@Oeconomist said:
I wonder to what extent the mangaka get swept-up by limited-time offers, to what extent they instead expect their readers to get swept-up by such offers, and to what extent this notion of getting swept-up by such offers is peculiarly imputed to women by male readers.
For some reason, Japanese people really dig limited offers. Time-limited, amount-limited, low chance of actually getting what you want (*coughgachacough*)… doesn’t matter. If it’s limited, everyone wants it all of a sudden. I’ve seen this several times in manga already. Also, if two stores are selling the same product (like the tapioca tea fad), people will stand in the longer queue because if more people go to that store, it must mean that it’s better, right? That was even lampshaded and justified in one chapter I read (can’t remember which) because one of the characters wanted to have time to talk with the other. Stores take full advantage of that by having strange limited offers, such as a café having a “women only” drink or a “couples only” dish (used as a plot point
here, but I’ve seen it elsewhere too). Why prevent some customers from buying something when the store obviously has it in stock? Because it’s more expensive and people will buy it anyway because it’s
limited. 😉
This of course isn’t true for all Japanese people, but for some reason, they seem to be particularly susceptible to limited availability offers. Not just women, men as well. Also not limited to mangas; I saw many actual limited offers during a vacation in Japan.