This was just something that came to mind when I was reading over those posts (which I do plan on making something else later, as some other things came to mind that I wanna address later), but to keep to the title of the post, I do honestly feel like we're just throwing the word loli at anyone under the age of 18 in an anime when that has never been the case.
Kanna Kamui, from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, is a loli.
Anya Forger, from SPY X FAMILY, is a loli.
Eri, from My Hero Academia, is a loli.
Genshin Impact specifically has a 'short female' model, which nine playable characters have, and eight of them would be lolis, using the actual definition pre-'New Right' era (Diona, Kachina, Klee, Nahida, Qiqi, Sayu, Sigewinne and Yaoyao).
Why am I going through these examples? Mostly because I want to show people what characters fit under the classical definition used before the past few years of the anti-anime movement trying to use 'language creep' to muddle the definition.
I don't care which side of the argument you're on, I just wish that people would at the very least use the actual definitions of words because saying that Satsuki Kiryuin, Ryuko Matoi, Marin Kitagawa, among many other 'under 18 but visibly not like the kids I mentioned above' characters are lolis is rather bullshit and only serves to work against the right.
Just my two cents on the topic, but overall, whether or not things become legal or illegal, I am hoping that people are at least able to actually work with the true definitions of words rather than abusing language to get whatever they want. Attempts to ban Eastern media isn't going to make people suddenly love current Western media, it's going to make people further check out of society.
Careful with the phrasing there. It sounds like you're saying you're a pedophile for different, unrelated reasons. And, to be clear, I'm just having fun with the phrasing, not calling you a pedophile.
This. So much this. People get hung up on ages...of cartoon characters. Anime is often youth-oriented, but with adult themes. Highschoolers saving the world, and such. Putting aside the "loli" thing, we're often talking 15 year olds, or 16 year olds...the later of which I believe is legal in Japan, so that's already equivalent culturally to 18 year olds.
Some people take shit way too far and call you names for liking a canonically sixteen year old fictional character. That's absurd. They don't present as underage, physically, mentally, or story-wise. So that's even sillier than arguing over lolis. They're cartoon characters. If the story only works if they're very young, that's a bit weird, but almost always the story would work the same if they were twenty or thirty too because, again, all the actions and stakes are serious and adult.
I was curious, and looked it up, because I wanted a Western equivalent cartoon. Daphne from Scooby-Doo is apparently sixteen, and is well known for being hot. No one accuses you of being a pedo if you say Daphne is sexy. It's some weird anime-exclusive thing.
Lol, whoops
Yeah, exactly this. From the same society that was happy to discuss Jennifer Lawrence's 19-year old swimsuit pics on CNN.
Heck. Not so much anymore, but not that far back you had people openly lusting after actual underage characters or even actors. I think Britney Spears was underage, for example, when she was first getting big, and was very sexual in the music videos.
Talking about a real nineteen year old being hot is tame compared to some of what was acceptable not that long ago. But, yeah, like a cartoon that's stated to be the wrong age and you're in trouble!
Some people were literally counting down the days until Millie Bobby Brown turned 18, so that all tracks
As well as one of the Game of Thrones actresses, I think.
And, let's talk about the other side, or else someone will just argue 'see, men are trash. Cartoons, actresses, doesn't matter, they're scum.' Any famous boy will get lusted after hardcore, and they have no shame.
They were talking about Justin Bieber in really disgusting ways when he was still underage, and, like with Brown, counting down to his eighteenth birthday...like, no shame, out in public, on TV and everything.
They've got no ground to try to shame anime enjoyers who think their waifus are hot. When, you know, they are, because they're literally designed that way.
And then she went from 17 to 35 overnight. She looks rough these days.