#pumpky

On one hand, his language in Japanese is pretty damn harsh, including a couple of things that would definitely offend somebody. I personally am annoyed by the whole “women should be nice love interests” thing, too (though admittedly that’s because it’s way more embedded in the narrative than just one character’s worldview).

On the other, I feel like it’s less a fault of the character specifically and more a flaw in a) Japanese society and the baked-in attitudes about minorities; and b) Kodaka himself.

I honestly think that Kodaka was throwing those bits in for verisimilitude, not understanding that they aren’t really PC. I could totally see terms like that being used in real life casually, since the person doesn’t quite understand the malice that usually goes behind them. I could also see similar language being used by 2chan denizens, which seems to be much closer to the demographic Kodaka hails from.

So like yeah, I definitely wouldn’t defend saying that kind of stuff as okay, but at the same time it’s an issue that’s way more nuanced than it may first appear. Sexism, homophobia, transphobia, etc. is subtly woven into quite a few things that someone not used to seeing it addressed probably wouldn’t notice.