If we also feel a kind of "jealousy" of "If This Is Love" and "Shaving", then perhaps we should reflect on whether we have also been brainwashed by the concept of "love" – perhaps the concept of "pure love" or "sincere love" in our hearts is itself nothing more than a delusion constructed by the media.
In the April 2021 new series, two anime depict the love relationship between japanese working class members and female high school students around the age of 30, namely "If This Is Love Feels Disgusting" ("If This Is Love") and "Shaving". Then picked up the female high school students. (Shave).
"It would feel disgusting if it was called love"
The opening chapter of "If This Is Love" begins with an encounter between a man and a woman who are ten years apart: Ryo Amakusa (27), who is the agent of the first-class corporate head, almost fell off the stairs of the station one day due to lack of sleep, but was saved by a passing female high school student, Kazuka Arima (17 years old). When Liang found out that Yihua was actually a classmate of his sister Li Xu, he continued his usual debauchery and vicious habit on the grounds that "since he is a friend of his sister, he must thank him well" and proposed to thank him with a "kiss". In response, Ichika rebuffed, "It's disgusting... What was he thinking when he said that the thank you who was saved was 'yourself'? I'm not here to save you. Liang, who has never been troubled by female relations so far, has been greatly impacted, so he has taken Ichiwa as the person of his destiny and launched a passionate pursuit.
Shaving. Then picked up the female high school students. 》
"Shaving" begins with a similar encounter: Yoshida (26), who works for an IT company in Tokyo, is rejected after confessing to her female boss, and Yoshida, who is drunk after drinking alcohol, walks home sadly and frustrated, finds Sasuke Ogihara (17), a female high school student sitting under a roadside telephone pole, and unknowingly takes Sasuke home for shelter. However, when Yoshida woke up the next day to ask Sayo why, she found that she had actually run away from home from Asahikawa in Hokkaido half a year ago and had been spending the night in various men's homes. Hearing About Sayo's experience of "aiding and socializing with a runaway girl", Yoshida suddenly felt afraid of his unthinking and immoral behavior the night before. After hesitating for a while, Yoshida decided to temporarily take in this unspeakable female high school student for the night on the condition that "Sayu will not sexually tempt herself". However, the decision to live for the first night was unconsciously transformed into the beginning of the two living together. Thus began a strange cohabitation life that was close at hand but difficult to touch.
"Introduction to the Ideological History of Japanese Marriage Activities: "Wanting to Be Happy" in Postwar Japan"
By using the "age gap" setting, the two works show the "narrative" of "pure love" in contemporary Japan. For example, the University of Tokyo political scientist Nobu Sato wrote in his book "Preface to the Intellectual History of Japanese Marriage Activities: Postwar Japan's "Wanting to Be Happy"":
As long as you choose the object and want to continue this fate, then believing in the bondage and bond with the other party is beneficial to maintaining a married life. Although in this case, it is not meaningless for people to believe in narratives such as "love at first sight" or "destiny", we must note that these narratives are "stories" that are whitewashed and used to maintain a perfect relationship after leaving oneness, and cannot be left in the "fantasy" state before leaving singleness. Even after leaving the single body, we need to be vigilant, because this "story" will unconsciously turn into a "fantasy", so that the person involved in a tragic situation - for example, even if they have been subjected to domestic violence, they still believe that the other party is their own destiny, and they cannot make up their minds and choose divorce.
As Nobu Sato puts it, consumers of pure love narratives, led by contemporary Japanese, may often be in danger of being "poisoned by love." And "If This Is Love" and "Shaving" may be a difficult attempt to choose to consume pure love narratives while revealing this danger.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="11" > "sincere love" and longing for "young women"</h1>
Something similar happens in the political realm, which is far removed from animation. In May 2021, Member of the House of Representatives of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, Nao Motoda, was criticized for making a grossly inappropriate speech in Parliament on the amendment bill on the minimum age for "consent to sexual intercourse" in gender relations. On July 13, 2021, Honda himself was punished with a one-year suspension of membership.
Bento, a member of the Cadet House of Representatives who made a controversial statement on "consent to sexual intercourse", was straight. Image: tv-asahi
The Cadets Harassment Prevention Committee sorted out the incident and published an investigative report on Hondo's "consent to sexual intercourse" speech. According to the report, since April 2021, the "Working Group on the Correction of the Criminal Law for Sexual Offences" established at the Constitutional Democratic Party's Government Affairs Investigation Conference has been discussed several times on whether to raise the "minimum age for consent to sexual intercourse" in Article 177 of the Japanese Criminal Law from 13 to 16 years old. On May 10, Congressman Hondo made the following remarks to a visiting professor of criminal law at Osaka University, Shimaoka, who was attending the meeting: "It is strange that my 50-something and 14-year-old children can be fined on the basis of obtaining each other's consent (having sex) on the basis of free love" and "Adults may also fall in love with middle school students." Professor Shimaoka responded that "sexual consent in these fictitious situations is invalid", until the end of the Q&A of the investigation meeting, the two still have their own opinions, and there is no convergence of views.
With regard to the statement of "consent to sexual intercourse", Senator Bendo defended it like this:
The example I gave was in response to Professor Shimaoka's statement that "love between two people with an age difference is an alternate existence." What I want to explain is that even if there is such a personal claim as the actual existence of "I", can it completely deny the existence of this kind of love? Of course, my misuse of words has also brought great misunderstanding to everyone. Regarding the age difference, the reason why I say 50 years old is to use a number close to my age as an example, and I should use the more acceptable 18 years old and 15 years old as an example. I would like to point out that the age of sexual intercourse consent and the imposition of penalties for violators without exception inevitably create problems. Because the court judgment under the current regulations makes an exception to the situation that the two people are in "sincere love". Of course, the period between 50 and 14 shouldn't be considered a genuine relationship, so the example I gave is really inappropriate.
From The expression "to bring misunderstandings to everyone" used by Bendo, it can be seen that he has no intention of introspection. For bendow, for reasons, he was apprehensive about raising the age of sexual intercourse consent: while acknowledging that the age example he gave was inappropriate, he also said that the negative effects of the drastic tightening of such regulations should be taken into account, and that the law and politics should be more cautious in restricting the individual's inner freedom, the right to pursue happiness, and the right to self-determination.
Senator Bendo believes that the Working Group should not rush to conclusions. And this series of statements by him is meant to resist the momentum of this forced conclusion. He also said that without sufficient discussion of criminal law corrections such as the age of consent for sexual intercourse and the crime of sexual intercourse without consent, the Democrats had come to conclusions prematurely and were a bit too hasty.
Of course, many of the external criticisms generated by Senator Bendo's "consent to sexual intercourse" speech were also reflected in the report:
The Cadets' tolerance of this kind of speech by Congressman Bendo makes people feel that the Democratic Party is not worthy of the position. After this incident, we feel bitterly that the Cadets are nothing more than a group of male liberals. I am afraid that it is precisely because of the many people who share the views of Bento, their support and acquiescence, that Bendo has been able to make such a statement. If the Democratic Party does not reflect well, it cannot change this situation.
Senator Bendo's speech is very similar to that of a husband who commits domestic violence – completely disregarding the center of the problem and just stating his own experience. The Cadets have a poor reputation and are often ridiculed as a "liberal uncle clique party of male superiority and inferiority", and the reason why the party has not been able to gain power is because of the low support of women.
Report on the investigation of Bento's "consent to sexual intercourse" statement. Image: st-note
Referring to these critiques, the report even raises a question: "Does Bendo's speech contain a male-specific sexual gaze, or an unconscious sexual gaze or desire cast on minors?" While the report extends the "line of sight" problem to all men, the main problem here is "the desire of middle-aged men for young women" because Ofdo's statement advocates "relationships" between "men in their 50s and female high school students in their 14s."
Looking at "If This Is Love" and "Shaving" from this point of view, it is easy to see them as the embodiment of the desire and appeal of middle-aged men to young women, as a kind of work that satisfies the audience's desires in fiction — although such judgments of these two works are not uncommon, but inevitably too arbitrary. For example, it is believed that the increase in the number of "adults and female high school students falling in love with society" has gradually formed a type of work because of the "aging of otaku", and the above two works reflect the "desire of the otaku who are tired of reality". In this view, the consumer subjects of the "cute culture" in the 90s have now entered middle age, and can no longer substitute emotions into the love story of teenagers as the protagonists, and from a marketing perspective, it is necessary to create a kind of story for this middle-aged man.
It seems reasonable to criticize "If This Is Love" and "Shaving" as distorted works that are simply intended to satisfy the "desires of middle-aged men who do not match their age and identity" in the elderly otaku. But if you stop here, you may fall into the mood of "criticism for the sake of criticism" and lose the core of the problem. Even if the delusions of middle-aged men can be regarded as the reason for the birth of the two works, this delusion is only a manifestation of the contemporary problem of "love poisoning". Just as Senator Bendo would argue against raising the age of "consent to sexual intercourse" on the grounds that there may be "sincere love", he believes that as long as it is "sincere love", it does not fall into the category of compulsory intercourse - this is a typical example of the sanctification of "love". That is to say, the essence of Bendo's speech does not come purely from the carnal desire for young girls, but from his vision of a dangerous "love" relationship with an unmatched contrast, a lack of realism, and a moral edge.
Dangerous relationships that can be broken at any time often imply a special charm, like thorny roses that continue to lure contemporary Japanese into a violent "love". In order to stabilize the emotions of these "love poisoners", more and more pure love fiction works have emerged in the literary, film and television circles. In this sense, the introduction of "If This Is Love" and "Shaving", which have a poor age and identity, are in line with the standard pure love story characteristics. Therefore, we should not judge these two works from the perspective of Japanese social issues such as "aid communication" or "father's life" (sex trafficking with middle-aged men who are close to their father's age), but should also consider them from the perspective of "love".
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="27" > uses the age difference setting to reverse highlight "love"</h1>
"If This Is Love" and "Shaving" are both about male office workers who don't have to try to understand each other, nor do they have to rely on any special efforts to get the favor of female high school students, so that they develop into a couple with a huge age difference. The two works also clearly indicate that in general, office workers and female high school students are not matched, and there is an age gap between couples, especially when one of them is a minor, they will be scorned by the surroundings.
Matsushima has branches and lights. Image: If This Is Love, Episode 9
For example, Ryo's colleague Yuki Matsushima in "If This Is Love" learns of Ryo's feelings for Ichika and says:
If you like it, you can't do it. But if you are in a relationship, won't you be troubled by the age difference between you? I can't look down on the look of distress or sadness on people I like. So instead of being upset, it's better to associate with me, can't you?
(Episode 9)
From Youzhi's confession, Liang began to realize the objective evaluation of himself that he was "not compatible with female high school students". In the end, although Youzhi failed to communicate with Liang as she wished, her words made Liang begin to realize the problems caused by the "age gap" to him and Yihua.
The age difference between me and Ichika should be an obstacle to our relationship, and after Yuki told me that it would be better to choose her, I also felt that this was the case. From a general point of view, it is indeed more realistic to interact with a branch, but would it be better for a flower?
(Episode 10)
In addition, Liang's father criticized him for "having to follow reality and live down-to-earth" and objected to his association with female high school students (episode 11). In the story, it can also be seen that the male high school student of the same grade who also pursues Ichikaku, "Tamaru Kuai", has become Liang's love enemy. For Yihua, students of the same level who are similar in age and have common interests are definitely more suitable for getting along as objects. However, since fast appears in contrast to the bright light (with a huge difference in age and identity), it is difficult for Ichika to judge whether her mood for fast is "in love" or not. Kuaiye said to Liang: "Treating the age difference as a weapon suit is a manifestation of immaturity." However, Ichika still refused to confess quickly, and gradually developed feelings for Liang. In the twelfth episode, she even expresses a seemingly contradictory love feeling: "At first I felt disgusted, but now I have love." "If This Is Love" meticulously describes the process: through long-term daily life, women's dislike of men will gradually transform into love - this is also a common narrative in ordinary love works.
"Shaving" sets the heroine Sha You in the weak position of "a female high school student who ran away from home", emphasizing her incompatibility with the male protagonist from the perspective of paid accommodation relationship. In order to temporarily dispel the risk of providing accommodation for female high school students who have run away from home, There is a risk of interest in itself, and in order to temporarily eliminate this risk, Shayou has been in a relationship with men who are willing to provide accommodation, and these men obtain the flesh of female high school students while providing accommodation and living expenses. So, when he found out that Yoshida was different from other men, Sayu said, "I haven't met any requests so far, just the people who kindly took me in" (the first sentence), "I don't think there is such a thing as unconditional tenderness." Being gentle with others should at least have a reason and purpose. (Episode 3). It is precisely because Sha You's thinking has long been dominated by a sick paid relationship that she will feel that "unpaid love" is unrealistic and unworthy of herself. It can be said that Shayou has been trapped in the relationship between men and women in the exchange of benefits, divorced from universal values. As a result, she is confused by the "unpaid love" exhibited by Yoshida who does not seek physical relationships:
People I've met in the past want to make out with me. Wouldn't Mr. Yoshida think? Don't you consider these desires at all? You have to answer me head-on. Won't I be excited to see me?
I couldn't do anything for Mr. Yoshida. Anyone can do this kind of housework, not necessarily me. I've been causing trouble, but Mr. Yoshida has always been so gentle with me. It was so gentle that I was afraid of being rejected by you, felt uneasy and frightened, and gradually became overwhelmed. If Mr. Yoshida doesn't hate it, make love to me, and if you want to make out with me, I might feel better.
(Episode 3)
Yoshida showed confusion. Image: Shave Episode 3
To Sayo's emotional confession, Yoshida's response was:
You are cute. Although he is still a high school student, his body is very plump, his face is also very beautiful, and he can do housework, which is simply perfect. But I don't have any feelings for you yet. I don't want to make out with women I don't like yet. Didn't you just say, "If Mr. Yoshida doesn't hate it?"? Then I'll tell you: I hate! I refuse! Got it?
You said you couldn't do anything for me, but that wasn't the case for me. I changed a lot since you came. When you get home, you can eat and say something that you don't have, and you can sleep in a room that is not alone. As long as there is this, this home is already very warm to me, and I want to get home early every time I leave work. As long as I have Shayo at home, my life is already happy enough. That's why I don't want you to do anything for me. Haha, I am such a lonely uncle.
There is no such thing as a "love" object, so there is no reason to develop a physical relationship with her — this can also be seen as a sanctification of "love". Yoshida's claim may have been a cheap way to conceal his true feelings, but Sayo's admiration for him was ignited by this deliberate distance.
Of course, even if he didn't take a shot at Sayo, Yoshida's behavior could not be regarded as a righteous gentleman's move. "Shaving" also suggests that "taking in and caring for female high school students" is actually the same crime as "obscene imprisonment". After learning that his subordinate Yoshida took in female high school students in his own home, Goto Aiyili, who once rejected Yoshida's pursuit, came to Yoshida's house to "educate" Sayo:
The presence of middle and high school students is very special. No matter how desperately you resist, you have to accept the reality that you are now "nothing but a high school student." The meaning of this identity is so powerful. Whether you want to acknowledge or take advantage of this identity, unfortunately, from the perspective of others, you are just a female high school student. So even if Jun Yoshida can allow you to stay, society will not allow you.
(Episode 5)
Ai goto meets Sayu. Image: Shave, episode 5
What Kyoya Yaguchi, the man who had taken her in in order to make love to Sayo, also Caused Yoshida to fall into distress:
Maybe you feel like you saved her and feel good about yourself. But you know, you and I are both guilty of the same crime without the consent of the guardian. Will you take care of her for the rest of your life? Did you raise her for the rest of your life? What about universities? What about employment? You certainly can't do that, after all, you're not her parents, nothing.
(Episode 6)
Kyoya Yaguchi came to see Sayo again. Image: Shave, episode 6
It is through the sight of these others that Yoshida and Sayo have to face the reality they once escaped: their common life cannot last forever, and Sayu will one day have to return to asahikawa's hometown. In fact, Sha You's "wandering" for half a year was also interrupted by the visit of her brother Yisa. Faced with Ichisa, who wanted to bring Sayo back to her hometown, Yoshida asked, "Can you at least give her a few days of buffer period?" Just a few days. I think Shayo also needs time to think about it carefully. Ichisa agreed to Yoshida's serious request and gave Sayo a one-week buffer period (episode 9). In the end, in order to live up to Yisa's kindness, Sha You made up his mind to face the past and explained the reason why he ran away from home.
Sayo and friends. Image: Shave, episode 9
A high school friend jumped off a building in front of Sha You because he could not bear the bullying in school, and was affected by the suicide incident, and Sha You no longer went to school. Her family also poured in a lot of media. The mother, who cares about decency, scolds Sha You in a hurry, "It won't be you who killed her." Sha You could not bear this verbal violence from her mother and chose to run away from home. After running out of the 300,000 yen worth of living expenses that Ichisa secretly gave him, the desperate Sayo began to sell his flesh to unknown men in exchange for temporary shelter. After half a year of wandering, Sha You met Yoshida.
Of course, there are precursors to the discord between Sayo and her mother. Sayo and Ichisa's father is the president of the famous company "Ogihara Foods" and a person with a heart, and when his mother was pregnant with Sayo, his father already had other women in his heart. Although the father asked the mother to have an abortion, the mother insisted on giving birth, eager to repair the relationship with her husband through the birth of Shayo, but the father eventually left the family - in this way, Shayo became a proof that the mother was abandoned by the father. As a result, as a daughter who was tabooed by her mother, Shayou has never been able to get maternal love (episode 10). After learning about this complicated family situation, Yoshida decides to accompany Sayo back to his hometown of Asahikawa and persuade Sayo's mother to accept her daughter's existence. When they arrived in Asahikawa, they were severely criticized by Sayu's mother: "What adoption?" It's just to take female high school students home without permission. "Isn't it just a problem to have self-awareness?" This is essentially a crime. Yoshida did his best to persuade the mother and daughter to repair the relationship, and eventually left Hokkaido alone (episode 12).
Mother and daughter. Image: Shave, episode 12
In the final conversation, Yoshida, who was preparing to board the plane back to Tokyo, had this set of conversations with Ichisa:
Ichisa: Mr. Yoshida, you are actually in love with Sayo.
Yoshida: How could that be. She's still a high school student.
Ichisa: Love has nothing to do with age.
(Episode 13)
"Love has nothing to do with age" – the essence of "Shaving" is condensed in this sentence. Although the work uses exaggerated depictions to emphasize the mismatch between the identities of office workers and female high school students, it still basically maintains the pure love narrative of "overcoming many obstacles and gradually heating up the relationship", in this sense, "Shave" can also be regarded as a kind of "love" story.
"Renting a Girlfriend"
If "Rented Girlfriend" in July 2020 questioned the pure love narrative pervaded by Japanese animation through the leasing of male and female interactions, then "If This Is Love" and "Shaving" brought a contemporary update to the concept of "pure love" and gave this narrative new vitality.
This vitality also comes from the perfect ending ushered in by the two works. In "If This Is Love", although there are twists and turns, Liang and Ichika still get married at the station where the two meet. At the end of "Shave", two years after Yoshida sent Sayo back to Hokkaido, Yoshida came home from work to find Shayo sitting under the telephone pole where the two had met after graduating from high school, and because of this reunion, he also shed tears of emotion. Just like the ending of these two works, most of the fictional stories of pure love will choose to end in a momentary climax, and the script will be hastily written after describing the sweetest moments of the two people. This is because the emotions after the climax of "love" will often only continue to fade, in order to satisfy the audience who has long been "poisoned in love", they can only stop at the climax, or end in the form of two "dead goodbyes", forever solidifying that beautiful moment.
The audience of "love poisoning" has gradually become tolerant of various settings of the work in the process of continuous consumption of the flood of pure love to the story, and for these audiences, it is difficult for the creators to show enough novelty in the pure love story. In this case, there is an unfillable "age gap" between the characters, and the shaky relationship that may be regarded as immoral or even "criminal" if they take a wrong step has become one of the few settings that can continue the lifeblood of pure love to the work. In this sense, "If This Is Called Love" and "Shaving" not simply soothe the twisted desires of middle-aged Japanese men who do not match their identity, but also reflect the "lingering" of the story of pure love to over-consumption in contemporary Japan.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="70" > let love get out of fiction and return to reality</h1>
The plot of "Shave" is also reminiscent of the Japanese manga "Happy Little Room". In this comic, an unfortunate young girl lives with the kidnapper day and night after being kidnapped, and thus feels for the first time what happiness is. In the work, the girl even agrees to marry the kidnapper, who also says that she will bring happiness to the girl. Because of the timing of the manga's public release on the Internet, which coincided with the arrest of the perpetrators of the "Asaka Girls' High School Imprisonment Incident" in reality, the German intellectual historian and critic Tsuyoshi Fujisaki criticized the manga as a "product of delusions" that "satisfies and promotes the desire for secondary harm":
Because there are victims, some people may feel that this should not be publicized and broadcast on television. But as a work born after a meticulous interview with the abduction that occurred in reality, "Happy Little Room" does not have fatal problems. However, it is undeniable that this work is indeed the product of delusion, promoting and satisfying the desire for secondary harm.
"Happy Little Room" has been viewed nearly 300 million times on the Internet, and it has also achieved live-action TV dramas. Image: Official website HP
In the case of the imprisonment of the asaka girls' middle school students, the age difference between the perpetrators and the victims is also close to 10 years old. Image: Niconico
Although "Shave" does not have such a strong dual target of reality and time compared to "Happy Little Room", however, in contemporary Japan, where "aid communication" and "daddy live" are rampant, we cannot completely rule out the possibility that the work has reference to real events. Therefore, Fujisaki's criticism of "The Little Room of Happiness" can also be substituted for the work of "Shaving" in a sense. However, just as the infamous "consumer finance" (a type of usury) replaces social assistance as a life-saving straw for Japan's poor when necessary, irresponsible "mastermind" and parentalism custody can sometimes fill the hearts of young girls in Japan's estranged family relationships. Of course, it is imperative that contemporary Japan severely punish adults who exploit the ignorance and lack of judgment of young girls and engage in sexual transactions with them, as well as careful care for the physical and mental health of adolescent girls' victims. However, on the other hand, before the birth of the tragedy, contemporary story consumers who are immersed in the narrative of "pure love" also need to return to sobriety from the state of "love poisoning". What needs to be reflected at this time is also the culprit of a certain group-style delusion that arouses the desire of contemporary Japanese men to take in—the ubiquitous "pure love narrative".
"Daddy Live" was even made into a TV series. Image: dTV
In contemporary times, the excessive emphasis and pursuit of "love" is like a drug that erodes the consumers of stories led by Japanese men. Even if there is no heterosexual experience, boys who are surrounded and tamed by pure love narratives can easily begin to despise and hate women in reality because of the gap between reality and ideals. As Quan has now reported, these emotions will inevitably turn into the words and deeds of anti-feminists and involuntary celibates on the Internet, and what is more frightening is that through the domestic "sister pua" style of physical relationship-oriented hook-up practices, these violence sometimes even develop into crimes such as molestation and rape. If we also feel a kind of "jealousy" of "If This Is Love" and "Shaving", then perhaps we should reflect on whether we have also been brainwashed by the concept of "love" – perhaps the concept of "pure love" or "sincere love" in our hearts is itself nothing more than a delusion constructed by the media.
In "If This Is Love", when Ichika, who has been pursuing but has not received a response, gradually begins to show kindness to herself, Liang instead falls into a sense of disgust. Worried about the "age gap", Liang even began to avoid a flower:
Recently I could feel a flower showing me overtures. When I sensed this kindness, I suddenly began to be afraid. I'm always scared by the old self that comes to mind. Can I really cherish a flower? Is it really a responsible mature adult? Either way, I don't want to upset Yihua. So I wondered, wouldn't it be better to leave her?
To Such a sudden retreat, his friend Masuda said: "If you don't want to make important people sad, then only work hard." As Masuda said, after establishing a relationship through communication, how to develop and maintain the relationship is the focus, and the object of love is not some kind of property that can be disposed of at will, but an object that needs to be constantly maintained through communication. In this sense, "If This Is Love" and "Shaving" are not just about quelling the resentment of contemporary otaku and "FFF Groups" (an anti-lovers organization from the light novel "Stupid Quiz Summoner") that cannot establish intimate relationships with the opposite sex. Just as Lianghui tries to understand and like the light novels and animations that Ichigo loves, the first thing to try to build intimacy is to understand and enter the real world of others—and now, even the pure love stories that we should be wary of are telling us this common sense.