#age discourse

let me lay it out. Axel sees that, in the cult that he's a part of, there is a vulnerable, mostly clueless teenager that no one is looking out for, and he knows that if he doesn't look out for him no one will. of course he acts friendly and is protective towards the kid. in BBS, doesn't Isa remark that Lea is always picking up strays? Axel looking out for and spending time with Roxas is in line with his characterization. in fact, I'd argue that early in Days, Axel doesn't even expect Roxas to get particularly attached to him (see: when he gets back from his CO mission)

as someone remarked in another ask, Axel's dynamic with Roxas and Xion is very much like an older coworker helping out and supporting the clueless teenagers that they work alongside. and it makes sense that their relationship becomes very close seeing as he's pretty much Roxas and Xion's whole support system, due to the fucked up circumstances. and he doesn't even like, use them for emotional labour or dump his problems on them??? like he doesn't even try to involve them in all the shit going on with Saix or his other problems???

idk how the character ages being revealed would suddenly change this whole established dynamic and arc and make it creepy. I don't even have a horse in the whole Akuroku discussion, but the way people are so attached to preconceived notions about adults being friends with teenagers that they would interpret Axel and Roxas's friendship like that made me kind of mad tbh

If Axel had been a full-blown villain in KH2, or if his dynamic with Roxas was portrayed negatively rather than sympathetically, then people probably would've gotten pedo vibes from it and correctly identified him as an adult. But because he was an anti-villain who the narrative frames as just wanting his friend back... because we're so clearly meant to CARE ABOUT and root for this relationship... it complicates things.

The thing is it's WEIRD for a roughly 15 year old to be besties with a grown ass man. Age gap friendships do exist, but typically much later in life. It's incredibly rare for a teenager to be so close with someone a decade plus older than than. To the point most people would immediately assume something predatory is happening. So yeah, before BBS clarified that Axel WAS significantly older than Roxas, I think it makes sense people assumed he was at most a few years older. If anything it's a charitable assumption that makes Axel look much less like a creep. Since the story wants you to care about their friendship and it would be weird-verging-on-uncomfortable if he's so much older... "clearly" Axel must be close in age to Roxas.

Their relationship is given the same kind of writing and significance as Sora, Riku, and Kairi, who ARE all within two years of each other. But logically Axel's dynamic with Roxas should be very different if they have an extreme age gap. The fact that it was presented so similarly to Sorikai (and even Days continued this, since adding Xion to the mix just further solidified parallels between the two trios) surely contributed to the misunderstanding.

I think this is also why now most of the fandom has pivoted to family-zoning Akuroku. Axel is either Roxas' older brother figure, or even a father figure. Despite that not reflecting their interactions and dynamic in canon. It's because deep down, We All Know. Their friendship with the age gap is weird. It immediately rings subconscious alarm bells about Axel's intentions. So now that we KNOW Axel's age and shipping him with Roxas is unsavory, fans had to go in the extreme opposite direction from romance to find another reason for his slightly obsessive devotion to Roxas.

I feel bad for the diehard Akuroku fans. Most if not all got into the ship at a time when they interpreted the pair as much closer in age. The ship wasn't problematic until later games made it so. It's a shame that so many people get harassed for holding onto a pairing that was near and dear to them for several years and was NEVER predatory in their eyes. As long as everyone properly tags and warns for the content they create, I don't see why we can't all leave each other alone. Enjoy the stuff you're into, block the stuff you're not. But trying to criticize and censor a fictional pairing out of existence doesn't actually help anything in reality. It just hurts the real people who DO like the ship.

Like im all for protecting minors, but A) zanka isnt a real person and therefore faces no dangerous repercussions from explicit content made about him and B) teenagers??? Have??? Sex???

It feels reminiscent of purity culture to act like Zanka being 17 means you cant picture him in any sexual enviornment EVER. Like for goodness sakes he fights JABBER. Who is only a year older than him! Hell he could be 4 months older than him in that case (I dont remember his exact birthday my apologies)

Teenagers have sex and engage in explicit activities. The important part is not OVER sexualizing them and making sexual context centered around their character as well as not making their age a sexual selling point. Yall- yall watched euphoria right? Sure grown adults were playing these characters but a lot of em had to be canonically under 18?

Wasn't she 24 when they met? That doesn't seem too young. I don't know if I'll feel different when I'm out of my early twenties though. It's always better to not be too male-centered or relationship centered and have your own thing going. But I guess it was quite different even few years ago.

So I want to start off by saying that if you, personally, as a young adult, don't want to engage in romantic relationships with older adults, that is completely valid. That is your boundary and your choice to make. I'm not trying to change your mind. No offense, but I don't really want to date an 18 year old either.

The fact remains, though, that there are young adults who want (or are open to) romantic relationships with older adults, and that leads to the question: What should be done about that? Who should have the authority to stop them?

The difference between an 18 year old and a 17 year old -- the reason I will support an 18 year old's right to choose an older partner, but will absolutely not support a 17 year old doing so, even though, yes, there's no real difference in "maturity" -- is because an 18 year old has the legal right to leave if they are being coerced.

There may be practical barriers to them leaving if they are being coerced. As you point out, most young adults are poor and vulnerable to economic exploitation -- but the same is true of older adults who are poor. Anecdotally, most of the happy, mutually respectful, long-lasting relationships with significant age differences started off on relatively equal economic footing, rather than the stereotypical "sugar daddy" type relationship (I'm not saying those can't be happy and long lasting! I'm only talking about my anecdotal observations!).

And some -- not all, but some -- older people who preferentially date younger people do so for ageist, objectifying reasons, which I talked about here.

But concluding that it's unethical to date someone younger is just using age as a proxy for something else (money, respect) that it's not actually a very good proxy for.

If you say "It's unethical for an older adult to date a younger adult because the older adult has more money," not only is that not necessarily true, but also, wouldn't it be more direct to say "It's unethical for someone with more money to date someone with less money"? Which sounds absurd! So it's not about money. It's about age, and using money as a backformed justification for someone's beliefs about age.