I get that, but that's not exactly the sexualization of Link. It's that he as a character has a legit romantic interest. That's not the same thing as sexualizing him as a twink.
Romantic interest implies he ever responds to them, which I don't think he has ever even acknowledged a female as a female other than in the damsel sense. But that's splitting hairs.
But having a much older woman with notable N64 giant tits give him a hug that "feels warm" and then a bottle of milk is basically setting up sexualization for the Western audience because the innuendos are screaming at you.
Its a problem with importing Japanese media in general. They find "young person gets involved in a sexual situation" fucking hilarious, its why lolishit is so rampant and half the jokes in Shin-chan involve his wiener. There isn't any malice or evil to it, its just their humor whereas that stuff is always immediately clocked as "inappropriate" or "disgusting" on this side of the ocean. Its the same with the crossdressing thing and many other staples of their media.
I get that, but that's not exactly the sexualization of Link. It's that he as a character has a legit romantic interest. That's not the same thing as sexualizing him as a twink.
Romantic interest implies he ever responds to them, which I don't think he has ever even acknowledged a female as a female other than in the damsel sense. But that's splitting hairs.
But having a much older woman with notable N64 giant tits give him a hug that "feels warm" and then a bottle of milk is basically setting up sexualization for the Western audience because the innuendos are screaming at you.
Its a problem with importing Japanese media in general. They find "young person gets involved in a sexual situation" fucking hilarious, its why lolishit is so rampant and half the jokes in Shin-chan involve his wiener. There isn't any malice or evil to it, its just their humor whereas that stuff is always immediately clocked as "inappropriate" or "disgusting" on this side of the ocean. Its the same with the crossdressing thing and many other staples of their media.