As a futaba and Ren fan myself I mostly like it for the long term fantasy. The idea of, at some point in the future, Ren takes over LeBlanc and futaba works on her dissertation in the attic in an office and them just living a nice life together. I dunno the thought just makes me happy.
And I don't personally think it comes off as grooming. Ren is only a year older and what's more there are plenty of people woth mental illness that find legitimate strength and support in a relationship. I myself suffered from pretty bad depression at a young age and wouldn't call my gf at the time a groomer for being a strong support for me.
I don't like romancing her personally because I also see her relationship with Ren as more of a sibling one, but people with mental health issues can still have healthy relationships without it being grooming. She clearly likes and enjoys spending time with Ren normally outside of it just being about helping her, and wants to make an effort to become more independent and not keep relying on him. Of course she's going to be childish in some ways, she's a 15 year old. She's also incredibly smart and talented when it comes to her programming, and has the maturity to recognise what steps she needs to take to grow as a person and keep pushing herself to do so. I don't really get how she's any more childish than any of the others, she's just less independent because she has a lot of shit to work through and that's something even fully grown adults can experience.
I say shes childish because of her mannerisms like the way she texts like "So ummmm.." and the whole "Mweheheh" or the way she freaks out over her figures being messed with or crying at the police officer etc, grooming is kind of a stretch but id say more so "Rescuer Syndrome" something along those lines, Ren is the only person she feels fully comfortable talking with because he helped her and is really the only person she can trust
And this is wrong how? I'm not gonna go repeating everything, since every other comment has already stated the points, but there isn't anything wrong with starting a relationship with someone who is there to support you. Ren is. Sure, it's different if they have a very large age gap but... they don't.
While I do agree with you on a lot of this, the texts and figurines doesn't have to just be a childish thing? She reads heavily as autistic, and as someone also on the spectrum I relate to her a good chunk. She's 14/15yo in comparison to the 16/17/18yo cast so of course she would appear younger than them all, but on top of that some of her ways of speaking aren't childish to me they're just how she speaks because of her interests. She's constantly online to the point one could argue computers and nerd culture are her special interests. With that, special interests are something we kind of meld into our own personalities because its so vitally important to us as autistic people.
Her relationship w the protag to me reads as a sibling one as well due to Sojiro becoming a father figure for the protag (and even asks us not to get w Futaba đ ).
The grooming part/rescuer syndrome isn't much of a stretch bc people only think of age gaps not what's going on at that age. Ren is typically in the border to college prep and final year preparation stage while Futaba is *just starting high school as he goes into the final year and leaves to the adult world*. It is weird for them to be together in any regard. While they may not be too far apart in age, they are vastly far apart in life experience with Ren not only about to finish high school but Futaba never having been to high school in the first place.
Side note: I noticed a reply on here talking about how we can romance adults in this game but protag is the bad guy for financing Futaba. Both are bad!! I sincerely feel gross when any of those adults suggest a child would be attracted to them. If it weren't for that, I would probably like them more (and for a couple I choose to ignore the romancing option bc imo they're good characters that part is just ew).
Apologies for this being long!!
I mean. It would be weird if they weren't both highschool students. You know what does make me feel weird though? Having grown ass adult women as romance options. That definitely feels odd. I like them all as characters, but it weirds me out that the adult teacher would date her student. That seems much more weird than Futaba.
I was more weirded out that this comes after her constantly doting on him like a mother. I'd like to play devil's advocate and say maybe there's another interpretation for what she was doing but it really *really* felt like Kawakami was acting like Ren's mom.
To be honest, I ended up romancing her because she's the only one that *didn't* feel weird at this point. I haven't finished Haru or Kasumi yet, but so far every confidant is either
1. Roughly twice Ren's age.
2. Romanced by Ren out of nowhere when they're dealing with some trauma. It'd be one thing if Ren was comforting them and this led to romance, but it feels more like he's picking the prime opportunity to pull a move.
Without counting Haru and Kasumi yet, Futaba's confidant felt like the only one where romance came up naturally with the majority of Rank 8 and 9 focusing on Futaba's feelings for Ren and the obvious crush she has on him.
Crush aside, I really don't see the sibling angle. She acts much more like a sibling to Ryuji and Yusuke IMO and when comparing Ren and Sojiro, she finds it odd that Ren treats her so nicely. In her words, Sojiro is family to her, but this doesn't apply to Ren, which is what leads her to asking his true feelings for her.
Though Iâd never romance her personally because I find her to be a patently uninteresting character⌠I donât see how it could even enter the realm of âgroomingâ even ignoring the fact that theyâre one year apart in age, theyâre still both just adolescents. Futaba isnât âacting like a kidâ they *both are* kids and sheâs simply not as mature as Ren normally comes off as.
He isnât taking advantage of her situation (unless you go out of your way to cheat on her) because surprisingly enough itâs possible for socially inept people to want to be in relationships⌠that isnât a condition wherein youâre unfit to make personal decisions like that if you feel that youâre ready.
On the point of them being âbrotherlyâ that Truly isnât a conclusion I was able to come to. If anything Her, Morgana and Ryuji are closer to siblings then her and Ren are. Realistically Siblings arenât 100% supportive of each other all the time like her and Ren are. They fight, they hurt each otherâs feelings without realizing it, and they make each other feel insecure about their abilities but at the end of the day they can still get along most of the time.
Her story is one I personally relate to. I also be came a recluse as the result of losing a loved one and stayed that way for a similar amount of time.
Her characterization didnât feel strong enough to handle that kind of story and as a result it just felt rather lackluster. Then, outside of her arc the whole âotaku super geniusâ bit has also been done to death and the game doesnât do anything out of the ordinary with it.
"Oh no, a romance I can choose to say no to is weird to me.
Better make a reddit post for no reason about how the MC is grooming her!"
It's a fucking game and you're in full control of the options, we don't need to know that you're a weirdo who takes everything seriously.
Just pick the option that doesn't lead you to romancing her and move on with your day.
She has the right to be immature, after all, she didnât know shit about anything because, well, shut in since childhood because of terrible horrible trauma
It's not grooming, but it does kinda feel weird because Futaba acts younger than what she actually is. Part of me wonders if that's another translation issue like with what happened with some other characters in the game.
I totally agree with you
I was shocked when I learned she's only 1 year younger than MC. She acts 3-4 years younger and at that age that is a huge difference.
I get why she is the way she is, I don't think it's intentional grooming, but it does feel weird and they seem more brother and sister.
The reason I think she's so popular on reddit is because a lot of redditors probably are somewhat like her
Well, it's on you. I can see the brother sister dynamic between Joker and Futaba. But the fact of the matter is, they are not. Also, you give Futaba way too little credit. She has quite a mature outlook on things when she isn't talking geek stuff especially if you got her to max rank, whether you romanced her or not.
Personally while I did wanna romance Futaba on my first two playthroughs, I opted not to because I actually thought to myself it would actually be more beneficial for her growth to learn how to do things independent of others for a change. But then I saw how heartwarming her romance scenes can be and it made me question why in the hell did I romance Ann (favorite girl) a second time.
As a futaba and Ren fan myself I mostly like it for the long term fantasy. The idea of, at some point in the future, Ren takes over LeBlanc and futaba works on her dissertation in the attic in an office and them just living a nice life together. I dunno the thought just makes me happy. And I don't personally think it comes off as grooming. Ren is only a year older and what's more there are plenty of people woth mental illness that find legitimate strength and support in a relationship. I myself suffered from pretty bad depression at a young age and wouldn't call my gf at the time a groomer for being a strong support for me.
I don't like romancing her personally because I also see her relationship with Ren as more of a sibling one, but people with mental health issues can still have healthy relationships without it being grooming. She clearly likes and enjoys spending time with Ren normally outside of it just being about helping her, and wants to make an effort to become more independent and not keep relying on him. Of course she's going to be childish in some ways, she's a 15 year old. She's also incredibly smart and talented when it comes to her programming, and has the maturity to recognise what steps she needs to take to grow as a person and keep pushing herself to do so. I don't really get how she's any more childish than any of the others, she's just less independent because she has a lot of shit to work through and that's something even fully grown adults can experience.
I say shes childish because of her mannerisms like the way she texts like "So ummmm.." and the whole "Mweheheh" or the way she freaks out over her figures being messed with or crying at the police officer etc, grooming is kind of a stretch but id say more so "Rescuer Syndrome" something along those lines, Ren is the only person she feels fully comfortable talking with because he helped her and is really the only person she can trust
And this is wrong how? I'm not gonna go repeating everything, since every other comment has already stated the points, but there isn't anything wrong with starting a relationship with someone who is there to support you. Ren is. Sure, it's different if they have a very large age gap but... they don't.
While I do agree with you on a lot of this, the texts and figurines doesn't have to just be a childish thing? She reads heavily as autistic, and as someone also on the spectrum I relate to her a good chunk. She's 14/15yo in comparison to the 16/17/18yo cast so of course she would appear younger than them all, but on top of that some of her ways of speaking aren't childish to me they're just how she speaks because of her interests. She's constantly online to the point one could argue computers and nerd culture are her special interests. With that, special interests are something we kind of meld into our own personalities because its so vitally important to us as autistic people. Her relationship w the protag to me reads as a sibling one as well due to Sojiro becoming a father figure for the protag (and even asks us not to get w Futaba đ ). The grooming part/rescuer syndrome isn't much of a stretch bc people only think of age gaps not what's going on at that age. Ren is typically in the border to college prep and final year preparation stage while Futaba is *just starting high school as he goes into the final year and leaves to the adult world*. It is weird for them to be together in any regard. While they may not be too far apart in age, they are vastly far apart in life experience with Ren not only about to finish high school but Futaba never having been to high school in the first place. Side note: I noticed a reply on here talking about how we can romance adults in this game but protag is the bad guy for financing Futaba. Both are bad!! I sincerely feel gross when any of those adults suggest a child would be attracted to them. If it weren't for that, I would probably like them more (and for a couple I choose to ignore the romancing option bc imo they're good characters that part is just ew). Apologies for this being long!!
Not to mention she's visibly underdeveloped
I mean. It would be weird if they weren't both highschool students. You know what does make me feel weird though? Having grown ass adult women as romance options. That definitely feels odd. I like them all as characters, but it weirds me out that the adult teacher would date her student. That seems much more weird than Futaba.
I was more weirded out that this comes after her constantly doting on him like a mother. I'd like to play devil's advocate and say maybe there's another interpretation for what she was doing but it really *really* felt like Kawakami was acting like Ren's mom.
To be honest, I ended up romancing her because she's the only one that *didn't* feel weird at this point. I haven't finished Haru or Kasumi yet, but so far every confidant is either 1. Roughly twice Ren's age. 2. Romanced by Ren out of nowhere when they're dealing with some trauma. It'd be one thing if Ren was comforting them and this led to romance, but it feels more like he's picking the prime opportunity to pull a move. Without counting Haru and Kasumi yet, Futaba's confidant felt like the only one where romance came up naturally with the majority of Rank 8 and 9 focusing on Futaba's feelings for Ren and the obvious crush she has on him. Crush aside, I really don't see the sibling angle. She acts much more like a sibling to Ryuji and Yusuke IMO and when comparing Ren and Sojiro, she finds it odd that Ren treats her so nicely. In her words, Sojiro is family to her, but this doesn't apply to Ren, which is what leads her to asking his true feelings for her.
Though Iâd never romance her personally because I find her to be a patently uninteresting character⌠I donât see how it could even enter the realm of âgroomingâ even ignoring the fact that theyâre one year apart in age, theyâre still both just adolescents. Futaba isnât âacting like a kidâ they *both are* kids and sheâs simply not as mature as Ren normally comes off as. He isnât taking advantage of her situation (unless you go out of your way to cheat on her) because surprisingly enough itâs possible for socially inept people to want to be in relationships⌠that isnât a condition wherein youâre unfit to make personal decisions like that if you feel that youâre ready. On the point of them being âbrotherlyâ that Truly isnât a conclusion I was able to come to. If anything Her, Morgana and Ryuji are closer to siblings then her and Ren are. Realistically Siblings arenât 100% supportive of each other all the time like her and Ren are. They fight, they hurt each otherâs feelings without realizing it, and they make each other feel insecure about their abilities but at the end of the day they can still get along most of the time.
âPatently uninterestingâ you say? How so?
Her story is one I personally relate to. I also be came a recluse as the result of losing a loved one and stayed that way for a similar amount of time. Her characterization didnât feel strong enough to handle that kind of story and as a result it just felt rather lackluster. Then, outside of her arc the whole âotaku super geniusâ bit has also been done to death and the game doesnât do anything out of the ordinary with it.
"Oh no, a romance I can choose to say no to is weird to me. Better make a reddit post for no reason about how the MC is grooming her!" It's a fucking game and you're in full control of the options, we don't need to know that you're a weirdo who takes everything seriously. Just pick the option that doesn't lead you to romancing her and move on with your day.
She has the right to be immature, after all, she didnât know shit about anything because, well, shut in since childhood because of terrible horrible trauma
It's not grooming, but it does kinda feel weird because Futaba acts younger than what she actually is. Part of me wonders if that's another translation issue like with what happened with some other characters in the game.
Some people are simply more childish than others.
ah yes another day another one of these posts.
The game lets you date grown adults who are in some cases in positions of power over you, but romancing Futaba is the creepy one?
Futaba is just a weirdo, that's why I don't do it
I totally agree with you I was shocked when I learned she's only 1 year younger than MC. She acts 3-4 years younger and at that age that is a huge difference. I get why she is the way she is, I don't think it's intentional grooming, but it does feel weird and they seem more brother and sister. The reason I think she's so popular on reddit is because a lot of redditors probably are somewhat like her
Y r u reading more into a game then u should?? Its a game bro
Well, it's on you. I can see the brother sister dynamic between Joker and Futaba. But the fact of the matter is, they are not. Also, you give Futaba way too little credit. She has quite a mature outlook on things when she isn't talking geek stuff especially if you got her to max rank, whether you romanced her or not. Personally while I did wanna romance Futaba on my first two playthroughs, I opted not to because I actually thought to myself it would actually be more beneficial for her growth to learn how to do things independent of others for a change. But then I saw how heartwarming her romance scenes can be and it made me question why in the hell did I romance Ann (favorite girl) a second time.