First, to start things off, let me say that I know there are lots of kinks out there. Romance and sex is like one of those things, right, where tastes are - what's the word - highly subjective. Culture and environment have a lot to do with it, of course. Why, just today I was reading an article about girls being sent to force-feeding camps in .. Mauritania? Because stretch marks and having an equator rather than a waist is considered the epitome of feminine beauty there, or something. Point being, you see extreme opposites in this world, when it comes to appreciation of the fellow human being.

Now, Japan is known for exporting a lot of weird <expletive>, and a lot of it does have to do with sex. You hear about stereotypes with suggestive movements of sea creature appendages, and then there's a rather worrying preoccupation among some circles with the bosom department... and of course, to western eyes, some of those characters seem mighty young..

Why do I care about this? Well, truth is, I watch a good amount of anime (or, japanese animation). And possibly nowhere else in my life does Sturgeon's Law apply more aptly. When it's good, it's a masterpiece that sends me into inspired bouts of artmaking - those are creme de la creme, the epitome of entertainment I have the good fortune to encounter. There's also the generally-good, solid titles, marred somewhat by its insistence on ridiculous double standards for female characters (with regards to "armour", intelligence, and all-around capability/need to be rescued) but still palatable on the whole.. oh, and the forgettably mediocre, there's always plenty of those, but even then they're not usually much worse than most of western entertainment (and believe me I have seen western entertainment).

And then there's stuff like this. Stuff like... like this. Have you read Twilight? I did. The whole series. I had to do it for a project, you see. Well, this is worse, much worse. If I remember correctly, the problem with Twilight was a somewhat inappropriate glorification of the romantic relationship between the two main characters, a romantic relationship that has been described by some as skewed, unhealthy, or abusive. Kind of like Beauty and the Beast, but less kid-friendly.

But at least Twilight had the excuse of a male love interest who did, honestly speaking, appear to care for the wellbeing of our lovestruck heroine.