In defense of the Persona one: I think the main character of Persona 5 is supposed to be a self-insert, and as an adult playing those games it's kind of nice to have a romance option who isn't a teenager.
this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2025
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I think the persona one was a nice thing that was cringe at first on purpose and then expanded into an actually very well written social link. A reverse version of Maya in Persona 3, in a way
Are their any male groomers in anime? Or would that be "to far" while women doing it is considered a light-hearted joke
(Not saying theres anything wrong with jokes like that)
Any harem anime that involves younger girls and an older guy. Even if he's not full on grooming they trot the joke of him being a groomer out.
How old is that guy, though? Most harem shows I've seen, the guy is about 17 (i.e. late school age) and doesn't usually treat girls younger than maybe 14 as viable love interests, but the women in the post are full-on adults.
I can't remember their names, but there are a few shows like that (mid 20s man + teen girl). They're more fetish-esque than anything though, unlike the above who are in regular shows/games more so
I'm surprised nobody is bringing up Rising of the Shield hero here. Bro buys slave children which, while still belonging to him and having magic that forces them to obey his commands, develop feelings for him, presumably due to Stockholm syndrome.
There's a lot of this in the isekai genre. Main character 'saves' a slave (who becomes his slave instead) but it's okay because they want to be his slave because they love him!
I enjoy reading these dumb mangas but I always cringe a bit at how bad the human relationships tend to be.
I think Shield Hero popularized this trope though. I don't remember it being so prevalent 10 years ago, and I think Shield Hero was popular enough to make waves.
it’s okay because they want to be his slave
This is just the stupidest resolution to the situation, I don't get why so many Mangaka go with it. Just have the MC free them and they stick to him anyway because they are so thankful.
I also cringe, especially when they cry about not wanting to have the slave magic released. wtf
I feel like a big thing that changes how one would percieve Naofumi as a groomer is that he doesn't see any of the children as potential sexual objects. In fact, Raphtalia is quite upset at that point, because she desperately wants him to lewd the tanuki loli and he's not having it.
One peak oldschool example of grooming in anime is definitely GTO. That guy's a creep. The only reason it seems remotely acceptable is he's the protagonist and it's framed like he's a good guy and when he's being a creep it's funny. In addition to the power imbalance of being their teacher, he also uses huge amounts of violence and gang connections to get people to fall in line. The levels of wrong are layered. It's impressive in retrospect.
Yeah and he explicitly has zero interest in them sexually or romantically.
It's fucked up, yes, because it was supposed to be, but that isn't grooming.
Not a statement for or against your argument.
But grooming doesn't have to be sexual.
It is, frequently, but it's not a requirement.
For example, any of the trope recruiters that target children for military service in any of the bullshit nationalist wars (in anime of course, IRL military recruiters would never be so unethical)
Absolutely true and I don't disagree. However, in the context of the meme and the discussion it seemed to be the primary insinuation behind calling him as groomer which I think is completely incorrect.
However of course he groomed her into fighting, that much was very explicit. Just not as a predator.
But grooming doesn't have to be sexual.
isn't that just raising children?
There is also the concept of "positive" grooming, for instance a child given specific education and resources to provide an advantage in something like politics could be said to be being "groomed" for politics or leadership.
I'd say the idea of grooming is more intentional than just regular child-raising, but that might be subjective.
As i said though, the current common usage is almost always negative and sexual in nature, it's just not a requirement.
TIL I was groomed to be a contributing member of society and could have lived my dreams of being a strung-out braindead hippie.
I feel so violated.
The "MC gets slaves and it's ok because different world" fad in anime is so annoying. Adds nothing and lazy as hell. I need the writers to at least be on par with my DM in motivating the formation of a party.
Yeah, I mean there's a reason it's so common in isekai because isekai is so popular for the same reason: it enables easy, lazy writing that handwaves actual motivations while allowing anyone to self insert more easily. MC doesn't have to be a rizzler to pick up girls if he's picking them up at auction, and neither do you!
Yeah but isekai is boring only because it's lazy and worn out. Slaves is disturbing because it usually is justified by the enslaved somehow deciding they want it after the fact. Like, consent doesn't work like that. The MC is still a slaver.
It's so absurdly easy to let the hero be a hero, save someone, then they can follow the hero because they've lost their party or need help getting home or whatever. It's dirt cheap without the ick.
shit, be lazier than my dm, just have the character say they've got nothing better to do, why not follow a stranger? Save back story for later, and retcon why they had nothing better to do after the fact.
isekai is so popular for the same reason: it enables easy, lazy writing that handwaves actual motivations while allowing anyone to self insert more easily
It's not just because of all that. It also allows most isekai writers to skip 95% of the worldbuilding process! No wonder these things all feel the same.
There are many: the dudes from Bunny Drop and Honey and Clover, which are the adoptive fathers of their love interest; the chiropractor from Ranma and the teacher from DDDD. Just some infamous ones.
Usagi drop is kind of a weird one because the final act with the romance was out of left field and is pretty much universally reviled. The entire rest of the story he was just being a dad. Also they didn't adapt that part to the anime.
oh yeah that one... was it:
right at the end the childhood friend same age romantic interest was told by a different girl that she was pregnant with his child or something along those lines. then he said something about taking responsibility which would imply that they fucked, so the lead girl felt betrayed and decides it's time to hook up with her adoptive father...
then after some pages implying that they are dating the most cursed page in manga of that era where the father complains about being pissed at his daughter's creepy old boyfriend followed by the yet nonexistent of course I know him, he's me meme
CLAMP School Detectives has this kindergarten girl go on a date with her male teacher.
I think CLAMP does the male groomer thing quite a bit, actually. Seishirou and Subaru from Tokyo Babylon, for example.
In the Cardcaptor Sakura manga (also CLAMP), an elementary school teacher gives an engagement ring to one of his students. Also, Sakura's dad was Sakura's mom's high school teacher when they met.
Well, in Persona 5 (third from the left), you play as a male high-school student, and your first boss fight is against a volleyball coach, who sexually harasses one of the female students. Meanwhile, your romance options include 1) a goth doctor, 2) an alcoholic reporter, 3) a fortune teller working in a red light district, and 4) your homeroom teacher whose secret side hustle is for a sexy maid service.
Mushoku Tensei
redo of healer has bullet
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I need to know the names of all of these characters for ... reasons.
I don't know the names , but the shows/games are Jujutsu Kaisen Evangelion Persona 5 Chainsaw man
All links are 100% not safe for work
Misato Katsuragi (Neon Genesis Evangelion)
E:fixed Persona waifu
Not Makoto, Sadayo Kawakami. Still Persona 5.
Didn't look right but for some reason that was the only brown haired character that came up
Huge gooner right here
Shinji, get in the fucking ~~mech~~ milf
I need this but with Joker and he's complaining he hired gooners.
I bet theyre all YouTubers too. Probably play Minecraft or Roblox. Especially Misato.
I didn't finish Evangelion... I was at the point she was yearning her special agent crush. Did she really become a groomer? 😭
In the End of Evangelion movie, Misato kisses Shinji and says "We'll do the rest when you get back." I don't know if I would count this as grooming though, because Misato was literally dying this was likely intended purely as motivation to appeal to a dumb 16 year old boy's brain. I mean, the next shot is Misato laying on the ground dying in a pool of her own blood. Up to that point Shinji was refusing to pilot Unit 01, and Misato was begging him to pilot it (again lol) in that scene, and unfortunately even a dangling carrot of sex wasn't enough to motivate him to save humanity.
Some say there is another part in epidose 23 where Misato also attempts to have sex with him, but I don't remember it well. Describing the relationship between Shinji and Misato is a difficult one, because Misato fills many roles throughout the show. So too it is hard to really say if Misato is actually a groomer or not, because of the context of what happens in the show/End of Evangelion film. She doesn't have the exact same role in the Rebuild movies. The meme is probably because everyone remembers her kissing Shinji in End of Evaangelion, but they probably all forgot she literally died in the same scene.
thanks 🙏
Misato fills many roles throughout the show
why, let's just reduce it to "pedo" because of funny meme
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Why is the man grooming the dog saying he thought he hired groomers?
His business is expanding, you could at least be a little happy for him, baka.
Who are the girls on the very left and in the yellow blouse?
Yellow blouse is Sadayo Kawakami who is a teacher at the high school that the main character goes to in Persona 5. You can choose to date her, which has some not great implications, thus the groomer thing.
Don't know know the other ones
she kinda looks like me irl...
Mamoru was 19 in the OG Sailor Moon anime. It was better in the manga, but still...
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