Gushing over Magical Girls - Vol. 3 Ch. 15.5

[MyNameJeff123]

Damn it they're all 14. Now it'll feel weird whenever I read these. Well whatever, 14 is legal in japan, so what the hell can I really do about it right? I'm pretty much invested in the story at this point.

 

[fbi1244]

@kwendy Japanese age of consent is 12 so they re fully legal
Well everyone except Morino(A.K.A Alice)

 

[MyNameJeff123]

@kwendy actually 12 is not legal in japan it's 13.

 

[kwendy]

@fbi1244 I'm pretty sure there is a lot of non-consentual stuff going on, so I don't know if "age of consent" even matters.

 

[LTalon]

Okay, the national age of consent in Japan being 13 is kind of a legal artifact and it gets cited a lot. The reason it remains that way is the Diet doesn't seem to feel the need to legislate it when EVERY PREFECTURE, even the most rural ones, has a law that makes the age of consent there 16 or higher; they don't seem to find passing a law like that a priority when it wouldn't functionally do anything. Functionally the age of consent in Japan is 16.

Setting that aside, poor Azul; maybe she should find a nice girl to dom her in her spare time so she can like...take care of her urges when she's not "on company time" so to speak.

 

[VIVIT]

kek, It's fair game if everyone has the same age

 

[zanonyn]

FFS people.
First and foremost, this is a mostly dark fun gag manga. It's fictional, they've got magical powers, governments for some reason aren't going insane over it and posting military everywhere, etc. That's the context, it's not the real world. A lot of the debates we have change when the "kids" are superhuman armies-of-one who could annihilate any of us. And flat-out this series just doesn't deal with most of that in some super serious way, property damage and civilian involvement for example isn't angsted over. So come on.

- Re: consent: most sane places take into account age differences, not just absolutes. So a 14 year old getting involved with another 14 yo isn't the same as with a 20yo. And rightly so, they're not the same. Also again, the whole "superhuman" and "fighting monsters" bits would probably result in different legal treatment too if it ever came up.

Plus, our protags here are villains (or at least on the villainous side, though villainy here has many sides). A certain amount of "evil" or at least amorality goes with the territory of course.

- Age and combat: if anything this should have been the bigger thing that'd come up around age. These are literally child soldiers. And child soldiers are still an unfortunate actual reality for much of the planet. First-world norms here are themselves pretty new, in the last few hundred years having kids along learning or attending combat units was still very much a thing. Magical girl series can raise (or not) this issue as something to expose 1st World audiences to in a more familiar context. Some actually consider the psychology, PTSD etc. Some just mostly blow it off, or else consider it primarily within the context of "this is why they don't do certain things an adult would", which matters from a story telling perspective since if you gave a random adult superhuman powers there is a good chance they'd use them quite differently.

Not every series has to do some huge deconstruction around all this. Get over yourselves.

edit: "ptsd" not "psd" duh

 

[immortalartisan]

We call this a reconstruction

 

[obsidianpassion]

Wow if a fictional story get you guys riled up, you guys will be BIG mad about what ACTUAL teens do with their time.

 

[Nyagger_Ichihime]

most people here aren't capable of discerning fiction and reality

 

[MyNameJeff123]

@Nyagger_Ichihime I'm one of those people who are disappointed with the ages. But hey, it's Japan and it's their legal age and their freedom of expression. They can do whatever the hell they with their manga. even though I can discern fiction from reality (unlike some other people here) it doesn't make any less disappointing, but oh well it's too much of a headache to bitch about it like a twittertard y'know?

 

[Antares_Angel]

Wait, why are some of you actually surprised? It was stated from the get go that Baiser's 14, which is like, the normal age for Magical Girl stuff. Don't tell me that people are actually mad because they can't remember the age of the characters that's been indicated several times, and is a parody of a genre that centers around that age.

@zanonyn says it best. Don't throw context out the window. They're 14 yr olds with other people their age in a fictional series where their battles "Awaken" things, and it takes on that self-realization and acceptance normal in Mahou Shoujo and instead centers around the questions of body image and sexuality that also happen at that age in real life.

Like, if you can understand context and separate enjoying a fictional narrative for taking on a real topic versus actually liking real children as an adult, then guess what, you're fine.

So relax, okay?

 

[RamenSub]

Ch. 2 right away tell us she's in middle school lol,
that means she's 12 to 15 yo

 

[Grimmycoffee]

The new cover looks beautiful

 

[Grimmycoffee]

The people complaining about ages are fewer than people complaining about them lol

 

[BossDrk]

Friendly reminder: Is a fictional work.

 

[JibunWo]

Damn I forgot there were magical girls in this manga because they haven't appeared in the current arc.

 

[XcyroGrafik]

They all 14, huh... Straight to jail I go then!

 

[Alice_is_lost]

Wish Sayo would have a good relationship with Utena-chan

Thank you so much for the chapter, can't wait to read the next one!! <3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3<3

 

[RNDM1]

Half of this comment section is so... Internets... it hurts me physically. 😖