There has been a noticeable, growing trend of manga with a romance interest who is either over 30 or with a much heavier bodytype. Why do you think that is?
The meme that always comes up is "NHK wants millenials to fuck and stop the japanese race going extinct" but this many this often?
What if its from a source of sexual frustration and this is actually what japanese men desire after decades of influence from western media? What if the typical japanese woman is no longer attractive to the average japanese man because he desires something "girthier" and its reflected in their art?
Traditionally an older, chunkier romance interest has connotations of maturity, stability and fertility -though of course someone will always show up and let you know how angry they are about that last one nowadays- and it seems now more than ever manga has made a shift not only to older, chubbier romance interests but more interestingly the romances actually initiate.
Not just the usual "will they, wont they" forever but now mangas are often having the characters pair up into an actual romantic couple and increasingly often not at the end of the story but midway or earlier and their dating experience is part of the story rather than some hazy epilogue to be waved away after the metaphorical blue balls.
Do you think it can all be just NHK influence to drive birth rates up? or have japanese tastes changed where pic related is now the new romantic interest archetype?
