tekken 3 I think. 15 with the body of a got damn bodybuilder.

Edit: I'm wrong, Jin was 18.

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Kitt posted...

I remember one of the many reasons I hated that show Bleach was because the main guy looks like he's in his mid-20's and yet; he's suppose to be 15. Anime is really weird about that lol

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I would hate for someone like Sailor Moon to be in college given the way she acts .

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Legato-and-Vash posted...

Hell, Jin was 15 in Tekken 3 I think. 15 with the body of a got damn bodybuilder.

You sure? A vaguely recall in his character bio from the game's manual that he was 18 during the events of Tekken 3.

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BigHentaiBoobie posted...

Lmao

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All these people are in high school.





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Kitt posted...

You sure? A vaguely recall in his character bio from the game's manual that he was 18 during the events of Tekken 3.

Actually, you are right. Not sure where 15 came from.

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BigHentaiBoobie posted...

so true

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Legato-and-Vash posted...

Actually, you are right. Not sure where 15 came from.

Could it be Japanese to American thing. Like how they hide the ages of the girls in Dead or Alive until they made them officially 18 ?

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Legato-and-Vash posted...

Actually, you are right. Not sure where 15 came from.

@Legato-and-Vash @Kitt

Jin was 15 when he was first taken in by Heihachi between Tekken 2 and 3 but was 19 in 3

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That cartoon has got the boom anime babes that make me think the wrong thing

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Welcome to anime, lol.

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Magical girls are always middle school age or younger.

That translates to like 29 in anime years

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Jotaro from JoJo is 17 and look like he's in his mid 20's.
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Anime in a nutshell for me was this one half-remembered scene from a mech anime (probably a popular one, since it was on Adult Swim at some point); it had a fourteen-year-old girl in her underwear in a stasis tank, and someone offscreen was talking for a solid minute about how only fourteen-year-olds are capable of piloting the giant mechsuits.

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masterpug53 posted...

Anime in a nutshell for me was this one half-remembered scene from a mech anime (probably a popular one, since it was on Adult Swim at some point); it had a fourteen-year-old girl in her underwear in a stasis tank, and someone offscreen was talking for a solid minute about how only fourteen-year-olds are capable of piloting the giant mechsuits.

That's definitely Evangelion

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masterpug53 posted...

Anime in a nutshell for me was this one half-remembered scene from a mech anime (probably a popular one, since it was on Adult Swim at some point); it had a fourteen-year-old girl in her underwear in a stasis tank, and someone offscreen was talking for a solid minute about how only fourteen-year-olds are capable of piloting the giant mechsuits.

A lot of my friends are really big into anime. At one point in time they talked a lot about that one mech show Gurren Lagann (I probably spelled that really wrong). I've seen it mentioned on CE a bunch too. So I saw that it was on Adult Swin/Toonami one night and decide to give it a watch.

The episode I saw was one of those obligatory beach episodes. You got this one girl in a bikini who look like she's a young adult. Ideally, dudes would be tripping over each other to talk to her, right? She's competing with what looks like a 10 year old girl for all these teen guy's attention and she's losing.

So that was enough for me to conclude that the show is stupid and never watch it again.

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they usually make their characters around the same age as their intended target audience


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So is there a cultural reason why Japan likes to design their young teen characters to look like adults? Why not make characters look their age?

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I feel like this is the anime-equivalent to live action American movies having adults playing high schoolers (i.e. Mean Girls, American Pie).

Though in the live action movies, they use adults simply because of the sexual situations the characters get involved in and you can't have minors doing those. That's not really an issue in anime, so I'd guess it's like the other user said that it's to appeal to the show's intended demographic (high schoolers).

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AtelierRyza3462 posted...

Magical girls are always middle school age or younger.

Not always.

The Pretty Cure franchise has had a few Precure that were in high school, and the most recent series had one who was college age. Magia Record (a Madoka Magica spin-off) also has several magical girls in high school and one of the main girls is in college. Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has the main two girls (who started as magical girls when they were 9) keep fighting bad guys well into their 20's and even adopt a daughter together. There are probably others out there that have had older magical girls, but those three are ones I've seen and know for sure.
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Guerrilla Soldier posted...

they usually make their characters around the same age as their intended target audience

I've never understood this. You need to add 5 to 10 years to most characters to get what age they should be for how they look and act. As a kid, I never empathized strongly with characters based on their ages. And even if a lot of the younger audieces do empathize strongly with characters their own age, most of those characters still look and act like adults so...

The only genre that I'll give a pass to is the high school romance/comedy. i don't watch many myself, but just like American sitcoms, you do get some free elements to use from that setting in the way of a rigid schedule and large shared space for a variety of characters to interact in.

The suggestion of setting Persona in college rather than high school is common, and I think it would be neat. But I feel like it would end up being a bit more like Yakuza with the additional freedom the environment would provide.

ImAMarvel posted...

The adult teacher makes moves on Sakura and everyone acts like it's super normal when he's in his 20's iirc, and she's only 10.

uh what

there were kids who had crushes on teens/adults but not vice-versa.

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darkmaian23 posted...

The suggestion of setting Persona in college rather than high school is common, and I think it would be neat. But I feel like it would end up being a bit more like Yakuza with the additional freedom the environment would provide.

The main thing with the "Persona in college" idea is that Japan and America have very different college lives. In America, college is seen as a time of freedom, you're no longer living under your parents, etc. whereas Japanese college is well, studystudystudy. Therefore the sense of freedom is associated with high school in Japanese society hence why many look back to it with nostalgia and why high school settings are popular. At least that's what I hear, I'm no expert.

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Ivynn posted...

The main thing with the "Persona in college" idea is that Japan and America have very different college lives. In America, college is seen as a time of freedom, you're no longer living under your parents, etc. whereas Japanese college is well, studystudystudy. Therefore the sense of freedom is associated with high school in Japanese society hence why many look back to it with nostalgia and why high school settings are popular. At least that's what I hear, I'm no expert.

I'd say you're largely correct in that the US has a very unique culture surrounding college and universities that is not found (as often) in other countries. Campus life such as the dude throwing the frisbee, the girl studying on a blanket under the tree, the fraternity parties, etc. are mainly a US thing. Go to South America, Asia, Africa, and even Europe in many places and universities don't have as strong of a "student life" focus. It's mostly just academics and studies.

Though I have seen a few universities in some European countries slant more in that direction to attract top US talent but it's still not a majority.

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Zanzenburger posted...

I'd say you're largely correct in that the US has a very unique culture surrounding college and universities that is not found (as often) in other countries. Campus life such as the dude throwing the frisbee, the girl studying on a blanket under the tree, the fraternity parties, etc. are mainly a US thing. Go to South America, Asia, Africa, and even Europe in many places and universities don't have as strong of a "student life" focus. It's mostly just academics and studies.

Though I have seen a few universities in some European countries slant more in that direction to attract top US talent but it's still not a majority.

Interesting I never knew that. I wonder if they have less sexual assaults because of the different student life.

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Aeriis posted...

he's in college but he's 17 turning 18, Usagi is 14 turning 15

still a gap but not AS bad

I always assumed he was in his mid 20s it always made me feel creepy.

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Ivynn posted...

whereas Japanese college is well, studystudystudy.

Tell that to my students. But seriously Japanese college is a joke. It's hard to get into it but once you do it's incredibly easy. Man if I could get my students to play less games/watch less anime and actually do research that would be great. They sure as hell aren't studying.

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So the final episode of Sailor Moon is a big ol

https://youtu.be/XeDM1ZjMK50

Sailor Moon is naked during the final episode, if only Barbie-nude

should have suspected why they were in high school to begin with... lol

MachineJaipur posted...

So the final episode of Sailor Moon is a big ol

https://youtu.be/XeDM1ZjMK50

Sailor Moon is naked during the final episode, if only Barbie-nude

oh no barbie nude how horrible

jeeze americans are ridiculous

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