High-school heroines getting less appealing as you get older?

[onorub]

I used to mainly care about how appealing the looks of the heroines are and only care about personalities when it came to chemistry with the protagonist, but as i got older the anime traits of high-school heroines made me see them more as small animals rather than girls i'd actually bang. Has anyone else experienced something similar?

[Plk_Lesiak]

Hey, your VNDB list is... Quite something.

Anyway, I think I have a different problem, because as I'm getting old(er) and becoming more of certified failure at life, reading coming-of-age high school stories becomes kind of taxing. The heroines themselves though, they only rarely feel like actual highschoolers. For example, if I remember well, the main cast of Flowers are all high school freshmen, so 15-years-olds. However, they neither look nor act the part. The notion of age is all so abstract in both VNs and much of anime that I'll probably have to get much older to start feeling that dissonance.

On the other hand, I don't really get off to otaku media in the first place, so the "cute little animal" kind of appeal shouldn't spoil my enjoyment. I'll skip the h-scenes either way and the romance should still be satisfying enough.

[MaggieROBOT]

Damn I'm not even that much of an old hag yet but I feel this thread, this one game I started recently made me go all mom to the high and middle school kids like "I want to adopt them then pat their head, brush their hair and ask how was their day at school" while going all THIRST for those anime dudes in his late 20s early 30s thicc asses so I like ousans now thanks for coming to my ted talk

[GXOALMD]

54 minutes ago, Plk_Lesiak said:

The notion of age is all so abstract in both VNs and much of anime

Have you read Little Busters?  For the most part, the characters in that actually feel like Highschoolers.

[Plk_Lesiak]

1 hour ago, GXOALMD said:

Have you read Little Busters?  For the most part, the characters in that actually feel like Highschoolers.

No, but I think Key VNs would generally be among those that threat their high school setting more seriously than most. They're also distinctly devoid of sex-appeal, so ultimately everything is in order.

[JJ!]

They haven't seemed to get less appealing to me.  Dazed and Confused got it right - "That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age."

[Clephas]

Personality-wise, I am tired of the 'usual' archetypes like osananajimi variations and the like.  I'm also tired of high schools as settings.  However, if you ask me whether I can still get it up for them... the answer is yes.  Most of them are no longer waifu material though, lol.

[kokoro]

You're probably in your thirties lol. It'd be weird if you were attracted to girls that are 20 years younger than you.

[Arcane City Game Studios]

3 hours ago, kokoro said:

You're probably in your thirties lol. It'd be weird if you were attracted to girls that are 20 years younger than you.

The main dev in our team is in his early 40's and his 'waifus' are Saya, Lena (Everlasting Summer) and Cassidy Solaris (from our stuff - he created her after all). Nothing weird about it, it's just him being him 

[mitchhamilton]

kotori will always have a special place in my heart. <3

 

but for me, its just the feeling of repetition really. been reading sabbat of the witch and i just takes forever for 2 people, especially the route im on, to just confess. then its all the same every time. they take their damn time with kissing, with sex, with the drama. reading these routes over and over again is just getting tiring. give me an adult relationship already. office workers sort of setting and not one with experienced women and a shy, fresh from college virgin!

[adamstan]

I often thought about it. I feel like in many aspects (relationships included) I haven't grown up, whatever that means. I have quite weird (?) memory, as I'm still remembering school days like it was maybe a year ago, not over 20. Also, never being in a romantic relationship, I kind of didn't have the opportunity to "progress", I'm still at level 0. I often still feel like that shy 17-18 yo I was back then. So while I'm mostly not attracted to actual high-schoolers for various reasons, I can relate pretty easily to characters in JVN high-school settings.

Also, because I've been kind of "frozen" for the last 20 years, I have somewhat skewed age perception. By that I mean, that when I think a girl is just a few years younger than me, she turns out to actually be 18-19, when I think she's roughly my age, she's often actually in her mid 20s, and when I look at girls that actually are my age, I often feel like they are much older than me

Back to VNs - while, like I said above, I can relate to high-school characters, I also can appreciate adult settings. I loved The Language of Love.

Edited January 24, 2020 by adamstan

[Clephas]

5 hours ago, kokoro said:

You're probably in your thirties lol. It'd be weird if you were attracted to girls that are 20 years younger than you.

It would be weird if they weren't.  I've yet to meet a heterosexual man, regardless of age (unless they were impotent), who didn't have an interest in 18 year old girls, even if he didn't have any intention of doing anything about it.  Males are predisposed toward it.   

Moreover, eroge girls are eternally young and far more attractive than filthy 3D females.  *smiles innocently*

[adamstan]

5 minutes ago, Clephas said:

who didn't have an interest in 18 year old girls, even if he didn't have any intention of doing anything about it.  Males are predisposed toward it.   

Maybe, but the main reason I'm finally not attracted to high-schoolers is perhaps their behaviour. So I might see cute or hot girl and feel attracted, but that lasts only until she speaks   (Actually that extends to other age groups of course. For me the way of speaking, and general behaviour is very major factor of attraction - perhaps even more important than appearance)

Edited January 24, 2020 by adamstan

[Clephas]

14 minutes ago, adamstan said:

Maybe, but the main reason I'm finally not attracted to high-schoolers is perhaps their behaviour. So I might see cute or hot girl and feel attracted, but that lasts only until she speaks   (Actually that extends to other age groups of course. For me the way of speaking, and general behaviour is very major factor of attraction - perhaps even more important than appearance)

I can understand that... I'm a sucker for Kyou-kotoba (Kyoto accent), for instance. 

[Stormwolf]

6 hours ago, Clephas said:

It would be weird if they weren't.  I've yet to meet a heterosexual man, regardless of age (unless they were impotent), who didn't have an interest in 18 year old girls, even if he didn't have any intention of doing anything about it.  Males are predisposed toward it.   

Moreover, eroge girls are eternally young and far more attractive than filthy 3D females.  *smiles innocently*

Females are no different

[alpalin]

No, not yet and i hope not in near future. I am already close rock bottom that would finnish me lol

[Yuuko]

Recommend seeing a doctor.

It is normal for males to crave for young and clean girls.

[Ruberick]

I'm not very attracted by physical appearance, or even interested in physical contact, for me it's mostly about reaching a certain state of mind. I guess that's part of the reason why I easily connected with 2D, or even 0D since I still read lots of books. (At some point I read the VN Killer Queen and, you can call me incompentent, I couldnt set it up for my life and only had a black screen and text with a poorly optimized font for the whole VN and still read and enjoyed it)

That's why High-School heroines are as appealing as most other heroines for me, high school settings less so... Especially when it's about a club and a lot of time is actually spent in school. High school as a subsetting for expanding the story is still okay. I just try to mix the VNs I read so I don't get too aware of repeating school tropes and usually read at least 3 at the same time so none of the topics/settings get stale.

[sarkasmus]

At the current point of time no, I'm only 26 though.

And as I love to escape into daydreams because my real life sucks (screwed up my attempt to study physics now being an incredibly bored Elekctronics technician, over time lost contact to every single one of my friends and being both too shy and boring to make new ones, I'm looking forward to a very lonely and forgettable life...) and I really miss the days when I was still a bit more naive and idialistic, so I'll probably always like settings like that.

[ittaku]

As the oldest person here, I can say a resounding "no," but that could be me turning into a dirty old man instead...

[Stormwolf]

1 hour ago, ittaku said:

As the oldest person here, I can say a resounding "no," but that could be me turning into a dirty old man instead...

Most likely. They're definitely losing their appeal here. Well, especially when they act very innocent/sheltered. 

[ittaku]

1 hour ago, Stormwolf said:

Most likely. They're definitely losing their appeal here. Well, especially when they act very innocent/sheltered. 

I found it waxed and waned. Initially appealing, then the appeal died, then it came back. Quite sure it's the dirty old man phenomenon.

[sarkasmus]

43 minutes ago, ittaku said:

I found it waxed and waned. Initially appealing, then the appeal died, then it came back. Quite sure it's the dirty old man phenomenon.

Or missing the own youth? It seems to be the case for many men which they try to compensate it that way.

There might be an intersection though.

[ittaku]

53 minutes ago, sarkasmus said:

Or missing the own youth? It seems to be the case for many men which they try to compensate it that way.

That's actually what I really think, but I like to portray the worst possible so that no one else can say it about me.

[Acrylic7]

Personally I don't mind high schooller as heroine since I know that this is fictional, as long as they are interesting (not innocent, spoiled, or cry baby).