"verges on child pornography"
Lol. Sounds a bit like prudishness to me, since there isn't much to be obscene with the character art, unless that neckline or exposed knees are just too much.
You can't see how her pose, look and weirdly specific backstory (underage high school girl looking for a boyfriend) is problematic?
I wasn't saying that this was the worst I have ever seen (the sad and troublesome fact of it is that there's
a lot of this stuff out there, and often even creepier than this), but I do think it's mindboggling how a group of adults approved this to promote an industry towards other adults. Try to imagine an actual 17 year old girl in that exact pose, used to promote the exact same thing. There would be a shitstorm, and rightfully so.
People often say 'it's just Japanese culture' as if that excuses anything. It's not some sort of magical place in fairyland. It's just another country full of people like you and me. Accepting and respecting another culture doesn't mean you shouldn't be critical of certain problematic aspects of it. Like I said before, my main concern is in the message this sends to young women and men. It sends a very warped and unhealthy view of reality. When you consider that media spreading these kinds of images is also made and consumed by actual adults, that's certainly a sign that there are - as often reported - some big societal issues there.
Like some other user said, I'm very interested how your average Joe in Japan looks at this kind of stuff, or if the large presence of this is overstated by its presence on the (western part) of the internet.
